List of books about Oxford

Title page from The Adventures of Mr Verdant Green by Cuthbert Bede.

Title page from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Below is a list of books about Oxford or written in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. The city of Oxford has generated and inspired much literature. Many authors have lived in Oxford, especially associated with the University. It has also been a setting in many.

Overview

The Oxford University Press (and Clarendon Press) is the University's own publishing house. It is world-renowned for its dictionaries as well as other books, largely academic in nature. It also publishes the Oxford World's Classics series. Other publishing companies based in the city include David Fickling Books,^[1] notable as the first bi-continental publisher of children's books.^[2]

Leading 20th century authors at Oxford University include C. S. Lewis (works including The Chronicles of Narnia series of seven books) and J. R. R. Tolkien (works including Middle-earth books).

Inspector Morse is a detective book series based in Oxford, by Colin Dexter. It has spawned a successful television series. Other book series associated with Oxford include A Staircase in Surrey, a five novel series, written between 1974–78 by J. I. M. Stewart, and Kate Ivory by Veronica Stallwood.

Timeline

1850s

• The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green (Cuthbert M. Bede, in three parts: 1850s)

1860s

• The Old Parish Church: with the Ghost of Merton Hall (John Gibbs, 1861)
• Tom Brown at Oxford (Thomas Hughes, 1861)
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll, 1865)

1870s

• Through the Looking-Glass (Lewis Carroll, 1871)
• Cripps the Carrier (Richard Doddridge Blackmore, 1876) — author of Lorna Doone

1880s

• Three Men in a Boat (Jerome K. Jerome, 1889) — a journey from Kingston to Oxford on the River Thames

1890s

• A Young Oxford Maid (Sarah Tytler, 1890)
• Jude the Obscure (Thomas Hardy, 1895) — Oxford is called "Christminster"

1900s

• A Clerk of Oxford (E. Everett-Green, 1900)
• Red Paint at Oxford ("Pish" and "Tush", 1904)
• The Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame, 1908) — Grahame is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford
• With the King at Oxford: A Tale of the Great Rebellion (Rev. Alfred J. Church, 1909)

1910s

• Zuleika Dobson (Max Beerbohm, 1911)

1920s

• The Charm of Oxford (Joseph Wells, 1920) — Warden of Wadham College, Oxford

1930s

• A Storm in Oxford (E. Tangye Lean, 1932)
• Gaudy Night (Dorothy L. Sayers, 1935)
• Death at the President's Lodgings (Michael Innes, 1936)
• The Hobbit (J. R. R. Tolkien, 1937) — written at 20 Northmoor Road, North Oxford
• An Oxford University Chest (John Betjeman, 1938)
• Towers in the Mist (Elizabeth Goudge, 1938)

1940s

• The Case of the Gilded Fly (Edmund Crispin, 1944)
• The Silent Traveller in Oxford (Chiang Yee, 1944)
• Brideshead Revisited (Evelyn Waugh, 1945)
• Folly Bridge: A Romantic Tale (David Leslie Murray, 1945)
• The Notion Club Papers (J. R. R. Tolkien, written in Oxford 1945/46 and set there)
• Jill (Philip Larkin, 1946)
• The Moving Toyshop (Edmund Crispin, 1946)

1950s

• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis, 1950) — first book in The Chronicles of Narnia series
• Fred of Oxford (Fred Bickerton, 1953)
• The Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkien, three volumes: 1954–55) — mostly written at 20 Northmoor Road; see also film trilogy
• Landscape with Dead Dons (Robert Robinson, 1956)
• Oxford Folly (Louis McIntosh, 1956)

1960s

• Summoned by Bells (John Betjeman, 1960)
• Dame's Delight (Margaret Forster, 1964)
• Accident (Nicholas Mosley), 1965
• The Game (A. S. Byatt, 1967)

1970s

• Last Boat to Folly Bridge (Eric C. Hiscock, 1970)
• The House in Norham Gardens (Penelope Lively, 1974) — set in Norham Gardens, North Oxford
• A Staircase in Surrey (J. I. M. Stewart, 1974–78) — a five novel series
• Last Bus to Woodstock (Colin Dexter, 1977) — first book in the Inspector Morse series

1980s

• The Alchemists (Margaret Doody, 1980)
• Death of a Don (Howard Shaw, 1981)
• The Book and the Brotherhood (Iris Murdoch, 1983)
• Oxford Blood (Antonia Fraser, 1985)
• Where the Rivers Meet (John Wain, 1988)

1990s

• Dirty Tricks (Michael Dibdin, 1991)
• The Children of Men (P. D. James, 1992)
• Doomsday Book (Connie Willis, 1992)
• The Men and the Girls (Joanna Trollope, 1992)
• Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years (Sue Townsend, 1993)
• You'll Never Be Here again (Mark Blackaby, 1993)
• Dancing to the Pipers (Kate Fenton, 1993)
• Juggling (Barbara Trapido, 1994)
• Oxford Exit (Veronica Stallwood, 1994)
• His Dark Materials (Philip Pullman, trilogy: 1995, 1997, 2000)
• Dangerous Games (Jodie Sinclair, 1997)
• The Devil's Hunt (Paul Doherty, 1997)
• An Instance of the Fingerpost (Iain Pears, 1997)
• The Poison Tree (Tony Strong, 1997)
• To Say Nothing of the Dog (Connie Willis, 1997)
• The Greatest Sorrow (Keith Ovenden, 1998)
• The Travelling Hornplayer (Barbara Trapido, 1998)
• The Significance of Bluebells (Cilla Lancelyn Green, 1999)
• Oxford Shift (Veronica Stallwood, 1999)

2000s

• The Remorseful Day (Colin Dexter, 2000) — last book in the Inspector Morse series
• Oxford Shadows (Veronica Stallwood, 2001)
• Another Kind of Cinderella (Angela Huth, 2002)
• Any Human Heart (William Boyd, 2002)
• Bleak Midwinter (Peter Millar, 2002)
• Lyra's Oxford (Philip Pullman, 2003)
• The Oxford Murders (Guillermo Martínez, 2003) — also a 2008 film
• Restless (William Boyd, 2006)
• A Death in Oxford (Richard MacAndrew, 2007)
• The September Society (Charles Finch, 2008)

2010s

• The Lessons (Naomi Alderman, 2010)
• The Oxford Virus (Adam Kolczynski, 2010)
• The Reluctant Cannibals (Ian Flitcroft, 2013)
• The Last Enchantments (Charles Finch, 2014)
• A Degree of Futility (M.P. Fedunkiw, 2014)

20 Northmoor Road, where Tolkien wrote The Hobbit and most of The Lord of the Rings.

See also

• Oxford literature and film
• University of Oxford in literature and other media
• University of Oxford in popular culture
• The Story Museum, a proposed museum in Oxford

References

Further reading

• Hood, Nancy, Literary Oxford. Sutton Publishing Limited, 1999. ISBN 0-7509-2115-3.

External links

• Rowley, Richard. Oxford novels: a selected reading list.
• A-Z of Literary Oxford exhibition at the Museum of Oxford, 10 February – 8 July 2007.