Guides and databases: English: Books and E-books

Books and e-books

The English Collection is on the first floor of the Main Library in the Wilkins building. The collection covers English and American language and literature across all time periods and genres.

The Literature collection is along the North corridor that leads to the English Collection, this contains literary topics not specific to a national literature, such as literary theory and comparative literature. It also includes literary works translated into English from other languages.

UCL Explore is the main tool to find books, journals and other materials (either in print or online) held in UCL libraries. On the catalogue, you will find the location details of the materials you are looking for: Library, Collection and Shelfmark.

The books are arranged according to the Garside Classification system, here is further information about the organisation in the English Collection and the Literature collection.

For further help with finding, using and citing e-books, take a look at our Electronic books (e-books) Guide.

A rt includes Film Studies.
H istory
Modern Languages: for language and literature collections in Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romance, German, Germanic and Scandinavian languages (including Faroese),
Philosophy
Translation Studies: materials on translation theory and literary translation.

The Language & Speech Science (LASS) Library holds materials to support the study of Language and Linguistics.

School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) library: includes major holdings of the history and literature of Central and Eastern Europe and Russia.

Stores service

Stores service
The UCL Library off-site store is a closed access collection which houses important research material not currently in high demand. Users can request store material for delivery to a number of UCL's libraries.

Key online dictionaries and encyclopedias in English Language and Literature

The Library provides access to many important reference works online:

Dictionary of Old English - A to I First portion of the dictionary defining the vocabulary of the first centuries (600-1150 A.D.) of the English language, part of an ongoing project. The DOE complements Middle English Dictionary (which covers the period 1100-1500 A.D.) and Oxford English Dictionary, the three together providing a full description of the vocabulary of English
Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics Encyclopaedia covering all aspects of linguistics. Around 3000 articles, and 1500 figures, plus supplementary audio and video files.
Gale Literature: Dictionary of Literary Biography Online version of the Dictionary of Literary Biography, providing biographical and critical essays on the lives, works and careers of the world's most influential literary figures.
Literary Encyclopedia Encyclopaedia of topics in global literature, written by practising academics. Includes profiles of authors, works and literary and historical topics.
Middle English Dictionary Analysis of lexicon and usage for the period 1100-1500. See Dictionary of Old English and Oxford English Dictionary to provide a full description of the vocabulary of English.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Illustrated collection of more than 50,000 specially written biographies of the men and women who shaped all aspects of Britain's past, from the fourth century BC to the present. Original biographies as they appeared in the Victorian Dictionary of National Biography are accessible by clicking on DNB Archive at the bottom of the page if they have been superseded.
Oxford English Dictionary Traces the usage of words through 2.5 million quotations from a wide range of international English language sources. See also Dictionary of Old English and Middle English Dictionary; the three together providing a full description of the vocabulary of English.
Oxford Language Dictionaries Full bi-lingual dictionaries, between English and French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Arabic and Portuguese. Accessibility statement for Oxford language dictionaries online.

UCL Press

UCL Press is a leading open access scholarly publisher, publishing mainly scholarly monographs, edited collections, textbooks and journals.

Everything they publish is available to download freely in PDF form or to read online anywhere in the world, without the need to log in.

Follow the link below to browse what they have published on the subject of Literary Studies.

UCL Press Literary Studies

Search Explore

Check out our Explore guide to find out more about how to use Explore for your research.

Explore guide

Finding e-books in Explore

A brief guide to finding and accessing e-books via UCL Explore.

ReadingLists@UCL

ReadingLists @UCL is an online service that gives students easy access to materials on their reading lists wherever they are, and allows academic staff to create and update their own reading lists.

ReadingLists@UCL webpages

Suggest a purchase

Suggest a purchase
Is there a book or resource you would like to see in our collection? Perhaps you've noticed something missing on your reading list? Please let us know by filling out our suggest a purchase form.