Sterling Library

The private collection of rare and first editions of Sir Louis Sterling (1879-1958) comprises some 4,200 volumes received in 1956, supplemented by purchases from an endowment fund and other gifts. The collection of printed books (now well over 7,000 volumes) is complemented by c 100 manuscripts, forming an unusually integrated resource for research on the transmission of English literary texts from the 14th century to the present day.

The Sterling Library is an acknowledged international resource in its area. Early works include all four Shakespeare folios, first editions of Milton's Paradise Lost and Regained, and Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, but the strengths of the collection are primarily 18th to early 20th century literary classics, especially fine or association copies. Twentieth century books include a notable collection of the works of John Masefield, enriched in 1971 by the bequest of presentation copies and first editions from his sister, Mrs Stockdale-Ross; of W B Yeats; and of Sean O'Casey, given by Mrs Eileen O'Casey. Included in the manuscripts are two important 14th century texts of Piers Plowman, work by Byron and Tennyson as well as 20th century writers such as H E Bates.

Works of English and Irish private presses are another forte of the Sterling Library. Holdings include, for instance, a complete set of Kelmscott Press editions, a sizeable collection of Golden Cockerel productions, and a complete set of specially bound Gregynog Press editions. The Library continues to collect private press editions in this area and, following a recent major acquisition, now houses one of the most complete collections of the work of the Dolmen Press in the UK.

Click here for a virtual display:
The Crabbe collection
The Gregynog Press
Private Libraries: Sir Louis Sterling - article from the Times Literary Supplement, 4 Feb. 1939

Exhibitions featuring Sterling Library books
The Book Beautiful: Private Press Books from the Sterling Library
Sir Louis Sterling and his Library
Icons of Western Literature

Sterling Library holdings are recorded in the Main Library Catalogue and COPAC. To gain an overview of the collection, do a mixed classmark search on [S.L.].
Descriptions of the manuscripts are included in the archives catalogue as are catalogues of Sterling Library illustrated manuscripts and Sir Louis Sterling's papers.

The original collection is listed in:
The Sterling Library: a catalogue of the printed books and literary manuscripts collected by Sir Louis Sterling and presented by him to the University of London, 1954.
The collection is described in: "Private Libraries, XV: Sir Louis Sterling", Times Literary Supplement, 4 Feb. 1939, p. 80.

Description of the Piers MSS in: Piers Plowman: the C version : Will's visions of Piers Plowman, do-well, do-better and do-best, ed. by George Russell and George Kane. (London: Athlone, 1997), with reference to earlier descriptions.

Sterling's Shakespeare folios noted in: Anthony James West, The Shakespeare first folio : the history of the book. Vol. 2, A new world census of first folios (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2002)

Further information about Sterling: Peter Martland, Since records began : EMI, the first 100 years (London: Batsford, 1997)

shl.specialcollections@london.ac.uk 020 7862 8470