First Published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

volume is the first in a two-volume set which constitutes an edition of the sale catalogue of the private library of Rushton M. Dorman of Chicago, Illinois, a collection numbering 1842 separate items. The book demonstrates book-collecting and reading habits and interests among affluent late 19th-century Americans. In addition, the substance and tone of the comments set down by the original compiler of the catalogue display the marketing methods employed by a major late-19th-century book-auction firm.

With over 900 biographical entries, more than 600 novels synopsized, and a wealth of background material on the publishers, reviewers and readers of the age the Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction is the fullest account of the period's fiction ever published. Now in a second edition, the book has been revised and a generous selection of images have been chosen to illustrate various aspects of Victorian publishing, writing, and reading life. Organised alphabetically, the information provided will be a boon to students, researchers and all lovers of reading. The entries, though concise, meet the high standards demanded by modern scholarship. The writing - marked by Sutherland's characteristic combination of flair, clarity and erudition - is of such a high standard that the book is a joy to read, as well as a definitive work of reference.

An engaging guide to a rich literary heritage, The Stanford Companion presents a fascinating parade of novels, authors, publishers, editors, reviewers, illustrators, and periodicals that created the culture of Victorian fiction. Its more than 6,000 alphabetical entries provide an incomparable range of useful and little-known source material, its scholarship enlivened by the author's wit and candor.