Clare Jarvis Bodleian Law Library Oxford University Library Services [email protected]

WISER: Workshops in Information Skills and Electronic Resources

Clare JarvisBodleian Law Library

Oxford University Library [email protected]

Finding older printed material

(pre-1850) in Oxford


OxLIP databases ESTC English Short Title Catalogue HPB Hand Press Book database NSTC Nineteenth Century Short Title

Catalogue IISTCIllustrated Incunabula Short Title

Catalogue EEBO Early English Books Online ECCO Eighteenth Century Collections

Online ILEJ Internet Library of Early Journals


Structure of session

Introductions Aims and objectives

Information sources The need to search a variety of sources

OLIS How to find items which are in Oxford but not on OLIS

The need to try different types of search 4 different styles of record you may see on OLIS Telnet OLIS and web OLIS: which version to use when Compare and contrast bibliographic records and holdings information in

printed STC and Wing, OLIS, ESTC and HPB How to search EEBO and ECCO

Demonstration of relevant search techniques: live examplesConcluding remarksExercises to practise searching OLIS, ESTC, HPB, EEBO & ECCO


Finding older printed material (pre-1850) in Oxford

Aim To introduce humanities scholars to effective ways of

searching for older printed material in Oxford

Objectives To introduce the main sources of information for

finding older printed material To demonstrate relevant search techniques To promote the importance of searching a variety of

sources and trying different types of search


Information sources

A. Try searching a variety of sources because: Apart from sources which are out of date, all the main

catalogues and databases are works in progress, e.g. OLIS ESTC (English Short-Title Catalogue) HPB (Hand Press Book database)

Not all early printed books in Oxford libraries are yet on OLIS or the other main databases

Books which do not appear in one catalogue can often be found in one or more other sources


To find items which are in Oxford

1. First try OLIS

2. To find items which are not on OLIS, try:a) Collection level printed resources

b) Librarians

c) Printed catalogues

d) Inter-Collegiate Catalogue (ICC)

e) English Short-Title Catalogue (ESTC)

f) Early English Books Online (EEBO)

g) Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)

h) Hand Press Book (HPB) database


OLIS: a catalogue which is“work in progress”

OLIS has evolved from a number of separate catalogues which were created

at different times on different systems to different standards


OLIS cont.

These separate catalogues have been added, mostly unchanged, into OLIS, and the records for early printed items are gradually being upgraded to the current Oxford antiquarian standard and merged into a single union catalogue. As work is still in progress, you will find some problems and inconsistencies when searching for earlier material.


OLIS: problems you may encounter when searching for earlier material

More than one record for a single bibliographic item More than one record for an individual copy Style, amount of detail and quality of information in

records vary Not all early books in Oxford libraries are yet on OLIS Some libraries conceal some of their holdings on the

public version of the catalogue, for security reasons Library staff can see such holdings, but readers cannot If the only holding attached to a record is a hidden one, the

message for readers is “There are no holdings for this title”


2. For items not on OLIS, try: a) Collection level printed resources

Walker, Gregory, Clapinson, Mary and Forbes, Lesley (ed.) The Bodleian Library: a subject guide to the collections. Oxford: Bodleian Library, 2004.

Morgan, Paul. Oxford libraries outside the Bodleian: a guide. 2nd ed. Oxford: Bodleian Library, 1980.


b) Librarians

If you think a particular library has collections of interest to your readers, do contact the librarian as there are often excellent card catalogues or handlists, even if the collections are not yet entirely on OLIS


c) Printed catalogues

For English material the most important are:

Coates – Coates, Alan … [et al.] A catalogue of books printed in the fifteenth century now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Oxford University Press, 2005.

Rhodes - Rhodes, Dennis E. A catalogue of incunabula in all the libraries of Oxford University outside the Bodleian. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982.

Foxon - Foxon, David F. English verse, 1701-1750 : a catalogue of separately printed poems with notes on contemporary collected editions. 2 vols. London and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1975.

STC - Pollard, Alfred W., and G. R. Redgrave. A short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland, & Ireland and of English books printed abroad, 1475-1640. London: Bibliographical Society, 1926. Reprint, 1969.

STC (2nd ed.) - Pollard, Alfred W., and G. R. Redgrave. A short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland, & Ireland and of English books printed abroad, 1475-1640. 2nd ed., rev. & enl. London: Bibliographical Society, 1976-91.

Wing - Wing, Donald Goddard. Short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and British America, and of English books printed in other countries, 1641-1700. 3 vols. New York: Index Society, 1945-51.

Wing (2nd ed.) - Wing, Donald Goddard. Short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and British America, and of English books printed in other countries, 1641-1700 2nd ed., rev. and enl. 3 vols. New York: Index Committee of the Modern Language Association of America, 1972-88.

Wing (2nd ed., 1994) - Wing, Donald Goddard. Short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and British America, and of English books printed in other countries, 1641-1700 2nd ed., newly rev. and enl. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1994.


c) Printed catalogues cont.

There is an annotated STC with Bodleian shelfmarks in Duke Humfrey’s.

There is an annotated Wing with college shelfmarks in the Lower Reading Room.

For other printed catalogues, listed by country and by topic, see the bibliography of reference works used by antiquarian cataloguers: appendix 2 in:

http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/icc/antiq/


d) Inter-Collegiate Catalogue (ICC) The ICC is a locally held database of pre-1641

foreign imprints held in Oxford libraries outside the Bodleian

For information about this database or help with college shelfmarks, email the Project Manager of the Early Printed Books Project,

[email protected]


e) English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC) “The English Short Title Catalogue provides

extensive descriptions and holdings information for letterpress materials printed in Great Britain or any of its dependencies in any language—as well as for materials printed in English anywhere else in the world. Coverage is from the beginnings of print to 1800 including all recorded English monographs printed between 1475 and 1700. The English Short Title Catalogue is updated daily.” – OxLIP database


e) ESTC cont.

Quirks and oddities STC liturgical works printed abroad (usually Paris) but

for the use of Sarum or, occasionally, other dioceses Foreign translations of English works Foreign items reprinted from ESTC items Only partial coverage for engraved, ephemeral and

musical items, but improving all the time Odd cataloguing rules for 18th century material

e.g. Roman numeral dates are transcribed in Arabic numerals


e) ESTC cont.

What the letters mean S = STC items R = Wing items T = 18th century items N = overspill 18th century items W = American 18th century items P = periodicals of all periods


f) Early English Books Online (EEBO) Major collection of primary source material Access to digital images of around 125,000 works Includes works printed in UK and North America, and

works in English printed elsewhere, 1473-1700 Includes works listed in STC and Wing EEBO Text Creation Partnership is encoding 25,000

editions to make full text searches possible Use the EEBO-TCP link for full text searches


f) EEBO cont.

Uses: As e-book interface To look at facsimiles of original texts To look at editions not available in Oxford

For search tips, read introductory matter and help pages

Printing Either individual/several images separately Or use Download PDF option to download and print

the whole file


g) Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)

Major collection of primary source material Access to digital images of around 150,000

works Includes English and foreign language titles

printed in the UK, and many works from the Americas, 1701-1800

Full text searching is possible


g) ECCO cont.

Use: Fuzzy searches to find variant spellings “Full Citation” option for bibliographical details

about the work, including its location “eTable of Contents” to select a particular

section of a work “Mark List” to save and email details of the

records found

Texts can be viewed and printed, but not emailed


h) Hand Press Book (HPB) database

“The Hand Press Book file includes records for European printing of the hand-press period (c. 1455-1830) from the Consortium of European Research Libraries, whose 48 members represent national and university libraries in 25 countries.” – OxLIP database


Information sources

Try different types of search because: Within each catalogue, not all records contain the same features

for you to search on, e.g. OLIS antiquarian standard records include:

STC, Wing and ESTC numbers Uniform headings for printers’ names

But brief OLIS Pre-1920 records lack these details Different versions of a catalogue, e.g. web OLIS and Telnet

OLIS, offer different search options

If your search does not succeed at first, try a different approach before concluding the item is not there


OLIS: 4 main types of record

There are 4 main types of record you are likely to retrieve when searching for older material on OLIS1. Bodleian Pre-1920 catalogue records

2. English Faculty Library basic records

3. ESTC eighteenth century records

4. Oxford antiquarian records Beware of duplication!


1. Bodleian Pre-1920 catalogue records

Unrevised records from the Bodleian’s Pre-1920 catalogue

Very short records Only have Bodleian holdings


1. Bodleian Pre-1920 catalogue Does not represent all BOD holdings of books published

before 1920 Only contains books catalogued before 1989 On OLIS, the Pre-1920 catalogue does not contain all

BOD books published before 1920 and catalogued before 1989 because work is in progress: As the records are upgraded or replaced by ones of better

quality, the original records are gradually being deleted or transferred to the main database

When other libraries create fuller records, they notify BOD of any duplication, the BOD holdings are transferred to the fuller records, and the original Pre-1920 records are deleted

So the number of Pre-1920 records on OLIS is diminishing


2. English Faculty Library basic records

Basic records from an early retrospective conversion project

Most EFL rare books have this type of record Many errors because information was not checked

against the books before being loaded onto OLIS Usually only have EFL holdings If an item with an EFL basic record is also held by other

Oxford libraries, there will be a separate record on OLIS for the other libraries’ holdings, if they are on OLIS


3. ESTC eighteenth century records

ESTC records for eighteenth-century material with Oxford holdings.

Often detailed and reliable Lack some information included in the Oxford

antiquarian standard e.g. standardised forms of printers’ names

Different punctuation conventions from Oxford antiquarian standard


4. Oxford antiquarian records

Oxford antiquarian standard is used for all books published up to 1820 and for many up to 1850: When any of the earlier, more basic records are revised When any new records are created

More information is included than for modern books Copy-specific notes are given about, e.g.

Binding Provenance Imperfections of individual copies


4. Oxford antiquarian records The extra information included in Oxford antiquarian

records and the special searches which can be used to retrieve it are described in the 2006 revision to the yellow leaflet:

OLIS: searching for older printed material (pre-1850)Available on the web as a link from: Bodleian Law Library web site:http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/law/training/subject_guides#legalhistory English Faculty Library web site:http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/english/books WebLearn, under M.St. in English Studies, 1550-1780:http://www.weblearn.ox.ac.uk/site/human/english/materials/grad/mstpages/mst/ The Early Modern Web at Oxford (EMWO):http://users.ox.ac.uk/~lina0897/emwo/oxford_resources.shtml


Telnet OLIS and web OLIS:which version to use when/searching tips

Telnet To place stack requests at the Bodleian for certain periodical parts To limit your search to a particular library Offers greater and more flexible search options than are currently

available on the web OPAC, so better suited to the more complex searches sometimes necessary for antiquarian material

See the OLIS Second Search Screen for further options highlight Further search options (second screen) from the 'Welcome to

OLIS’ screen and press Return For additional search options which are not listed on the Telnet

screens, see section 4 of the yellow leaflet and the revised handout When you have retrieved a record, highlight Full display and press

Return in order to see the fullest version of the record


Telnet OLIS and web OLIS:which version to use when/searching tips

Web OPAC At the Choose Database screen, click on Both Oxford OLIS and

Bodleian Pre-1920 Catalogues to avoid missing items. If you have a long list of results, you can sort them by date (provided

there are not more than 500 results) and then use the Jump to option to move quickly to the early editions towards the end of the list.

Once you have located a record, click on the Full Display and, if necessary, scroll up and down, to see the whole bibliographic record and the copy specific notes (lacking in the Normal Display) for each library with holdings.

If an OLIS record has a link to an electronic resource, e.g. EEBO, you can click directly into the resource from the web OPAC version of OLIS.


Demonstration of relevant search techniques: live examples How to find early editions of:

authors titles subjects

Compare and contrast the records and the holdings information in printed STC & Wing, and in OLIS, ESTC, HPB, EEBO & ECCO


Demonstration of relevant search techniques: live examples

Specific searching tips for Telnet OLIS and web OLIS See 2006 revision to the yellow leaflet:

OLIS: searching for older printed material (pre-1850) Available on the web in a pdf version for printing at:http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/law/training/subject_guides#legalhistory

and:

http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/english/books


Conclusion

It is important not to rely on a single approach Particularly while the catalogues are in such a state of

flux Try different ways of searching OLIS, ESTC, etc.

A single source will not necessarily produce a comprehensive result

Contact the libraries that have relevant collections


Further sources of help

Library staff Especially Duke Humfrey staff,

who can provide expertise not only on the Bodleian’s holdings, but also on Oxford libraries in general

ESTC and HPB directly via the online feedback facilities

If you have a particular question about ESTC,Sarah Wheale, [email protected] pass it on to a member of ESTC


Bibliography

Reference works used by cataloguersSee appendix 2 in

http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/icc/antiq/


Exercises

To practise searching the OxLIP databases ESTC HPB,

try the exercises on the pink sheets

Answers and searching tips are given on the blue sheets

Try searching for the same titles on OLIS If you have any questions, please contact:

[email protected]

Clare Jarvis Bodleian Law Library Oxford University Library Services [email protected]

Documents

Transcript of Clare Jarvis Bodleian Law Library Oxford University Library Services [email protected]