Old Books in New Interfaces: Early English Books Online

Over the holiday break, curl up by the fire with a really old book.

Early English Books Online (EEBO) brings a rare book library to your laptop.  It offers page images of virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America, as well as works in English printed elsewhere between 1473 and 1700. EEBO collections are based on path-breaking bibliographies:

• Pollard & Redgrave’s Short-Title Catalogue (1475-1640)
• Wing’s Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700)
• Thomason Tracts covering the English Civil War (1640-1661)

In addition to page images for nearly 150.000 titles, EEBO also offers transcribed and searchable full text for approximately half of the titles,  thanks to the collaborative Text Creation Partnership project.

If you have never explored EEBO before, be prepared to lose yourself in browsing. Search and filter for document features such as charts, coats of arms, maps, musical notation, portrait, printers marks, or illustrations.  Explore books and pamphlets by printer or place of publication.  Allow the “spelling variants” option to take care of the infinite variety of spelling choices in the 16h and 17th centuries.

[Device of the royal arms of Elizabeth I flanked by two angels and a lion and griffin] (1558). s.n. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/2240866875?accountid=8361

The New Interface

So what’s new in old books?  Early English Books Online has a new interface for 2020 and now offers many of the functions familiar in other ProQuest databases.  EEBO is now cross-searchable with other ProQuest databases, such as Literature Online, and offers a responsive, mobile-friendly interface that looks great in all devices. Refine your search results using filters for date ranges, subject terms, source library, and more.  Export your results to RefWorks, EndNote, or Excel.   Read more about the new interface–and coming enhancements–at the ProQuest support site.

Halifax, George Savile,Marquis of, 1633-1695. (1692). The lady’s new-year’s gift, or, advice to a daughter .. London, Printed for M.G. and J.P. and are to be sold by Thomas Chapman .. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/2240854471?accountid=8361