Research Guides: Microform Research Sets: Early British Periodicals

About this Collection

Early British Periodicals

About: This collection includes popular magazines, literary reviews, and assorted journals on politics, law, economics, and the British social scene. Some of the titles held by the Libraries include The Historical Register (1716-38) and Household Words (1850-59).
Location: Library Annex LISA Film 1163
Format: Microfilm
Arrangement: Alphabetical within each unit. Consult the indexes or OneSearch to locate reel numbers.
Individual titles are in OneSearch
Items: &The Libraries own 22 of the total 902 reels.
Publication: University Microfilms,

Indexes and Guides

Early British periodicals : a guide to reels 1- of the microfilm collection by Fader, Daniel N.; University Microfilms.
Call Number: Library Annex ; Z6956.G6 E37 1972

Publication Date: 1972-

In 6 volumes.
Early British periodicals : a title listing by series year by Xerox University Microfilms.
Call Number: Library Annex ; PR408.P37 E34 1975

Publication Date: 1975

Online Options

Many of these titles are in the public domain and can be found in HathiTrust, Google Books, or the Internet Archive. For earlier titles be sure to check the Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) database.

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.