Library Guides: English Literature: Standard Editions and Author-Specific Reference Sources

Standard Editions, Biographies, Correspondence, Concordances, and Bibliographies

Tips for finding the standard editions for your author: examine bibliographies of scholarly books/articles or look for scholarly reviews.

A Reference Guide for English Studies (Marcuse)
Studies (Marcuse) PR56.M37.1990
pp. 382-391, lists standard editions, etc., for canonical American authors pp. 269-286 lists standard editions, etc. for canonical British authors

This volume is several years old. New standard works may have been published since 1990. The lists in this book will provide a starting point.
Reference works in British and American literature
James Bracken identifies and describes literary reference works devoted to individual authors published up to 1996, and some from 1997. Bracken includes about 170 British and American authors from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, plus an entry for “Mystery Plays.” The volume is arranged alphabetically by author, and the author entries are subdivided into “Bibliographies,” “Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Handbooks,” “Indexes and...

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James Bracken identifies and describes literary reference works devoted to individual authors published up to 1996, and some from 1997. Bracken includes about 170 British and American authors from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, plus an entry for “Mystery Plays.” The volume is arranged alphabetically by author, and the author entries are subdivided into “Bibliographies,” “Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Handbooks,” “Indexes and Concordances,” and “Journals,” if publications are available, and each publication annotated with helpful descriptions about scope and value.

Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online
Provides biographical and critical essays on the lives, works and careers of the world’s most influential literary figures from all eras and genres. Digitized to match the look and feel of the acclaimed print originals, including thousands of images.

Critical Heritage Series
Call number varies - Library Catalog
Search tip: Execute a keyword search combining words from series title ("critical heritage") with author name ("dickens").

Historical reviews and critical essays of works by an author. One sample title: Dickens: The Critical Heritage.
Helm Information Critical Assessments series
Call number varies - check Library Catalog
Search tip: Execute a keyword search combining words from series title ("critical assessments") with author name ("bronte").

Historical reviews and critical essays of works by an author. Sample titles: Charles Dickens: Critical Assessments and The Bronte Sisters: Critical Assessments.
Bibliographies devoted to an author
Call number varies - Check Library Catlaog
Search tip: Execute a keyword search combining word "bibliography" or "guide" with bronte. Or execute a subject search on the author's name, and browse the resulting list for the subheading "Bibliography."

Bibliographies for particular authors. Sample title: Charlotte and Emily Bronte, 1846-1954: A Reference Guide.
Concordances devoted to an author
Search tip: Execute a keyword search in the library catalog combining concordance or wordlist with author's name: concordance* and bronte. Or execute a subject search on the author's name, and browse the resulting list for the subheading "Concordances."

May need to truncate concordance to pick up both concordance and concordances.
Correspondence devoted to an author
Search tip: Execute a keyword search in the library catalog combining word correspondence or letters with author's name: (correspondence or letters) and bronte*. Or execute a subject search on the author's name, and browse the resulting list for the subheading "Correspondence."

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Standard Editions, Biographies, Correspondence, Concordances, and Bibliographies