Historical E-Book/Digital Collections at the OSU Library: Which Collection Should I Choose?

The following diagrams can help you choose which of the major historical e-book collections would be best for your research in terms of date and content coverage.  Of the British historical collections, EEBO and ECCO cover books published in England or Britain from 1473 up to 1800.  NCCO includes a selection of books as well as a vast number of archival manuscripts, newspapers, and other documents from the late 1700s through the early 1900s, but it is not a comprehensive bibliographic database like EEBO and ECCO.  Note that NCCO also covers other countries beyond Great Britain, especially the United States, Europe (Germany and France), Asia (Japan and China). 

Of the American digital ollections, Early American Imprints, Series I covers books, pamphlets, broadsides, and other documents printed in America from the Colonial period (1639) up to 1800, and Series II covers the years of the early republic, from 1801-1819.  Sabin Americana, a collection of books about the Americas, is a selected list of books published in the United States, Britain, and other countries, including some books found also in Early American Imprints, EEBO, and ECCO, but the overlap is minimal because of the narrow subject focus. 

British Collections:

American Collections:

Below are the basic facts about the main historical e-book/digital collections to help you choose the best one for your research needs.

British Collections:

Early English Books Online (EEB0)

• Dates: 1473-1700 (ends where ECCO begins)
• Scope/Content:  All subjects (literatue, historical works, religion, science, etc.)
• Nationality:  England, Britain, Some American Colonies
• Languages:  Mostly English, but some Latin, other languages. 
• Numbers:  About 126,000 titles, out of which 25,000 are full-text searchable

Eighteenth-Century Collections Online (ECCO)

• Dates: 1701-1800 (begins where ECCO ends)
• Scope/Content: All subjects (literature, historical works, religion, science, etc.)
• Nationality:  England, Britain, Some American Colonies
• Languages:  Mostly English, but some Latin, other languages. 
• Numbers:  About 180,000 titles; all are full-text searchable

Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO)

• "Long Nineteenth Century" (1790s - early 1900s)
• Scope:  history, literature, arts, politics, culture, society
• Contents:  books, periodicals, newspapers, photographs, letters, diaries, manuscripts, papers and other archival material
• Nationality:  Great Britain, United States, Europe, Asia, Africa
• Languages:  English, French, German, some non-European languages
• Numbers:  Growing digital archival collection (~10 million digitized pages)

American Collections:

Early American Imprints, Series I

• Dates: 1639-1800
• Contents:  Books, pamphlets, broadsides, chapbooks, primers, etc. from Charles Evans' American Bibliography
• Nationality:  American Colonies, United States
• Languages: English, but some French, Spanish, German, Native American languages
• Numbers:  37,000 titles, 2.3 million pages

Early American Imprints, Series II

• Dates: 1801-1819
• Contents:  Books, pamphlets, broadsides, etc., from Shaw-Shoemaker's American Bibliography, 1801-1819
• Nationality:  United States
• Languages:  English, but some Latin, Spanish, French, German, Native American languages
• Numbers:  37,000 titles, 4 million pages

Sabin Americana

• Dates: 1500-1926
• Contents:  Books about the Americas (discovery, exploration, geographical description, colonial period through US Civil War and late 19th century), but  very selective coverage.
• Nationality:  United States, England, other countries
• Languages:  Mostly English, but also includes some Spanish, French, Dutch, and other languages 
• Numbers:  About 37,000 titles; all are full-text searchable
• NOTE: Sabin includes some titles that are in the other big collections.

Use the tabs above for more information about each individual collection.