Research Guides: English Resources: English Texts Online

English Texts Online

American Fiction, 1774-1920 This link opens in a new window
Full-text of prose fiction written by Americans. Visualization tool to analyze term frequency.
British Literary Manuscripts Online This link opens in a new window
Poems, plays, novels, diaries, journals, correspondence, and other papers from British authors.
Coverage: 1660-1900.
EEBO - Early English Books Online This link opens in a new window
Digital facsimile page images of virtually every work printed in English from 1473-1700.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) This link opens in a new window
Digital images of books published during the 18th Century in the areas of history, geography, social sciences, religion and philosophy, general reference, fine arts, literature and language, law, medicine, science and technology.
Coverage: 1701-1800.
Grand Tour This link opens in a new window
Travel writings and works of some of Britain’s greatest artists, writers, and thinkers, revealing how interaction with European culture shaped their creative and intellectual sensibilities. Also includes many writings by forgotten or anonymous travelers, including many women, whose daily experiences offer a vivid insight into the experience and practicalities of travel across the centuries.
Coverage: 1550-1850.
Medieval Travel Writing This link opens in a new window
Accounts of journeys to the Holy Land, India and China tell us much about the attitudes and preconceptions of people across Europe in the medieval period, shedding light on issues of race, economics, trade, militarism, politics, literature, and science.
Coverage: 13th to 16th centuries.
Past Masters This link opens in a new window
Scholarly editions of major philosophers, from Aristotle to Santayana; and the collected letters of major English writers: Austen, Burney, Coleridge, Wordsworth, and selected Romantics. Also includes the Oxford Classical Dictionary and the Oxford Duden German Dictionary.
Romanticism: Life, Literature, and Landscape This link opens in a new window
Verse manuscripts and correspondence of William Wordsworth and his fellow writers offer an insight into the working methods of the poet and the wider social, political, and natural environment that shaped much of his work and that of his contemporaries.
Coverage: 1768 - 1903.
Shakespeare in Quarto This link opens in a new window
The British Library's quarto texts of Shakespeare's plays. Background information about Shakespeare, his works, the theatre world of his time, the printing of his plays, and a list of references and links to websites of special relevance to the quartos.
Travel Writing, Spectacle, and World History This link opens in a new window
Women's travel diaries and correspondence describe the travel experience and offer first hand accounts of major historical events as reported by eye witnesses, detailing key interests and themes in women’s lives, providing snapshots of cities, cultures and customs, and charting the rise of modern tourism and the travel industry.
Coverage: 1835 - 1976.
Women Writers Online This link opens in a new window
Early women’s writing, including full transcriptions of texts published between 1526 and 1850, focusing on materials that are rare or inaccessible.
Coverage: 16th to 19th centuries.