I'm going to put up a list of resources when our local history specialist gets back in tomorrow but in the meantime here is a brief rundown of things that might be of interest.
Bournemouth is a relatively new town, only beginning to be built in the early 1800s. Prior to this the area was used by smugglers to land and hide contraband, most famously Isaac Gulliver. There are persistent tales of networks of smugglers tunnels in Kinson (then a small village, now a suburb of Bournemouth) though there is no clear evidence for this.
In 1841 Augustus Bozzi Granville included Bournemouth in his book The Spas of England which led to the then tiny town becoming a popular destination for affluent holiday makers. A wide range of Villas and Hotels sprung up including the Royal Bath Hotel, frequented by the great and good, including Empress Euguenie of France, King Oscar of Sweden, William Gladstone, Benjamin Disraeli, Sir Henry Irving and Oscar Wilde.
The Royal Bath was owned by the Russell-Cotes family who's home, East Cliff Hall, is now the Russel-Cotes Gallery which houses their ecclectic range of art and artefacts acquired from their travels around the world.
Since 1893 Bournemouth has been home to a professional orchestra, initially the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra and then later the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra worked closely with a number of famous composers and was conducted by Elgar, Sibelius and Stravinsky. The town is also the birthplace of Hubert Parry, composer of Jerusalem.
The towns literary connections are primarily via authors who lived here rather than through books set here. Robert Loius Stevenson lived in Bournemouth between 1895 and 1897 and wrote the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde whilst here. J.R.R. Tolkien retired to the town after holidaying here at the Miramar Hotel. The town is also closely linked to Mary Shelley who is buried here and whose son owned Boscombe Manor (now the Shelley Theatre).
Other interesting connections and events include:
The murder of architect Francis Rattenbury by his wifes lover in 1935
Frederick Abberline, the detective who investigated the Jack the Ripper case, retired to Bournemouth after running the European arm of the Pinkerton Detective Agency.
Bournemouth hosted American and Canadian troops during WWII as they prepared for D-Day in Poole Bay