About this research guide
Created by the Rare Books and Special Collections Librarian, this guide provides information about key collections related to English literature in Rare Books and Special Collections at UBC Library. You will find information about some of our notable collections, as well as how to access materials in the collections.
Our Collections
Rare Books and Special Collections features a number of collections significant to the history, development, and art of English language and literature.
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Norman Colbeck Collection
The collection includes material written by and about English and Anglo-Irish poets and essayists of the Romantic, Victorian and Edwardian periods (nineteenth and early twentieth centuries). More than 450 authors of these periods are represented in more than 13,000 volumes. -
A.M. Donaldson Burns Collection
The collection includes nearly all of the editions of Burns' works, as well as critical and biographical materials, Scottish song books, works by other Scottish writers, and works about the favourite "haunts" of Burns. Also included are Donaldson's correspondence and papers. -
Dr. H. Rocke Robertson Collection of Dictionaries and Related WorksThe Collection includes over 350 dictionaries and encyclopedias. "There are to be seen in this collection many of the bands in the historical spectrum of the English dictionary" -- spanning from the Classical period to the present day.
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Herbert Rosengarten CollectionThe collection comprises over 100 items and includes first editions of important nineteenth century fiction, and multi-volume editions of works by Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, W.M. Thackeray, Charlotte Brontë, Anthony Trollope, Benjamin Disraeli, Elizabeth Gaskell, Charles Kingsley, George Eliot, and George Meredith.
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Allan Pritchard CollectionDonated in 2008, this collection includes many early or first printings of classic texts (Montaigne’s Essayes, 1632; Sidney’s Arcadia, 1655; Milton’s Paradise Lost, 1719), as well as uncommon lesser works and more popular works (Dickens, Trollope, Tennyson, etc.).
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Angeli-Dennis CollectionThis collection consists of the diaries (1855-1913), manuscripts, financial records, and correspondence of William Michael Rossetti (1829-1919). Also included are the manuscripts, correspondence, and financial records of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1842-1882), Christina Georgina Rossetti (1853-1894), Ford Madox Brown (1852-1993), Gabriele Rossetti, other members of the Rossetti family, and other Pre-Raphaelites, such as Robert Browning.
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Thomas J. Wise Collection
The Thomas J. Wise Collection, donated by Arthur Stockett in 1976, consists mainly of monographs, either by or about Thomas J. Wise, or relating to forgeries and piracies of literary material. -
Louis Zukofsky CollectionThe collection of the published work of the American poet Louis Zukofsky (1904-1978). Half the books and pamphlets are signed and/or inscribed by Zukofsky. There are also anthologies and periodical issues containing his work; four translations; four critical works; manuscripts; ephemera; and a photograph.
Related UBC Research Guides
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Archival MaterialThis is a guide to searching for archival material in Canada and internationally, with an emphasis on British Columbia. Archival material includes primary sources (generally unpublished material ) such as manuscripts, letters, photographs and audio-visual material.
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EnglishLocate books, articles, online databases, journals, primary sources, and theses concerning English literature and language.
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EphemeraThe term "ephemera" refers to documents such as broadsides, leaflets, pamphlets and posters which are intended for use for a short period of time. This guide will help you search for these types of documents in UBC Collections.
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HistoryLocate books, articles, online databases, journals, primary sources, and theses concerning history.
Related UBC Sites
Department of English Language and Literatures
English Literature Research Collection [PDF][158KB]
This collection, held in the University Archives, was created by David Macaree, a lecturer and professor in the English Department at UBC. He conducted extensive research in the area of 18th century English literature. The collection includes transcribed typed copies of the complete works of David Crawford (ca.1700); a copy of an article written by Macaree about Crawford (1961); and photocopies of early political pamphlets by Daniel Defoe (ca. 1700-1714).
