Special Collections has important holdings in Victorian Literature, 19^th century British fiction, poetry and relevant periodicals. Much of the collection has been donated by Emeritus Professor J. Don Vann and his wife Dolores.

Highlights of the collection include a first edition of A Christmas Carol, the periodical All the Year Round which contains the first serialization of A Tale of Two Cities, and other serialized first editions including Our Mutual Friend, Bleak House and David Copperfield.

Victorian periodicals represented in the collection include Household Words, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Punch and Illustrated London News.

The Vann Victorian collection also includes important first editions of the works of Alfred Lord Tennyson including Harold and Becket. Early editions of the works of other Victorian writers such as William Makepeace Thackeray, Matthew Arnold, and Augustus Mayhew are also found in the Vann Victorian collection.

The collection is supported and continues to grow through donations and purchases with funds from the Vann Victorian Endowment generously established by J. Don and Dolores Vann.