Biography Books

There and Back Again; J.R.R. Tolkien and the Origins of The Hobbit, by Mark Atherton. Published by I. B. Tauris & Co Ltd, London and New York. ...

A contemporary biography of one of the founding figures of the British Labour movement, J. Keir Hardie chronicles the life and career of the pionee...

Volume I of the Sixth Series of Chambers's Journal, covering December 1897 to November 1898, marking the beginning of a new era for one of Britain'...

The Scots Magazine was Scotland's leading eighteenth-century periodical and remains one of the richest contemporary records of the political, socia...

The Plays of William Shakespeare. Edited and Annotated by Charles and Mary Cowden Clarke. Illustrated by H.C. Selous. In 3 Volumes, complete; The C...

William Wallace's Kant provides an accessible introduction to the life, ideas and lasting influence of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant. Writte...

James Hutchison Stirling's The Text-Book to Kant is a substantial guide to some of the most challenging sections of Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pur...

Tolkien; Maker of Middle-Earth, by Catherine McIlwaine. Published by the Bodleian Library, Oxford, 2018. Reprint - first printed in the same year. ...

The Making of Middle-Earth; The Worlds of Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings, by Christopher Snyder. Published by Union Square & Co., New York, ...

Saltire Self Portraits; Alasdair Gray.  A concise autobiographical work by Alasdair Gray, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in m...

The Life of Sir Isaac Newton by Sir David Brewster is one of the classic nineteenth century biographies of Newton and the first substantial life of...

Essays on the Life and Work of Newton brings together three of Augustus De Morgan's most important essays on Sir Isaac Newton, edited with notes an...

J.R.R. Tolkien; A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter is the first full authorised biography of one of the twentieth century's most influential authors...

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien presents a carefully selected collection of the author's correspondence, edited by Humphrey Carpenter with the assist...

Scottish Book Collector, Vol. 2, Issue 3, February/March 1990, including Alasdair Gray's Storyboard for the film of Lanark An interesting issue of ...

A substantial and visually impressive celebration of the imagination and legacy of Douglas Adams, bringing together a wide-ranging exploration of t...

A substantial scholarly reference set devoted to the life, writings, and critical reception of George Eliot, bringing together a wide-ranging selec...

Arctic Adventure is the memoir of the Danish explorer, writer and anthropologist Peter Freuchen, one of the twentieth century's best-known Arc...

Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) was one of the most influential poets and literary voices of the twentieth century, known for her intensely personal and p...

Cultural Amnesia by Clive James is an expansive and highly personal work of literary and cultural criticism, first published in 2007. Structured th...

Acts of Light brings together selected poems by Emily Dickinson with luminous colour paintings by Nancy Ekholm Burkert, accompanied by an appreciat...

Minority Report; H. L. Mencken's Notebooks by H. L. Mencken is a posthumous collection of the author's private notebooks, first published in 1956. ...

With Malice Toward Some by Margaret Halsey is a humorous travel memoir first published in 1938, recounting the author’s experiences in Britain (and...

The work of David Roberts (1796-1864) remains among the most celebrated visual records of the Near East produced in the nineteenth century. Based o...

The work of W. W. Jacobs (1863–1943) occupies a distinctive place in late Victorian and early twentieth-century literature, combining humour, chara...

The life and travels of Isabella Bird (1831-1904) are among the most remarkable of the nineteenth century, and this biography by Anna M. Stoddart o...

The works of Isabella Bird (1831–1904) remain among the most vivid and engaging travel narratives of the nineteenth century. Among the Tibetans off...

First Man; The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, by James R. Hansen. Published by Simon & Schuster UK, London, 2005. 1st Uk edition. A fine red cloth ...

Lettres de Vincent Van Gogh à Émile Bernard presents a selection of correspondence from Vincent van Gogh to fellow artist Émile Bernard, offering a...

A Sketch of a Tour on the Continent by James Edward Smith is an engaging early nineteenth-century travel account, first published in 1793 and prese...

First published in 1823, the Memoirs of General Count Rapp provide a vivid first-hand account of the Napoleonic era from one of the Emperor’s most ...

Captain Gronow’s lively recollections of Regency and early Victorian society remain one of the most engaging first-hand accounts of life in the cam...

The Hermits by Charles Kingsley is a series of engaging historical and biographical sketches exploring the lives of early Christian ascetic...

The collected works of Antoine Hamilton (c.1646–1720), the Franco-Irish court writer best known for his elegant and often playful prose, co...

In the Footprints of Charles Lamb, by Benjamin Ellis Martin, is a richly illustrated literary topography tracing the life and world of Char...

Charles Lamb; A Memoir, by Barry Cornwall (the pen name of Bryan Waller Procter), offers an early and affectionate account of one of the mo...