Victorian minor verse Collection

This collection contains around 500 titles by minor and obscure British poets of the 19th century. Most of the works were published during the reign of Queen Victoria – some earlier imprints extending back to the year 1801.

Literature and writing

Key items in the collection

The collection comprises about 500 titles by minor and obscure British poets of the nineteenth century. While most of the works were published during the reign of Queen Victoria, there are some earlier imprints extending back to 1801. Most of the works were written by single authors, but there are also a few anthologies. The publishers included long-established firms such as:

John Murray
William Blackwood and Sons
Longmans
Green
Smith, Elder & Co.

Some works were privately printed and expressly issued for private circulation.

Among the better-known writers represented in the collection are:

Alfred Austin
Arthur Benson
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Thomas Campbell
Hartley Coleridge
Austin Dobson
Arthur Conan Doyle
Richard Garnett
Edmund Gosse
James Hogg
WEH Lecky
Richard Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton)
John Henry Newman
Caroline Norton
Francis Turner Palgrave
Coventry Patmore
Arthur Quiller-Couch
Samuel Rogers.

Some of the more prolific writers include:

Edwin Arnold
Robert Buchanan
Aubrey De Vere
Norman Gale
Alfred Hayes
Thomas Moore
Walter C Smith
Henry Taylor
William Watson.

A few of the titles point to the diversity of the verse, from deeply religious or pastoral to dramatic and satirical:

The collection contains anthologies such as:

About the Collection

The National Library has considerable strength in English poetry of the mid- and late-19th century, holding many editions of the works of such poets as:

Matthew Arnold
Robert Browning
Thomas Hardy
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Algernon Swinburne
Alfred Tennyson.

It has also sought to acquire works of lesser-known poets, some of whom were very popular in their day.

Background to the collection

The collection of Victorian minor verse was purchased from the English antiquarian bookseller Chris Kohler in 1979.

The collection of minor Victorian verse has been kept together within the New Series (NS) pool at the Hume Annexe. The works are being catalogued individually and the call numbers have the prefix NS. A bound volume containing the accession slips for all the books is available.