The table below shows sources, many online, for librettos of English operas between 1834 and 1870.  In addition, most, but not all, are also available in some form in the British Library and some in other locations. Those labelled "Available here" have been transcribed and included on this web site. See the footnotes for information on the sources.  * means that the source includes only the words for the musical items but not the interlinking dialogue.

Please note that available material may not be exactly what was performed on particular occasions, for example, at the premiere. In a few cases, the librettist entry has "See opera page".  This is because there are uncertainties as to who wrote the libretto, which are explored on the web page for that opera.

The approach to transcribing the original sources and its various pitfalls are detailed in A Note on Transcribing English Opera Librettos of this Era .

Please email victorianenglishopera@gmail.com with any other accessible online sources.

Any British Library item's labelled "BL sys. no." can be found through the main index search here. They are all printed items and in some cases printed text is only available for vocal items and not for the dialogue.

Any labelled "BL Manuscript" can be found through the Archives and Manuscript search here.  They are usually handwritten.

"British Library scan" indicates that the library have scanned the document and made it available online - click on the link.

"Hathi Trust" documents can be read online and individual pages downloaded but you have to be a member of Hathi Trust to download the complete document.

LoC refers to the Library of Congress. Their system brings up the pages of the librettos in such a way that the image progressively sharpens. Sometimes this can take some time and refreshing the page may help. The system also does not always bring up the image but it can usually be found by going to the gallery view.