About the Collection
The British Romanticism materials in Terrell Special Collections are a varied gathering of works by Robert Burns, William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Hannah More, Leigh Hunt, and others. There are currently hundreds of works from the time period of the 1780s to 1850 in Special Collections including early editions in both original and fine bindings. These are too numerous to list beyond significant concentrations around a single author.
William Wordsworth
The history of the accumulation of Romantic poetry and later novels within our holdings is as old and as complex as the library itself. The Romantics' new way of looking at the world obviously appealed to a public craving and reveals itself in the multiple editions, posthumous "Works" collections, and the large numbers in which these books survive today. Numbers alone are significant, but the expensive treasure bindings, gift inscriptions, and pressed flowers are also excellent indicators that the readers bestowed a special significance on their personal copies of a favorite poet.