Books & eBooks
The bulk of the Literature collection can be found on the 2nd-4th floors of the St. James’s Building. However, as you can see below, due to its size the beginning and end of the collection has expanded into the adjoining Central Stack. As with the rest of the London Library collection, larger volumes are shelved in sequence in separate quarto (4to.) or folio sections.
2nd floor, Central Stack
L. Literature, Hist. of (Gen.), L. Afghan Lit. L. English Lit., Bysshe Literature, folio.
2nd Floor, St James’s Building
L. English Lit. C- L. French Fiction, Merle L. Literature, Hist. of (Gen.), 4to., L. Afghan Lit., 4to. L. French Lit., Trans., 4to.
3rd floor, Central Stack
L. French Fiction, Mérot L. French Lit, Ionesco
3rd floor, St. James’s Building
L. French Lit., J- L. Greek & Latin Texts &c., Tzetzes L. German Drama, Hist. of, 4to. L. Wit & Humour, 4to.
4th floor, St. James’s Building
L. Greek & Latin Texts &c., Valerius Flaccus L. Wit & Humour
Fiction in the English language
Before you begin browsing the Literature stacks it please be aware that the London Library shelves all works of fiction in the English language, including those that have been translated into English from another language, under the separate shelfmark of ‘Fiction’. An author’s collected stories will also be kept in this section. The Fiction collection is arranged alphabetically by author and then title. Authors A-R can be found on 2nd floor of the Central Stack with S-Z shelved on the Mezzanine level directly below.
Books may be requested and put aside ready for collection, but we would always encourage members to browse the shelves and discover books serendipitously. Items from the Library’s Special Collections cannot be borrowed but may be consulted in the library under supervised conditions, given 72 hours’ notice.
Shelfmarks
Books in the Literature collection can be identified by the prefix ‘L.’ in their shelfmark. Works within the collection are generally, although not exclusively, arranged by the language in which they were first written. It is worth noting that this may not correspond to the author’s native language or their country of birth. For example, works by South American writers can be found in L. Spanish or L. Portuguese. This may also mean that works by authors who wrote in more than one language, such as the Irish dramatist Samuel Beckett, may appear in more than one part of the collection.
Where there are a substantial number of volumes in a language shelfmark it will be subdivided using some, if not all, of the following categories:
Please be aware that shelfmarks will only be subdivided into, for example, ‘fiction’ or ‘drama’ categories where there are sufficient works to do so. Otherwise, everything will be shelved under the standard ‘L._____’ shelfmark.
Throughout the collection you will also find more general shelfmarks which house works not exclusive to any particular language or writer. These include
- L. Literature, Hist. of (Gen.)
- L. Anthologies
- L. Medieval Literature
- L. Reynard the Fox
- L. Wit and Humour
Within each shelfmark, original works will be arranged alphabetically by author. Once you have found the author you are looking for within the shelfmark, you will find their works arranged as follows:
- Collected and complete works in date order, earliest to latest.
- Selected works in date order, earliest to latest.
- Single works arranged alphabetically by title and then, where more than one edition is held, in date order earliest to latest.
- Commentary and criticism related to that author and their work arranged alphabetically by author of the criticism or, in the case of works without an overall author, by the first main word in the title.
Shakespeare, Dante, Goethe and Voltaire: ‘The Big Four’
In the case of most writers in the Literature collection, any biographical works about them will be shelved in the Biography collection (Biog., 4th & 3rd floors of the Central Stack). The only exceptions to this rule are biographical works relating to Shakespeare, Dante, Goethe and Voltaire which will be shelved within their sections in the literature collection. This is because it has been judged that due to their fame and the sheer amount that is written about them, biographical works and criticism of their work is often intrinsically linked and for that reason should not be separated. As works by and about these writers are extensive take up a great deal of space they are shelved in a slightly different way, however they still follow the same basic principal of works followed by criticism. For further advice on finding books within these sections, please ask a member of staff.