The Bulwer-Lytton mss., 1827-1872 consists of papers and correspondence by Victorian-era novelist and politician Edward George Earle Lytton, Lord Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873). Bulwer-Lytton was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1827, he married Rosina Doyle Wheeler, and the two began an initially passionate but increasingly hostile and notorious relationship. After they legally separated in 1836, Rosina published a fiction critiquing her husband's behavior; and in 1858 when Bulwer-Lytton ran for parliament in Hertfordshire, he threatened to limit her custody of their children and later had her committed to an asylum. She was eventually released, after public denunciation of Bulwer-Lytton, and memorialized her experience in writing.

Beyond his infamous marital scandal, Bulwer-Lytton also became known for his political service and fiction. He served as a Whig member of Parliament between 1831 and 1841, and became Conservative member from 1851 to 1866. Between 1858 and 1859, he also became Secretary of State for the Colonies. Simultaneously, Bulwer-Lytton channeled some of these political experiences into his novels, poems, and dramatic works, particularly within his historical fictions and silver fork novels; but he also wrote across a variety of genres such as mysteries, romances, and even science fictions and horror stories. Arguably, his most important stories were Pelham (1828), The Last Days of Pompeii (1834), and A Strange Story (1862). The collection's correspondence covers some of his aesthetic and poetic ideals.