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Eighteenth-Century Libraries Online

Eighteenth-Century Libraries Online is the result of a five-year Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project investigating the contribution of books to social, cultural and political change in North America and the British Isles during the eighteenth century. Our database features fully searchable membership lists, catalogues and borrowing records from libraries across the Anglophone Atlantic - featuring well over 220,000 individual records. To find out more and to access the database, please follow the links below.

A black and white scanned illustration of an old library.

About the project

Discover the historical context for this project, our aims and objectives, funding details and acknowledgements.

A painting of a street with a grand building in the centre, whilst people walk around on the road and others ride around on horses.

Project team and partners

Details of the current project team, external co-investigators, previous team members, and our project partners.

A scanned image of the front of an old book that reads 'A catalogue of the books belonging to the Bristol Library Society, To which are prefix'd, The RULES of the Institution and a LIST of the Subscribers 1774.'

Getting started

Video tutorials on how to use the database.

An old handwritten library record of books.

Access the Eighteenth-Century Libraries Online

Visit the external Eighteenth-Century Libraries Online website.

A sepia image of an old library with dark wooden bookcases and furniture.

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions, including key terms used in the database, and explaining how our data has been sourced, structured and categorised.

A painting of a large grand library building from the outside, with a horse and cart outside a grassy area at the front. Under the painting reads 'Library and Surgeons Hall in Fifth street Philadelphia'

Citing the database

How to cite the database, and details about open access, copyright and licensing.

An ornate black‑and‑white engraving of a seated classical female figure holding a staff and a small flowering branch. She sits beside a shield with a cross emblem, framed by an elaborate scrollwork cartouche with leaf‑like decorations.

Gallery and blogs

Go directly to the gallery and blogs page on the external Eighteenth-Century Libraries Online website.

A black and white print, on the left is a head of a man inside a circle and on the right is a library with the words 'The Liverpool Library' also inside a circle.

Further reading

Further reading lists for project publications, reference works - both online and print, and secondary sources.

Two shelves of old slightly worn books in piles.

Contact

To contact the project team, please email us at lib18cen@liverpool.ac.uk.