English Literature and History

Printing in England

Printing in England is generally held to have 'properly' began with William Caxton's editio princeps of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, believed to have been printed in 1476. With a typeface derived from the finest Flemish scribes, this work set the bar high for subsequent English printing, and proved the commercial viability of printing in Britain. Caxton (and his assistant Wynknyn De Worde) were soon followed by various other enterprising sorts, mostly based in London but with printing presses also popping up in other cities and provincial locations.

Early Bibles played a pivotal role in establishing Britain as a country of printing excellence, and inevitably religious books were a chief mainstay of printers and booksellers over the centuries. Law books, political pamphlets, Acts of Parliament and, of course, dictionaries all vied for space on bookshelves with the great chronicling works, such as Camden's Britannia. Beyond the workman-like nature of many of these, British typography itself flourished in the 18th century, due to the efforts of printers such as William Caslon and Robert Baskerville, both of whom are remembered today through the fonts that bear their names.

English Literature at Forum Auctions

The great British authors, poets, playwrights and essayists of antiquity feature regularly in Forum's English Literature and History auctions, in first or other significant edition, often in the preferred original bindings or handsome contemporary leather. From Shakespeare Folios to Charles Dickens first editions, the Metaphysical Poets to the Romantic and Lake Poets, the 18th century satirists to the ground-breaking women authors of the 19th century, lovers of literature will find a wealth of inspirational rare books here.

Beyond the great works of English Literature, Forum Auctions' English Literature and History department also regularly represents rare books by leading economists, philosophers and political thinkers of their day. Important editions of keystone works such as Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan, Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population, John Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and John Maynard Keynes The General Theory of Employment consistently attract collectors to our rooms.