Oliver Goldsmith was an Anglo-Irish novelist who is best known for his novel, The Vicar of Wakefield. He is thought to have written the classic children’s tale The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes. Goldsmith was described by contemporaries as prone to envy, a congenial but impetuous and disorganised personality who once planned to emigrate to America but failed because he missed his ship. Thomas De Quincey wrote of him “All the motion of Goldsmith’s nature moved in the direction of the true, the natural, the sweet, the gentle.” Oliver Goldsmith died at the age of 43 due to a misdiagnosis of a kidney infection.
Notable works in ARB’s collection:
- The Beauties of English Poesy (1767), 1st edition
- Essays (1765), 1st edition
- The Citizen of the World (1762), 1st edition, reissue
For more works by Oliver Goldsmith, click here.
