Archive Advent Calendar: 10 December 2013

I promised something “dark and racy” yesterday to wash down our Beeton’s Christmas pudding and here it is.  The brewer and philanthropist Edward Cecil Guinness (1847-1927) appears in the Library’s membership records in 1879 when he was the owner of the second largest brewery in the world. An astonishing businessman with good looks, intelligence and flair Guinness matched his staggering entrepreneurship with a keen eye for social welfare.  In the yearDracula hit the booksellers he established the Guinness Trust for housing the poor in London and Dublin and his philanthropic works gathered apace thereafter.

Guinness is followed in the membership records by another businessman philanthropist whose brand also continues to today Thomas Wall (1846-1930).  The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography describes Wall as “Philanthropist and sausage entrepreneur”.  Note his address -113 Jermyn Street just round the corner from the Library in the spot currently occupied by Rowley’s. Wall’s firm had a royal warrant – his father supplied sausages (albeit enriched with her chef’s own seasoning) to Queen Victoria.

Check in tomorrow for a decidedly theatrical outing from the membership records…

© Helen O’Neill        Archive, Heritage and Development Librarian

Introduction

Join us for an archival countdown to Christmas as Helen O’Neill,  Archive Heritage and Development Librarian treats us every week-day between now and Christmas Eve to a small tasty nugget from the archive…

An archival countdown to Christmas…

9 December 2013

Over the next three weeks join me for an advent calendar with a difference. Between now and Christmas Eve I will be opening small windows onto the Library’s literary and cultural past by unveiling from the archive past London Library members.  To get the ball rolling on these short but quick fire blogs I’m starting with a name synonymous with Christmas – Beeton.

The membership ledgers reveal the publisher Samuel Orchart Beeton joined the London Library in 1863.  He had established himself as a publisher in partnership with Charles H. Clarke when he was just 21 and capitalized on an early opportunity to publish Uncle Tom’s Cabinthe staggeringly successful novel by the then unknown American Harriet Beecher Stowe.  Beeton was innovative and prolific publisher and editor.  A supporter of women’s suffrage it is perhaps no surprise that his wife also played a role in the success of the company – commuting with her husband to work. The breadth of the Beeton publishing empire is clearly visible in advertisements in The Times on December 23 1863 in which the following Beeton titles appear:

Beeton’s Robinson Crusoe Penny parts
Beeton’s Christmas Annual
Beeton’s Dictionaries of Reference
Beeton’s Garden Management
Beeton’s Home Games
Beeton’s Home Pets
Beeton’s Household Management
Boy’s Monthly Magazine
Boy’s Own Library
Boy’s Own Magazine
Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine

Isabella Beeton’s took four years to write the most abiding of these titlesHousehold Management and it laid the groundwork for many a cookbook that was to follow – ingredients given first then instructions accompanied by colour illustrations: but it was a great deal more than a recipe book. The eldest girl of a household of twenty-one children in her youth Mrs Beeton’s clear and meticulous recipes were augmented by common sense advice on all things domestic from understanding cuts of meat to recognizing and administering to childhood diseases or hiring domestic staff. The book was a staggering runaway success.  She died when she was 28 but the Mrs Beeton name continued as a hugely successful brand that it is still recognised today.

Check in tomorrow when I will be sluicing down the Christmas pudding with another archival helping in the shape of a glass of something “dry and racy”.

From its foundation in 1841, the London Library has aimed to maintain a representative collection of literature in all major European languages and German language books have been extensively collected from the beginning. Thomas Carlyle, the founder of the London Library, who had a personal interest in German literature and history, admired Goethe, corresponded with him and promoted interest in him in Britain. Already at the Library’s founding several German books were donated by Prince Albert. In fact, the 1842 London Library catalogue mentions “a valuable selection of the best German authors from his Royal Highness Prince Albert, the Patron of the Institution”. Also, this catalogue already includes Goethe’s, Schiller’s and Jean-Paul’s collected works.

At present the London Library holds a remarkably extensive collection of German language books, with an especially rich collection of German literature. Indeed, the German literature section is now the largest of the foreign language sections in the collections. The German literature collection includes all major works and authors that span from ca. 800 (e.g. Hildebrandslied) to the present day. Alongside the latest publications, in the open-access stacks members can find borrowable copies of a wide range of 19th and 20th century editions of German novels and short stories, as well as poetry, drama and essays. The Library has maintained its holdings of the writings of established authors from the late 19th-early 20th centuries, many of whom are not easily available elsewhere.

There is an active acquisitions policy for contemporary German literature and fiction. When possible, collected works are acquired, and the most well-known and well-established authors are covered by several editions. The Library is rich in German classical literature, and the best represented author is Goethe. The Library possesses numerous editions of his collected works, from Goethes Werke : vollständige Ausgabe letzter Hand (Stuttgart: Cotta, 1827-1842) to Hamburger Ausgabe (Hamburg: Christian Wegner Verlag, 1949-1960) and Münchner Ausgabe (München: Hanser, c1985-c1998). Schiller is also represented by several editions of collected works, from Sämmtliche Werke (Stuttgart: Cotta, 1812-1815) to Schillers Werke: Nationalausgabe. Other important 18th and 19th century authors, such as Novalis, Wackenroder, Wieland, Auerbach, Heyse and many others, are also represented in contemporary and modern editions. Same stands true for the 20th century authors, and the Library possesses, for example, Brecht’s Werke: grosse kommentierte Berliner und Frankfurter Ausgabe and Kafka’s Schriften, Tagebücher, Briefe : kritische Ausgabe, and is subscribing to the literary works of Thomas Mann in Grosse kommentierte Frankfurter Ausgabe. Although the emphasis is on literature from the 18th century onwards, the Library holds editions of the most important medieval and early modern German works, and subscribes to Münchener Texte und Untersuchungen zur deutschen Literatur des Mittelalters.

The London Library holds several especially treasured editions of German literature, among which there is a copy of Randzeichnungen zu Goethe’s Balladen und Romanzen (1829-1830) that was sent as a gift from Goethe to Thomas Carlyle. The copy is beautifully illustrated by Eugen Napoleon Neureuther, of whose talent Carlyle had a high opinion. Notable first editions include the 1773 edition of Goethe’s Götz von Berlichingen mit der eisernen Hand, as well as the 1795 edition of his Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. An example of a modern first edition possessed by the Library is Herman Hesse’s 1927 edition Steppenwolf.

As part of the Retrospective Cataloguing Project, pre-1950 German literature editions are currently in the process of being transferred to the Library’s online catalogue. All German works of fiction (e.g. individual novels and short stories), as well as post-1950 editions of German literature (e.g. collected works, individual works of poetry) are searchable on the Library’s online catalogue.

Seit ihrer Gründung im Jahre 1841 hat es sich die London Library zur Aufgabe gemacht, eine repräsentative Sammlung von Literatur in allen wichtigen europäischen Sprachen aufzubauen und deutsche Bücher wurden von Anfang an gesammelt. Thomas Carlyle, der Gründer der London Library, der ein persönliches Interesse an deutscher Literatur und Geschichte hatte, bewunderte Goethe, korrespondierte mit ihm und förderte das Interesse an ihm in Großbritannien. Bereits bei der Gründung der London Library wurden mehrere deutsche Bücher von Prince Albert gespendet. Bereits der Katalog der London Library aus dem Jahre 1842 erwähnt “eine wertvolle Auswahl der besten deutschen Autoren von seiner Königlichen Hoheit Prinz Albert, dem Schirmherrn der Institution“.  Auch die gesammelten Werke von Goethe, Schiller und Jean-Paul beinhaltet dieser Katalog bereits.

Heute enthält die London Library eine bemerkenswerte und umfangreiche Sammlung von Büchern in deutscher Sprache, mit besonders reichhaltigen Beständen auf dem Gebiet der deutschen Literatur. Tatsächlich ist die Abteilung Deutsche Literatur heute das größte aller nicht-englischsprachigen Sachgebiete in der gesamten Sammlung. Die Sammlung umfasst alle wichtigen Werke und Autoren, von ca. 800 (z.B. Hildebrandslied) bis zum heutigen Tag. Neben den neuesten Veröffentlichungen können Nutzer der Bibliothek auf einen umfangreichen Bestand von Ausgaben deutscher Prosa und Lyrik des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts zugreifen und ausleihen. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit hat die Bibliothek ihrem Bestand an Schriften von bekannten und weniger bekannten Autoren aus dem späten 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert gepflegt, und viele dieser Werke sind mittlerweile Raritäten, die sich in dieser Dichte selten finden.

Die London Library unterhält einen umfangreichen Akquisitionsplan für zeitgenössische deutsche Literatur und Belletristik. Wenn möglich, werden in erster Linie Werkausgaben erworben, und die bekanntesten und etablierten Autoren werden von mehreren Ausgaben abgedeckt. Die Bibliothek ist reich an klassischer deutscher Literatur, und der am prominentesten vertretene Autor ist Goethe. Die Bibliothek hat zahlreiche Ausgaben seiner gesammelten Werke,  von Goethes Werke: Vollständige Ausgabe letzter Hand (Stuttgart: Cotta, 1827-1842) zuHamburger Ausgabe (Hamburg: Christian Wegner Verlag, 1949-1960) und Münchner Ausgabe (München: Hanser, c1985 -c1998). Auch Schiller ist mit einigen Ausgaben der Gesammelten Werke vertreten, von Sämmtliche Werke (Stuttgart: Cotta, 1812-1815) zu Schillers Werke: Nationalausgabe. Weitere wichtige Autoren des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts wie Novalis, Wackenroder, Wieland, Auerbach, Heyse und viele andere, sind auch in der zeitgenössischen und modernen Ausgaben vertreten. Dies gilt auch für die Autoren des 20. Jahrhunderts, und die Bibliothek besitzt besispielsweise Brechts Werke: grosse Kommentierte Berliner und Frankfurter Ausgabe und KafkasSchriften, Tagebücher, Briefe: Kritische Ausgabe, und abonniert die literarischen Werke von Thomas Mann in der Grossen kommentierten Frankfurter Ausgabe. Obwohl der Schwerpunkt der Sammlung auf der Literatur ab dem 18. Jahrhundert liegt, enthält die Bibliothek auch Ausgaben der wichtigsten mittelalterlichen und frühneuzeitlichen deutschen Werke und abonniert die Münchener Texte und Untersuchungen zur deutschen Literatur des Mittelalters.

Die London Library enthält mehrere besonders wertvolle Ausgaben der deutschen Literatur, unter ihnen eine Kopie der Randzeichnungen zu Goethe’s Balladen und Romanzen (1829-1830), ein persönliches Geschenk Goethes an Thomas Carlyle, den ‚Vater‘ der London Library. Das Exemplar wurde wunderschön von Eugen Napoleon Neureuther illustriert, von dessen Talent Carlyle eine hohe Meinung hatte. Zu den bemerkenswertesten Erstausgaben im Bestand gehören die Ausgabe von Goethes Götz von Berlichingen mit der eisernen Hand aus dem Jahre 1773 sowie die Auflage seines Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre von 1795. Ein Beispiel für eine moderne Erstausgabe im Besitz der Bibliothek ist Herman Hesses Steppenwolf aus dem Jahre 1927.

Als Teil des Projekts zur retrospektiven Katalogisierung der London Library werden die vor 1950 erschienenen deutsche Literaturwerke gegenwärtig in den Online Katalog übertragen. Alle deutschen belletristischen Werke (z.B. einzelne Romane und Kurzgeschichten), sowie generell sämtliche Ausgaben der deutschen Literatur seit 1950 (z.B. Gesammelte Werke, einzelne Werke der Poesie) sind bereits jetzt zeit- und ortsunabhängig im Online Katalog der London Library recherchier- und bestellbar.

By Anna Gonzalez-Fort

The Spanish literature collection is one of the largest foreign language literature collections in the Library and is actively added to with works by contemporary Spanish writers. Alongside the latest publications, in the open-access stacks members can find borrowable copies of a wide range of 20th, 19th and even some 18th century editions of Spanish novels and short stories, as well as poetry, drama and essays.

The collection spans from the 13th century with the “Cantar de Mio Cid” to the present day with authors such as Javier Marías or Almudena Grandes.

Editions of medieval Spanish literature held by the London Library cover works from the religious poetry of Gonzalo de Berceo to the works of the Infante Don Juan Manuel with his “El Conde Lucanor” or Juan Ruiz, Arcipreste de Hita with his “Libro de Buen Amor”. The transition of the medieval period to the Renaissance is also represented with the hybrid work between novel and theatrical play, “La Celestina”, by Fernando de Rojas.

From the period between the 15-17th centuries, known as the Spanish Golden Age due to the great flourishing in poetry, prose and drama, we can find poetic works such as the ones by Garcilaso de la Vega and San Juan de la Cruz; some examples of picaresque novel such as the “Lazarillo de Tormes” or “El Buscón” by Francisco de Quevedo, or what is considered to be the first modern European novel, “El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha”, by Miguel de Cervantes, of which the library possesses several editions.

But the most remarkable collection from this Golden Age period that is held by the London Library is the Spanish Plays collection. It is one of the largest collections of Spanish plays outside of Spain, consisting of almost 1,500 editions mostly bound into over 100 pamphlet volumes. The collection contains printed editions of a wide variety of different kinds of play, including pastorals, the one-act religious pieces known in Spanish as autos, other religious dramas, full-length comedies, tragedies, and tragicomedies, operas, interludes (entremeses), and sundry examples of the other minor genres associated with the great age of the Spanish stage. Most of the leading figures from the 17th century are represented in the collection: Antonio Mira de Amescua, Juan Ruiz de Alarcón y Mendoza, Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla, etc. Of particular interest to researchers are the holdings of Lope de Vega (c. 100), Calderón de la Barca (180), and Tirso de Molina (51). The collection is particularly rich in rare eighteenth-century Lope sueltas.

The 18th century saw the Age of Enlightment with the essays of Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos and the theatre of Leandro Fernández de Moratín, which lead to the Romanticism and the Realism of the 19th century with authors such as José de Espronceda, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, José Zorrilla, Emilia Pardo Bazán and Benito Pérez Galdós, whose main works can be found at the library stacks.

A substantial part of the Spanish Literature collection at the London Library comes from the authors of the 20th century, both from the period pre-Spanish Civil War such as Antonio Machado, Federico García Lorca, Juan Ramón Jiménez and José Ortega y Gasset, and post-Spanish Civil War such as Camilo José Cela, Miguel Delibes, Gonzalo Torrente Ballester and Juan Marsé.

Numerous Spanish books were bequeathed to the London Library by R. B. Cunninghame Graham in 1936. He was a Scottish politician, writer, journalist and adventurer of Spanish origins (his grandmother was a Spanish noblewoman), who was strongly connected to Spain and Latin America throughout his life. The books were donated in memory of his wife, by whom the books were collected in Spain.

It is worth pointing out that the library also collects works published in the other official languages ​​of Spain: Catalan (which can be found under the separate shelfmark L. Catalan &c.), Basque (under the separate shelfmark L. Basque) and Galician. On the other hand, all works by and about Latin American authors who write in the Spanish language are also classified as part of the Spanish Literature collection.

The Spanish Literature collection has been fully transferred to the Library’s online catalogue as part of the Retrospective Cataloguing Project, and therefore it is searchable on the Library’s online catalogue.

Spanish translation

La colección de literatura española  es una de las mayores colecciones en lengua extranjera que se encuentran en la biblioteca, la cual es activamente ampliada con obras de escritores españoles contemporáneos. Junto a las últimas publicaciones, los usuarios de la biblioteca pueden encontrar ejemplares prestables de un amplio abanico de ediciones de novelas y relatos cortos en español del siglo XX, XIX e incluso XVIII, así como poesía, teatro y ensayos.

La colección abarca desde el siglo XIII con el “Cantar de Mio Cid” hasta la actualidad, con autores como Javier Marías o Almudena Grandes.

Los ejemplares de literatura medieval española que se pueden encontrar en la London Library incluyen obras desde la poesía religiosa de Gonzalo de Berceo hasta las obras del Infante Don Juan Manuel con su “El Conde Lucanor” o Juan Ruiz, Arcipreste de Hita con su “Libro de Buen Amor”. La transición del periodo medieval al Renacimiento también está representada con la obra híbrida entre novela y teatro “La Celestina”, de Fernando de Rojas.

Del período entre los siglos XV y XVII, conocidos como el Siglo de Oro debido a la gran proliferación de la prosa, la poesía y el teatro, podemos encontrar obras poéticas como las de Garcilaso de la Vega y San Juan de la Cruz; algunos ejemplos de novela picaresca como el “Lazarillo de Tormes” o “El Buscón” de Francisco de Quevedo, o la que está considerada como la primera novela europea moderna, “El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha”, de Miguel de Cervantes, de la cual la biblioteca posee varias ediciones.

Pero la colección más destacada del periodo del Siglo de Oro que se puede encontrar en la London Library es la colección de Teatro Español. Se trata de una de las más grandes colecciones de obras de teatro español fuera de España, y consiste de casi 1500 obras, la mayor parte de las cuales encuadernadas en unos 100 volúmenes facticios. La colección contiene ediciones impresas de diferentes tipos de obra, incluyendo pastorales, autos sacramentales, comedias, tragedias y tragicomedias, operas, entremeses y ejemplos diversos de otros géneros menores relacionados con la gran época del teatro español. La mayoría de los principales autores del siglo XVII están representados en la colección: Antonio Mira de Amescua, Juan Ruiz de Alarcón y Mendoza, Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla, etc. De particular interés para los investigadores son los fondos de Lope de Vega (c. 100 obras), Calderón de la Barca (180) y Tirso de Molina (51). La colección es particularmente rica en raros ejemplares de sueltas de Lope de Vega.

El siglo XVIII vio la época de la Ilustración con los ensayos de Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos y el teatro de Leandro Fernández de Moratín, que llevaron hasta el Romanticismo y el Realismo del siglo XIX con autores como José de Espronceda, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, José Zorrilla, Emilia Pardo Bazán y Benito Pérez Galdós, cuyas principales obras se pueden encontrar en las estanterías de la biblioteca.

Una gran parte de la colección de literatura española en la London Library proviene de los autores del siglo XX, tanto del periodo anterior a la Guerra Civil española  como Antonio Machado, Federico García Lorca, Juan Ramón Jiménez y José Ortega y Gasset, como posteriores a la Guerra como Camilo José Cela, Miguel Delibes, Gonzalo Torrente Ballester y Juan Marsé.

Numerosos libros en español fueron legados a la London Library por R. B. Cunninghame Graham en 1936. Éste fue un político, escritor, periodista y aventurero escocés de origen español (su abuela era una dama de la nobleza española), que estuvo fuertemente ligado a España y América Latina a lo largo de toda su vida. Los libros fueron donados en memoria de su mujer, la cual recolectó los libros en España.

Es importante señalar que la biblioteca también adquiere obras publicadas en las otras lenguas oficiales de España: catalán (que pueden encontrarse bajo la signatura L. Catalan Lit. &c.), vasco (bajo la signatura L. Basque) y gallego. Por otra parte, todas las obras de y sobre autores latinoamericanos que escriben en español también están clasificadas dentro de la colección de literatura española.

La colección de literatura española ya ha sido transferida en su totalidad al catálogo en línea de la biblioteca en el marco del Proyecto de Catalogación Retrospectiva, y por tanto se puede buscar en el catálogo de la biblioteca.

The latest blog installment in our foreign languages series focuses on the riches of our French Literature collection.
By Anna Vlasova with assistance from Anna Gonzalez-Fort.

The French collections of the London Library have developed steadily from the Library’s foundation in 1841. At present the French literature collection is one of the largest foreign language literature collections in the Library and is actively added to with contemporary French writers’ works. Alongside the latest publications, in the open-access stacks members can find borrowable copies of a wide range of 20th, 19th and even some 18th century editions of French novels and short stories, as well as poetry, drama and essays. The French literature collection includes all major works and authors that span from the 11th century (e.g. Chanson de Roland) to the present day (e.g. Michel Houellebecq).Editions of medieval French literature held by the London Library cover works from the earliest anonymous ones to the first named authors, such as Chrétien de Troyes (12th century), later Jean de Meung and Guillaume de Lorris (13th century) and Clément Marot and François Villon (15th century). The Library also holds a considerable amount of volumes of Société des anciens textes français, a series of critical editions of French medieval texts. French literature of the Renaissance period is represented with such writers as Rabelais, Marot and Ronsard. The famous 17th century playwrights, such as Corneille and Racine for tragedy and Molière for comedy are also present in the Library’s collections. The 18th century saw the appearance of the philosophers such as Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau and Montesquieu, all of whom wrote novels as well as works of philosophy and political science. Numerous editions of their oeuvres completes can be found in the French literature stacks. The names come thick and fast in the 19th century with the Romantics such as Hugo and Chateaubriand, Realists such as Balzac and Stendhal and Naturalists such as Zola. Among the 19th century poets Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Nerval and Vigny and many others can be found on the Library’s open-access stacks. In the first half of the 20th century come Proust, Mauriac, Gide, Céline, Colette, followed by Camus, Sagan, Beauvoir, Sartre, Malraux, not forgetting the Belgian Simenon, all established novelists, plus the surrealists Breton, Aragon, Apollinaire, Eluard. Editions of individual 20th century French authors are supplemented by Les Oeuvres libres: recueil littéraire mensuel ne publiant que de l’inédit (Paris : A. Fayard, 1921-1964), of which the Library has a complete set. More recent authors include Houellebecq, Beigbeder, Ben Jelloun, Maalouf, Bouraoui and Nothomb.

Numerous books, especially earlier editions, in the French literature collections contain a wealth of provenance evidence, such as bookplates, inscriptions by previous owners and donation labels. This evidence reveals fascinating details about the books’ previous whereabouts and in some cases their way into the Library’s collections. For example, a bookplate and an inscription in the ten-volume Oeuvres de monsieur Scarron (Amsterdam: Chez J. Wetstein & G. Smith, 1737) indicates it was previously owned by John Boyle, 5th Earl of Cork and 5th

Earl of Orrery (1707–1762), who bought it in Dublin in 1737. John Boyle, whose writings can be found in the London Library’s collections, was a writer, a member of the Royal Society and a close friend of Jonathan Swift (he wrote Remarks on the Life and Writings of Jonathan Swift in 1751). Œuvres dramatiques de Néricault Destouches (Paris: Imprimerie royale, 1757) originally belonged to John Towneley (1731–1813), a noted book collector from the Towneley family. The Towneley family library can be traced back to 1603, when Richard Towneley (1566–1628) had his book bindings impressed with his coat of arms and the motto Tenez Le Vray (still present on the John Towneley bookplate). The first sale of the Towneley library took place in 1813 and the second one in 1883. Evidently, Sir Edmund Gosse (1849–1928), an English poet, author and critic, as well as the Vice President of the London Library from 1922 to 1928, acquired these volumes at the second Towneley library sale and subsequently donated them to the London Library.

As part of the Retrospective Cataloguing Project , pre-1950 French literature and fiction editions are currently in the process of being transferred to the Library’s online catalogue. All French literature and fiction published after 1950 are searchable on the Library’s online catalogue.

[French translation]
La collection des ouvrages français a été constituée au fil des ans depuis 1841, date de la fondation de la London Library. C’est une des plus importantes collections parmi celles de littérature en langue étrangère; de nouvelles œuvres d’écrivains français y sont continuellement ajoutées. Non seulement les membres peuvent consulter en libre accès les dernières parutions mais ils peuvent aussi emprunter des romans et nouvelles du XXème, XIXème et même du XVIIIème ainsi que des recueils de poésie, des pièces de théâtre et des essais. La collection de littérature française comprend un large panel d’œuvres et d’auteurs marquants du XIème siècle (ex: Chanson de Roland) jusqu’à nos jours (ex: Michel Houellebecq).

La London Library détient des exemplaires de la littérature du Moyen Âge des premiers anonymes jusqu’aux auteurs tels Chrétien de Troyes (XIIème siècle), puis Jean de Meung et Guillaume de Lorris (XIIIème siècle) ou Clément Marot et François Villon (XVème siècle). La London Library détient aussi un nombre conséquent de volume de la Société des anciens textes français, une collection d’œuvres critiques de textes en français médiéval. La littérature de la Renaissance est représentée à la London Library par des auteurs tels que Rabelais, Marot et Ronsard. Les célèbres auteurs de pièces de théatre du XVIIème siècle, comme Corneille et Racine pour les tragédies et Molière pour les comédies sont aussi présents à la London Library. Le XVIIIème siècle voit apparaître des auteurs tels que Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau et Montesquieu, tous ont écrit des romans ainsi que des œuvres philosophiques et des sciences politiques. Un grand nombre de leurs ouvrages complets se trouvent dans les rayons de la collection française. Des Romantiques comme Hugo et Chateaubriand aux Réalistes tels que Balzac et Stendhal en passant par les Naturalistes avec Zola se bousculent parmi la collection française. Les ouvrages des poètes du XIXème siècle tels que ceux de Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Nerval et Vigny sont en libre accès parmi les rayons de la London Library. Tous les auteurs marquants de la première moitié du XXème siècle sont consultables à la London Library parmi lesquels Proust, Mauriac, Gide, Céline, Colette, suivis de Camus, Sagan, Beauvoir, Sartre, Malraux, sans oublier l’écrivain belge Simenon ainsi que les grands romanciers et les surréalistes tels que Breton, Aragon, Apollinaire, Eluard. La London Library comprends aussi une collection complète des Œuvres libres: recueil littéraire mensuel ne publiant que de l’inédit (Paris : A. Fayard, 1921-1964). Les auteurs les plus récents tels que Houellebecq, Beigbeder, Ben Jelloun, Maalouf, Bouraoui and Nothomb peuvent aussi être empruntés.

De nombreux ouvrages, en particulier les éditions les plus anciennes, de la collection française recèlent une large quantité d’indices et de traces de provenance comme les ex-libris, les inscriptions par les anciens propriétaires et les labels des dons. Ces informations peuvent nous éclairer sur le parcours d’un ouvrage et parfois la façon dont il a rejoint les rayons de la London Library. Par exemple, un ex-libris et une inscription dans les dix volumes Œuvres de Monsieur Scarron (Amsterdam: Chez J. Wetstein & G. Smith, 1737) indique qu’il était précédemment détenu par John Boyle, Vème comte de Cork et Vème comte d’Orrery (1707–1762), qui l’avait acheté à Dublin en 1737. John Boyle, dont les écrits se trouvent dans les collections de la London Library, était un écrivain, un membre de la Royal Society et un ami proche de Jonathan Swift (il a écrit Remarks on the Life and Writings of Jonathan Swift en 1751). Les Œuvres dramatiques de Destouches Néricault (Paris: Imprimerie royale, 1757) appartenaient à l’origine à John Towneley (1731-1813), un collectionneur de livres membre de la famille Towneley. La bibliothèque de la famille Towneley remonte à 1603, lorsque Richard Towneley (1566–1628) avait ses reliures marquées de ses armoiries et la devise Tenez Le Vray (toujours présent sur l’ex-libris de John Towneley). La première vente de la bibliothèque Towneley a eu lieu en 1813 et la seconde en 1883. Evidemment, Sir Edmund Gosse (1849–1928), un poète anglais, auteur et critique littéraire, ainsi que le vice-président de la London Library de 1922 à 1928, ont acquis ces volumes à la deuxième vente de la bibliothèque Towneley et ils en ont par la suite fait don à la bibliothèque.

Dans le cadre du Retrospective Cataloguing Project, la littérature française et les éditions de fiction publiées avant 1950 sont actuellement en cours de transfert sur le catalogue en ligne de la bibliothèque. Toute la littérature française et les éditions de fiction publiées après 1950 sont déjà consultables sur le catalogue en ligne de la Bibliothèque