Bodleian Collections for C18th Studies
Writers' papers, literature and literary criticism
Austen -- Jane Austen, 'Volume the First' (MS. Don. e. 7) [see facsimile in
website, Jane Austen Fiction Manuscripts]
http://www.janeausten.ac.uk/index.html
Beckford
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/15001900/beckford/beckford.html
Byron
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/15001900/lovelace/lovelace.html
Edgeworth
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/15001900/edgeworth/edgeworth.html
and
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/15001900/edgeworth-fox/edgeworth-fox.html
Godwin - (Abinger Papers)
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/15001900/abinger/abinger.html
Shakespeare - Papers of the Shakespeare scholar Edmund Malone,
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/15001900/malone/malone.html
and manuscripts collected by him
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/15001900/malone2/malone2.html
Shelley
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/15001900/shelley/shelley-papers.html
Southey
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/15001900/southey/southey.html
Wollstonecraft - (Abinger Papers)
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/15001900/abinger/abinger.html
Malone, Edmund, 1741-1812 Shakespearian scholar, bequeathed his
library to his brother, Lord Sunderlin, who presented to the Bodleian in
1815 (but not received until 1821) 770 volumes containing c. 3,000 items,
the rest of the library being sold in 1818. The collection is chiefly of
Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline literature, particularly drama, but it
also contains some Restoration drama and works by Dryden. Malone’s
collection of the early editions of Shakespeare’s plays and poems in seven
quarto volumes (Malone 32-8, kept as Arch. G. d.39-45) represented in
Malone’s time the most complete collection of early editions ever made.
Included in the Malone collection are almost 1,000 printed plays given
him by George Steevens (1736-1800) and augmented by Malone in two
series: (i) Malone 39-128, containing late-17th and early-18th century
editions, (ii) Malone 158-234, most of which are Caroline, though a few
are Elizabethan and others are dated after 1660: Shakespeare is largely
absent. Included also is Malone’s own copy of his Shakespeare of 1790
(Malone 1046-57), heavily annotated for the second edition he did not live
to publish. Malone’s books were working copies, which he annotated: the
pages of his Shakespeare quartos were inlaid within large margins. Bound
volumes of plays were split up at the suggestion of F. P. Wilson. The
Bodleian has also acquired some of Malone’s other printed books (see
Godwyn), and some of his MS collections.
Percy, Thomas, 1729-1811 Bishop of Dromore, antiquary, editor of the
Reliques of ancient English poetry, and a member of the Johnson circle. A
collection of c. 120 volumes, mainly literary and of 17th-19th centuries,
which his daughters kept on his death, were presented to the Bodleian in
1933 by his great-granddaughter, Miss Constance Meade, and were
augmented by other books and MSS associated with him. They include
annotated copies of Goldsmith, Johnson and other 18th centur authors; a
set of The Rambler (1756) with MS notes by Percy, and of The Idler
(1761) with MS notes by Percy and Johnson, and works edited and
translated by Percy. The printed ephemera, which had passed into the
Meade family with the residue of Bishop Percy’s books and papers, was
given in 1930 to John Johnson’s collection of printed ephemera at the
University Press, and is now part of the John Johnson collection at the
Bodleian.
Dunston Collection
English literature - over half the collection - comprising works of the
mainstream English poets, dramatists, and novelists of the late 17th to the
early 20th centuries, including special collections of several writers Browning, Butler, Byron, Pope, Scott (nearly 1,000 volumes), Tennyson,
and over 300 children’s books, mostly from the first half of the 19th
century; manuscripts and printed books by William Roscoe (1753-1831)
Printed Ephemera
The John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera
http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/bodley/library/specialcollections/western_ra
rebooks/ephemera
http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/johnson
Broadside ballads in the Douce, Firth, and Harding collections and in
numbered shelfmarks; see http://www.ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
Children's literature
The Opie Collection of Children's Literature
http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/bodley/library/specialcollections/catalogues
/rare_books/opie_collection_of_childrens_literature
Firth, C. H. (Charles Harding), 1857-1936 Fellow of All Souls (1902),
Regius Professor of Modern History (1904), the editor of Clarendon’s
History. Part of his library, donated by his widow. The 380 volumes of
printed material include 24 volumes of printed portraits and caricatures
illustrative of English history from c. 1603-c. 1830, the main series
arranged chronologically; c. 20 volumes of broadside poems and ballads
of the second half of the 17th, the 18th, and early 19th centuries, largely
arranged by subject, including those on political, naval and military topics
(Bodley also has Firth’s MS and typewritten transcripts and notes); 4
volumes of proclamations and other broadsides of the 17th and 18th
centuries; c. 100 volumes of miscellaneous literature, including chapbooks, song garlands, and other popular literature of the 18th and early
19th centuries; poetical pamphlets of the second half of the 17th and the
18th centuries; 84 volumes of political tracts, mostly of the latter half of
the 17th century; mid-17th century newspapers and newsbooks. The
remainder of Firth’s collections are at Worcester College, Oxford, and the
University of Sheffield.
Harding, Walter Newton Henry, 1883-1973 Born in London and
retained British nationality, but lived in Chicago and pursued a career as a
music-hall pianist and cinema organist. Songbooks were the central theme
of his collecting, including music and ballad operas, but it extended into
the fields of English and French poetry, poetical miscellanies, and English
drama. His collections were bequeathed to the Bodleian, where they
arrived in 1975. They include: (a) Music, (c. l00,000 items) in seven main
categories: English secular songs (including folksong and ballads) from
1650, English opera (including libretti), French songs from 1700, French
opera libretti c. 1680-1800, French opera full scores c. 1680-1820, French,
German and Italian opera vocal scores c. 1800-1850, American songs (7080,000) from c. 1800; (b) Chapbooks in verse and prose, mainly English,
but some French, German, and Italian, English songsters, garlands or
collections of songs, Cheap Repository Tracts, children’s chapbooks,
juvenile drama, etc., c. 8,000 volumes of the 17th-19th centuries,
including many provincial imprints; (c) English songbooks and poetry,
including the works of minor poets, poetical miscellanies, anthologies,
and collections of poetry 17th-19th centuries (c. 4,000 volumes). Harding
bought songbooks etc. from the collections of W. W. Robinson of Oxford,
J. W. Ebsworth (some presented to him by William C. Chappell), W. A.
Barrett, Thorn-Drury, and Sir John Stainer (the most extensive collection
of such material formed in England, bought en bloc in 1932); (d) English
plays (many, but not all, containing songs), 17th-19th centuries, one-tenth
estimated to be pre-1700. Estimated over 3,000 volumes; (e) English
jestbooks, 18th and 19th centuries (c. 300 volumes); (f) French
songbooks, 18th and 19th centuries (c. 2,000 volumes), includes the Henri
Bachimont collection of 800 volumes (1790-1880), bought in 1927. A
representative collection from 1700 onwards. There are also French
chapbooks, jestbooks and plays; (g) Transcripts of songs and ballads in
other collections (e.g. Madden Collection, Cambridge University Library;
Samuel Pepys Collection, Pepysian Library, Magdalene College,
Cambridge; and Narcissus Luttrell Collection, British Library); (h) Street
ballads and broadsides (c. 15,000), many 18th and 19th centuries, include
the song type and lamplighter and Newsmen’s poems, but also murder
sheets, election sheets, etc.; (i) American and English comic valentines; (j)
Miscellaneous literature, periodicals, African travel; (k) American book
auction catalogues. Indexes: First-line analytical index to English songbooks (both with and without music) c. 1600-1850.
Godwyn, Charles, Reverend, 1701-1770 Tracts or pamphlets, mainly
theological and literary, G. Pamph. [Godwyn pamphlets]. Include many
important English works which had not reached the Library under the
terms of the Copyright Act. To the series G.Pamph. the Bodleian has
added: (a) c. 300 tracts in 41 volumes (G. Pamph. 276-316) relating to
American affairs and the War of Independence, a collection formed by the
Rev Jonathan Boucher and bought by the Bodleian in 1836; (b) A series of
pamphlets in 75 volumes (G.Pamph. 327-402), chiefly relating to Irish
history and to literary matters, from the library of Edmund Malone and
bought by the Bodleian in 1838. Many volumes uniformly bound in half
calf, with ‘E M’ in an interleaved monogram on the spine; (c) Pamphlets
mainly of the 17th-19th centuries on all subjects, making a total of over
2,900 volumes, and c. 38,000 separate works.
Montesquieu.
Robert Shackleton (1919-1986), bequeathed to the Bodleian a collection
by and about Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755),
political philosopher. It includes virtually every important early edition of
all of Montesquieu's works, and translations into other languages. In the
section of over 500 volumes devoted to works by Montesquieu printed
before 1920, there are editions of the collected works (250 volumes,
including 24 18th century editions) and editions of the single works,
including 36 editions of "De l'esprit des lois" (1748) in French and over 50
in translation: there are 16 different editions of "De l'esprit des lois"
published before 1751, and numerous copies of the English translations
produced before 1803 in places as varied as Aberdeen, Dublin, Edinburgh,
Glasgow, London, and Worcester, Massachusetts. Among Shackleton's
working and personal papers in the Bodleian is the manuscript of his Lyell
Lectures on the bibliographical history of Montesquieu,
based on his collection
Historical scholarship & antiquarianism
Collections and notes by antiquaries including John Aubrey, Richard
Gough (1735-1809), Thomas Percy (1729-1811) and John Brand.
Antiquaries’ papers (among them John Aubrey, Elias Ashmole and
William Stukeley), and the correspondence and literary papers of
William Gilpin.
Volumes compiled by William Whiston and others, including sermons
and material relating to Christianity and natural history.
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/15001900/whiston/whiston.html
The Curzon collection of Napoleoneana
http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/bodley/library/special/catalogues/rare_book
s_named_collections/rare_books_named_collection_descriptions#Curzon
Gough, Richard, 1735-1809 Antiquary, bibliographer, topographer,
Director of the Society of Antiquaries (1771-97), bequeathed to the
Bodleian upwards of 3,700 volumes, many annotated by him and with
printed insertions, comprising: (a) all his topographical collections of
maps, topographical prints, drawings, etc. arranged under the names of the
counties of the British Isles (shelfmarked Gough maps 1-260) and over
2,500 printed books arranged under the headings of General topography,
Ecclesiastical topography, Natural history, and the counties of England,
Wales, Scotland and Ireland. They are mostly 18th century, but include
some of the 16th, 17th, and early 19th centuries. Included are his
interleaved copies of his British Topography (the 1780 edition,
comprising his collections for a third edition), of his Sepulchral
monuments of Great Britain (1786-99), and of his edition of Camden’s
Britannia (1789). c. 250 book prospectuses printed pre-1801, many for
antiquarian and topographical works, are to be found, some pasted into the
volumes to which they relate, some in his working notes and manuscript
collections, many in his collection for a third edition of his British
topography; (b) 227 printed volumes connected with Anglo-Saxon
literature and that of the Scandinavian races generally, mainly of the 18th
century; (c) Over 200 printed service books of the English church before
the Reformation, (many of Sarum or York use) including Missals,
Breviaries, Manuals, Hours, Graduals, Psalters, Processionals, Hymns,
Primers, and a few manuscripts, chiefly Horae; (d) 16 large folio volumes
of coloured drawings of monuments in the Churches of France, (detached
from a large collection of drawings of royal and other monuments and
tombs made by Francis Roger de Gaignières); (e) 400 copper plates, used
mainly for his Sepulchral monuments of Great Britain; (f) MSS, including
much unpublished topographical material by Gough himself, and his diary
for 1747-51 and 1755-73.
Music
Osborne Wight Collection (Summary catalogue nos. 16670-16878):
Musical manuscripts and printed scores from the eighteenth century
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/conc-ephem.html
Music. Holywell Music Room Concerts. The Music Section maintains a
collection of posters and programmes of local concerts from the Holywell
Music Room concerts of the 18th century to the present day.
Wight mss, 16th-18th century music. Wight's musical collection comprises
many volumes written by John Awbery, Fellow of New College, Oxford,
and many of which had been owned or annotated by William and Philip
Hayes. Such as are not connected with Oxford musicians are largely either
English songs or Italian compositions.
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/15001900/wight/wight.html
Science
Martin Lister collection: Manuscripts and printed books from the library
of Martin Lister (1638-1712)
Rigaud, Stephen Peter, 1774-1839 Mathematical historian and
astronomer, Fellow of Exeter College (1794-1810, Savilian Professor of
Geometry (1810-27), Savilian Professor of Astronomy and Radcliffe
Observer (1827-39). When his large library, chiefly of 18th century
writers, was sold in 1839, his books on astronomy, mathematics, and
physics were purchased by the Radcliffe Trustees for the Observatory. In
1935, 840 books, not then in the Bodleian, were presented to the library
and the rest sold.
Politics
The papers of the North family include those of Francis North, 1st Earl
of Guilford (1704-90), courtier and patron of the 'pocket borough' of
Banbury, containing much on the politics of the Court and the borough.
The collection also includes about 60 volumes of official and financial
papers of his son Frederick, Lord North (1732-92), the Prime Minister.
The papers are supplemented by the extensive correspondence and diaries
of Lord North's grandson Frederick Sylvester North Douglas (17911819), MP for Banbury. The Harcourt family papers include the
correspondence of Simon, 1st Earl Harcourt (1714-77), courtier and
politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1772-7; and George Simon
Harcourt, 2nd Earl Harcourt (1736-1809), including many letters from
the royal family, and political and cultural figures.
The papers of the Tucker family of Dorset represent a different strand of
18th-century politics. Edward Tucker of Weymouth and Melcombe
Regis (d.1737) was an MP. His two sons were John Tucker (1701-79),
MP, and Richard Tucker (1704-77). Edward Tucker and his son Richard
consecutively held the office of surveyor of His Majesty's quarries in
Portland, 1714-77. John Tucker was MP for Weymouth, and also cashier
to the treasurer of the navy, 1744-9. The papers include much on local
politics, the Portland stone business, and other mercantile interests of the
family.
War and empire
Napier family papers include correspondence of Sir William Napier
(1785-1870) relating to his controversial History of the War in the
Peninsula (1828-40), including letters and memoranda from army
officers, and information supplied by among others the Duke of
Wellington. The North family collection includes papers of General
(Charles) William Doyle (1770-1842) who acted as a liaison officer to
various Spanish Juntas 1808-11. There are also papers of General John
Francis Cradock , later Caradoc (1762-1839), 1st Baron Howden,
commander of the army in Portugal 1808-9 and afterwards Governor of
Gibraltar and the Cape of Good Hope.
The Rawlinson manuscripts include some accounts of notable 17thcentury voyages, including the illustrated journal of the Cornishman Peter
Mundy (c. 1597-c.1667) who sailed to India and the South China Sea in
the 1630s. The Rawlinson and Clarendon manuscripts also contain much
on the government of the American colonies in the 17th and early 18th
centuries.
There are three major collections relating to the administration of India in
the 18th and early 19th centuries. The papers of George Macartney, Earl
Macartney (1737-1806) governor and president of Fort St. George,
Madras, include his correspondence with British and native rulers in the
various Indian states, 1781-5. The mercantile interest is represented by the
papers of John Palmer (1767-1836), partner in Palmer & Co., a firm
which dominated the business world of Calcutta between 1810 and 1830.
The collection includes 61 letter-books, 1808-34. The papers of the
Russell family of Swallowfield include correspondence of Sir Henry
Russell, 1st bart. (1751-1836), judge in the supreme court of judicature in
Bengal 1798-1812, and his sons Henry Russell, 2nd bart., Resident at
Hyderabad 1811-20, and Charles Russell, assistant Resident.
Periodicals and pamphlets
Hope, F. W. (Frederick William), 1797-1862 Presented in 1862 to the
Bodleian a collection of newspapers and periodical essays collected by his
father, John Thomas Hope. They number 1,300 items and c. 760 works,
and date from the 17th-19th centuries, the majority being 18th century.

· J. H. Burn, Catalogue of a collection of eariy newspapers and
essayists, formed by the late John Thomas Hope, Esq., and with
[omissions and additions] presented to the Bodleian Library by
Frederick William Hope. Oxford, 1865. The catalogue presents a
chronological arrangement from 1640-1840, with some undated

volumes. [Bodleian copy shelfmarked 2590 d.Oxf.lc.10=R.6.206
annotated with Bodleian shelfmarks.]
· Craster, p. 77
Nichols Newspapers Formed by John Nichols (1745-1826), printer,
publisher and author of the Literary anecdotes, and purchased by the
Bodleian in 1865 from John Bowyer Nichols (1779-1863), his son. c.
1,100 items, more or less complete sets, in chronological order of issue, of
London newspapers from 1672-1737.
George Smith 18th century local newspapers; proclamations; and
broadsides. ‘George Smith donation’, BLR 4 (1953), p. 290.
Newsletters sent from London to John Fleming.
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/15001900/fleming/fleming.html
Hope Collection (Adam Matthew)
http://www.amdigital.co.uk/collections/Eighteenth-Century-JournalsPortal/default.aspx
Eighteenth Century Journals I is drawn from the Hope Collection at the
Bodleian Library, Oxford. It brings together 76 rare journals printed
between 1714 and 1799. The collection combines well-known
publications with more minor works, offering users a wide-ranging view
of eighteenth century publishing culture. Authors represented include
Joseph Addison, Henry Fielding, Horace Walpole, Richard Steele, Samuel
Taylor Coleridge and Thomas Chatterton. Topics covered include law and
policing; British colonial possessions; the South Sea Bubble, religion,
female dress and the American and French revolutions; politics, marriage,
and morality. A particular strength is eighteenth century drama, with over
19 titles relating to the theatre.
The publishing business
Papers of William Bowyer the Younger, Printer, from 1754-97 MSS. Eng.
misc. c. 141-2
Nichols Correspondence John Nichols (1745-1826) and his son, John
Bowyer Nichols (1779-1863), were both printers and antiquaries, and
were proprietors of the Gentleman's Magazine. MSS. Eng. lett. b. 11-19;
c. 354-72
Papers and collections of the Nichols family, printers and publishers,
1785-1854, including family correspondence, accounts, journals and
antiquarian collections. MSS. Eng. b. 2071-7, c. 6165-6
Book prospectuses from the John Johnson and Gough collections. John
Johnson Collection 17th and 18th-Century Book Prospectuses in the
Bodleian Library Book Prospectuses Before 1801 in the John Johnson
Collection, Book Prospectuses Before 1801 in the Gough Collection,
edited by J.P. Feather.
Gough Collection c. 250 book prospectuses printed pre-1801, many for
antiquarian and topographical works, are to be found, some pasted into the
volumes to which they relate, some in his working notes and manuscript
collections, many in his collection for a third edition of his British
topography