<p>What libraries/methods do you know of that can do some basic HTML representation in Swing? Can you comment on your experience?</p>

I haven't tried this in a while, but a quick google search shows some possibilities:
Java Sketchbook: The HTML Renderer Shootout, Part 1
Cobra: Java HTML Renderer & Parser
Are you trying to do this in an applet, or an application?  If it's an application (or signed applet) you could potentially instantiate IE or Firefox within your application.
Webrenderer
acts as a Swing wrapper for this.