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English and American Literature Subject Guide — Historical Text Databases: English Literature

Resources for researching English and American literature

Historical (Primary Text) Databases

These databases contain the searchable primary texts written in England from about the 8th Century to the latter part of the 15th Century.  For medieval illustrative material, please consult the list of Additional Resources given in the Medieval Studies Research Guide.
These databases present the searchable texts and images of the materials published in books, broadsides, pamphlets, proclamations, and newspapers printed in England from 1473 until 1800.  The spellings of words, names, and phrases was not yet standardized and can vary -- a simple word such as our dog can be spelled dog, dogg, dogge, etc. --  so be certain to try alternative spellings in order to get the best results.
These databases present the searchable texts and images of the materials published in books, broadsides, magazines, pamphlets, proclamations, and newspapers printed in England from 1801 to the present.  The spellings of words, names, and phrases can vary, so be certain to try alternatives.
  • FictionMags Index

    A freely available resource indexing hundreds of thousands of magazines published in English from the nineteenth-century to the present.  There are indexes for author/illustrator, title, series, and issue-by-issue.  There are also indexes for anthologies and collections reprinting the contents of these magazines, and original biographical data about the authors and illustrators are sometimes given.  Note:  this is not a full-text database though some of the magazines indexed are available online.