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Used in English schools into the twentieth century, this 1819 publication by the indefatigable writer and reformer William Cobbett (1763-1835) provides concise and practical explanations of a range of grammatical terms. It also includes 'specimens of false grammar' from Samuel Johnson and 'errors and nonsense' from George III.

This two-volume edition of some of Anna Laetitia Barbauld's poems and prose works, compiled by her niece Lucy Aikin, was published soon after her death in 1825. Volume 1 contains a short biography and a selection of poems in many genres, including a comic description of Joseph Priestley's study.

One of the most popular writers of his age, outsold only by Dickens, Edward George Bulwer Lytton (1803-73), first Baron Lytton, notably coined the phrases 'the great unwashed' and 'the pen is mightier than the sword'. This two-volume collection, posthumously published in 1883, illuminates a prolific literary life.

One of the most celebrated authors of the Victorian era, Anthony Trollope (1815-82) requested that his autobiography be published posthumously. The two-volume work, which first appeared in 1883, provides an insight into not only his writing methods and incredible discipline, but also the early experiences which influenced his fiction.

John William Polidori (1795-1821) was, for a brief period, the personal physician to Lord Byron. William Michael Rossetti, his nephew, published this manuscript diary in 1911. It is the only contemporary account of the few weeks, crucial to the development of Romanticism, during which Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein.

These two volumes of the letters of Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729), founder of the Tatler and the Spectator, were compiled by the publisher John Nichols and published in 1809. In Volume 1, many of the letters are addressed to his second wife, others to literary and political friends.

This two-volume biography of William Wordsworth was published in 1851 by his nephew, Christopher, a scholar and cleric who later became bishop of Lincoln. Volume 1, beginning with an autobiographical sketch by the poet, describes his early years, his travels abroad, and his growing fame, and continues to 1810.

This two-volume collection of writings by three generations of the Taylor family was compiled and published in 1867. Volume 2 contains essays and verses by the four siblings, their father Isaac, and a cousin, Jemima, of which the most notable is the long short story 'Display' by Jane Taylor.

This collection of the remarks on many topics by John Selden (1584-1654) was compiled by his amanuensis Richard Milward and first published in 1689. Reissued here is a version annotated and with a biographical preface by the literary scholar Samuel Weller Singer (1783-1858) and published in 1847.

In the introduction to this 1833 work on the 'lives of distinguished northerns' - including Andrew Marvell, Anne Clifford, Richard Arkwright, and James Cook - Hartley Coleridge makes a distinction between biography as part of public history and as personal, local or family history: these sketches definitely fall into the latter category.

In this light-hearted book, the classical scholar J. P. Mahaffy (1839-1919) analyses the art of conversation in the same way that a classical scholar would analyse the art of rhetoric, discussing theoretical models as well as taking examples from history and from his own social life.

Although widely acclaimed today, John Keats (1795-1821) was often considered personally unsavoury and poetically underwhelming in his own time. Published in 1848, this two-volume collection of his letters, edited by Richard Monckton Milnes (1809-85), reveals the poet's true colours. Volume 2 focuses on his final years, incorporating his literary remains.

This three-volume collection of historical ballads, compiled by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), achieved great popularity upon its publication in 1765. It generated much interest in the genre, undented by Percy's oft-criticised editorial practices. Volume 1 includes 'The Ballad of Chevy Chase', 'The Jew's Daughter', and a ballad of Robin Hood.

In this two-volume memoir of 1906, William Michael Rossetti (1829-1919) provides an unparalleled glimpse into the dynamics of the Rossetti family, dealing with his own childhood and that of his siblings, the genesis of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and friendships with many outstanding cultural figures of the Victorian age.

The writer and society hostess Hester Lynch Piozzi (1741-1821) is best remembered as a friend and biographer of Samuel Johnson. This enlarged second edition of her autobiographical writings, edited by the essayist Abraham Hayward (1801-84) and incorporating correspondence, marginalia and poetry, was published in 1861.

Although widely acclaimed today, John Keats (1795-1821) was often considered personally unsavoury and poetically underwhelming in his own time. Published in 1848, this two-volume collection of his letters, edited by Richard Monckton Milnes (1809-85), reveals the poet's true colours. Volume 1 charts his early life up to 1819.

These 1837 reminiscences of Bristol bookseller Joseph Cottle (1770-1853), publisher of the Lyrical Ballads in 1798, have been described as 'unreliable but essential'. They contain evasions and distortions, but are valuable for their account of vital years in the lives of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey and William Wordsworth.

This two-volume biography, first published in 1780 and reissued here in the second edition of the same year, explores the life and times of the most important actor of his age, who as theatre manager at Drury Lane shaped the repertoire of the London stage. Volume 1 covers the years 1717-63.

First published in 1863, this work by Julia Kavanagh traces the contribution of English women writers from the seventeenth century to the development of the modern novel. Volume 1 contains biographical sketches and evaluates the work of Aphra Behn, Sarah Fielding, Madame D'Arblay (Fanny Burney), Charlotte Smith and Ann Radcliff.

This translation of the saga of the earls of Orkney was published in 1873. Joseph Anderson provides a lengthy introduction, discussing the geography of the islands, and using literary and archaeological material to put the work, which is written in Icelandic and dates from between 1170 and 1220, in context.

Alfred Bunn published these memoirs of his theatrical career in 1840. His account is written with a verve which makes it very readable, and provides a fascinating account of the period when Bunn was running both the Theatre Royal at Drury Lane and the Opera House at Covent Garden.

A detailed account by the secretary to the festival committee of the extensive Tercentenary celebrations of Shakespeare's birth held in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1864. The jubilee, inspired by Garrick's of 1769, included performances of several of the plays in a specially built pavilion on the Paddock in Southern Lane. There was also a banquet, a ball, fireworks, church services, a pageant and several concerts. Planning was fraught with difficulties and disagreements such as the committee's refusal to provide the pageant (organised in the end by the townsfolk) and walked a financial tightrope. The event nevertheless was a success and paved the way for the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, opened in 1879. A short biography of the playwright, with an assessment of previous biographies, a topographical narrative of the town and description of the three previous jubilees held there (especially Garrick's) provide context and the perspective of the time.

Published in 1866, this is a meticulous, encyclopaedic listing of almost every word, place and character in Shakespeare's works. A must-have for every student of English literature, it is also an unparalleled guide for those left in the dark by Shakespearean English. James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820-1889), a renowned scholar, antiquarian, and collector of books on Shakespeare, provided entries for even the manners, customs and proverbs of the Bard's time. Despite the author's disclaimer about some of the 'hastily' prepared entries, the Index remains a monumental scholarly feat of the late nineteenth century. Halliwell not only cross-referenced every entry with the play it appeared in, but also included a list of actors who originally performed in the plays, together with locations and plot sources. With over 5000 annotated references, A Shakespeare Index is still one of the most practical and instructive guides to understanding Shakespearean English.

Gerald Massey's work of 1888 presented a strong argument against the many theorists who viewed Shakespeare's Sonnets as autobiographical - 'a permanent reply to Shakespeare's misinterpreters'. Beginning by outlining the known background and context of the Sonnets, Massey proceeds to wage what he terms his 'battle against fictions, fallacies, forgeries, and groundless assumptions'. Who were the Sonnets addressed to, if anyone, and what is the significance of the inscription in the edition of 1609? What is the correct arrangement of the Sonnets, and why did Shakespeare himself give personal testimony to their 'purity'? Following detailed descriptions of the many different theories, Massey provides close readings and analysis of the Sonnets themselves to dispute the autobiographical claims, and to demonstrate that the Sonnets are 'partly personal and partly dramatic'.

Dowden's critical study of 1875 approaches Shakespeare from the human side, showing how Shakespeare the man is visible through his art. Moving from Shakespeare's early plays to his late period, and grouping the plays according to key stages in his career, the book traces the growth of Shakespeare's intellect and character from youth to full maturity. Dowden does not seek to align Shakespeare with any particular single character from his plays, but sees aspects of Shakespeare in many of his dramatic creations, demonstrating how Shakespeare represents many different sides of human life. The reader is provided with an insight into the questions at the forefront of Shakespeare's mind, his most intense moments of inspiration and his discoveries about human life. Outlining the differences between the youthful Shakespeare and Shakespeare as a mature and experienced man, the book enables us to better understand Shakespeare's character and genius.

Helena Faucit Martin, one of the leading stage actresses of the early nineteenth century, played several Shakespearean roles. When she began expressing her opinions on her favourite women characters in letters to her friends, they urged her to publish them. The result is a series of fascinating, candid and informed sketches of seven of Shakespeare's well-known female characters, featuring Ophelia, Juliet, Portia, Imogen, Desdemona, Rosalind and Beatrice, which was published in 1885. Faucit's writings are distinctive, in that she approaches her subjects not as a critic of drama, but as someone who has 'thought their thoughts and spoken their words'. She treats Shakespeare's characters as beings with a life outside the stage, as figures for herself and other women to look up to as guides, friends and mirrors for their own lives. Among the letters in the volume are those written to Faucit's eminent friends, Robert Browning and John Ruskin.

The writings in this collection first appeared in Bentley's Miscellany, the well-known nineteenth-century journal whose first editor was Charles Dickens. Their author, William Maginn, was widely acknowledged as one of the most eccentric and brilliant periodical writers of his time. This volume, consisting of two parts, was put together by his friends and well-wishers after his death in 1842. The first part, The Shakespeare Papers, features eight essays that display Maginn's brilliantly tangential and often counter-intuitive approach to Shakespearean characters and includes his views on Falstaff, Jacques, Romeo, Bottom, Lady Macbeth, Timon of Athens, Polonius and Iago. The second part, Pictures Grave and Gay, consists of four short stories peopled with eccentric characters and brimming with Maginn's odd wit. The spectrum of writing contained in this volume gives the reader a rich harvest of literary nuggets that is both historical and timeless.

The Reverend Matthew Albert Bayfield (1852-1922) published this study at the end of his life after a long career as classical scholar, editor of Greek tragedies and headmaster of several public schools. He gives an account of the structure and characteristic features of Shakespeare's dramatic verse and argues that it has been fundamentally misunderstood by other scholars. In particular, he analyses the use of contractions or abbreviations found in the Folio and Quartos and continued in the editions of his own time. He weighs up which of the contractions familiar from many editions were actually Shakespeare's, and what that reveals about how Shakespeare might have intended his prose and verse to be spoken. Bayfield's many appendices evaluating the metre of specific lines and his detailed linguistic analysis remain thought-provoking for modern editors and scholars of Shakespeare.

Entertaining and informative, this 1956 anthology paints a vivid picture of the world in which Shakespeare lived. Using the playwright's life as the framework - his birth, his education, his move to London, his life in theatre, his death - the book uses selected extracts from key Elizabethan publications to embody the atmosphere of this period. From sport to superstition, from festival to fashion, from the plague to playhouses, the significant features of the age are described through its prose, providing the reader with first-hand accounts of the conditions in which Shakespeare's masterpieces were created. All chapters are prefaced with illustrative Shakespearean quotations; the collection representing a commentary on the work as well as the life of Shakespeare. All texts have been modernised to assist the reader, and a glossary is included which explains names, unfamiliar words and difficult passages.

The critic, essayist and painter William Hazlitt (1778-1830) published and lectured widely on English literature, from Elizabethan drama to reviews of the latest work of his own time. His first extended work of literary criticism was Characters of Shakespeare's Plays, published in 1817. This volume from 1908 takes the text of the first edition and adds notes explaining complex terms to readers and an introduction by J. H. Lobban, a lecturer in English at Birkbeck College. As such it is the ideal introduction to Hazlitt's criticism. Hazlitt's political view of Shakespeare drew the ire of the Tory Quarterly review, whose hostile review destroyed sales of the second edition. The work remains of value, however, both as a contribution to the study of Shakespeare and, as with all of Hazlitt's prose, as a model of an elegant, persuasive essay.