Greatest 19th Century Novels (Mainly English) and Other Influential
Writings Related to the Study of Literature (with a Belles-Lettres
Slant): An Ongoing Compilation

Selected With a Rather Open Mind by Members of the Gaslight Electronic
Discussion List at
http://www.mtroyal.ab.ca/gaslight/

Compiled by Richard King

Listed Alphabetically and Unranked

“I would rather we had a collection based on our loves and our true
estimate of a book's worth rather than wrangle over which is best.
There is no deciding among some books.” --Bob Champ

NOVELS

Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women
Austen, Jane. Emma
Austen, Jane. Mansfield Park
Austen, Jane. Persuasion
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice
Besant, Walter. All Manners and Conditions of Men
Blackmore, Richard Doddridge. Lorna Doone
Borrow, George H. Lavengro
Borrow, George H. Romany Rye
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. Lady Audley’s Secret
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre
Bronte, Charlotte.  Villette
Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights
Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The Secret Garden
Butler, Samuel. Erewhon
Carlyle, Thomas.  Sartor Resartus
Carroll, Lewis. Alice in Wonderland
Carroll, Lewis. Through the Looking Glass
Clarke, Marcus Andrew Hislop. For the Term of His Natural Life
Collins, Wilkie. Armadale
Collins, Wilkie. No Name
Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone
Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White
Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur. Rodney Stone
Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur. A Study in Scarlet
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness (“Written in 1899”)
Conrad, Joseph. Lord Jim
Cooper, James F. The Prairie
Craik, Dinah Maria Mulock. John Halifax, Gentleman
Crane, Stephen. Red Badge of Courage
Dickens, Charles. Bleak House
Dickens, Charles. David Copperfield
Dickens, Charles. Dombey & Son
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations
Dickens, Charles. Hard Times
Dickens, Charles. Little Dorritt
Dickens, Charles. Mystery Of Edwin Drood
Dickens, Charles.  Nicholas Nickleby
Dickens, Charles. The Old Curiosity Shop
Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist
Dickens, Charles. Pickwick Papers
Dickens, Charles. Tale of Two Cities
Disraeli, Benjamin. Sybil, or The Two Nations
Dostoevski, Fedor. Brothers Karamazov
Dostoevski, Fedor. Crime and Punishment
Dostoevski, Fedor. The Idiot
Dreiser, Theodore. Sister Carrie (Published in 1900)
Dumas, Alexandre. The Count of Monte Cristo
Dumas, Alexandre. Three Musketeers
Edgeworth, Maria. The Absentee
Edgeworth, Maria. Castle Rackrent
Eliot, George. Adam Bede
Eliot, George.  Daniel Deronda
Eliot, George. Middlemarch
Eliot, George. Mill on the Floss
Eliot, George. Silas Marner
Falkner, John Meade. Moonfleet
Falkner, John Meade. Nebuly Coat
Ferrier, Susan. Marriage
Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary
Flaubert, Gustave. A Sentimental Education
Franlink, Miles. My Brilliant Career (published after 1900)
Gaskell, Elizabeth.  Cranford
Gaskell, Elizabeth. Wives and Daughters
Gissing, George.  New Grub Street
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von. Elective Affinities
Gogol, Nikolai. Dead Souls
Haggard, H. Rider.  King Solomon¹s Mines
Haggard, H. Rider. She
Hardy, Thomas. Far from the Madding Crowd
Hardy, Thomas. Jude the Obscure
Hardy, Thomas. The Mayor of Casterbridge
Hardy, Thomas. The Return of the Native
Hardy, Thomas. Tess of the d’Urbervilles
Hardy, Thomas. The Woodlanders
Hardy, Thomas. Under the Greenwood Tree
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Blithedale Romance
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Scarlet Letter
Malot, Hector. Sans Famille
Hogg, James. The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner
Hugo, Victor. Les Miserables
Hugo, Victor.  Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of)
Ingelow, Jean. Mopsa the Fairy
James, Henry. The American
James, Henry. The Bostonians
James, Henry. Daisy Miller
James, Henry. The Europeans
James, Henry. Portrait of a Lady
James, Henry. Washington Square
Le Fanu, Sheridan. Uncle Silas
MacDonald, George. Lilith
MacDonald, George. Phantastes
Manzoni, Alessandro. I Promessi Sposi
Melville, Herman. Moby Dick
Melville, Herman. Redburn
Melville, Herman. Typee
Meredith, George. Diana of the Crossways
Meredith, George.   The Egoist
Morrison, Arthur. Child of the Jago
Morris, William.  News from Nowhere
Norris, Frank. McTeague
Oliphant, Margaret. The Perpetual Curate
Oliphant, Margaret. Salem Chapel (Best Sensation Novel!)
Oscar Wilde. Picture of Dorian Gray
Reade, Charles. The Cloister and the Hearth
Schreiner, Olive. Story of an African Farm
Scott, Sir Walter. The Antiquary
Scott, Sir Walter. The Heart of Mid-Lothian
Scott, Sir Walter. Ivanhoe
Sewall, Anna. Black Beauty
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. The Irish R.M.
Stendhal (Henri Beyle). Charterhouse of Parma
Stevenson, Robert L. Catriona (aka David Balfour)
Stevenson, Robert L. Kidnapped
Stevenson, Robert L. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Stevenson, Robert L. Treasure Island
Stevenson, Robert L. Weir of Hermiston (unfinished work)
Stoker, Bram. Dracula
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Thackeray, William M. Barry Lyndon
Thackeray, William M. The History of Henry Esmond
Thackeray, William M. The Newcomes
Thackeray, William M. Vanity Fair
Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karenina
Tolstoy, Leo. Resurrection
Tolstoy, Leo. The Forged Coupon
Tolstoy, Leo. War and Peace
Trollope, Anthony. Ayala's Angel
Trollope, Anthony.  Framley Parsonage
Trollope, Anthony. Barchester Towers
Trollope, Anthony. John Caldigate
Trollope. Anthony. The Last Chronicle of Barset
Trollope, Anthony. Marion Fay
Trollope, Anthony. Phineas Finn
Trollope, Anthony. The Prime Minister
Trollope, Anthony. The Warden
Trollope. Anthony. The Way We Live Now
Turgenev, Ivan. Fathers and Children
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Twain, Mark. Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Twain, Mark. Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc
Verne, Jules. Around the World in 80 Days
Verne, Jules. Journey to the Center of the Earth
Verne, Jules. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Wells, H.G. Invisible Man
Wells, H.G. Island of Dr. Moreau
Wells, H.G. The Time Machine
Wells, H.G. War of the Worlds
Weyman, Stanley J. A Gentleman of France
Yonge, Charlotte Mary. The Heir of Redclyffe
Zola, Emile. L’Assommoir
Zola, Emile. Therese Raquin

DRAMA

Barras, Charles M. The Black Crook
Boker, George Henry. Francesca da Rimini
Boucicault, Dion. The London Assurance
Buchner, Georg. Danton's Death
Buchner, Georg. Woyzeck
Checkov, Anton The Cherry Orchard
Checkov, Anton. The Sea Gull
Checkov, Anton The Three Sisters
Checkov, Anton. Uncle Vanya
Daly, Augustin. Under the Gaslight
Dumas, Alexandre. La Dame aux Camellias
Echegaray, Jose. The Great Galeoto
Gilbert, W.S. The Bab Ballads
Gilbert, W.S., and Sir Arthur Sullivan. Iolanthe
Gilbert, W.S., and Sir Arthur Sullivan. Mikado
Gilbert, W.S., and Sir Arthur Sullivan. Patience
Gilbert, W.S., and Sir Arthur Sullivan. Pirates of Penzance
Gilbert, W.S., and Sir Arthur Sullivan. Ruddigore
Gillette, William. Secret Service
Hazelwood, C.H. Lady Audley's Secret
Herne, James A. Margaret Fleming
Howard, Bronson. Shenandoah
Hugo, Victor. Hernani
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House
Ibsen, Henrik. An Enemy of the People
Ibsen, Henrik. Hedda Gabler
Ibsen, Henrik. Little Eyolf
Ibsen, Henrik. The Master Builder
Ibsen, Henrik. Peter Gynt
Ibsen, Henrik. Rosmersholm
Ibsen, Henrik. When We Dead Awaken
Jarry, Alfred. Ubu Roi
Maeterlinck, Maurice. Pelleas and Melisande
Mowatt, Anna Cora. Fashion
Ostrovsky, Alexander. The Storm
Pinero, Sir Arthur Wing. The Second Mrs Tanqueray
Rostand, Edmund. Cyrano de Bergerac
Sardou, Victorien. A Scrap of Paper
Scribe, Eugene. A Glass of Water
Shaw, George Bernard. Arms and the Man
Strindberg, August. The Father
Taylor, Tom. The Ticket-of-Leave Man
Wedekind, Frank. Spring's Awakening
Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest

POETRY

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. Aurora Leigh
Browning, Robert. The Ring and the Book
Byron, George Gordon. Don Juan
Dickinson, Emily. All her works
Poe, Edgar Allan. Eureka, a Prose Poem
Pushkin, Aleksandr. Eugene Onegin
Rossetti, Cristina. The Goblin Market
Tennyson, Alfred. Idylls of the King
Whitman, Walt.  Leaves of Grass.


Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads
Wordsworth, William. The Prelude

COLLECTED FICTIONAL WORKS, NOVELLAS

Chesney, Sir George. The Battle of Dorking
Harris, Joel Chandler. Uncle Remus
Ingelow, Jean. Mopsa the Fairy
Irving, Washington. The Sketch Book (includes “The Legend of Sleepy
Hollow”)
James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw
Kipling, Rudyard. Stalky & Co.
Le Fanu, Sheridan. In a Glass, Darkly (which includes “Carmilla” and
other works)
Oliphant, Mrs. Margaret. A Widow’s Tale and Other Stories

NON-FICTION, MISCELLANEOUS

Burton, Sir Richard Francis. Arabian Nights
Carlyle, Thomas. Past and Present: Heroes and Hero-Worship
Colerige, Samuel Taylor.  Biographia Literaria.
Darwin, Charles. The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
Dickens, Charles. Sketches by Boz
Doughty, Charles Montagu. Travels in Arabia Deserta
Edwards, Amelia B. A Thousand Miles up the Nile
Emerson, Ralph Waldo.  Essays
Fraser, James G.  The Golden Bough
Freud, Sigmund (19th C. writings)
George, Henry. Progress and Poverty
Herzel, Theodor Herzel. Der Judenstaat [The Jewish State]
James, William.  The Principles of Psychology [as literature]
James, William.  The Will to Believe, and other essays on Popular
Philosophy
Keats, John.  Letters
Kinglake, Alexander William. Eothen
Lincoln, Abraham. (his major speeches)
Lockhart, John Gibson. Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott
Marx, Karl, and Frederich Engels. The Communist Manifesto
Mayhew, Henry. London Labour and the London Poor
Pearson, Charles Henry. National Life and Character: A Forecast
Ruskin, John. Modern Painters (all five volumes)
Shaw, George Bernard. The Quintessence of Ibsenism
Spencer, Herbert. First Principles
Thoreau, Henry David.  Walden
Twain, Mark. The Innocents Abroad
Twain, Mark. Roughin It

CHILDREN’S BOOKS OTHERWISE NOT LISTED

Baum, L. Frank. The Oz books
Burnett, Frances Hodgson. Little Lord Fauntleroy
Burnett, Frances Hodgson. Sara Crewe
Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The Secret Garden
Greenaway, Kate. ABC and other picture books
Jacobs, Joseph. The Fairy Tale Collections
Kingsley, Charles. The Water Babies
Kipling, Rudyard. Jungle Book
Lang, Andrew. The Fairy Tale Collections
MacDonald, George. At the Back of the North Wind
MacDonald, George. The Princess and Curdie
MacDonald, George. The Princess and the Goblin
Molesworth, Mary Louisa. The Tapestry Room
Nesbit, E.  The Bastable books (the 19th C. ones)
Potter, Beatrix. All her works.
Pyle, Howard. Men of Iron
Pyle, Howard. Pepper and Salt
Pyle, Howard. The Wonder Clock
Saunders, Marshall Saunders. Beautiful Joe
Sewell, Anna. Black Beauty
Sidney, Margaret. The Five Little Peppers books
Wiggin, Kate Douglas. Mother Carey’s Chickens.
Wiggin, Kate Douglas. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Wiggin, Kate Douglas. The Birds’s Christmas Carol
Yonge, Charlotte. The Dove in the Eagle’s Nest