Useful Databases and Websites
Early Books, Newspapers, and Journals
Early English Books Online (EEBO)
(Trinity College Dublin Subscription)
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)
(Trinity College Dublin Subscription)
Irish Newspaper Archives
(Trinity College Dublin Subscription)
British Periodicals (Collection I)
(Trinity College Dublin Subscription)
House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (HCPP)
(Trinity College Dublin Subscription)
Early Book Catalogues
English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC)
- Lists over 460,000 items published between 1473 and 1800
- Mainly, but not exclusively, in English
- Published mainly in the British Isles and British colonies
- From the collections of the British Library and over 2,000 other libraries
Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue (NSTC)
(Trinity College Dublin Subscription)
Library of Congress Online Catalogs
Catalogue of the Library of Congress in the United States.
See also the Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs Online Catalog.
Catalogue Collectif de France
- Locate more than 20 million documents in the French library system
- Search the catalogues of the Bibliothèque Nationale and French academic and public libraries using a single search interface
- Search a directory of 4,100 French libraries and documentation centres, and access a description of their contents
Universal Short Title Catalogue (USTC)
The USTC is a collective database of all books published in Europe between the invention of printing and the end of the sixteenth century.
Book History Databases
The British Book Trade Index
- Indexes workers in the book trade in England and Wales up to 1851
- Covers a wide range of book-related trades, including printers, publishers, booksellers, stationers, papermakers, and engravers.
- Gives names, biographical and trade details, and sources of further information
- Searchable by name, trade, location, and date
Scottish Book Trade Index (SBTI)
- Indexes names, trades, and addresses of people involved in the Scottish book trade
- Covers the period from the beginnings of Scottish printing to about 1850
- Includes printers, publishers, booksellers, bookbinders, printmakers, stationers and papermakers
- A work in progress, updated periodically
Exeter Working Papers in Book History
- Extensive coverage of the book trade in London and Devon
- Some coverage of the wider UK and international book trade
- Indexes, checklists, and biographical information
- Covers a range of dates, with emphasis on the 18th and early 19th century
London Book Trades: A Biographical Resource
- Biographical information about people who worked in the London book trades
- Contains entries for over 30,000 individuals
- Covers the period from the introduction of printing to around 1830
- A work-in-progress and does not provide comprehensive coverage
- Downloadable as a Microsoft Access file
Book History Online (BHO)
- Online bibliography of the history of the printed book and libraries
- Book production, distribution, conservation, description and analysis.
- History of the arts, crafts, techniques, and equipment in relation to books
- History of books and libraries in their economic, social and cultural environment
Database of Mid-Victorian Illustration (DMVI)
- High quality images of 868 literary illustrations published around 1862
- Searchable by keyword, illustrator, engraver, and iconographic category
- Bibliographic and iconographic details with the images
The Reading Experience Database (RED)
- Details what people read, where they read it, and what they thought of it
- Covers the period 1450-1945
- A work in progress
- Limited to the experiences of British subjects
- Searchable by keyword, name, date, socio-economic group, gender, religion, occupation, and type of text read
Book History Societies
The Printing Historical Society
- Indexes the Society's Journal
- Lists relevant publications
- Links to websites of relevance to printing historians
- Details events and available research grants
SHARP Web - The Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing
- Lists conferences, events and calls for papers
- Provides an extensive list of links to related websites, such as research resources, online exhibitions, book history courses, and projects and societies
- Lists relevant journals and publications
Miscellaneous
CESAR - Calendrier Electronique des Spectacles sous l'Ancien Régime et sous la Révolution
- Contains a database and image bank dedicated to Ancien Régime and Revolutionary theatre
- Searchable by category and name
- Information and images on all aspects of the French theatre between 1600 and 1800
- Supplementary materials such as contemporary reviews, police reports and treatises
- Available in French and English
RASCAL - Research and Special Collections Available Locally
- Contains details of research and special collections held in libraries, museums and archives in Ireland
- Records details of content, location, format and access
- Can be searched or browsed by title or institution
Manuscript-Related Websites
1641 Depositions
- A fully searchable digital edition of the 1641 Depositions
Beyond 2022 - Ireland's Virtual Record Treasury
- An all-island collaborative project to create a virtual reconstruction of the Public Record Office of Ireland which was destroyed in 1922
CIRCLE
- Reconstruction of the medieval Chancery records which were destroyed in 1922.
The Down Survey Project
- Digitised versions of the surviving maps of the Down Survey of the 1650s