Oxford users now have trial access to two databases until 31 January 2011:

Early European Books – now with Part 2 (Italian imprints):

Early European Books builds upon and complements Early English Books Online (EEBO) and is largely concerned with providing online access to non-Anglophone early printed materials. It offers scholars new ways of accessing and exploring the printed record of early modern Europe, drawing together a diverse array of printed sources from the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. All works printed in Europe before 1701, regardless of language, fall within the scope of the project, together with all pre-1701 works in European languages printed further afield.

The Cecil Papers

The Cecil Papers is a collection of documents, principally from the reigns of Elizabethan I and James I/VI, privately held by the Gascoyne-Cecil family at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire. Until now, researchers of Elizabethan & Jacobean history have only been able to view these papers by applying to visit the archives at Hatfield House or by consulting a pair of aging and increasingly-degraded black & white microfilm copies. Now, these documents are available digitally. The resource contains nearly 30,000 documents gathered by William Cecil (1521-98), Lord Burghley and his son Robert Cecil (1563-1612), First Earl of Salisbury. Occupying some of the highest offices of state in the land (both men were Secretary of State to Elizabeth I and Robert Cecil also served her successor, James), these two men were at the heart of events during one of the most dynamic periods in Western history.

Please send feedback to Isabel Holowaty (isabel.holowaty@bodleian.ox.ac.uk).  Note that there is currently no funding for either of these. However, we will use your feedback to help prioritise the desiderata list.