This guide assumes that students are already familiar with Duke University Libraries' Resources; if students are new to Duke Libraries, they can start with the following advice pages, or meet with a Subject Specialist:
Search and Find Help Pages
The following are subscription databases that can be easily found in the Duke Libraries database finder. These may contain only contextual information for a European country, or they may contain materials on foreign relations:
Search for maps, primary sources and books from and about the medieval and modern British Isles
Search for primary source materials on Britain and its colonies from 1700-1900
Search over 2 million digitized manuscripts, prints, music, maps, photographs, newspapers and magazines from the Digital Library Department of the Bavarian State Library. This is an open access database.
What is Finding Aid? How is it different from a catalog record?
Archives Portal Europe. Archives Portal Europe is the online gateway to the archival heritage on and from Europe. The records related to the history of Europe are scattered around the world; and at the same time, European archival institutions hold records that relate to the rest of the world. Before digital technologies, trips to the archives required long and expensive journeys, and the records could not easily be connected to each other. Archives Portal Europe makes myriads of archives dispersed on the territory available in one click, anywhere in the world: it brings together descriptive records from more than 30 countries, in more than 20 languages (and 5 different alphabets), and from a large variety of institutions: national archives, community archives, parish archives, university archives, corporate and private archives. The portal currently holds information on around 7000 archival institutions, of which over a thousand actively contribute with content, and it holds more than 280 million archival descriptive units - however, it is constantly expanding to make more material available for research.
Inside the world's major East Asian collections: one belt, one road, and beyond. Allan Cho, Patrick Lo, Dickson K. W. Chiu. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Chandos Publishing, 2017.
European Collections (Read Inside the world's major East Asian collections: one belt, one road, and beyond. for details)
To find other descriptions of collections, use the hyperlinked subjects in the Worldcat Record, see, for example, this related record:
ANNO (AustriaN Newspaper Online): historic newspapers and journals from 1568-1952. Austrian National Library, Vienna.
Delpher: connects to collections at institutions in the Netherlands; search portal maintained by the Royal Library, Den Haag, and by university libraries in Leiden, Amsterdam, Utrecht, and Groningen.
Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek/German Digital Library. Focused on digital objects in German institutions.
Digital Collections, The British Library. The digital collections available from the British Library are: Maps of the UK, Maps of Europe, Maps of Asia, Maps of Africa, The Unveiling of Britain, etc.
Europeana. We share and promote Europe's digital cultural heritage to be used and enjoyed by everyone for learning, for work, or just for fun.
Gallica. Gallica is the digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF) and its partners. On-line since 1997, it adds thousands of new items every week, and today offers access to several million documents.
Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Guides. Look for the Digital Collections Tab at these country specific guides at the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Guides:
Read the chapter: Archival Research in Europe, by Heidi Madden, in Handbook for European Studies Librarians, 2024.
There is a genre of publication called Collection Guide; these publications analyze the collections of a particular library or museum. These guides provide an excellent starting point for understanding when you must travel to examine unique primary materials that are not available online.
A subject search for directories should use the name of a specific country (rather than, say, “Europe”), and combine the terms below in various searches in WorldCat and on the internet. Adding other key words, like economics, literature, etc., in an internet search will bring up additional relevant results, especially in Google Books, the Internet Archive, and HathiTrust.
Every catalog result for a guide to archives by country will have a hyperlinked subject term to further directories in the local catalog or in WorldCat. Searching for the major guides listed below will lead to more directories in that country in the record’s hyperlinked, related subject section.
CrossAsia. The CrossAsia portal was set up by the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin as a central point of contact for academic information in Asia-related sciences. The Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin operates the Specialized Information Service (FID) Asia, which contributes significantly to the further development of the CrossAsia portal. Gathers citations to materials from 243 Asian Studies Databases (some full text; if there is a citation without full text, use Interlibrary Loan at Duke to get the fulltext article. Provides annotations for the specialized databases.
Japan in Europe. A Chronologial Bibliography 16th to 19th Century. Excerpts of many of the texts listed up in this bibliography can be found in Peter Kapitza's magnum opus: Japan in Europa. Texte und Bilddokumente zur europäischen Japankenntnis von Marco Polo bis Wilhelm von Humboldt. Iudicium: München 1990. DEscription oj Japan from Europe.
OLC Ost- und Südostasien - Online Contents. The database is maintained by the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz (SBB-PK) and the Information Center of the German Institute of Global and Area Studies GIGA. Approximately 293 journals are currently being analyzed. This means that the database currently offers access to around 324,000 articles (some citations only, some full-text) and reviews (as of July 2023), many of them retrospective from the year of publication 1993. Search instructions: The article titles are generally included in the original languages. Titles in Asian publications are transcribed.
DART-Europe. DART-Europe was founded in 2005 as a partnership of national and university libraries and consortia to improve global access to European research theses.
OpenEdition. Search and read open access books and journals, scholarly blogs, and academic conference information in the social sciences and humanities. Content is in French (primarily) English, German, and Spanish.
An example of an academic blog that reports on research and conferences around Asian Studies in Europe on OpenEdition. RESAP Blog Livre blanc des recherches sur l'Asie et le Pacifique. The blog points to an interesting series of boks puling together French publications on Asia/Pacific.
The 3 volume set will be ordered for Duke Libraries.
Catalogs
KIT Karlsruhe Virtual Catalog (KVK). A combined search of German union catalogs and national library catalogs.
WorldCat. A union catalog for US libraries and libraries abroad.
HathiTrust (Public Domain within US only). Search a digital repository of major research libraries. This is an open access database.
Internet Archive. Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more
Recent Topics in Research
Browse Worldcat for topics of recent books; search specific countries rather than “Europe”
Germany and Japan. Search authors or cultural movements as “subjects”
Germany and Korea
Countries presenting at European book fairs
Specialized Bibliographies on research topics
Jutta Beder. Bibliography of Costume and Fashion. 2019.
Investigate the European Union publications and Governemnt publications
Investigate research hubs and associations
European Alliance for Asian Studies. The European Alliance for Asian Studies is a co-operative platform of European institutions specializing in the study of Asia. The aim of the Alliance, established in 1997, is to bring together the varied competences and expertise on Asia and Asian Studies found in Europe, strengthening this rich and unique tapestry of academic endeavour found in the region. The Alliance, moreover, facilitates a multi-level communication channel between its members, while it sets out to raise public awareness on the scholarly excellence they offer to the benefit of their constituencies and national and transnational environments.
French Academic Network on Asian Studies. The Congrès Asie is the major event organized by the GIS Asie every two years. It is the largest Asian Studies gathering in France that crosses disciplinary and sub-area boundaries. It is an international conference, with a large proportion of participants from Europe, Asia and America. It is always co-organized with a member institution and the conference languages are French and English. The programme includes mainly thematic panels, guest conferences, roundtables and a book fair with the presence of major publishing houses. It is a learning opportunity for young researchers, whose participation is highly encouraged and funded by travel grants.
Explore list of international partners. Link.
The National Bibliography is a post early modern phenomenon. Most European countries decided to create a cultural heritage bibliography in the 19th to 20th century. These national bibliographies usually start gathering data from the year of founding forwards. Once current national bibliographies were established, library agencies turned to cataloging the earlier output back to 1450. National bibliography and retrospective national bibliography are distinct enterprises, and are usually offered in separate databases.
For current national bibliographies, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) has created a registry that gives quick factual information about when a country started with a concerted contemporary effort to identify publish and yearly lists of publication. The registry is not complete, but allows a quick overview for selected European countries
For deep research into early print output of any particular country, scholars should consult bibliographies of early print for the country, region, or language. The 500 page annotated bibliography by F. Domay amply demonstrates that studying the historic bibliographies that underlie the electronic retrospective bibliographies will provide a nuanced idea of the chronology of early modern print.
Some works that help with understanding retrospective bibliographies include:
In the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sammlung Deutscher Drucke (AG SDD) six libraries collaborate to build a comprehensive collection of printed literature published in German-speaking countries from the beginning of letterpress printing to the present, to provide information on it, to make it accessible to the public and to preserve it for future generations.
This venture has led to the creation of a virtual national library in which the participating libraries are responsible for the following periods.
A corresponding digitization program has started, see VD 16 - VD 17 - VD 18
The Austrian National Library and the Swiss national Library have relevant holdings captured in the retrospective bibliography.
Bibliographie nationale française
Founded in 1811 as Bibliographie de l'Empire français ou Journal général de l'imprimerie et de la librairie, has continued to today under various names and websites. Much of the national print output is preserved in the National Library, with a significant amount of digitization in Gallica .
A few of the more comprehensive historic bibliographies recommended by Friedrich Domay are:
Belgium
There is no systematic retrospective national bibliography, but the catalog of the Royal Library of Belgium (Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België, KBR can be used to explore early Belgiian print in the KBR’s Rare Books division.
The search can be guided by several historic bibliographies
There is no single completed retrospective national bibliography for Italy. The National Library Service (Servizio bibliotecario nazionale, SBN) offers access to the following resources on its homepage
Short-Title Catalogue Netherlands. is the Dutch retrospective bibliography for the period 1540-1800
STCV. The Bibliography of the Hand Press Book a retrospective bibliography of publications from Flanders before 1801. An overview of the project can be found in this dossier (NL).
The time period from 1470 to 1540 is covered by various print bibliographies that cover changing geographies and multiple languages in the shifting borders. The Netherlands as global political power is addressed in bibliographies with international scope.
There is no formal electronic retrospective national bibliography, but the rich early print heritage is documented in numerous print bibliographies. As is true for Italy, libraries in Spain and Portugal participate in cataloging efforts across libraries that gather records from the time period.
The Northern countries started the printing enterprise a little later than Western Europe; Denmark around 1481/82, Sweden 1483, Iceland 1534, Norway 1700s (F. Domay, p. 136).
Iceland
Denmark
Norway
Sweden
Finland
Understand how this retrospective national bibliography was built:
Early English Books Online (EEBO) Search digital copies of nearly every work printed between 1473 and 1700 in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and British North America
The definitive retrospective national bibliography for Great Britain is the online English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC). How was the information for the ESTC gathered?
The sources for the ESTC are varied: period bibliographies, thematic bibliographies, printed catalogs of library holdings, catalogs of a printer’s inventory, trade journals, bibliographies specializing in types like pamphlets, broadsides, sheets, and dissertations about printing history. Sources include regional titles, including bibliographies about the history of printing in Ireland. Below is a sample of the more evocative titles used for establishing the authoritative retrospective national bibliography of Great Britain and Ireland. For a full listing of the historic bibliographies, including with annotations, see: Bibliographie der nationalen Bibliographien = Bibliographie mondiale des bibliographies nationales = A world bibliography of national bibliographies, by Friedrich Domay, from 1987. Search Worldcat for holdings and online editions.
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Growoll, Adolf: Three Centuries of English book trade bibliography. An essay on the beginnings of book trade bibliography since the introduction of printing in England . . . Also a list of the catalogues etc. published for the English book trade from 1595 to 1902 by Wilberforce Eames. New York: Dibdin Club; London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. 1903.
List of catalogues of English book sales, 1676-1900, now in the British Museum. (Vorwort:) George Frederick Barwick. London: The Trustees of the Brit. Museum 1915.
Myers, Robin: The British book trade from Caxton to the present day. A bibliographical guide based on the Libraries of the National Book League and St Bride Institute. London: Andre Deutsch 1973.
British book sale catalogues, 1676-1800. A Union list. Comp, and ed. by Alan Noel Latimer Munby and Lenore Coral. London: Mansell 1977.
Ames, Joseph: Typographical Antiquities; or The history of printing in England, Scotland, and Ireland: containing memoirs of our ancient printers, and a register of the books printed by them (from MCCCCLXXI to MDC)...1899.
Duff, Edward Gordon: A Century of the English book trade. Short notices of all printers, stationers, bookbinders, and others connected with it from the issue of the first dated book in 1457 to the incorporation of the Company of Stationers in 1557. London: The Bibliographical Society 1905.
A Dictionary of the printers and booksellers who were at work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1557-1640. Comp. by Harry Gidney Aldis, Robert Bowes, E. R. McClintock Dix, Edward Gordon Duff, Strickland Gibson (a. o.) General ed.: Ronald Brunlees McKerrow. London: Bibliogra phical Society 1910.
Catalogue of books in the Library of the British Museum printed in England, Scotland and Ireland, and of books in English printed abroad, to the year 1640. (Comp, by George Bullen.) Vol. 1-3. London: The Trustees of the Brit. Museum 1884.
Hand-lists of books printed by London printers, 1501-1556. (Comp, by) Edward Gordon Duff, Walter Wilson Greg, Ronald Brunlees McKerrow, Henry Robert Plomer, Alfred William Pollard and Robert Proctor. London: Bibliographical Society 1895-1916.
Catalogue of books in the John Rylands Library . . . printed in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of books in English printed abroad to the end of the year 1640. (Comp, by Edward Gordon Duff.) Manchester: John Rylands Library 1895.
Madan, Falconer: The Early Oxford Press. A bibliography of printing and publishing at Oxford 1468-1640. With notes, append. and illustrations. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1895.
Early English printed books in the University Library, Cambridge (1475-1640). Vol. 1-4. Cambridge: Univ. Press 1900-07.
A Short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of English books printed abroad 1475-1640. Comp, by Alfred William Pollard and Gilbert Richard Redgrave. 2nd ed. London: Bibliographical Society 1950.
Note: A number of editions and supplements to this catalog have been published, and are listed under this entry in Domay. The English Experience. Books printed in England before 1640. A descr
The English Experience. Books printed in England before 1640. A descriptive catalogue of 769 facsimile editions now available for immediate delivery. (Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum; Norwood/N. J.: Walter J. Johnson 1977.
English recusant literature, 1558-1640. Selected and ed. by David Morrison Rogers. (1-177. 1971-74:) Menston/Yorks., Engl.: Scolar Press; (178. 1974ff.:) Ilkley/Yorks. & London: Scolar Pr. Vol. 1 1971 ff. (Vol. 394. 1979).
McKerrow, Ronald Brunlees: Printers' and publishers' devices in England and Scotland 1485-1640. London: Chiswick Press 1913. LIV, 216 S. mit 428 Faks.
Engeische boeken in Nederland gedrukt gedurende de 16e eeuw. Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff. In: Bibliographische Adversaria. 1. Serie, D. 5 (1883-86).
Allison, Antony Francis, and David Morrison Rogers: A catalogue of Catholic books in English printed abroad or secretly in England, 1558-1640. Pt 1.2. Bognor Regis/Engl.: Arundel Press 1956.
A Short title catalogue of books printed in Britain, and British books printed abroad, 1641-1700, held in Australian libraries. With an introduction on the development of rare book collections and research facilities in Australian and New Zealand libraries. Comp. by William James Cameron. Sydney: Wentworth Press 1962.
Clancy, Thomas H.: English Catholic books 1641-1700. A bibliography. Chicago: Loyola Univ. Press 1974.
Allison, Antony Francis, and Valentine Fernande Goldsmith: Titles of English books (and of foreign books printed in England). An alphabetical finding list by title of books published under the author's name, pseudonym or initials. Vol. 1.2. Folkestone/Kent: William Dawson 1976-77.
Hazlitt, William Carew: Hand-Book to the popular, poetical, and dramatic literature of Great Britain, from the invention of printing to the Restoration. London: John Russell Smith 1867. XII, 701 S. (mit Forts., Erg. u. Reg.) 1876-1903.
Madan, Falconer: Oxford books. A bibliography of printed works relating to the University and City of Oxford or printed or published there. With appendixes, annals, and illustrations. Vol. 1.2. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1912-31.
Aldis, Harry Gidney: A List of books printed in Scotland before 1700, including those furth of the realm for Scottish booksellers. With brief notes on the printers and stationers. Printed for the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society 1904. Photographically reprinted with additions including entries for books published in 1700. Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland 1970.
A List of books printed in the British Isles and of English books printed abroad before 1701 in Guildhall Library. Pt 1.2. London: Corporation of London 1966-67.
A Short-title Catalogue arranged geographically of books printed and distributed by printers, publishers and booksellers in the English provincial towns and in Scotland and Ireland up to and including the year 1700.
A Transcript of the Registers of the Company of Stationers of London, 1554-1640. Ed. by Edward Arber. Vol. 1-5. (1-4:) Privately printed (at) London 1875-77; (5:) Birmingham 1894.
A Transcript of the Registers of the Worshipful Company of Stationers 1640-1708. Vol. 1-3. (Ed. by George Edward Briscoe Eyre with assistance by Henry Robert Plomer.) Privately printed. London 1913-14.
The Term Catalogues, 1668-1709 A. D.; with a Number for Easter Term, 1711, A. D. A contemporary bibliography of English literature in the reigns of Charles II, James II, William and Mary, and Anne. Ed. from the very rare Quarterly Lists of New Books and Reprints of Divinity, History, Science, Law, Medicine, Music, Trade, Finance, Poetry, Plays, etc. with maps, engravings, playing cards, etc., issued by the booksellers, etc. of London. (Comp, by) Edward Arber. Vol. 1-3. London: Edward Arber (privately printed) 1903-06.
Short Title Catalogue of books printed in the British Isles, the British Colonies, and the United States of America, and of English books printed elsewhere, 1701-1800, held in the libraries of the Australian Capital Territory. Ed. by William James Cameron and Diana Carroll. Vol. 1.2. Canberra: National Library of Australia 1966.
Eighteenth-century British books. A subject catalogue. Extracted from the British Museum General Catalogue of printed books by G. Averley, A. Flowers, F. J. G. Robinson, R. V., and P. J. Wallis. Assisted by J. G. B. Heal, B. Jones (a. o.) (Computer Services). Project for Historical Biobibliography (PH1BB), University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Vol. 1-4. Dawson. 1979.
Union Catalogue of scientific libraries in the University of Cambridge. Books published before 1801. Comp. at the Scientific Periodicals Library, University of Cambridge. London: Mansell 1977.
Watt, Robert: Bibiliotheca Britannica, or a General Index to British and foreign literature. Vol. 1-4. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable [and others] 1824 (Nachdr. durch Burt Franklin in New York als «Burt Franklin: Bibliography and Reference series». Nr. 75)
Lowndes, William Thomas: The bibliographer's manual of English literature; containing an account of rare, curious, and useful books, published in or relating to Great Britain and Ireland from the invention of printing with bibliographical and critical notices, collations of the rarer articles, and the prices at which they have been sold in the present century. New ed., rev., corrected & enlarged. With an appendix relating to the books of literary and scientific societies by Henry G. Bohn. Vol. 1-6. London: Henry G. Bohn 1857-64.
Bohn, Henry George: A catalogue of books. London: Henry G. Bohn 1841. (With a new introd. by Francesco Cordasco. Nachdr. in 2 Teilen durch die AMS Press, New York 1974).
Against this back ground of bibliographic sources, EEBO is based on the following bibliographies
The scope and content of each bibliography is described in the About section of the Early English Books Online EEBO
Acronyms can be confusing; here are some acronyms that come up a lot within early printed books in Europe resources:
ESTC, EEBO, EEBO-TPC, ECCO, and ECCO-TCP are interrelated resources for early print in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America
ISTC, USTC, and EEB are interrelated for all of Europe
Head, International and Area Studies & Librarian for Western European and Medieval Renaissance Studies
