First edition. William Beckford (1760-1844) is remembered as the author of Vathek and the creator of one of the most significant buildings of the Gothic Revival, Fonthill Abbey. He was a man of many facets: art collector, bibliophile, traveller, builder, and landscape gardener. Sensing his destiny, just before his coming of age celebrations, Beckford wrote, "I fear I shall never be half so sapient, not good for anything in this world, but composing airs, building towers, forming gardens, collecting old Japan, and writing a journey to China or the moon."

This volume provides an annotated listing of all known publications, scholarly writings, traceable contemporary reviews, and published works related to the life and achievements of patron and collector, William Beckford. It also follows his numerous and diverse appearances in periodic literature, providing an essential reference tool for cross-disciplinary studies of Beckford. This bibliographic collection includes over 5,000 references to material published before 2006.

Serious interest in William Beckford has developed dramatically since the first exhibitions devoted to him (British Museum and Yale University Library) almost fifty years ago. He is now widely appreciated and studied not only for Vathek, which has been published in some 165 editions and in twenty languages since the first unauthorized edition in 1786, but also for his significant contributions to the history of collecting, artistic patronage, landscape gardening, architecture, and music.

Among the areas covered are contemporary accounts of and references to the long and troubled building of his legendary edifice, Fonthill Abbey. There is also a section dealing with the creation and history of Lansdown Tower, located in close proximity to his final residence in Bath. The bibliography includes references to the Beckford family, particularly Alderman William Beckford, Lord Mayor of London, and Beckford's circle of friends and contemporaries.

William Beckford: A Bibliography is the result of over thirty years of research executed by Jon Millington, the founding editor of The Beckford Journal, and a Beckford scholar.

Distributed for the Beckford Society.