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Rare Books resources for historians

Cambridge University Library. Rare Books resources for historians. Emily Dourish Rare Books department, Cambridge University Library. Today’s session. Introduction to print resources The major databases for English language material Specialist databases for different subjects

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Rare Books resources for historians

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  1. Cambridge University Library Rare Books resources for historians Emily Dourish Rare Books department, Cambridge University Library

  2. Today’s session • Introduction to print resources • The major databases for English language material • Specialist databases for different subjects • Hands-on practice • Anything you have found particularly useful?

  3. Print bibliographical resources • B 3-figures collection in the Rare Books Reading Room • Lists available as classification scheme or subject index • http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/deptserv/rarebooks/b3figsclassification.html • http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/deptserv/rarebooks/b3figssubject.html • Reference books from other reading rooms can be transferred to Rare Books

  4. Card catalogues in the Rare Books room • Royal Commonwealth Society • Provenance: Class Adv, general ownership • Chapbooks • War reserve collection • Almanacs • Ballads

  5. Searching for provenance online • Incunabula ownership indices • “former owner”, “annotator”, “donor” in Newton search as ‘Relator term’ • British armorial bindings database http://armorial.library.utoronto.ca/

  6. ESTC: Everything English to 1800 • ESTC: the English Short-Title Catalogue • Based on print works; online is much larger with much more functionality • 2000+ libraries, 470,000+ titles, 3 million+ items • Freely accessible anywhere in the world • http://estc.bl.uk

  7. Titles in ESTC Image by Olaf Simons, Wikimedia Commons

  8. Where they were published Olaf Simons, Wikimedia Commons

  9. Using ESTC • Searchable by numerous fields • Limits can be added • Holdings listed where known; there may be others. Classmarks and copy specific information incomplete • Limiting searches by holding library: UL is bC (can be very slow, we have 80,000 holdings) • Save your records, then email them to yourself

  10. Moving from ESTC to digital copies • EEBO: Early English Books Online • For books up to 1640, note the “STC number” eg 12345 • For books 1641-1700, note the “Wing number” eg A1234 • ECCO: Eighteenth-Century Books Online • For books 1701-1800 note the “ESTC citation number” eg T12345

  11. EEBO: up to 1700 • Search directly or link from ESTC where available • 130,000 digitised books • 40,000 with searchable keyed text: very reliable • Images mostly taken from microfilms, so black and white only • Can save or print individual pages

  12. ECCO: 1701-1800 • Search directly, or link from ESTC where available • 200,000 digitised books • All have been OCRed so full text searchable; can be less reliable • “Subject area” to narrow your search • Result of free text search highlights your hit on the page – easy to find • Email/bookmark/save pages, make citations

  13. Specialist resources • See handout for resources by subject area • Have a go! • Any questions?

  14. What do you use? • Are there any resources you find particularly useful? • Anything you think we should cover next time? • Staff in the Rare Books Room can always help ejm25@cam.ac.ukor rarebooks@lib.cam.ac.uk

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