Early English Books Online

Early English Books Online (or EEBO) is an online database of early English books, “from the first book published in English through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare”. 
The project was launched in 1999 as a joint collaboration between the University of Michigan, Oxford University and ProQuest Information and Learning.

EEBO now contains scanned images of the complete pages of around 100,000 books, together with bibliographical information. A separate initiative, the Text Creation Partnership, is currently engaged in creating searchable full-text versions of these books to complement the database.

EEBO covers a wide range of subject areas, including English literature, history, philosophy, linguistics, theology, music, fine arts, education, mathematics and science. Its official dates of coverage are 1473-1700, corresponding to the dates covered by the short title catalogues being used as the basis for database research, but a number of later works are also included.

Getting started

EEBO is an online resource provided by ULRLS. It can be accessed either via the direct link from the Warburg Institute website (Homepage > Library > CD-ROMs and Electronic Resources), or via the ULRLS website.

Once you have accessed EEBO via one of these two routes, you should be taken to the ‘Basic Search’ screen. This offers a range of search options including: keyword, author keyword, title keyword, bibliographic number, limitation of search by date. Links next to each search option provide access to further information about the option or a drop-down list of suggested search terms.

At the top of the screen, a menu bar provides links to a range of other searching and browsing options, including:

  • Advanced Search: enables you to use keywords to build complex queries
  • Periodicals Search
  • Author Browse
  • Periodicals Browse

An upper menu bar provides links to other features of the database, including:

  • Marked List: displays details of the items which you have marked during a search/browse session
  • Search History
  • Help: clicking on ‘Help’ whilst in any section of the database takes you to a help page relating specifically to that section.

 

Further information about EEBO can be found by clicking ‘Home’ to access the Home Page (normally bypassed when you enter from within the Warburg Institute or ULRLS networks) , then ‘About EEBO’.