“If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.”
--Oscar Wilde

Queen Victoria reigned over England between 1837 and 1901. In that time, English society was transformed by the height of the Industrial Revolution. Affluence, gas light and modernized book production led to a dramatic increase in literacy; and a corresponding increase in the demand for literature.

From the growing artistic and leisurely classes, emerged a remarkable collection of groundbreaking authors and poets including the Brontë sisters, (Anne, Emily and Charlotte Brontë), Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Lewis Carroll, Wilkie Collins, Joseph Conrad, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, Thomas Hardy, A. E. Housman, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lord Alfred Tennyson, William Thackeray, Anthony Trollope and Oscar Wilde.

The Victorians wrote and read about themselves more than any previous generations.

In response to the new commercial demand for literature—as opposed to the patronage arrangements of previous eras—Victorian authors turned increasingly to long-form novels. Often these works would span several volumes or even appear serialized, as much of Dickens’ work.

The Victorian period also saw the emergence of Science Fiction as the genre we recognize today. Although many academics will trace the origins of modern Science Fiction to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein—which we concur with—the Victorian period saw the emergence of a large body of Fantastic literature from the lost worlds of H. Rider Haggard and Arthur Conan Doyle to the gothic tales of Bram Stoker to the pure Science Fiction of H. G. Wells. All of who straddle the Victorian and later Edwardian periods.

To the Victorians themselves, their time was characterized by discovery, exploration, suffrage, abolition, progress and plenty. And while there is considerable truth in this image of the prosperous and progressive Victorian, it was also a period of renewed colonialism, great poverty among the swelling lower classes, social strife, typhus, cholera, and Jack the Ripper. This struggle between the society they knew they could be and the grim realities of daily life informs all of Victorian literature.

We hope you enjoy browsing through our Victoriana catalogue. If you have any questions concerning our collection, or would like to inquire about a particular volume or establish a “want list”, please feel free to contact us.