We now have access to a number of digital resources from Adam Matthew Publications which include:
Empire Online:
By the end of 2007 Adam Matthew Publications will have brought together over 70,000 images of original documents relating to Empire Studies. The images are sourced from libraries and archives around the world, including a strong core of document images from the British Library.
This project has been developed to encourage undergraduate work with rare primary documents. By using images of the texts rather than transcriptions, Empire Online enables students to connect with the past with greater immediacy. By retaining the look and feel of the original sources, we engender greater interaction with the material as students can understand better the circumstances in which sources were created and the ways in which the authors chose to present their arguments.
Eighteenth Centure Journals II (1699-1812): Eighteenth Century Journals II provides a wide-ranging view of topical issues that concerned readers of the period. In the eighteenth century, as today, the content of newspapers was dictated by the editor’s sense of what was desired by the general readership. This desire can be summed up in a single word: variety. Themes covered by the periodicals featured in this digital collection are highly diverse, including literature, the theatre; fashion; politics, revolution; agriculture; social issues and society life. Moreover, such range of topics is often discussed within the pages of a single volume, leaping from discussions of the latest ladies’ fashions, to the study of natural philosophy, to gardening methods, within a matter of pages. The sheer breadth of subject matter is astonishing. This essay will attempt to provide the user with a flavour of such subjects and how they were approached by eighteenth-century publishers. It concludes with a list of some relevant journals which users may find a helpful starting-point in their research on specific subject disciplines.
Literary Manuscripts:
17th and 18th Century poetry from the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds. The focus of this collection is to provide direct access to facsimile images of verses as catalogued in the Brotherton Library’s BCMSV database. The search engine and browse lists provide easy access to research enquiries and the original images are just a click away in a variety of formats.This collection also allows access to the complete manuscripts and their searchable catalogue data, including the available lt and ltq literary manuscripts in the Brotherton Collection that are not indexed in the BCMSV database. Please note that Lt q 46 does not exist and Ltq 36, 67 and 68 are currently unavailable for filming. The manuscripts range from contemporary copies of poems by writers like Colvil, Dryden, Fairfax and Pope to popular tags and epitaphs. Many of the manuscripts are miscellanies and commonplace books which have never previously been indexed. One example is Lady Hester Pulter's Poems breathed forth by the nobel Hadassas - a collection of poetry, c.1645-1665, comprising a single volume and several loose sheets, predominantly in a scribal hand with insertions and revisions in two other hands, one perhaps autograph. It also includes part of a novel, The Unfortunate Florinda. Another example is a poetical commonplace book, in several hands, c.1740-1804, partly compiled by Eliza Marriott.
Please note:
Two more collections will follow later this year;
Eighteenth Century Journals I -- 1714-1799 (due late Summer 2007)
Eighteenth Century Journals I is drawn from the Hope Collection at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. It brings together 76 rare journals printed between 1714 and 1799. The collection combines well-known publications with more minor works, offering users a wide-ranging view of eighteenth century publishing culture.
Medieval Travel Writing (due Autumn 2007)
This project provides direct access to a widely scattered collection of original medieval manuscripts that describe travel - real and imaginary - in the Middle Ages.
See Adam Matthew Digital Collections for more information.
Posted by Lisa Petrachenko at May 28, 2007 01:04 PM