Access to Early European Books 5-16 until 31 May 2020

ProQuest have kindly given Oxford researchers free temporary access to Early European Books Collections 5-16 until 31 May 2020. SSO is required for off-campus access.

Collections 5-16 draw mostly material held at Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) but also at Koninklijke Bibliotheek in The Hague, the Kongelige Bibliotek in Copenhagen and the Wellcome Library in London. It provides access to early printed European collections published between 1450 and 1700.

Some collections are themed:

Collection 16 – French Culture in the Early Modern Period – From the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF)

Collection 15 – Revolution and Reformation: Early Modern Science and Religion – From the Wellcome Library (London), the Kongelige Bibliotek (Copenhagen), the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (The Hague) and the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze (Florence).

All EEB collections can be cross-searched.  You can also cross-search with Early English Books Online (EEBO) (SSO required for off-campus access).

You have a number of searching and browsing options, including by subject. You can view the documents in thumbnail, Full View and see the full metadata description. Early European Books can now also be analysed visually with the new Interactive Historical Map. Check out the useful EEB LibGuide to learn more about the collection and how to use it.

Please note that book-level details are not in SOLO. You will need to access EEB directly to search for a particular titles.

After 31 May 2020, researchers will continue to have access to EEB Collections 1-4.

New: European Views of the Americas: 1493 to 1750

European Views of the Americas: 1493 to 1750 is a freely accessible comprehensive guide to printed works about the Americas written in Europe before 1750. It is provided by EBSCO.

European Views of the Americas - logoThe database contains more than 32,000 entries and is a comprehensive guide to printed records about the Americas written in Europe before 1750. It covers the history of European exploration as well as portrayals of Native American peoples. There is good content from continental Europe.

The European Views of the Americas: 1493 to 1750 database addresses the following subjects and themes:

  • America in literature
  • Botany
  • British in America
  • Catholic Church
  • Commerce
  • Discoveries
  • Dutch in America
  • Economics
  • Fisheries
  • French in America
  • Geography
  • Great Britain–Colonies
  • Indians
  • Jesuits (and other religious orders) in America
  • Law
  • Mines & mineral resources
  • Natural history
  • Navigation
  • Pirates
  • Shipping
  • Slave-trade
  • Spain–Colonies
  • Tobacco
  • Voyages around the world

You can locate material by searching in a variety of ways or browsing for publication (A-Z) or name and geographic lists of publishers, printers and booksellers.

European Views of the Americas - sample

“The database is derived from the seminal reference work, European Americana: A Chronological Guide to Works Printed in Europe Relating to the Americas, 1493-1750. Commonly known as the Alden-Landis bibliography (after the co-editors John Alden and Dennis Landis), this reference work features documents produced in Europe that make some mention of the discovery and emerging awareness of the Americas. The work is arranged in chronological order across six volumes. The database is searchable by every category of information found within the printed volumes and will be an invaluable resource for researchers interested in the subject.” http://support.ebsco.com/knowledge_base/detail.php?id=4994, accessed 21 July 2016

You have a good choice of saving and exporting your citations with permalinks and citation assistance also provided.

Also of interest:

Bodleian receives Charles I’s travelling library

[re-blogged from http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/news/2014/dec-18]

What has the Bodleian received for Christmas?
A spectacular travel-sized library that once belonged to Prince Charles, later King Charles I.

 

It has been bequeathed by John McLaren Emmerson, DPhil (Oxon) to mark the part played by the University and City in the English Civil War, and in grateful recollection of many enjoyable and informative visits to the Bodleian.

This latest addition to the Bodleian Libraries collection is like a 17th century version of a Kindle. Two red leather cases, designed in the 1970s by Sangorski and Sutcliffe to look like two large books, open up to reveal 59 small volumes covering just about everything that a wealthy educated gentleman would want to read on his travels.

> Continue reading

Knowing your EBL from your ebrary: guide to ebooks

EBL, Ebrary and EBSCOhost e-books logos

Are you struggling to find our ebooks in SOLO? Do you want to learn how best to use ebooks?

Read here about LibGuide on Ebooks, which ebook collections are available and where you can sign up for eBooks courses.

Bodleian Libraries provide access to thousands of online books across many subjects. We have subscriptions to modern monographs as well as early printed books.

> Overview of ebook collections in Oxford.

To help our readers find the ebooks and make best of them, a new LibGuide on eBooks has now been published at http://ox.libguides.com/e-books.

Use the guide to learn more about:

  • the different ebook providers and how their “loan” policies differ.
  • which devices are compatible with different formats. This is useful if you are thinking of buying an ebook reader.

ebook LibGuide screenshotMultidisciplinary ebook packages

eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) – Currently Oxford Libraries have over 2100 purchased e-books across all subjects (‘Our Collection’) plus more than 3000 free e-books.
Access to each e-book is normally limited to two simultaneous users.

E Book Library (EBL) – a growing collection of e-books from major academic publishers worldwide in humanities, science and medicine and social studies. The collection also provides 5 minutes free browse to over 200,000 “non-owned” books in the collection, with the option to send purchase requests to library staff.

Ebrary Academic Complete – a collection of around 110,000 e-books from over 500 academic publishers. University members may also download books for 14 day loans (loan limit of 10).

University Press Scholarship Online – 16,000+ titles in 28 subject areas, from Oxford and 17 other leading scholarly presses, e.g. British Academy, Chicago UP, Edinburgh UP, Liverpool UP, Stanford UP, Yale UP, University of California UP, etc.

Humanities

Early printed books

Free online books

Google Books Millions of books digitised by Google.  Many only available in Snippet View. Be careful you know what exactly you are looking at. Describing multivolume works or different editions is not Google’s strength.

Internet Archive  (archive.org) Giant digital library of 1.8 million texts. Excellent also for digitised European books, esp. of the 19th century.

Project Gutenberg “Download over 30,000 free ebooks to read on your PC, Kindle, Sony Reader, iPhone or other device. Project Gutenberg is the first and largest single collection of free ebooks.”

Need more help? Sign up for the Bodleian iSkills course on ebooks

iSkills: e-Books

Date: 21 Nov (wk 6), 9:15-10:30

An overview of academic e-books looking at what is currently available in e-format, how to find and access e-books and how to make the most of e-book functionality. Who is this session for? All members of Oxford University and other Bodleian Libraries readers. Book now.

Location: IT Services Help Centre, 13 Banbury Road
Presenter: Hilla Wait, Jo Gardner

iSkills: e-Book Readers

Date: 21 Nov (wk 6), 10:45-12:15

How useful are e-book readers in academic work? Can they be used for accessing library materials? What are the features to look out for when considering purchase? These and similar questions will be considered with reference to the i-Pad, the Amazon Kindle and Sony Touch e-readers and smart phones. Who is this session for? All members of Oxford University and other Bodleian Libraries readers. Book now.

Location: IT Services Help Centre, 13 Banbury Road
Presenters: Hilla Wait, Ian Chilvers

New: Frankfurt and Leipzig Book Fair Catalogues (1594-1860)

Frankfurter and Leipzig book fair catalogues - screenshotOxford readers now have access to the online Frankfurt and Leipzig Book Fair Catalogues via SOLO and Databases A-Z. It has the digitized versions (from microfilm) of the catalogues for the Frankfurt and Leipzig book fairs, representing an almost complete run from 1594 to 1860. As well as a historical bibliographical tool relevant to those researching early modern and 19th century history, history of science and medicine, etc. it is also a useful primary source for the history of scholarship, of literature, of publishing and of the intellectual development of central Europe.

“Book-trade catalogues, generally referred to as book fair catalogues, offer a unique overview of German – and in many respects European – book production over a period of nearly 300 years (1594-1860). This form of information, originally intended for the contemporary book trade, today forms an important and comprehensive historical bibliography of the period.

Developed in the 16th century, the book fair catalogues for the Spring or Easter and Autumn or Michaelmas Fairs provided the widest possible overview of the books on offer during this period. Only when other sources of information began to take their place did they cease publication in 1860.”

The following fair catalogues are included:

  • Catalogus universalis, hoc est designatio omnium librorum, qui hisce nundinis … Francofurtensibus & Lipsiensibus anno [1594-1691]
  • Catalogus universalis, sive designatio omnium librorum, qui hisce nundinis … Francofurtensibus & Lipsiensibus anni [1692-1711]
  • Catalogus universalis sive designatio eorum librorum, qui hisce nundinis vernalibus Francofurtensibus et Lipsiensibus anni [1712-1732]
  • Catalogus universalis, oder Verzeichniß derer Bücher, welche in der Frankfurter und Leipziger Michael-Messe entweder ganz neu gedruckt oder sonsten verbessert wieder aufgeleget worden sind  [1733-1759]
  • Allgemeines Verzeichnis der Bücher, welche von Ostern bis Michaelis von Michaelis bis Ostern neu gedruckt oder aufgelegt worden sind [1760-1850]
  • Messkatalog [1850-1854]
  • Bibliographisches Jahrbuch für den deutschen Buch-, Kunst- und Landkarten-Handel [1854-1860]

The book details are organised by topic. You can download individual pages or sections from the online catalogues are pdfs.

Trial until 17 January: Frankfurt and Leipzig Book Fair Catalogues online

Oxford users are now invited to trial  the online Frankfurt and Leipzig Book Fair Catalogues. The trial is accessible until 17 January via SOLO and OxLIP+.

messkatalogeThe digitized versions (from microfilm) of the catalogues for the Frankfurt and Leipzig book fairs (Messkataloge), representing an almost complete run from 1594 to 1860.

Please send feedback to alan.coates@bodleian.ox.ac.uk by 17 January 2014. If you have queries regarding access, contact eresources@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

“Book-trade catalogues, generally referred to as book fair catalogues, offer a unique overview of German – and in many respects European – book production over a period of nearly 300 years (1594-1860). This form of information, originally intended for the contemporary book trade, today forms an important and comprehensive historical bibliography of the period.

Developed in the 16th century, the book fair catalogues for the Spring or Easter and Autumn or Michaelmas Fairs provided the widest possible overview of the books on offer during this period. Only when other sources of information began to take their place did they cease publication in 1860.

The digitisation is based on the microfilming of the book fair catalogues from 1594 onwards. To bring the various and astonishingly scattered holdings of different libraries together and create and almost complete run was a major editorial achievement. There were only a few years during the Thirty Years’ War when no catalogues are known to have appeared.” http://www.olmsonline.de/en/kollektionen/messkataloge/

Trial until 16 May: Early European Books

Oxford readers are now invited to trial the complete Early European Books. Note that Early European Books 2 (Italian collection) is already held in Oxford.

EEBEarly European Books provides scholars with new ways of accessing and exploring the printed record of early modern Europe, drawing together a diverse array of printed sources from the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth 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.

Early European Books builds upon and complements Early English Books Online (EEBO) and is largely concerned with non-Anglophone materials.

Let us know what you think!

Trial ends 16 May 2013. You can leave feedback on the History databases desiderata or email Isabel Holowaty.

Oxford Bibliographical Society Lecture Mon 25 Feb

OBC 25 FEbOxford Bibliographical Society Lectures

Monday, 25 February 2013
Taylor Institution, Seminar Room 3, 17:15

Paddy Bullard (University of Kent)
“Bare words not being sufficient…”
Tacit Knowledge and Early Modern Books

Dr Paddy Bullard is lecturer in eighteenth-century studies at the University of Kent, Canterbury. From January 2005 to December 2009 he was an AHRC Research Fellow attached to the Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jonathan Swift, and Rank Junior Research Fellow at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford. His monograph, Edmund Burke and the Art of Rhetoric, was published by Cambridge in 2011, and he has co-edited with James McLaverty a volume of essays, Jonathan Swift and the Eighteenth-Century Book (CUP, 2013). He is currently completing a new scholarly edition of Burke’s Philosophical Enquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful, and a book on the British enlightenment and the cognitive unconscious.

Related Links

Magdalen Library Talk Wed 27 Feb

Title cover of 1563 edition

Title cover of 1563 edition

Magdalen Library Talk

Wednesday 27 February, 5.30pm

Dr Tom Freeman will talk about how one of the most influential publications ever, John Foxe’s “Actes and Monuments” or “Book of Martyrs,” came into being. There will be a chance to examine close up the three editions owned by Magdalen College: the first two editions (1563 and 1570), which were presented to the College by Foxe himself, as well as the copiously illustrated edition of 1631, which the College recently acquired.

The exhibition of early medical books continues in the Old Library too, and will be available for viewing.

Related Publications

Related Links Magdalen College Library and Archives | Special Collections at Magdalen College | johnfoxe.org

New to Oxford users: Dictionnaires des XVIe et XVIIe siècles

Following a successful trial in May, access to Dictionnaires des XVIe et XVIIe siècles has now been secured and available via OxLIP+.

It is a database of ten historical French dictionaries of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It allows you to search these dictionaries all at the same time. They include:

  • Dictionnaire françois-latin de Robert Estienne, Paris, 1549
  • Thresor de la langue françoyse, tant ancienne que moderne de Jean Nicot, Paris, 1606
  • A Dictionarie of the french and english tongues de Randle Cotgrave, London, 1611
  • Les Origines de la langue françoise de Gilles Ménage, Paris, 1650
  • Dictionnaire françois de Pierre Richelet, Genève, 1680
  • Essai d’un dictionaire universel d’Antoine Furetière, Amsterdam, 1687
  • Dictionaire universel d’Antoine Furetière, La Haye et Rotterdam, 1690
  • Dictionnaire étymologique ou Origines de la langue françoise de Gilles Ménage, Paris, 1694
  • Le Dictionnaire de l’Académie françoise dedié au Roy, Paris, 1694
  • Le Dictionnaire des Arts et des Sciences de Thomas Corneille, Paris, 1694

Lacking a French ‘OED’, it is the closest thing there is to a historical French dictionary. It is likely to be of interest to historians, social scientists as well as to linguists and literary scholars.

Related resource:

Portail lexicale – Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales

A meta search engine for French historical dictionaries:

– Le Dictionnaire du Moyen Français
– Le Dictionnaire Électronique de Chrétien de Troyes
– La troisième édition (1552) du Dictionarium latinogallicum de Robert Estienne
– Le Thresor de la langue françoyse, tant ancienne que moderne de Jean Nicot (Paris, David Douceur, 1606)
– Le Dictionaire historique et critique de Bayle (fac-similé de la version de 1740)
– Le Dictionaire de Trévoux (imprimé à Nancy en 1740 chez Pierre Antoine)
– Le Dictionaire critique de la langue française Jean-François Féraud (1787-1788)
– Le dictionnaire de l’Académie française (var. eds)
– L’Encyclopédie de Diderot et d’Alembert