Eighteenth Century Studies

Collection overview

Material related to the eighteenth century can be found across the Library’s collections.

It is important that you use the catalogue, as many early works are held in Special Collections or other closed stacks, and so will not be apparent from shelf browsing. If you cannot find a book published before 1980, please check the online card catalogue.

Collection strengths include:

First editions of texts in literature and the social sciences in major European languages
Over 30,000 books and pamphlets and a large range of periodicals published in the eighteenth century
Secondary literature in all fields, especially art, history, literature, music and philosophy
Range of modern periodicals: from specialist titles, eg Swift studies, to general ones, eg British journal for eighteenth-century studies
Online access to major bibliographic databases

Other libraries of particular interest in this area within the University of London Research Library Services (ULRLS) include the Warburg Institute and the Institute of Historical Research, which share a catalogue: http://catalogue.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/search~S24

Special Collections

Eighteenth-century material is well represented in our Special Collections, and can be found by searching the main catalogue:

The Goldsmiths’ Library of Economic Literature contains original editions of books, pamphlets and periodicals primarily on economic and social matters published from the fifteenth to the early twentieth centuries, including thousands from the eighteenth century. The database Making of the Modern World (MoMW) is based on this collection and contains the full text of many publications. A printed catalogue is also available in Special Collections, Palaeography Room.

The Porteus Library is the collection of Beilby Porteus (1731-1809), Bishop of London, mostly published 1750-1809. Subject coverage includes slavery, the French Revolution, India, the American Revolution, travel and topography, and ecclesiastical affairs and sermons.

Other Special Collections of note include the:

Bromhead Library of London history – eighteenth-century publications
Sterling Library - many first editions of literary texts from the period
Durning-Lawrence Library - strong in the writings of Daniel Defoe
Harry Price Library - books on the occult, magic and fraud

The Library also holds manuscript material from the eighteenth century, on topics such as slavery, transport, agriculture and commerce. Documents can be located on the Library’s Archive & Manuscript Catalogue: http://archives.ulrls.lon.ac.uk; or via AIM25 (Archives in London and the M25 Area): www.aim25.ac.uk.

Eighteenth-century books

Records of publications of the period can be found in ESTC (English Short Title Catalogue) and Heritage of the Printed Book Book Database [European printed books]. French publications of the period are listed in Prélude au Siècle des Lumières en France: repertoire chronologique, 1680-1715 and Siècle des Lumières: bibliographie chronologique, 1716-.

Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) and Making of the Modern World (MoMW) offer full-text books of the period.

Book Reviews can be traced in:

Index to Book Reviews in England, 1749-1774 [ed] Antonia Forster (1990)
Index to Book Reviews in England, 1775-1800 [ed] Antonia Forster (1997)
Periodicals Archive Online and Periodicals Index Online, 1665-

Eighteenth-century periodicals and newspapers

The Library holds:

General and literary periodicals eg Gentleman’s magazine and the Monthly review
Scientific periodicals eg Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London and Journal des savants
Essay-style periodicals eg the Rambler and Spectator
A variety of reference works to assist in discovering information about periodicals, eg: British literary magazines: the Augustan Age and the Age of Johnson, 1698-1788, ed., Alvin Sullivan (1983), British Literary Magazines: The Romantic Age, 1789-1836, ed., Alvin Sullivan (1983), Dictionnaire des journaux 1600-1789, ed., Jean Sgard (1991), Scientific and technical periodicals of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: a guide, David A. Kronick (1991)

Articles in periodicals – can be traced through indexes to periodical titles (see the catalogue) and online versions of some periodicals or databases, eg Periodicals Archive Online and Periodicals Index Online.

Newspapers - The Times from its beginnings as the Daily Universal Register (1785-1787), is held on microfilm and online as the Times Digital Archive. The British Library’s Newspaper Library has more comprehensive newspaper holdings for this period.

Parliament, government and legal records

A selection of British Parliamentary publications of the period, and some accounts of Parliamentary Proceedings from publishers such as Chandler, Debrett and Hansard are held. Some material is also accessible online via the Eighteenth Century Official Parliamentary Publications Portal 1688 - 1834. The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, a full text database, April 1674-October 1834, contains trials from the period and is available online.