Beyond Jane Austen: Books Written in the Early to Mid-nineteenth Century

Any re-enactor or living history worth their salt is always asking the question: “How do I get into the minds of the people I’m representing and understand them, their thought processes, their lives, their choices, etc better?” Reading period books is a fundamental piece of that puzzle.

It seems as though the “go to” period books, especially for the women in our hobby, are the ever-popular Jane Austen novels. Admittedly, they are truly wonderful and I have enjoyed them myself; however, there’s a whole world of incredible 19th century literature beyond Jane Austen that is well-worth exploring and sinking our teeth into. 

Here’s a somewhat short list of books I’ve compiled and organized by the decade in which they were published. Yes, I am including Jane Austen for those who have not yet read her works or for those who may want to re-read her works; however, I strongly encourage everyone to explore new worlds by authors you are not yet familiar with. 

1800

  • Lyrical Ballads and Other Poems - William Wordsworth, 1800

  • Poems in Two Volumes - William Wordsworth, 1807

  • Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle - Washington Irving, 1802

  • Salmagundi - Washington Irving, 1807-1808

  • A History of New York - Washington Irving, 1809

1810

  • Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen, 1811

  • Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen, 1813

  • Mansfield Park - Jane Austen, 1814

  • Emma - Jane Austen, 1815

  • Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen, 1817

  • Persuasion - Jane Austen, 1817

  • French Revolution - William Wordsworth, 1810

  • Guide to the Lakes - William Wordsworth, 1810

  • The Excursion - William Wordsworth, 1810

  • Laodamia - William Wordsworth, 1815, 1845

  • The White Doe of Rylstone - William Wordsworth, 1815

  • Peter Bell - William Wordsworth, 1819

  • Ivanhoe - Sir Walter Scott, 1819 (three volumes)

1820

  • The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving, 1820

  • Ecclesiastical Sonnets - William Wordsworth, 1822

  • Fanshawe - Nathaniel Hawthorn, 1828

  • The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. - Washington Irving, 1819-1820

  • Bracebridge Hall - Washington Irving, 1822

  • Tales of a Traveller - Washington Irving, 1824

  • A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus - Washington Irving, 1828

  • Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada - Washington Irving, 1829

  • Tamerlane and Other Poems - Edgar Allen Poe, 1827

  • The Happiest Day - Edgar Allan Poe, 1827

  • Al Aaraat, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems - Edgar Allan Poe 1829

1830

  • Twice-Told Tales - Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1837

  • Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus - Washington Irving, 1831

  • Tales of the Alhambra - Washington Irving, 1832

  • The Crayon Miscellany - Washington Irving, 1835

  • Astoria - Washington Irving, 1836

  • The Adventures of Captain Bonneville - Washington Irving, 1837

  • The Pickwick Papers - Charles Dickens, April 1836-November 1837 (monthly serial)

  • Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens, February 1837-April 1839 (monthly serial)

  • Nicholas Nickleby - Charles Dickens, April 1838-October 1839 (monthly serial)

  • Poems by Edgar A Poe - Edgar Allan Poe, 1831

  • Poems - Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr, 1836

1840

  • Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass - Frederick Douglass, 1845

  • Grandfather’s Chair - Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1840

  • Mosses from an Old Manse - Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1846

  • The Life of Oliver Goldsmith - Washington Irving, 1840 (revised 1849)

  • Biography and Poetical Remains of the Late Margaret Miller Davidson - Washington Irving, 1841

  • The Old Curiosity Shop - Charles Dickens, April 1840-November 1841 (weekly serial)

  • Barnaby Rudge - Charles Dickens, February to November 1841 (weekly serial)

  • A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens, 1843

  • Martin Chuzzlewit - Charles Dickens, Jan 1843-July 1844 (monthly serial)

  • The Chimes - Charles Dickens, 1844

  • The Cricket on the Hearth - Charles Dickens, 1845

  • The Battle of Life - Charles Dickens, 1846

  • Dombey and Son - Charles Dickens, October 1846 - April 1848 (monthly serial)

  • The Haunted Man - Charles Dickens, 1848

  • Franklin Evans - Walt Whitman, 1842

  • The Half-Breed; A Tale of the Western Frontier - Walt Whitman, 1846

  • Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë, 1847

  • Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackery, 1847

  • Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë, 1847

  • The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas, 1844-1845

  • The Luck of Barry Lyndon - William Makepeace Thackery, 1844

1850

  • The Scarlet Letter  - Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1850

  • Moby-Dick - Herman Melville, 1851

  • Uncle Tom’s Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1852

  • The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1853

  • Walden - Henry David Thoreau, 1854

  • Leaves of Grass - Walt Whitman, 1855

  • The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins, 1859

  • The Prelude - William Wordsworth, 1850

  • The House of the Seven Gables - Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1851

  • The Blithedale Romance - Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1852

  • A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys - Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1851

  • The Snow-Image, and Other Twice-Told Tales - Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1852

  • Tanglewood Tales - Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1853

  • Mahomet and His Successors - Washington Irving, 1850

  • Wolfert’s Roost - Washington Irving, 1855

  • The Life of George Washington (5 volumes) - Washington Irving, 1855-1859

  • David Copperfield - Charles Dickens, May 1849-November 1850 (monthly serial)

  • Bleak House - Charles Dickens, March 1852-September 1853 (monthly serial)

  • Hard Times - Charles Dickens, 01 April 1859 - 26 November 1859 (weekly serial)

  • Little Dorrit - Charles Dickens, December 1855 - June 1857 (monthly serial)

  • A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens, 30 April 1859 - 26 November 1859 (weekly serial)

  • Life and Adventures of Jack Engle - Walt Whitman, serialized in 1852

  • Manly Health and Training - Walt Whitman, 1858

  • The Autocrat of the Breakfast-table - Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr, 1858

  • Tom Brown’s School Days - Thomas Hughes, 1857

1860

  • Les Misérables - Victor Hugo, 1862

  • Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne, 1864

  • Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll, 1862

  • The Mill on the Floss - George Eliot, 1860

  • Lady Audley’s Secret - Mary Elizabeth Braddon, 1862

  • Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - Harriet Ann Jacobs, 1861

  • Five Weeks in a Balloon - Jules Verne, 1863

  • No Name - Wilkie Collins, 1862

  • The Marble Faun - Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1860

  • Great Expectations - Charles Dickens 01 December 1860 - 03 August 1861 (weekly serial)

  • Our Mutual Friend - Charles Dickens, May 1864-November 1865 (monthly serial)

  • The Professor at the Breakfast-Table - Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr, 1860

  • Elsie Venner - Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr, 1861

  • Songs in Many Keys - Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr, 1862

Have you read any of these books? If so, which one(s) and what did you think of it/them? Did you like it/them? Did you find the style of prose to be challenging to read? What’s next on your reading list?

My challenge to you is to pick one or more from the list above or do some research on your own and choose a book or two or several that were published prior to the end of the Civil War and read them over the winter. 

Happy reading!

Erin Jones