Research Guides: Microform Research Sets: Early British Fiction: Pre 1750

About this Collection

Early British Fiction: Pre 1750

About: A self-contained library of English fiction through the year 1750.
The collection is based on William H. McBurney’s Checklist of English Prose Fiction, 1700-1739 and Jerry C. Beasley’s Check List of Prose Fiction Published in England, 1740-1749.
Texts were gathered from the holdings of the major American and British libraries, including the British Library, the University of Illinois, the University of Pennsylvania, the Newberry Library of Chicago, Harvard University, and the Huntington Library of California.
Location: Library Annex Cabinets PR 1295 E2
Format: Microfilm
Arrangement: Alphabetically by author, if known, or by title when anonymous.
Records for individual titles are in OneSearch
Items: &53 reels, 556 titles.
Publication: Research Publications, 1980?/dd>

Indexes and Guides

Early British Fiction: Pre-1750
Provides an online index by author and reel.

Early British Fiction - Pre-1750 by Research Publications, Inc.
Call Number: PR1295 .E2

ISBN: 0892350342

Publication Date: 1982

Online Options

These titles are in the public domain and might be found in HathiTrust, Google Books, or the Internet Archive. However, due to their relative rarity, not all titles are freely available. You might also check the database Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO).

Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO): Parts 1 and 2
Covers: 1680-1800. Based on the English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC), Eighteenth Century Collection Online (ECCO) captures most significant books (monographs) published in the United Kingdom during the 18th century regardless of language, plus thousands of English-language works from elsewhere. Search by keywords in the text or by fields such as work author, title, publisher, or place of publication. Texts are divided into 8 broad subject areas, such as history and geography, law, literature, or medicine and science.
HathiTrust
The University Libraries are members of HathiTrust; U o fA students, faculty and staff can now download complete works and take advantage of other features, including building and sharing collections of works. Read more on our HathiTrust Guide.
A collaborative archive of digitized books and periodicals. Most books that can be read full-text online were published prior to 1923 but there are a large number of government documents, including very recent Congressional reports and hearings.
HathiTrust (Open Access Version)
A collaborative archive of digitized books and periodicals. Most books that can be read full-text online were published prior to 1923 but there are a large number of government documents, including very recent Congressional reports and hearings.

This link provides access to HathiTrust for anyone without requiring authentication. You will be able to download books and periodicals one page at a time. If you are a U of A student, faculty, or staff member, please use our customized link to HathiTrust.
Google Books
A growing collection of records for both recent and long out-of-print titles. Because a search may retrieve results from the full-text of many books, Google Books is most useful in helping you to identify titles of interest in your research. A number of popular magazines and government documents have also been added to the Google Books service.