This volume describes and celebrates the remarkable efforts of librarians, cataloguers and scholars who, enabled by generous financial support from foundations and universities, have identified, recorded and made available a vast corpus of literature.

This edited collection offers in seventeen chapters the latest scholarship on book catalogues in early modern Europe. Contributors discuss the role that these catalogues played in bookselling and book auctions, as well as in guiding the tastes of book collectors and inspiring some of the greatest libraries of the era. Catalogues in the Low Countries, Britain, Germany, France and the Baltic region are studied as important products of the early modern book trade, and as reconstructive tools for the history of the book. These catalogues offer a goldmine of information on the business of books, and they allow scholars to examine questions on the distribution and ownership of books that would otherwise be extremely difficult to pursue. Contributors: Helwi Blom, Pierre Delsaerdt, Arthur der Weduwen, Anna E. de Wilde, Shanti Graheli, Ann-Marie Hansen, Rindert Jagersma, Graeme Kemp, Ian Maclean, Alicia C. Montoya, Andrew Pettegree, Philippe Schmid, Forrest C. Strickland, Jasna Tingle, Marieke van Egeraat, and Elise Watson.

This comprehensive and no-nonsense guide to working with special collections and rare books is an essential day-to-day companion. Working with special collections can vary dramatically from preserving a single rare book to managing and digitizing vast mixed-media archives, yet the role of the information professional is always critical in tapping into the potential of these collections, protecting their legacy and bringing them to the attention of the wider public. This book offers up-to-date guidance which pulls together insights from best practice across the heritage sector to build innovative, co-operative and questioning mind-sets that will help them to cope in turbulent times. The Handbook covers all aspects of special collections work: preservation, developing collections, understanding objects, emergency planning, security, legal and ethical concerns, cataloguing, digitization, marketing, outreach, teaching, impact, advocacy and fundraising. New to this edition: coverage of new standards and concepts including unique and distinctive collections (UDCs), The Leeds Typology, Archive Accreditation, PD 5454:2012 and PAS 197 discussion of the major changes to laws affecting special collections including UK copyright law relating to library/archive exception and orphan works and forthcoming changes to data protection in the EU exploration of new trends in research including the rise of digital humanities, open access, the impact agenda and the REF updates to the sections on marketing, audience development and fundraising to include social media, customer journey mapping and crowdsourcing and more consideration of impact and indicators, digitization and new skills frameworks from CILIP and RBMS. This is the essential practical guide for anyone working with special collections or rare books in libraries, archives, museums, galleries and other heritage organizations. It is also a useful introduction to special collections work for academics and students taking library and information courses.

Contains records for works printed in any language in England or its dependencies from the beginning of printing through the end of the eighteenth century, as well as works printed in English anywhere else in the world during that period. Includes the former Eighteenth-Century Short-Title Catalogue (ESTC) and the two print short-title catalogues covering 1475-1640 (Pollard & Redgrave) and 1641-1700 (Wing).