Library

The library offers links to a range of publications by John Clare or about John Clare that are freely available through the internet. Many are from the Internet Archive, a non-profit ‘digital library of internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form.’ It has links to millions of books, films and videos, and music. The fifty million books include many first editions scanned by mainly American universities. Others can be found on Google Books.

Publications by John Clare

Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery (1820)

Online at
https://archive.org/details/poemsdescriptive00clariala/page/n5/mode/2up

Open and download in PDF.

Photo Mike Mecham 2026

The Village Minstrel and Other Poems, Vol. I (1821)

Online at
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.102376/page/n7/mode/2up

Open and download in PDF.

Photo Mike Mecham 2026

The Village Minstrel and Other Poems, Vol. II (1821)

Online at
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.515670/page/n7/mode/2up

Open and download in PDF.

Photo Mike Mecham 2026

The Shepherd’s Calendar with Village Stories and Other Poems (1827)

Online at
https://archive.org/details/shepherdscalend00clargoog/page/n5/mode/2up

Open and download in PDF.

Photo Mike Mecham 2026

The Rural Muse (1835)

Online at
https://archive.org/details/ruralmusepoems00claruoft/page/n1/mode/2up

Open and download in PDF.

Photo Mike Mecham 2026

Publications about John Clare

Edmund Blunden (editor & with an illustrated preface), Madrigals & Chronicles, Being newly found poems written by John Clare (1924)

Open and download in PDF.

Ronald Blythe, Talking About John Clare (John Clare Society President’s addresses) (1999)

Online at
https://www.ntu.ac.uk/media/documents/online-store/Talking-About-John-Clare-eBook.pdf

Open and download in PDF.

J. L. Cherry,  Life and Remains of John Clare (1873)

Online at
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Life_and_Remains_of_John_Clare

Open and download in PDF.

Frederick Martin, The Life of John Clare (1865)

Online at
https://archive.org/details/lifeofjohnclare00martuoft/page/n5/mode/2up

Open and download in PDF.

J. W. and Anne Tibble, The Prose of John Clare (1951)

Online at
https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.425463/page/n1/mode/2up

Open and download in PDF.

(NB. This is a large file and may be slow to download)

David Powell, First Publications of John Clare’s Poems (2nd edition 2009)

Online at
https://www.johnclare.org/PowellFirstPublications2ed.pdf

Open and download in PDF.