English 4/805B:
Romantic and Early Victorian Novels

Stephen C. Behrendt
319 Andrews; 472-1806
office: 11-12 and 2-3 TR
and by appointment

sbehrendt1@unl.edu
Email Stephen C. Behrendt

Spring 2006

A Circulating Library, c. 1813                                                        

The Corvey Novels Project

Some Resources for the Corvey Novelists project

There are several important research tools and resources that you should know about when you begin work on your Corvey Novel project. I will list and explain here several of the most important of these, all of which you can find at Love Library.

All of the following resources are in the REFERENCE COLLECTION, located in the second-floor "link" in Love Library. The single exception is the three-volume portion of the Alvin Sullivan compilation, British Literary Magazines (described below). I have placed these on three-day reserve at the Circulation Desk.

Short-title Catalogue of the "Edition Corvey." This lists all the novels in the Corvey Collection, alphabetically by author, and gives rudimentary bibliograhical information from the title pages. Unattributed novels are listed first, as "Anonymous." Novels with clear indications of authorship on their title pages are alphabetized under their authors' names. Novels without clear author information on their title pages but which have been tentatively attributed are listed alphabetically by the supposed authors' names.
REF
PN 6013
.E35
1998

For information about the novel itself, including its publication history, see the very important bibliographical study:

The English novel, 1770-1829 : a bibliographical survey of prose fiction published in the British Isles / general editors, Peter Garside, James Raven, and Rainer Schöwerling (Oxford: Clarendon P, 2000)
REF
PR851
E655
2000

These two volumes are arranged chronologically by year, and then alphabetically (by author) within each year. There are indices and other search tools. The entries tell you when and where the novel was published (together with its full title, which often provides valuable information); they also tell you about subsequent printings and editions of the novel (which information is a rough guide to its circulation and "longevity"); they tell you where copies are located; and they often tell you when and where the novel was reviewed (or otherwise noticed) in the contemporary periodical press.

Another way to trace the publication history is through the National Union Catalogue, an enormous (nearly 800 volumes!), cumbersome, but fascinating collection of photostatic reprints of library cards from libraries throughout the United States. Here you will find information about most (if not all) editions that were produced worldwide. You can use this to locate a "hard copy" if you want to try to get one by Interlibrary Loan, as well as to see when and where subsequent editions appeared. You will also see here many American editions. Since America had no copyright law until late in the 19th century, American publishers could – and did – publish editions of British (and other) novels without paying any sort of royalties or other fees to the author or her or his British publisher. Because this arrangement gave the publisher literally free access to these volumes (since the author got nothing), these printings came to be known as "pirated" editions. You will see that American publishers learned early on how to get the largest profit with the smallest outlay of capital . . .

REF
Z881.A1
N28

There is a British counterpart to the National Union Catalogue, though not nearly so comprehensive (or big); it is based on the holdings of the British Library. However, there is a better resource:  you can now search the on-line catalogue of the British Library. When you get there, click on "Search our catalogues," find your way to the "Integrated Catalogue," and simply follow the instructions.

For information about where the novel was reviewed in its time, here is an excellent starting-point:
William S. Ward: Literary Reviews in British Periodicals, 1798-1826: A Bibliography.

There are three volumes (Volume 2 is in two parts):
Vol 1: 1789-1797    Vol 2: 1798-1820    Vol 3: 1820-1826
REF                         REF                         REF
PR442                     PR442                     PR442
W347x                    W348x                    W349x

Ward scoured the contemporary periodical press in an effort to identify and locate every review or other mention of literary works published in Great Britain in the period spanned by 1789-1826. He did not in fact locate every one, but he seems to have gotten very nearly all of them. The volumes are arranged alphabetically by author, and under each author by titles of the works. The entries list the name of the reviewing periodical, with complete bibliographical information (volume, year, page numbers, etc). With these entries in hand you can go to the Microforms Room, where the microforms card catalogue (or a helpful staff person) will lead you to the correct roll of microfilm (or, occasionally, a microfiche or mircrocard), where you can read a filmed copy of the original review. In the process you will inevitably find yourself browsing – and I guarantee that you will find much that is interesting, fascinating, eye-opening, and often a bit shocking. What we think of as "reviews" these days are often very much a matter of skim milk when compared with the vinegar and vitriol you are likely to find in these often politically and ideologically motivated reviews.

Did I say politically and ideologically motivated? Oh, yes indeed! Even more so than today, the periodical press (and its reviewers) formed a very political – and politicized – sort of public organ. Many periodicals were financed (and staffed) by various factions of the Tory (conservative/royalist) or Whig (liberal/enfranchisist) parties, if not by the main parties themselves. Others were organs of the Church of England and/or other religious denominations and sects. Still other were allied with various political "movements," often radical in nature. These orientations dictated, in many if not most cases, how a work was reviewed. In reviews of literary works, the reviews are often blatantly political and ideological in nature, and the praise – and the attacks – are often highly personal in nature and usually done with all the subtlety and grace of a chain-saw murderer.

You'll see. . .

To get a clearer sense of the political, ideological, religious, socio-economic, and (even, sometimes–gasp!) aesthetic or artistic agendas associated with various periodicals, you should consult a wonderful set of volumes edited by Alvin Sullivan:
British Literary Magazines. Ed. Alvin Sullivan (Westport, CT: Greenwood P, 1983-)
PN5124
L6B74
1983
Vol 1: The Augustan Age
Vol 2: The Romantic Era
Vol 3: The Victorian Period
Each volume has essays on individual periodicals (e. g., The British Critic, The Champion, La Belle Assemblee, The Edinburgh Review, etc.). The essays discuss the whole history of the periodical, from start to finish, and examine the roles of the editors and financial supporters, the journal's changing politics (some go back and forth between leftist and rightist positions), the journal's editorial policies and principles, its main subject interests, its intended and actual audiences, etc. Most essays also have complete bibliographical information covering the entire life of the periodical.

This sort of resource is especially valuable in helping you interpret the reviews that you find, because those reviews are so often mere vehicles for other issues, and the Sullivan essays will help you understand what those issues were and how they figured in each journal's reviewing practices.

Microforms Card Catalogue. This is located in the Microforms Room, where you will also find machines that will laser-print paper copies from microfiche and microfilm. There are also facilities for copying individual sheets of microfiche, as well as other valuable microforms research tools and supplies. Also – and this is a very big plus for you – the Microforms Room staff is excellent, helpful, and skilled at everything from helping you find materials to threading the rolls of microfilm onto the readers (something that often drives me up the wall. . .).

Some Biographical Resources.

I encourage you to start with the Dictionary of National Biography (or DNB).
REF
DA28
D4
This is an old resource; the first edition was done around 1920, and its literary judgements are often as dated as its gender politics. But the entries are done exceedingly well, and with the characteristic British care for accurate detail.

Since some of you will be working with women authors, you may also wish to consult
The Feminist companion to literature in English : women writers from the Middle Ages to the present. Ed. Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements, and Isobel Grundy (New Haven : Yale UP,1990)
REF
PR111
B57
1990

The entries here cover all periods, but there is usually at least something on the authors from our period, and, taken together with other source materials, these brief entries can help keep you "on track" when it comes to countering the often highly gendered "slant" apparent in more traditional biographical resources.