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Early English Books
Early English Books consist of two sets: 1475-1640 and 1641-1700. Both sets contain almost everything printed in Great Britain and British North America, regardless of language, and material published in English printed elsewhere.
Searching Early English Books with the Library Catalog:
Search examples:
"early english books" "commonplace books"
"early english books" bacon essays
1475-1640
By Author or Location:
1. Find the author in Pollard & Redgrave’s Short Title Catalogue, Microform Index PR 1120 .E224 (large blue volumes).
--Author can be governmental body (such as England - Parliament, or ecclesiastical body (such as England, Church of), etc.
-- Geographic locations (such as York, City of) have cross-references to appropriate entry.
2. Chose appropriate title and make note of:
a) the STC number to the left of your entry
b) If the reel/position number has not been penciled in, it may be found in the olive-green cross-indexes, Microform Index PR 1127 .E224 1945, located next to the maroon hard-bound Short Title Catalogue volumes. These indexes are in 5 volumes, covering reels 1 through 2023. Each should be consulted until the desired document letter/number is found. If you cannot find the letter or number, the document has not yet been microfilmed.
Example: In the Hamlet example above, the reel number for that entry is 904.
3. Select the microfilm reel. At the beginning of the reel is a list of the STC numbers of the items on that reel in the order filmed (such as the number 22275 from the example). Your item’s position within this list will give you an idea of its location on the film.
By Title:
1. Locate title in the Titles of English Books Vol. I: 1475-1640,
Microform Index PR1120 .E226 1976. The entry will give you the author’s
first name and first
initial.
2. Now follow the same steps as for author searching above.
By Subject:
There is no print subject access for the 1475-1640 set at this time.
1641-1700
By Subject:
The first half of this microfilm set has been indexed by subject, author, and title in Accessing Early English Books 1641-1700, Microform Index PR1127 .E222 1981 (beige volumes). While it covers reels 1-995, the collection has over 2,000 reels: It is not comprehensive for the entire microfilm set.
These volumes have the microfilm reel and position number already printed with each entry.
By Author or Location:
1. If you do not find what you are looking for in Accessing Early
English Books mentioned above, go to Wing’s Short Title Catalogue 1641-1700, Microform
Index PR
11127 .E224 (raspberry volumes) and search by author or geographic location.
--Author can be governmental body (such as England - Parliament, or ecclesiastical body (such as England, Church of), etc.
-- Geographic locations (such as York, England) have cross-references to appropriate entry.
2. Choose appropriate title and make note of:
a) the letter of the alphabet the entry is under and the number to the left
of the entry
Example: If searching for Milton’s Paradise Lost, mark down M2136, which is M for Milton and the number to the left of the entry for Paradise Lost (shown below).
2136--Paradise lost. Printed and are to be sold by Peter Parker and by Robert Boulter and Matthias Walker, 1667. 4 . L, CT, MR, P, EN; CH, IU, MH, NN, TU, Y.
3. Select the microfilm reel. At the beginning of the reel is a list of the Wing numbers (such as M2136) of the items on that reel in the order filmed. The position number (the number after the colon; 11 in the example of 391:11) indicates the position of your item within the list of filmed material.
By Title:
1. Locate title in Titles of English Books Vol. II: 1641-1700,
Microform Index PR1120 .E226 1976. The entry will give you the
author’s last name and first
initial.
2. Now follow the same steps as for author searching above.
Maintained by Julene Sodt
Last update: 11/11/2003