The Royal Historical Society’s Camden Series is one of the most prestigious and important collections of primary source material relating to British History, including the British empire and Britons’ influence overseas.
The Society (and its predecessor, the Camden Society) has since 1838 published scholarly editions of sources—making important, previously unpublished, texts available to researchers. Each volume is edited by a specialist historian who provides an expert introduction and commentary.
Today the Society publishes two new Camden volumes each year in association with Cambridge University Press. You’ll find details of recent volumes below.
Accessing the Camden Series Online
The complete Camden Series now comprises over 380 volumes of primary source material, ranging from the early medieval to late-twentieth century Britain. The full series is available via Cambridge Journals Online, providing an extraordinarily rich conspectus of source material for British History as well as insights into the development of historical scholarship in the English speaking world.
Full online access to all Camden Series titles is available to all Fellows and Members of the Royal Historical Society as part of the Society’s Member Benefits from 2022.
A number of volumes are also freely available through British History Online.
Editors of the Camden Series
The Camden Series is edited by Dr Richard Gaunt (University of Nottingham) and Professor Siobhan Talbott (Keele University).
Richard is Associate Professor in History at the University of Nottingham, with expertise in the political and electoral history of late-eighteenth and nineteenth-century Britain. Siobhan is Reader in Early Modern History at Keele University, with research expertise in the economic and social history of Britain and the Atlantic World. Both have extensive experience of preparing and publishing scholarly editions of primary texts.
Contributing to the Series
Richard and Siobhan welcome submissions for future Camden volumes. If you have a proposal for a Camden Society volume, please:
If you are a contracted author, please refer to the Camden Style Guidelines when preparing your volume.
New and recently published Camden volumes, 2021-23
Fellows and members of the Society may purchase print copies of these, and other available Camden titles, for £16 per volume by emailing: administration@royalhistsoc.org.
NEW Volume 66: The Last Days of English Tangier. The Out-Letter Book of Governor Percy Kirke, 1681–1683, edited by John Childs (November 2023).
Governor Percy Kirke’s Out-Letter Book, here transcribed verbatim and annotated, covers the terminal decline of English Tangier, ending just before the arrival of Lord Dartmouth’s expedition charged with demolishing the town and evacuating all personnel.
It contains 152 official letters mostly addressed to the Tangier Committee, the subcommittee of the Privy Council responsible for Tangerine affairs, and Sir Leoline Jenkins, Secretary of State for the South.
Kirke’s correspondence traces the decay of both the town’s military fabric and the soldiers’ morale and effectiveness, and the impossibility of reaching a satisfactory modus vivendi with the leaders of the besieging Moroccan armed forces.
The Last Days of English Tangier. The Out-Letter Book of Governor Percy Kirke, 1681–1683 is published online and in print by Cambridge University Press (November 2023). To order in print: administration@royalhistsoc.org.
RECENT Volume 65: La Prinse et mort du roy Richart d’Angleterre, and Other Works by Jehan Creton, edited and translated by Lorna A. Finlay (June 2023).
Jehan Creton accompanied Richard II on his expedition to Ireland in 1399 and witnessed his capture by Henry Lancaster, who usurped the throne to reign as Henry IV. Creton’s account is of crucial importance for historians of the period, as he contradicts the official version of events in the Parliamentary Roll.
This a completely new translation of the work, correcting the previous edition dating from 1824. This new Camden edition also includes Creton’s other known writings, the two epistles and four ballades.
La Prinse et mort du roy Richart d’Angleterre, and Other Works by Jehan Creton is now available online and in print from Cambridge University Press (June 2023). To order in print: administration@royalhistsoc.org.
Volume 64: The Diary of George Lloyd (1642-1718), edited by Daniel Patterson (November 2022).
Virtually unknown to scholarship, Lloyd’s diary is not a record of notable events. Rather, it is a uniquely quotidian text consisting of regular daily entries documenting the activities and experiences of an individual far removed from great events.
Lloyd’s diary will be an invaluable resource for scholars studying many aspects of early modern English social and cultural history, including sociality, fashion, religious observance, courtship, food and drink, and working life.
The Diary of George Lloyd, 1642-1718 is now available online and in print from Cambridge University Press. To order in print: administration@royalhistsoc.org.
Volume 63: Aristocracy, Democracy, and Dictatorship. The Political Papers of the Seventh Marquess of Londonderry, edited by N. C. Fleming (September 2022).
The seventh Marquess of Londonderry (1878–1949) corresponded with the leading political figures of his day, including Winston Churchill (his second cousin), Neville Chamberlain, Stanley Baldwin and Ramsay MacDonald. Londonderry’s amateur diplomacy in the 1930s meant that his regular correspondents also included Hermann Göring, Joachim von Ribbentrop and Franz von Papen.
Aristocracy, Democracy, and Dictatorship is now available online and in print from Cambridge University Press. To order in print: administration@royalhistsoc.org.
Volume 62: British Financial Diplomacy with North America 1944–1946. The Diary of Frederic Harmer and the Washington Reports of Robert Brand, edited by Michael F. Hopkins (2021)
Volume 61: Sir Earle Page’s British War Cabinet Diary, 1941–1942, edited by Kent Fedorowich and Jayne Gifford (2021). To order in print: administration@royalhistsoc.org.
Full Series Lists
The Series was originally published by the Camden Society (established 1838) until its merger with the Royal Historical Society in 1897. The RHS Archive contains papers relating to the Camden Society, 1838-97.
