A Regency Bibliography

Compiled by Jolie Velazquez


Secondary Sources

These are books readily available and accessible to the general reader. If your interest is in the Regency period, many of these sources will provide a gentle introduction to some aspect or personality of the period, offering perhaps more perspective than the full-immersion approach of a book actually written during the Regency.


Adburgham, Alison. Silver Fork Society: Fashionable Life and Literature from 1814 - 1840 (London, 1983)
Acworth, Margaretta. Georgian Cookery (London: Pavilion Books Ltd., 1987)
Aldritch, Elizabeth. From the Ballroom to Hell: Grace and Folly in Nineteenth-Century Dance, (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1991) ISBN 0-0801-0913-1
Alsop, Susan. The Congress Dances: Vienna 1814-1815 (New York, 1984)
Ashton, John. Social England under the Regency (London, 1968)


Bohstedt, John. Riots and Community Politics in England and Wales 1790-1810 (Cambridge, Mass., 1983)
____________. The England of Nimrod and Surtees 1815-1854 (London: Oxford University Press, 1958)
____________. English Country Life 1780-1830 (London: Oxford University Press, 1962)
Brander, Michael. The Georgian Gentleman (Farnborough: Saxon House, 1973)
Bryant, Sir Arthur. The Age of Elegance 1812-1822 (New York: Harper & Row, 1950)
Burnett, T.A.J. The Rise and Fall of a Regency Dandy--The Life and Times of Scrope Berdmore Davies (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1981)
Burton, Elizabeth. The Pageant of Georgian England (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1968)
Butler, E.M., ed. A Regency Visitor: The English Tour of Prince Meckler-Muskau 1826-1828 (London, 1957)


Chancellor, E. Beresford. The Lives of the Rakes Vol. 6, The Regency Rakes (London: P. Allan 1925)
_________. Life in Regency and Early Victorian Times: An Account of the Days of Brummell and D'Orsay 1800-1850 (London: B.T. Batsford, 1926)
Connely, Willard. The Reign of Beau Brummell (New York: Greystone Press, 1940)


Darvall, Frank O. Popular Disturbances and Public Order in Regency England: Being an Account of the Luddite and Other Disorders in England during the Years 1811-1817, and the Attitude and Activity of Authorities (London: Oxford University Press, 1934)
Drury, Elizabeth. The Butler's Pantry (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1981)


Ensley, Clive. British Society and the French Wars 1793-1815 (Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1979)
Erickson, Carolly. Our Tempestuous Day: A History of Regency England (New York: William Morrow, 1986)

Back to the About the English Regency page


Franzero, Charles. Beau Brummell: His Life and Times (New York: John Day, 1958)
Fraser, Flora. Emma, Lady Hamilton (New York: Alfred P. Knopf, 1986)


Gould, William and Hanks, Patrick. Lives of the Georgian Age (New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1978)
Gronow, Rees Howell. The Reminicences and Recollections of Captain Gronow Being Anecdotes of the Camp, Court, Clubs and Society 1810-1860 (New York: Viking Press, 1964)
Grose, Francis. 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue: A Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit and Pickpocket Eloquence. Reprint. (Northfield, Ill.: Digest Books, 1971)


Hayter, Alethea. Opium and the Romantic Imagination (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 1968)
Horn, Pamela. Life and Labour in Rural England 1770-1850 (Kent: MacMillan Education Ltd., 1987) ISBN 0-332-37584-X
___________. The Rural World 1780-1850 (London, 1980)


Jones, Louis C. The Clubs of the Georgian Rakes (New York: Columbia University Press, 1942)


A Lady of Distinction. Regency Etiquette: The Mirror of the Graces (1811) (Mendocino, California: R.L. Shep, 1997) ISBN 0-014046-24-1
Laudermilk, Sharon and Hamlin, Teresa L. The Regency Companion (New York & London : Garland Publishing, Inc., 1989) ISBN 0-8240-2249-1 Contents: The London Season; The Fashionable Lady; The Fashionable Gentleman; Romance, Courtship and Marriage; How They Played; How They Lived; The Rest of the Year; The Horse; The Real World and the Real People; A Dictionary Guide to Rude and Vulgar Slang and Cant
Laver, James. Dandies (1968)
__________. The Age of Illusion: Manners and Morals 1750-1848 (New York: David McKay, 1972)
Le Bourhis, Katell, ed. Age of Napoleon: Costume 1789-1815 (1989)
Low, Donald A. Thieves' Kitchen: The Regency Underworld (Glouster: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1982) ISBN 0-86299-434-1 Contents: Of Rookeries and Thief-Takers; The Last of the Charleys; Nurseries of Crime; The Medical Underworld; Tom and Jerry; A Tradition of Gambling; Some Regency Rogues and Characters
____________. That Sunny Dome: A Portrait of Regency Britain (London: Dent, 1982)

Back to the About the English Regency page


Malcolmson, Robert W. Popular Recreations in English Society 1700-1850 (Cambridge, 1973)
Margetson, Stella. Regency London (New York: Praeger, 1972)
Mingay, G.E. English Landed Society in the 18th Century (London: Routledge and Paul, 1963)
Mingay, Gordon. Mrs. Hurst Dancing: And Other Scenes from Regency Life 1812-1823 (London: Victor Gollancz, 1981)
Mitton, Geraldine E. Jane Austen and Her Times (New York: G.P. Putnam's, 1905)
Musgrave, Clifford. Regency Furniture 1800-1830 (New York: T. Yosaloff, 1961)


Parker, Derek. Byron and His World (London: Thames & Hudson, 1968)
Pilcher, Donald. The Regency Style 1800-1830 (London: B.T. Batsford, 1947) Contents: The Basics; The Public World; The Major Rituals; Money; Power and the Establishment; Transition; The Country; The Private World; The Grim World
Priestley, J.B. The Prince of Pleasure and His Regency 1811-20 (New York: Harper & Row, 1969)


Quennell, C.H.B. & Margaret. A History of Everyday Things in England: Vol. III 1733-1851 (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1961) Contents: Eighteenth Century-Farming; Building; Clothing; The Subsidiary Trades: Transport, Power, and Health; Sanitation; Nineteenth Century--Farming; Building and Furnishing; Clothing; Transport
Quennell, Peter. Romantic England: Writing and Painting 1717-1851 (New York : MacMillan Company, 1970) Contents: The Gothic Background; The Cult of Youth; "Easeful Death"; Romantic Exiles; The Visionary Landscape; Painting as Feeling; The Earthly Paradise
Quinlan, Maurice J. Victorian Prelude: A History of English Manners 1700 1830 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1941)


Richardson, Joanna. The Disastrous Marriage: A Study of George IV and Caroline of Brunswick (London: Johnathan Cape, 1960)
________________. The Everlasting Spell: A Study of Keats and His Friends (London, Johnathan Cape, 1963)


Shep, R.L. Late Georgian Costume (1991)
Sichel, Marion. The Regency (London: B.T. Batsford, 1987)
Smith, Robert A. Late Georgian and Regency England 1760-1832 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984)
Society of Adepts. Federalist and Regency Costume: 1790-1819 Facsimile edition of "Complete Tailors Guide 1796" (Mendocino: R.L. Shep ,1998) Contents: Fashion and Tailoring Notes; Tailoring Systems 1796-1809; Extra Sections in Q&L but not in Taylors: The Lady's Magazine-1796; Le Beau Monde (mostly men)-1806-08; La Belle Assemblée-1807; Miscellaneous Illustrations
Summerson, Sir John. Georgian London (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1978)


Thompson, F.M.L. English Landed Society in the 19th Century (London: Routledge and Paul, 1963)


Watkins, Susan. Jane Austen In Style (London: Thames and Hudson, 1990) Contents: A Society of Grace and Manners; The Country House; Interior Styles; Fashion and its Genteel Competitors; In Pursuit of Entertainment; Epilogue; A Directory of Georgian Designs
White, R.J. Life in Regency England (London: B.T. Batsford, 1963)

Back to the About the English Regency page

 

Primary Sources

These are works by European authors writing during the general Regency period, as well as by authors whose ideas strongly affected Regency writers. Many of the poets listed can be found in various collections and anthologies. Listed here are collection titles or single works published in their lifetimes. Keats' Odes, for example, were not published during his life, but appear in many anthologies or "collected works."

Austen, Jane (1775-1817) novelist
  • Emma
  • Mansfield Park
  • Northanger Abbey
  • Persuasion
  • Pride and Prejudice
  • Sense and Sensibility

Bage, Robert(1728-1801)

Beaumarchais, Pierre Augustin Caron de (1732-1799) playwright

  • The Barber of Seville
  • The Marriage of Figaro

Beddoes, Thomas Lovell (1803-1849) poet

  • The Bride's Tragedy
  • The Second Brother
  • Torrismond
  • Death's Jest Book

Blake, William (1757-1827) poet

  • Poetical Sketches
  • Songs of Innocence
  • Songs of Experience
  • The Book of Thel
  • The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
  • The Four Zoas
  • Jerusalem

Brentano, Clemens (1778-1842) poet, novelist

  • The Child's Horn of Plenty
  • The Tale of Gockel, Hinkel and Gackeliah
  • Tales of the Rhine

Burney, Fanny (1752-1840) novelist, diarist, playwright

  • Evalina; or The history of a young lady's entrance into the world
  • Cecelia; or Memoirs of an heiress
  • Camilla; or A picture of youth
  • The Wanderer, or female difficulties
  • A Busy Day

Byron, George Gordon, Lord (1788-1824) poet

  • English Bards and Scotch Reviewers
  • Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
  • Manfred
  • Don Juan

Back to the About the English Regency page

Chamisso, Adlebert von (1781-1838) poet, novelist, scientist

  • The Wonderful World of Peter Schlemihl
  • The Marvelous History of the Shadowless Man

Chatterton, Thomas (1752-1770) poet

Clare, John (1793-1864) poet, diarist

  • The Wood is Sweet
  • The Midsummer Cushion

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772-1834) poet

  • Lyrical Ballads
  • Rime of the Ancient Mariner
  • Biographia Literaria

Cowper, Rev. William (1731-1800) poet

  • Tales of the Hall

Crabbe, George (1754-1832) poet

  • The Borough
  • Tales in Verse

Cruikshank, George (1792-1878) and Isaac Robert (1789-1856) illustrators

  • Life in London by Pierce Egan

De Quincey, Thomas (1785-1859) novelist and essayist

  • Confessions of an English Opium-Eater
  • Suspiria De Profundis
  • The English Mail-Coach

Edgeworth, Maria (1767-1849) novelist

  • Castle Rackrent
  • Belinda
  • Tales of Fashionable Life
  • Vivian
  • Patronage
  • Harrington
  • Ormond

Egan Pierce (1772-1849) essayist

  • Tom and Jerry, Life in London
  • The life of an actor
  • The finish of the adventures of Tom and Jerry

Fielding, Henry (1707-1754) novelist

  • Tom Jones
  • Joseph Andrews
  • Shamela
  • Jonathan Wild

Fouque, Frederick, Freiherr de la Mott (1777-1843) novelist

  • Sintran and His Companions
  • Undine
  • The Magic Ring; a knightly romance

Back to the About the English Regency page

Godwin, William (1756-1836) essayist, novelist

    Political Justice
  • Caleb Williams

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang, von (1749-1832) novelist, poet, essayist

  • Sorrows of Young Werther
  • Faust
  • Elective Affinities

Goldsmith, Oliver (1730-1774) playwright, poet, novelist, essayist

  • She Stoops to Conquer
  • The Deserted Village
  • Vicar of Wakefield

Hazlitt, William (1778-1830) essayist, reviewer

  • Lectures on the English Poets
  • The Spirit of the Age

Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Frederich (1770-1831) philosopher

  • Aesthetics: Lectures on the Fine Arts
  • Faith and Knowledge
  • Science of Logic

Heine, Heinrich (1797-1856) poet, essayist

  • Book of Songs
  • The Harz Journey

Hoffmann, E.T.A. (1776-1822) folklorist, writer, musician

  • The Tales of Hoffmann
  • Undine
  • Fantasies and Dreams

Holcroft, Thomas (1745-1809) essayist, diarist

  • The Road to Ruin
  • Memoirs
  • History of My Own Times

Holderlin, Frederick (1770-1843) poet

  • Hyperion
  • The Death of Empedokles

Hood, Thomas (1799-1845) poet, travel essayist

  • Whimsicalities
  • Hood's Own: or Laughter year to year
  • Up the Rhine
  • Endless Fun; or the comic annual

Hunt, Leigh (1784-1859) poet, biographer, editor

  • The Story of Rimini
  • What is Poetry?
  • Reading for Railways
  • Wit and Humour
  • The Seer, or Common-places refreshed
  • The Indicatior: a miscellany for the fields and fireside
  • The Religion of the Heart, a manual of faith and duty
  • The Town: its memorable characters and events
  • Table-talk
  • Shelley
  • The Months: an enchanting companion for nature lovers
  • A Jar of Honey from Mount Hybla
  • Imagination and Fancy
  • Descent of Liberty
  • Saunter through the West End

Back to the About the English Regency page

Immermann, Karl (1796-1840) novelist, playwright

Keats, John (1795-1821) poet

  • Endymion
  • Isabella; or the Pot of Basil
  • Hyperion
  • The Eve of St. Agnes
  • Lamia

Lamb, Charles (17757-1834) poet, essayist, editor

  • Tales from Shakespeare

Landor, Walter Savage (1775-1864) poet, essayist, biographer

  • Imaginary Conversations
  • Heroic Idyls

Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818) novelist

  • The Monk

Mackenzie, Henry (1745-1831) essayist

  • The Man of Feeling

MacPherson, James (1736-1796) poet, forger

  • Fingal (Ossian)
  • Temora (Ossian)

Maturin, Charles (1782-1824) novelist

  • Melmoth the Wanderer

Moore, Thomas (1779-1852) poet

  • National Airs
  • Lalla Rookh
  • Irish Melodies

Nodier, Charles (1780-1844) novelist

  • Jean Sbogar
  • Fantastic Tales

Novalis (Frederich von Hardenberg, 1772-1801) poet, folklorist

  • Heinrich von Ofterdingen
  • The Disciples at Saïs
  • Hymns to the Night

Peacock, Thomas Love (1785-1866) novelist, essayist

  • Defense of Poetry
  • Nightmare Abbey
  • Crotchet Castle
  • The Four Ages of Poetry

Radcliffe, Ann (1764-1823) novelist

  • The Mysteries of Udolpho
  • Romance of the Forest
  • The Italian

Richardson, Samuel (1689-1761) novelist

  • Clarissa Harlowe, or, the history of a young lady
  • Pamela, or Virtue rewarded
  • Sir Charles Grandison

Rousseau, Jean Jacques (1712-1778) philospher, novelist

  • Confessions
  • The Social Contract
  • Discourse on Political Economy
  • Emile
  • La nouvelle Heloise
  • Atala

Rowlinson, Thomas (1756-1827) painter, illustrator

  • Tours of Dr. Syntax
  • The Comforts of Bath

Back to the About the English Regency page

Saint-Fond, Barthelemy (1741-1819) travel essayist

  • Travels in England, Scotland and the Hebrides
  • Descriptions of the experiences of the flying machine of M.M. Montgolfier

Saint-Simon, Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de (1760-1825) essayist

Schiller, Johann Christian Frederich von (1759-1805) poet, playwright, essayist

  • On the aesthetic education of man
  • Mary Stuart

Schlegel, Frederick von (1772-1829) philospher

  • Philosophy of History

Scott, Sir Walter (1771-1832) novelist, poet, playwright

  • Waverly novels, including Waverly, Guy Mannering, The Antiquarian, Rob Roy, The Black Dwarf, Old Mortality, The Heart of Mid-Lothian, The Legend of Montrose, The Bride of Lammermoor, The Monastery, The Abbot, The Fortunes of Nigel, Perils of the Peak, St. Ronan's, Well, Redgauntlet, The Betrothed, The Talisman, Woodstock, Kenilworth, The Pirate, The Fair, Maid of Perth, Castle Dangerous, and Chronicles of Canongate
  • Ivanhoe
  • The Lay of the Last Minstrel
  • Marmion
  • The Lady of the Lake

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft (1797-1851) novelist

  • Frankenstein
  • The Last Man
  • Valpurga

Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822) poet

  • Alastor: Or the Spirit of Solitude
  • The Mask of Anarchy
  • Epipsychidion
  • Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats
  • Hellas

Skinner, John (1721-1807) diarist, poet

  • Journal of a Somerset Rector 1803-1834
  • Songs and Poems

Smith, Sydney (1771-1845) essayist, social reformer

  • Letters of Peter Plymley to his brother Abraham
  • A Memoir

Southey, Robert (1744-1843) poet, biographer

  • The Battle of Blenheim
  • The Cataract of Ladore
  • The Life of Horatio, Lord Nelson

Staël, Anne Louise Germaine, Madame de (1766-1817) essayist, novelist

  • Ten Years of Exile
  • Corinne, or the Italian Girl

Steffens, Heinrich (1773-1845)

Stendhal (Henri Beyle, 1783-1842) novelist, essayist, biographer

  • The Life of Rossini
  • The Life of Henry Brulard
  • The Red and the Black

Back to the About the English Regency page

Trelawny, Edward John (1792-1881) biographer

  • The Last Days of Shelley and Byron

Walpole, Horace, Fourth Earl of Orford (1717-1797) novelist, essayist

  • The Castle of Otranto

Wollstonecraft, Mary (1759-1797) essayist, novelist

  • A Vindication of the Rights of Women
  • Maria, or the Wrongs of Women
  • Thoughts on the education of daughters
  • Scandanavian Journey

Woodforde, James (1740-1803) diarist

  • The Diary of a Country Parson 1758-1802

Wordsworth, William (1770-1850) poet

  • The Lyrical Ballads
  • The Prelude: or Growth of the Poet's Mind
  • The Excursion

| Home | BAERS Events | About the Regency | Historical Activities | Other Regency | Amusing Historical Links |
Page maintained by Vanessa Schnatmeier
Updated December 3, 1998.