Fiction in English

The Library did not concentrate on collecting fiction in any serious way until the 1960s. Despite this there is now a substantial amount of 18th- and 19th-century fiction. Particular attention is given to the acquisition of works by Irish authors and of Irish printed editions. The Department now keeps the legal deposit copies of modern Anglo-Irish fiction.

There are particular strengths in the editions of J. Swift, Gulliver’s travels and O. Goldsmith, The vicar of Wakefield.

Other authors who are well represented are:

• Maria Edgeworth
• Sir Walter Scott
• Lady Morgan

Popular fiction is collected and there are good holdings of works published in such series as the Parlour Library, the Tauchnitz Collection, and Bentley’s Standard Novels.