General

Bartlett, John. Familiar Quotations: A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to Their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature. Boston: Little, Brown, 1992. Call Number: Ref PN 6081 .B27 1992.

Baugh, Albert Croll. A History of the English Language. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1993. Call Number: Ref PE 1075 .B3 1993.

Benet, William Rose ed. The Reader's Encyclopedia. New York: Crowell, 1965. Call Number: Ref PN 41 .B4 1965.

Bracken, James K. Reference Works in British and American Literature. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1998. Call Number: Ref Z 2011 .B74 1998.

Carpenter, Humphrey. The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984. Call Number: Ref PN 1008.5 .C37 1984.

Critical Terms for Literary Study. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995. Call Number: Ref PN 81 .C84 1995.

Crystal, David. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Call Number: Ref PE 1072 .C68 1995.

A Dictionary of British and American Women Writers, 1660-1800. Totowa, NJ: Towman and Allanhold, 1985. Call Number: Ref PR 113 .D5 1985.

Dictionary of Literary Characters. Edinburgh: Chambers, 2004. Call Number: Ref PR 19 .D53 2004.

Granger, Edith. Index to Poetry. New York: Columbia University Press, 1986. Call Number: Ref PN 1022 .G7 1986.

Harner, James L. Literary Research Guide: An Annotated Listing of Reference Sources in English Literary Studies. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1998. Call Number: Ref Z 2011 .H34 1998.

Holman, C. Hugh. A Handbook to Literature. Indianapolis: Odyssey Press, 1972. Call Number: Ref PN 41 .H6 1972.

Introduction to Scholarship in Modern Languages and Literatures. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1992. Call Number: Ref PB 35 .I57 1992.

The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. Call Number: Ref PN 81 .J554 2005.

Marcuse, Michael J. A Reference Guide for English Studies. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1990. Call Number: Ref PR 56 .M37 1990.

Modern Language Association of America. MLA International Bibliography of Books and Articles on the Modern Languages and Literature. New York: MLA, 1969-. Call Number: Ref Z 7006 .M64. Shelved on Index Table 2. Also available online within the Newberry.

The Oxford English Dictionary: Being a Corrected Reissue With an Introduction, Supplement, and Bibliography of a New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, Founded Mainly on the Material Collected by the Philological Society. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991. Call Number: Ref PE 1625 .O87 1991. The most scholarly English language dictionary, it traces the history of every word used in England since 1150. It reports the origins of words, as well as their changes in spelling, meaning, and usage. Dated quotations illustrate the histories of the words. Also available online within the Newberry. The 1933 edition is shelved in 2 West.

Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1974. Call Number: Ref PN 1021 .E5 1974.

Wilson, Kenneth G. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993. Call Number: Ref PE 2835 .W55 1993.

The Year's Work in English Studies. London: Oxford University Press, 1919-. Call Number: Ref PE 58 .E6.

Zipes, Jack, editor. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2006. Call Number: Ref Z 6601 .A1 K72 2007.

Literary Biography

American Writers Before 1800: A Biographical and Critical Reference Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1983. Call Number: Ref PS 185 .A4.

Dictionary of Literary Biography. Detroit: Gale Research, 1978-. Call Number: Ref PN 451 .D5. This series of biographical essays is arranged by genre within periods. Biographical information is integrated with brief synopses and criticism. Selected bibliographies include primary and secondary sources.

v. 1: The American Renaissance in New England
v. 2: American Novelists since World War II
v. 3: Antebellum Writers in New York and the South
v. 4: American Writers in Paris, 1920-1939
v. 5: American Poets since World War II
v. 6: American Novelists since World War II
v. 7: Twentieth-Century American Dramatists
v. 8: Twentieth-Century American Science-Fiction
v. 9: American Novelists, 1910-1945
v. 10: Modern British Dramatists, 1900-1945
v. 11: American Humorists, 1800-1950
v. 12: American Realists and Naturalists
v. 17: Twentieth-century American Historians
v. 18: Victorian Novelists After 1885
v. 21: Victorian Novelists Before 1885
v. 22: American Writers for Children
v. 23: American Newspaper Journalists
v. 24: American Colonial Writers
v. 25: American Newspaper Journalists, 1901-1925
v. 29: American Newspaper Journalists, 1926-1950
v. 30: American Historians, 1607-1865
v. 31: American Colonial Writers, 1735-1781
v. 37: American Writers of the Early Republic
v. 39: British Novelists, 1660-1800
v. 42: American Writers for Children Before 1900
v. 43: American Newspaper Journalists, 1690-1872
v. 45: American Poets, 1880-1945
v. 46: American Literary Publishing Houses, 1900-1980: Trade and Paperback
v. 47: American Historians, 1866-1945
v. 48: American Poets, 1880-1945
v. 49: American Literary Publishing Houses, 1638-1899
v. 50: Afro-American Writers before the Harlem Renaissance
v. 51: Afro-American Writers from the Harlem Renaissance to 1940
v. 54: American Poets, 1880-1945
v. 55: Victorian Prose Writers Before 1867
v. 57: Victorian Prose Writers After 1867
v. 58: Jacobean and Caroline Dramatists
v. 59: American Literary Critics and Scholars, 1800-1850
v. 62: Elizabethan Dramatists
v. 63: Modern American Critics
v. 64: American Literary Critics and Scholars, 1850-1880
v. 67: Modern American Critics Since 1955
v. 71: American Literary Critics and Scholars, 1880-1900
v. 73: American Magazine Journalists, 1741-1850
v. 74: American Short-story Writers Before 1880
v. 78: American Short-story Writers, 1880-1910
v. 79: American Magazine Journalists, 1850-1900
v. 80: Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Dramatists
v. 84: Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Dramatists. Second Series
v. 89: Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Dramatists. Third Series
v. 91: American Magazine Journalists, 1900-1960
v. 97: German Writers from the Enlightenment to Sturm und Drang, 1720-1764
v. 106: British Literary Publishing Houses, 1820-1880
v. 112: British Literary Publishing Houses, 1881-1965
v. 131: Seventeenth-Century British Nondramatic Poets. Third Series
v. 132: Sixteenth-Century British Nondramatic Writers. First Series
v. 137: American Magazine Journalists, 1900-1960
v. 140: American Book Collectors and Bibliographers
v. 154: The British Literary Book Trade, 1700-1820
v. 166: British Travel Writers, 1837-1875
v. 170: British Literary Book Trade, 1475-1700
v. 174: British Travel Writers, 1867-1909
v. 175: Native American Writers of the United States
v. 183: American Travel Writers, 1776 -1864
v. 184: Nineteenth Century British Book-Collectors and Bibliographers
v. 186: Nineteenth-Century American Western Writers
v. 187: Twentieth Century American Dramatists
v. 189: American Travel writers, 1850-1915
v. 190: British Reform Writers, 1832-1914
v. 199: Victorian Women Poets
v. 200: American Women Prose Writers to 1820
v. 201: Twentieth-Century British Book Collectors and Bibliographers
v. 202: Nineteenth-Century American Fiction Writers
v. 212: Twentieth-Century American Western Writers. Second Series
v. 213: Pre-Nineteenth-Century British Book Collectors and Bibliographers
v. 221: American Women Prose Writers, 1870 - 1920
v. 223: The American Renaissance in New England. Second Series
v. 288: The House of Boni and Liveright, 1917-1933

European Writers. New York: C. Scribner, 1983-1985. Call Number: Ref PN 501 .E9 1983. Vol. 1-2: The Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Prudentius to Medieval Drama. Petrarch to Renaissance Short Fiction. Vol. 3-4: The Age of Reason and the Enlightenment: Rene Descartes to Montesquieu. Voltaire to Andre Chenier. Vol. 5-7: The Romantic Century: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to Alexander Pushkin. Victor Hugo to Theodor Fontane. Charles Baudelaire to the Well-made Play. This encyclopedia focuses on major writers while including a few essays on key topics (e.g. Arthurian legend). "Writers" is understood broadly, so look here for interpretive essays on such writers as Erasmus and Nietzsche, as well as literary figures. Selected bibliographies include editions, translations, critical and background studies.

Fifteen American Authors Before 1900: Bibliographical Essays on Research and Criticism. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1984. Call Number: Ref PS 55 .F53 1984.

Kunitz, Stanley ed. British Authors Before 1800: A Biographical Dictionary. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1952. Call Number: Ref PR 105 .K9.

---. British Authors of the Nineteenth Century. New York: W.H. Wilson, 1936. Call Number: Ref PR 451 .K8 1936.

Reference Guide to American Literature. Chicago: St. James Press, 1987. Call Number: Ref Z 1224 .R44 1987. A combined and revised edition of three separately published works: History of American Literature by Marshall Walker, American Writers to 1900, and American Writers Since 1900.

Sixteen Modern American Authors: A Survey of Research and Criticism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1974. Call Number: Ref PS 221 .F45 1974. Updated by Sixteen Modern American Authors: Volume 2, A Survey of Research and Criticism Since 1972 (Call Number: Ref PS 221 .S625 1990).

American Literature

African-American Authors, 1745-1945: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000. Call Number: Ref PS 153 .N5 A32 2000.

Blanck, Jacob. Bibliography of American Literature. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1955. Call Number: Ref Z 1225 .B55 1955.

The Cambridge History of American Literature. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Call Number: Ref PS 92 .C34 1994.

Columbia Literary History of the United States. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988. Call Number: Ref PS 92 .C64 1988.

Dictionary of Midwestern Literature. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2001. Call Number: Ref PS 273 .D53 2001.

Encyclopedia of American Poetry. The Nineteenth Century. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1998. Call Number: Ref PS 316 .E53 1998.

Encyclopedia of American Poetry. The Twentieth Century. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001. Call Number: Ref PS 323.5 .E54 2001.

Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. New York: Routledge, 2004. Call Number: Ref NX 512.3 .A35 E53 2004.

Gohdes, Clarrence Louis Frank. Bibliographical Guide to the Study of the Literature of the U.S.A. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1984. Call Number: Ref Z 1225 .G6 1984.

Guide to American Poetry Explication. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1989. Call Number: Ref Z 1231 .P7 G85 1989. Vol. 1: Colonial and Nineteenth Century; Vol. 2: Modern and Contemporary.

Hart, James David. Oxford Companion to American Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Call Number: Ref PS 21 .H3 1995.

Kramer, Dale. Chicago Renaissance: The Literary Life in the Midwest, 1900-1930. New York: Appleton-Century, 1966. Call Number: Ref PS 221 .K67.

The Oxford Companion to African-American Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Call Number: Ref PS 153 .N5 O96 1997.

The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Call Number: Ref PS 147 .O94 1995.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Call Number: Ref PS 21 .E537 2004.

Simone, Roberta. The Immigrant Experience in American Fiction: An Annotated Bibliography. Lanham, England: Scarecrow Press, 1995. Call Number: Z 1231 .F4 S56 1995.

Wilson, Charles Reagan, editor. The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006. Call Number: Ref F 209 .N47 2006. Volume 5: Language.

Wright, Lyle. American Fiction, 1774-1850: A Contribution Toward a Bibliography. San Marino, CA: Huntington Library , 1969. Call Number: Ref Z 1231 .F4 W9 1969.

British Literature

Baugh, Albert Croll. A Literary History of England. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1967. Call Number: Ref PR 83 .B3 1967.

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. First-Line Index of English Poetry, 1500-1800, in Manuscripts of the James M. and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University. New Haven, CT: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, 2005. Call Number: Ref Z 2014 .P7 B36 2005.

Cheney, Patrick, Andrew Hadfield, and Garrett A. Sullivan, Jr., editors. Early Modern English Poetry: A Critical Companion. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2007. Call Number: Ref PR 533 .E17 2007.

A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1992. Call Number: Ref PR 149 .B5 D53 1992.

Encyclopedia of British Writers. New York: Facts on File, 2003. Call Number: Ref PR 421 .E63 2003. Vol. 1: 16th and 17th Centuries; Vol. 2: 18th Century.

Grantley, Darryll. English Dramatic Interludes 1300-1580: A Reference Guide. New York and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Call Number Ref Z 2014 .D7 G73 2004.

Harding, Jane. The Arthurian Legend: A Checklist of Books in the Newberry Library. Chicago: The Newberry Library, 1933. Call Number: Ref Z 8045 .N53a no.1 and 2. Shelved in Checklist Area.

Howard-Hill, T. H. Index to British Library Bibliography. Oxford; New York: Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press, 1969. Call Number: Ref Z 2011 .A1 H68.

Judkins, David C. The Nondramatic Works of Ben Jonson: A Reference Guide. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1982. Call Number: Ref Z 8456.6 .J83 1982.

Le Tellier, Robert Ignatius. The English Novel, 1700-1740: An Annotated Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002. Call Number: Ref Z 2014 .F4 L47 2002.

Luborsky, Ruth Samson. A Guide to English Illustrated Books, 1536 - 1603. Tempe, AZ: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1998. Call Number: Ref Z 5947.3 .G7 L83 1998.

Martinez, Nancy C. Guide to British Poetry Explication. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1991-1995. Call Number: Ref Z 2014 .P7 M34 1991.

May, Steven W. Elizabethan Poetry: A Bibliography and First-Line Index of English Verse, 1559-1603. London; New York: Thoemmes Continuum, 2004. Call Number: Ref Z 2014 .P7 M348 2004.

Nastali, Daniel P. The Arthurian Annals: The Tradition in English from 1250 to 2000. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Call Number: Ref Z 8045 .N37 2004.

The New Arthurian Encyclopedia. New York: Garland, 1991. Call Number: Ref DA 152.5 .A7 N48 1991.

The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1969-1977. Call Number: Ref Z 2011 .N45.

Nicoll, Allardyce. A History of English Drama, 1660-1900. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1952-1959. Call Number: Ref PR 625 .N52 1956.

The Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Call Number: Ref Z 2011 .O98 2002.

The Oxford Companion to English Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Call Number: Ref PR 19 .O94 2000.

Oxford English Literary History: V. 2 1350-1574: Reform and Cultural Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002-. Call Number: Ref PR 85 .O96 2002 v. 2.

Sajdak, Bruce T. Shakespeare Index: An Annotated Bibliography of Critical Articles on the Plays, 1959-1983. Millwood, NY: Kraus International , 1992. Call Number: Ref Z 8811 .S25 1992.

Savory, Jerold. An Uncommon Comic Collection: Victorian Humor Periodicals in the Newberry Library. A Report and Annotated Listing. Chicago: 1983. Call Number: Ref Z 6944 .W5 N48 1983. Shelved in Checklist Area.

Shakespeare, William. The Riverside Shakespeare. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974. Call Number: Ref PR 2754 .E9 1974.

Snell, K. D. M. The Bibliography of Regional Fiction in Britain and Ireland, 1800-2000. Hants, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2002. Call Number: Ref Z 2014 .F4 S64 2002.

Spevack, Martin. A Complete and Systematic Concordance to the Works of Shakespeare. Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1968-1980. Call Number: Ref PR 2892 .S6.

Victorian Fiction: A Second Guide to Research. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1978. Call Number: Ref PR 871 .V5 1978.

French Literature

Cioranescu, Alexandre. Bibliographie De La Littérature Française Du Dix-Huitiéme Siécle. Paris: Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1969. Call Number: Ref Z 2172 .C48.

A Critical Bibliography of French Literature. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1947. Call Number: Ref Z 2171 .C3.

Harvey, Paul Sir. Oxford Companion to French Literature. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969. Call Number: Ref PQ 41 .H3 1969.

The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995. Call Number: Ref PQ 41 .N49 1995.

Osburn, Charles B. Research and Reference Guide to French Studies. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1968. Call Number: Ref Z 2175 .A2 O8 and Supplement.