English Literature
Contact Donovan Rees or Zach Larsen
British literature and history from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, with an emphasis on poetry, fiction, and drama.
We usually have a selection of literary works from the STC and Wing period (i.e. before 1701), and a broad range of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century fiction and poetry, particularly the Romantics. We also have a selection of historical manuscripts, prints and broadsides, and works in translation.
Among important works which have passed through our hands are the editor's presentation copy of Milton's Lycidas, Swift's Modest Proposal, the autograph draft of Byron's She walks in beauty, the autograph manuscript of Jane Austen's only play Sir Charles Grandison, Dickens’s copy of Vanity Fair, Trollope's classical library, and, over the years, some fifty Shakespeare First Folios.
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KELLY, James.
Poems.
Glasgow, Printed by Aird & Coghill, and sold by John Menzies & Co, 1888.
First edition, a presentation copy, of a collection of poems many of which were written ‘before the age of nineteen’. There are a number of sonnets, as well as devotional and nature poetry, some folksongs, and topographical works on e.g. the Isle of Arran.
£100
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KETT, Henry.
The Flowers of Wit, or a Choice Collection of Bon Mots, both antient and modern; with biographical and critical Remarks...
London: Printed for Lackington, Allen, and Co. … at the Weybridge Press, by S. Hamilton. 1814.
First edition, scarce, of a compilation of witty anecdotes and clever ripostes ordered alphabetically by author (including Cervantes, Queen Elizabeth, Samuel Johnson, ‘The Spartans’, Swift, Voltaire), and then by subject, with an appendix of ‘Puns’ and ‘Bulls’.
£150
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KINNAIRD, Douglas.
The Merchant of Bruges; or, Beggar’s Bush. With considerable Alterations and Additions. Now performing, with...
London: Printed for Whittingham and Arliss ... 1815
First edition of the only literary work by the intimate friend and banker of Lord Byron, who dedicated Hebrew Melodies to him in 1815. The play was produced at Drury Lane where both served on the Committee, dedicated to Lady Caroline Lamb’s brother-in-law (who contributed three songs), and has...
£250
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KIPLING, Rudyard.
Mesopotamia.
Garden City, New York, Doubleday, Page & Company, 1917.
American copyright edition. A poem lamenting the losses of the First World War and calling for justice against the military and political leaders whose decisions and actions sent so many to their death.
£120
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KIPLING, Rudyard.
Great-Heart.
Garden City, New York, Doubleday, Page & Company, 1919.
American copyright edition. In this poem, Kipling casts the recently deceased Theodore Roosevelt as the character Great-Heart from A Pilgrim’s Progress.
£120
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KIPLING, Rudyard.
A Kipling Note Book, No. 2.
New York, M.F. Mansfield & A. Wessels, 1899.
Contains notes on Kipling’s early works, and suppressed editions, and extracts from prefaces to a number of his works. The supplements comprise copies of the cover illustrations for Kipling’s earliest works, as published by the Indian Railway Library.
£25
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KIPLING, Rudyard.
The Horse Marines.
Garden City New York, Doubleday, Page & Company, Inc., 1910.
This story is based on a fictitious parliamentary report that army recruits were being trained to ride horses using rocking horses. It is the sixth instalment of the Pyecroft series.
£85
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KIPLING, Rudyard.
The Seven Seas.
London, Methuen, 1896.
One of 150 copies printed on handmade paper of the first English edition of Kipling’s anthology; this copy from the library of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
£3750
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KIRAM, Zeki Hasmet.
Vocabularium anatomiae latine-turcice. [Qamūs te šrih lātīnğe-türkğe].
Berlin, Morgen- und Abendland-Verlag, 1923.
First edition of a comprehensive glossary of anatomical terms in Latin with corresponding translation in Ottoman Turkish, intended for medical students among the increasingly large Turkish community in Germany, by the Syrian Ottoman officer turned Berlin publicist, arms dealer, and Muslim activist...
£375
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KIRAM, Zeki Hasmet.
Vocabularium anatomiae latine-arabice. [Qāmūs al-ta¬šrīḥ Lātīnī-‘Arabī].
Berlin, Morgen- und Abendland-Verlag, 1923.
First edition of an uncommon glossary of anatomical terms in Latin with corresponding translation in Arabic, intended for Arabic-speaking medical students studying in European universities, by army officer turned Berlin publicist, arms dealer, and Muslim activist Zeki Kiram (1886–1946).
£375
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K[IRKE], J[ohn].
The Seven Champions of Christendome. Acted at the Cocke-pit, and at the Red-Bull in St. Johns Streete, with a...
London, J. Okes, and are to be sold by James Becket, 1638.
First edition of this play based on Richard Johnson’s popular romance of 1596, characteristic of the spectacle-dramas staged at the Red Bull, where John Kirke was an actor.
£6500
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KOO, T. Z. [Tsu-Jen KU].
Songs of Cathay. An Anthology of Songs current in various Parts of China among her People.
Shanghai, Association Press, [1931].
First edition, fourth impression, of a collection of twenty-five traditional Chinese songs compiled by the Chinese Christian leader Tsu-Jen Ku (1887–1971).
£275
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KRASNOV, Petr Nikolaevich.
Mantyk, okhotnik na l’vov. Povest’ [Mantyk, lion-hunter. A story].
Paris, V. Siial’skii, 1928.
First edition, an African safari adventure for younger readers, by the exiled ataman of the Don Cossacks.
£1200
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KRASNOV, Petr Nikolaevich.
S Ermakom na Sibir! Povest’ [With Ermak to Siberia! A story].
Paris, V. Siial’skii, [1929].
First edition, an illustrated children’s story about the sixteenth-century Cossack leader Ermak Timofeevich, whose exploration of Siberia in the 1580s marked the beginning of Russia’s expansion into the interior.
£1000
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KRYLOV, [Ivan Andreevich]; William Ralston SHEDDEN-RALSTON, translator.
Krilof and his Fables …
London, Strahan and Co., 1869.
First edition in English in book form of any of Krylov’s Fables, a presentation copy ‘To Sir John Shaw Lefevre H.C.B. from the Translator’.
£850
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[LABOURS OF THE MONTHS &c.]
Januarius. Februarius. Merz. April …
Nuremberg, Joh. Andreae Endterische Handlung, [second half of eighteenth century].
A scarce popular print depicting the labours of the months and signs of the zodiac, four continents, the four classical elements, and the four seasons.
£475
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LACTANTIUS.
Opera.
[Venice,] Vindelinus de Spira, 1472.
Magnificent incunable edition of the works of Lactantius, a fine product of the first Venetian press, established in 1469 by Johannes de Spira and continued by his brother Vindelinus from 1470 until 1473. This was the fifth impression of the works of Lactantius, the hugely successful North African...
£25000
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LAING, Alexander.
The True Hero and Other Poems …
Glasgow, Morison Brothers, 1893.
First edition, scarce, a presentation copy, inscribed in a shaky hand ‘To Wm J. Robertson / with author’s regards / Alex Laing / 8-4-19’.
£375
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LAMB, Charles.
John Woodvil a Tragedy ... to which are added, Fragments of Burton, the Author of the Anatomy of Melancholy.
London: Printed by T. Plummer ... for G. and J. Robinson ... 1802.
First edition. John Woodvil was Charles Lamb’s first play (or dramatic poem), regarded by him at one time as his ‘finest effort’, a ‘medley (as I intend it to be a medley) of laughter and tears, prose and verse, and in some places rhyme, songs, wit, pathos, humour, and, if possible, sublimity’...
£1250
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[LANDOR, Walter Savage].
Count Julian: a Tragedy.
London: Printed for John Murray … by James Moyes … 1812.
First edition of Landor’s first play, unacted, but a succès d’éstime, published in ‘a small edition’ (Oxford DNB). The episode in Spanish history which it treats – the vengeance taken by Don Julián, 8th-century ruler of Ceuta, against Roderigo, King of the Goths, who has dishonoured...
£450