Books in the Cambridge Library Collection - British and Irish History, General series

Published in 1797, this three-volume work looks at the history of poverty in England, the lifestyles of the poor and the various measures introduced to tackle the problem. It features a set of detailed reports on living conditions of the poor in the various English counties.

Published anonymously, this is the 1798 first edition of Malthus' provocative work of political and economic theory. His discussions of prostitution, contraception and sex, and his denial of the right of the poor to be supported in the face of famine, poverty and disease, made this a highly controversial text.

This work, containing a selection from the 'Merry Passages and Jests', collected by a Norfolk gentleman, Sir Nicholas L'Estrange (1604-55), with shorter extracts from the anecdotes of John Aubrey, and a manuscript by one John Collet, was prepared by antiquarian William Thoms for the Camden Society in 1839.

In this 1869 work, Arthur Stanley draws on both the manuscript archives of Westminster Abbey and on the work of earlier historians to describe its foundation, the coronations, the royal tombs, the other monuments to distinguished men and women, and the history of the abbey before and after the Reformation.

Little is known about Thomas Smith, the author of this 1833 history of St Marylebone in London, where he was born and had lived for thirty-six years. The illustrated book describes the boundaries of the parish, its buildings, and some of the famous people who had lived in the district.

Published in 1857 and 1861 respectively, these are the only two volumes of Buckle's ambitious but unfinished history of civilisation. The books cover the intellectual, religious, political and social history of England, France, Scotland, and to a lesser extent, Spain.

This remarkable 1838 publication, dedicated to the soon-to-be-crowned Queen Victoria, is a review of state ceremonial and court etiquette, giving details of the royal family, and describing the titles, history and roles of all court officials, from the Poet Laureate and the Historiographer Royal to the Clerk of the Closet.

First published for the Yorkshire Archaeological Society in 1933 and reprinted in 1971, this is an extensive and well-illustrated catalogue of maps of the Yorkshire region, drawn between 1577 and 1900, with informative descriptions. It remains of value to local historians and geographers.

The Anglo-Jewish Exhibition of 1887 assembled works of art and artefacts illustrating the history of English Jewry, with later academic enterprises being undertaken as a direct result. This catalogue of the exhibits, published in 1888, also includes a number of full-page photographs.

This work, first published in 1905, contains editions and discussion of three mid-fifteenth-century manuscript copies of London chronicles giving detailed insight into the city in the reign of Henry V. It was compiled by the respected historian Charles Lethbridge Kingsford (1862-1926), who published extensively on the period.

Henry Hallam (1777-1859) was a journalist, historian of the English constitution and literary scholar. First published in 1827, this two-volume book documents the history of the laws and institutions of England from 1485 to 1760.

Published in 1901, this two-volume set looks at how entertainment in London changed dramatically between the restoration of Charles II and the accession of Queen Victoria. From bear-baiting and prize-fights with swords, tastes turned to less bloodthirsty pastimes such as gambling, masked balls, and opera and theatre.

This detailed eight-piece compilation documents the fluctuating prices of agricultural produce in England between the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries. Volume 1 (from 1866) uses the data for the period 1259-1400 (supplied in Volume 2) to explore topics such as farming methods, taxation, and the financial consequences of the plague.

Agnes Strickland (1796-1874) and her sister Elizabeth collaborated on many biographical projects, including this eight-volume series. Pioneering figures in women's history, they included discussion of domestic matters ignored by earlier male historians. Volume 1 (1850) is devoted to Margaret Tudor, Magdalene of France and Mary of Lorraine.

Originally published in 1881, this book uses evidence from pamphlets, books, engravings, music and drama to trace the history of London's street traders and their wares from the time of Chaucer to the Victorian period. It includes over 200 illustrations, and vividly portrays the sights and sounds of the city.

Published in 1811, this three-volume second edition gives a typically personal and often light-hearted account of the history and customs of Malcolm's adopted city. He ponders on the diet and dress of the ancient Britons and suggests that the Great Fire of London was state-sanctioned to rid the city of plague.

Volume 1 of this work, first published in 1662 and reissued here in a two-volume 1811 edition, consists of twenty-five short chapters which explain its organisation, after which England is examined county by county, alphabetically: first, natural resources and manufactures, and then notable people, starting with princes and saints.

Ernest Satow was one of the most respected British diplomats, particularly in Japan. Since publication in 1917, 'Satow' has become the standard work on the practice of diplomacy, being regularly updated. This first edition provides an illuminating insight into international relations before the age of the telephone and e-mail.

Hugh Edward Egerton (1855-1927) was a British barrister and colonial historian. This volume, first published in 1897, contains Egerton's pioneering history of changes in Britain's colonial policy. The first published historical survey of colonial policy, this volume provides a comprehensive overview of changes and developments in Britain's colonial policy.

Elizabeth Owens Blackburne (1848-1894) was an Irish professional writer, novelist and biographer. These volumes, first published in 1877, contain a series of biographies of famous and eminent Irish women, and were the first biographical reference for this subject to be published. Volume 1 contains early historical and medieval biographies.

In great detail the Welsh writer Jane Williams (1806-1885) tells the history of Wales from the settlement of the Cymry in pre-Christian Britain until the Tudors. The work, published in 1869, is based on the use of an impressive range of material, including that of Pliny and Bede.

First published between 1840 and 1849, Strickland's landmark work provides biographical accounts of the queens of England from Matilda of Flanders, wife of William the Conqueror, to Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch. Volume 1 contains eight biographies of medieval queens, including Matilda, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Anne of Bohemia.

An intimate portrayal of the lives of seven prominent women, using their own letters and diaries to chart lives of political intrigue, scandal and tragedy. Originally published in 1844 by Louisa Stuart Costello, this volume examines the characters and motivations of women at the political centre of Elizabethan life.

This three-volume 1813 compilation consists of antiquarian manuscripts from the Bodleian Library and the Ashmolean Museum, but is significant for containing the notes on the 'lives of eminent men' by John Aubrey, which were published here for the first time, and later became famous as his Brief Lives.

Published in 1891 in three volumes, this is a fascinating topographical dictionary covering a thousand years of history. Many of London's historic streets and buildings were being redeveloped during the rapid urban expansion of the Victorian period, and Wheatley mines historical, literary and architectural sources to preserve their memory.