English and American Studies

The literature in the reading room is arranged thematically according to the Göttingen Online Classification (GOK). Most of the books can be borrowed while some are for in-library use only.

Main classes (the links show the respective reading room holdings):

IA= English Studies (also general literature incl. the entire Commonwealth and USA)

IAB = Old English language and literature

IAD = Middle English language and literature

IAF = Irish English  – language and literature

IAH= Scottish English – language and literature

IAJ  = Welsh English – language and literature

IAZ 600 Fic = Award-winning English-language novels

IAZ 700 Com = English-language comics and graphic novels

IB = Commonwealth literature, postcolonial literatures (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India etc.) 

IBB = Australian English – language and literature

IBG = New Zealand English – language and literature

IBJ = Canadian English – language and literature

IBM = African English – language and literature

IBO = Caribbean English – language and literature

IBW = Indian English – language and literature

IC = American Studies

IE= Celtic languages and literatures (Irish, Welsh etc.)

There are four author alphabets:

IA 600 = Modern authors from Great Britain, Ireland, Canada and all other English-speaking countries except the USA (see below) (from Kingsley Amis to W. B. Yeats)

IAB 600 = Old English authors and anonymous works (from Aelfric to Beowulf)

IAD 600 = Middle English authors and anonymous works (from Geoffrey Chaucer to Thomas Malory)

IC 600 = American authors (from Edward Albee to Richard Wright)

Browse all new acquisitions in English and American Studies of the last three months and the current month in the Göttingen University Catalogue (GUK)! This list is limited to books and other media located in the Central Library. 

Since 2016, the SUB Göttingen, together with the North American Studies Library of the University Library of Freie Universität Berlin, has been managing the DFG-funded specialized information service Anglo-American Culture (FID AAC), which is primarily aimed at the following subjects:

• English Studies / British and Irish Studies
• Anglophone postcolonial studies
• American Studies
• Canadian Studies
• Australian and New Zealand Studies

The FID acquires research literature and primary sources and makes publications available in open access on the subject repository The Stacks. Further information can be found on the website of the FID (Library of Anglo-American Culture & History) and in the project overview on the SUB website.

 

 

Detailed search tips for the English and American Studies collections can be found on the website of the FID Anglo-American Culture (Library of Anglo-American Culture & History).

A list of the English manuscripts and incunabula held by the SUB Göttingen can be found on the website of the FID AAC (Library of Anglo-American Culture & History).

Göttingen State and University Library houses one of the largest and most wide-ranging American Studies collections in Europe, encompassing historical and contemporary primary sources as well as scholarly publications on American history, culture, literature, folklore, politics and geography. The collection features books, journals, maps, microforms and photographic prints as well as digitized copies of historical documents.

Starting with its foundation in 1734, Göttingen University Library has been collecting books and other materials from and relating to the British colonies on the North American continent since the University’s founder, Georg August, Duke of Hanover, also ruled Great Britain in personal union (as King George II). 

Among the most important historical sources of the collection are two editions of the famous Columbus letter describing his first voyage and a copy of the first American census of 1790 bearing the handwritten name of Thomas Jefferson. 

Parts of the collection of 18th and 19th century Americana, among them a variety of travel reports in both German and English, have been digitized. You can browse this collection on the website of the Göttingen Digitisation Centre (Americana, Itineraria, VD17 and VD18). 

Apart from entertaining business relations to book-sellers abroad, the library also benefitted from the generosity of some of its famous patrons: Shortly before his death, the financier John Pierpont (J. P.) Morgan, who studied at Göttingen University in 1856/57, donated money to the library for the purchase of English and American books. He also presented the library with a copy of the expensive twenty-volume edition of Edward Sheriff Curtis's The North American Indian (including photogravure plates), a massive documentary project that he had helped finance.

The library’s historical collection has been continually supplemented by items bought at national and international auctions, among them first and rare editions of major 19th century literary works such as Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass(1855) and Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. 

After World War II, SUB Göttingen was tasked by the German Research Foundation (DFG) to collect primary sources and scholarly literature pertaining to the United States of America as part of its Special Subject Collections Programme. This resulted in a substantial collection of contemporary German and international research literature comprised of both books and journals. The collection of primary literature contains editions of historical sources (both in print and on microform) as well as editions of literary texts representative of a large variety of genres: Volumes of contemporary poetry published in limited editions, literature of the fantastic (science fiction, horror, fantasy), crime fiction, anthologies of short stories, regional and non-fiction writing as well as literary magazines.

Tips for exploring our American Studies collections

Since its foundation in 1734, Göttingen State and University Library has been collecting books and other materials from and relating to Britain and its colonies, as Georg August, Duke of Hanover, the founder of Göttingen University, also ruled Great Britain in personal union as King George II. As one of the principal research libraries of the Enlightenment, Göttingen Library acquired a large variety of travel writings and accounts of voyages of discovery in a period which coincided with the colonization of Australia by the British. Over the years, the library was able to further extend its important and wide-ranging collection of Australiana which encompasses historical and contemporary primary sources as well as scholarly publications on Australian and New Zealand history, culture, literature, folklore, politics, natural history and geography. The collection features books, journals, maps and mircroforms as well as digitized copies of historical documents.

Among the earliest documents of the collection are accounts of James Cook's expeditions, such as the 1777 and 1779 editions of A Voyage towards the South Pole and round the World and detailed descriptions by the 18th century German scholar Georg Forster who had accompanied Cook on his second voyage. In addition, Göttingen University owns a substantial ethnographic collection of cultural artifacts obtained on the Cook/Forster voyages. 18th- and 19th-century works on the flora of Australia and New Zealand are also part of the library's collection. 

After World War II, SUB Göttingen was tasked by the German Research Foundation (DFG) to collect primary sources and scholarly literature pertaining to Australia and New Zealand as part of its Special Subject Collections Programme. This resulted in a substantial collection of contemporary German and international research literature comprised of both books and journals. The collection of primary literature contains editions of historical sources (both in print and on microform) as well as editions of literary texts representative of a large variety of genres: Volumes of contemporary poetry, novels, anthologies of short stories, regional and non-fiction writing as well as literary magazines such as Overland.

Since its foundation in 1734, Göttingen State and University Library has been collecting books and other materials from and relating to Britain and its colonies, as Georg August, Duke of Hanover, the founder of Göttingen University, also ruled Great Britain in personal union as King George II. As one of the principal research libraries of the Enlightenment, Göttingen Library acquired a large variety of accounts of voyages of discovery and travel writings in a period of time which coincided with the French and British colonization of Canada. Among the earliest Canadiana are a first edition of Louis Armand, Baron de Lahontan's famous travelogue Nouveaux Voyages De Mr. Le Baron De Lahontan, Dans L'Amerique Septentrionale (1703) as well as German and English translations.

Over the years, the library was able to further extend its collection of Canadiana which encompasses historical and contemporary primary sources as well as scholarly publications on Canadian history, culture, literature, folklore, politics, natural history and geography. The collection features books, journals, maps and mircroforms as well as digitized copies of historical documents.

After World War II, SUB Göttingen was tasked by the German Research Foundation (DFG) to collect primary sources and scholarly literature pertaining to North America (Canada and the United States) as part of its Special Subject Collections Programme. This resulted in a substantial collection of contemporary German and international research literature comprised of both books and journals. The collection of primary literature contains editions of historical sources (both in print and on microform) as well as editions of anglophone literary texts representative of a large variety of genres: Volumes of poetry, novels, anthologies of short stories, regional and non-fiction writing as well as literary magazines.

Since its foundation in 1734, Göttingen State and University Library has been collecting books and other materials from and relating to Great Britain and Ireland. Georg August, Duke of Hanover, the founder of Göttingen University, also ruled Great Britain in personal union as King George II. This close connection between the two countries has laid the foundation of one of the largest collections of English books on the continent, as the library established business relationships with booksellers in London and other cities abroad. One of the principal research libraries of the Enlightenment, Göttingen Library acquired a large variety of documents relating to the expansion of the British empire as well as literary texts of the 17th and 18th centuries. Over the years, the library was able to further extend its important and wide-ranging collection which encompasses historical and contemporary primary sources as well as scholarly publications on English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish history, culture, literature, folklore, politics and geography. The collection features books, journals, maps and mircroforms as well as digitized copies of historical documents.

Among its collection of English manuscripts and incunables are several copies of works by the printer William Caxton (such as the Dicta Philosophorum) who brought the printing press to England.The library's historical collection has been continually supplemented by items bought at national and international auctions, among them first and rare editions, such as an edition of the Kelmscott Chaucer (1896), published by William Morris's Kelmscott Press and illustrated by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones, a signed edition of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) and a first edition of James Joyce's Ulysses (1922).

After World War II, SUB Göttingen was tasked by the German Research Foundation (DFG) to collect primary sources and scholarly literature pertaining to Great Britain and Ireland as part of its Special Subject Collections Program. This resulted in a substantial collection of contemporary German and international research literature comprised of both books and journals. The collection of primary literature contains editions of historical sources (both in print and on microform) as well as editions of literary texts representative of a large variety of genres: Volumes of contemporary poetry, contemporary novels, crime fiction, anthologies of short stories, regional and non-fiction writing as well as literary stacks.