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English

All Databases for English Literature

  • Academic Search Complete Best Bet
    The world's largest academic multi-disciplinary database. Provides full text access to over 4,600 full text and 3,600 peer-reviewed journals across a broad range of subjects areas.
  • Altmetric Explorer
    Altmetric Explorer shows the attention your research results are garnering outside the traditional publication channels.
    Please use your TCD email to create an account.
  • AM Explorer Humanities Essentials
    Access millions of pages of primary source collections across the entire portfolio of Adam Matthew Digital, spanning content from the 15th-21st centuries. Award-winning social sciences and humanities collections and research on important themes such as: Borders and Migrations, Gender and Sexuality, Global History, and War and Conflict.
  • Beowulf - Electronic (Project)
    • Open access icon
    Guide to the language used in the Old English epic poem, Beowulf. Produced by the British Library.
  • Bibliography of British and Irish History
    It provides bibliographic data on historical writing dealing with the British Isles, and with the British Empire and Commonwealth, during all periods for which written documentation is available - from 55BC to the present. It is the successor to the Royal Historical Society Bibliography of British and Irish History, available online from 2002 to 2009.
  • British and Irish Literature Best Bet
    As a key part of Western literary and cultural history, British and Irish literature encompasses a massive range of periods, authors, and works that make it one of the most active fields in academia today.
  • British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries Best Bet
    The largest collection of British and Irish women's diaries and correspondence ever assembled. Spanning more than 300 years.
  • British Library Newspapers, Part II: 1800-1900
    Part II further expands the range of English regional newspapers and the political views represented in the programme. Researchers can find the newspapers of a number of significant towns and regions included in this collection: Nottingham, Bradford, Leicester, Sheffield, and York, as well as North Wales. The addition of two major London newspapers, The Standard and the Morning Post, helps capture conservative opinion in the nineteenth century, balancing the progressive, more liberal views of the newspapers that appear in Part I.
  • British Library Newspapers, Part III: 1741-1950
    Part III adds even more regional and local depth to the series, encompassing powerful provincial news journals like the Leeds Intelligencer and Hull Daily Mail, local interest publications such as the Northampton Mercury, and specialist titles such as the Poor Law Unions’ Gazette.
  • British Library Newspapers, Part IV: 1732-1950
    From key early newspaper titles like the Stamford Mercury to what is possibly the oldest magazine in the world still in publication, the Scots Magazine, Part IV offers key local and regional perspectives from cities as geographically diverse as Aberdeen, Bath, Chester, Derby, Belfast, Liverpool, and York.
  • British Library Newspapers, Part V: 1746-1950
    With a concentration of titles from the northern part of the United Kingdom, Part V deepens the database's northern regional content, doubling coverage in Scotland, tripling coverage in the Midlands, and adding a significant number of northern titles to the British Library Newspapers series.
  • British Library Newspapers, part VI: Ireland, 1783-1950
    Part VI adds additional titles published in Ireland in the late eighteenth, across the nineteenth and during the early twentieth centuries.
  • British Periodicals (1681 - 1939)
    Searchable full text of hundreds of periodicals from the late seventeenth century to the early twentieth, comprising millions of high-resolution facsimile page images.
  • British Theatre, Music, and Literature: High and Popular Culture
    100 years of primary sources related to the arts in Victorian times. Includes, playbills and scripts to operas and complete scores.
  • Centre de recherche interuniversitaire sur la litterature et la culture quebecoises
    • Open access icon
    It offers online and downloadable access to publications such as monographs, research papers, essays and theses relating to Quebequoise Culture, Literature and Poetry including representation of the North and cultural forms originating from the Northern territories of French and English speaking Canada.
  • Children's Literature and Childhood Best Bet
    The experience of childhood in the nineteenth century in the US and the UK. Covers the social, moral, economic, and political impacts on childhood.
  • Children's Literature and Culture
    Explore a stunning collection of rare books, games, ephemera, and artwork from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that reveals the socio-cultural history of these times.
  • Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe [FREE]
    A Comprehensive Collection of E-Texts (edited by Edmund Clarence Stedman and George Edward Woodberry, 10 volumes, 1894-1895).
  • Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus Best Bet
    A complete record of surviving Old English except for some variant manuscripts of individual texts. Currently unavailable, undergoing maintenance.
  • Dictionary of Old English: A to Le Best Bet
    The Dictionary of Old English (DOE) defines the vocabulary of the first six centuries (C.E. 600-1150) of the English language, using twenty-first century technology. The DOE complements the Middle English Dictionary (which covers the period C.E. 1100-1500) and the Oxford English Dictionary, the three together providing a full description of the vocabulary of English.
  • Digital Theatre+ Best Bet
    The content is mapped to English and Drama curricula, and commissioned and curated with a view to assisting educators and students in their understanding of core texts, characterisation, and the many and diverse facets of performance.
    IMPORTANT: Please be aware that you need to download the latest version of Chrome in order to continue using this browser to watch content on the platform.
    Any personal accounts created in DT+ will be cancelled after 12 months of inactivity
  • Directory of Open Access Books
    The primary aim of DOAB is to increase discoverability of Open Access books.
    This is a free electronic resource and TCD cannot guarantee the stability of the connection.
  • Drama Online Best Bet
    Full access to Play texts, Video and Audio. New writers alongside the most iconic names in play writing history, providing contextual and critical background through scholarly works and practical guides.
  • Drama Online: Globe on Screen 1 Best Bet
    Landmark productions from the theatres 2008 to 2015 seasons
  • Drama Online: Hamlet the Film [starring Maxine Peake]
    1 Video play: Hamlet by William Shakespeare, adapted by Michael Grandage (Genesius Pictures). Maxine Peake's Hamlet is a female character who takes on a male mantle.
  • Drama Online: NHB Modern Plays
    Nick Hern Books is one of the UK’s leading specialist performing arts publishers, with a vast collection of plays, screenplays and theatre books in their catalogue. They also license most of their plays for amateur performance.
  • Drama Online: Stage on Screen Best Bet
    High quality recordings of classic plays for students and theatre enthusiasts everywhere, filmed in front of a live audience.
  • Early English Books Online Best Bet
    All material published in English between 1475 until 1700.
  • Eighteenth Century Collections Online Best Bet
    Collection of titles relating to the history of eighteenth century Britain, and the Text Creation Partnership seeks to create enduring digital text editions of the most frequently studied works.
  • Eighteenth Century Journals
    Trinity Library has access to 2 of the 5 resources which make up Eighteenth Century Journals provided by Adam Matthew Digital.
    Section I: Newspapers and periodicals, 1693-1793, from the Bodleian Library, Oxford; Eighteenth Century Journals: Section II: Newspapers and periodicals, 1699-1812, from the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin.
  • Empire Online Best Bet
    This resource brings together manuscript, printed and visual primary source materials for the study of 'Empire' and its theories, practices and consequences. The materials span across the last five centuries and are accompanied by a host of secondary learning resources including scholarly essays, maps and an interactive chronology.
    Full text images of original manuscripts and printed material, 492-1969, taken from libraries and archives around the world. It covers Africa, the Americas, Australasia, Oceania and South Asia.
  • Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe
    Encyclopedia of the history and culture of Jews in Eastern Europe, from the beginnings of their settlement in the region to the present. Covers arts, daily life, places, languages and literature, history and politics, and religion.
  • English Short Title Catalogue Best Bet
    Coverage is from the beginnings of print to 1800 including all recorded English monographs printed between 1475 and 1700.
  • Europeana
    A search engine for the digitised collections [almost 26 million objects from more than 2,200 institutions from 34 countries ] of museums, libraries, archives and galleries across Europe. The Europeana 1914-1918 project brings together community-contributed content from the time of World War One.
  • First Folios Compared
    • Open access icon
    To mark the 400th anniversary of the publication of Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories & Tragedies (otherwise known as the First Folio), this website brings together dozens of digitised copies of this literary masterpiece. For the first time in history, you will be able to compare them, side by side, from the comfort of your own home.
  • Fontes Anglo-Saxonici
    • Open access icon
    Best Bet
    A register of written sources used by authors in Anglo-Saxon England.
  • Gale Literature Resource Center
  • Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors
    Find biographical information on more than 149,000 modern novelists, poets, playwrights, nonfiction writers, journalists and scriptwriters. Sketches typically include personal information, contact information, career history, writings, biographical and critical sources, authors' comments, and informative essays about their lives and work.
  • Gale Literature: Dictionary of Literary Biography
    The award-winning Gale Literature: Dictionary of Literary Biography provides comprehensive access to the series dedicated to making literature and its creators better understood and more accessible to students and interested readers while simultaneously satisfying the standards of librarians, teachers, and scholars. The series provides reliable information on authors and their works in an easy to understand, engaging format, while placing writers in the larger perspective of literary history. Dictionary of Literary Biography includes the main series, documentary, and yearbook volumes.
  • Gale Literature: LitFinder
    Gale Literature: LitFinder provides access to literary works and authors throughout history and includes more than 130,000 full-text poems and 650,000+ poetry citations, as well as short stories, speeches, and plays. The database also includes secondary materials like biographies, images, and more.
  • Gale Literature: Scribner Writer Series
  • Gale Literature: Something About the Author
    Gale Literature: Something About the Author provides comprehensive access to all volumes ever printed in Gale's™ acclaimed and long-standing Something About the Author series, which examines the lives and works of authors and illustrators for children and young adults and is the preeminent source on authors and literature for young people. Something About the Author includes both the main series and Something About the Author Autobiography Series, totaling more than 290 volumes, 20,000 entries, and nearly 30,000 images - all delivered in an easy-to-use 24/7 online format that matches the exact look and feel of the print originals.
  • Gale Literature: Twayne's Author Series
  • Gale Primary Sources Best Bet
    A single cross-search interface to thousands of primary documents which have previously been separated into different collections and archives.
  • Gale Research Complete Best Bet
    Gale Reference Complete provides subscription access to the largest package on primary and secondary sources combining proprietary e-reference content from Gale. JCR-quality periodicals, literary criticism and full text literary works as well as rare primary source content from the vaults of the world's great libraries. This means that every student and researcher will find a rich store of relevant information to enhance their learning and research. Cross-search or browse the contents of over 1700 titles including: Encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources covering all subjects.
    It compiles 28,000 periodicals, 1.5 million items of literary criticism and full text literary works, 4000 Gale eBook volumes, 13 million pages of rare primary sources.
  • Grand Tour
    The Grand Tour was a rite of passage for many aristocratic and wealthy young Britons of the eighteenth century, and a phenomenon which shaped the creative and intellectual sensibilities of some of the era’s greatest artists, writers and thinkers. Study the history of travel with this unique collection of written primary and secondary sources, artworks, photographs and maps, c. 1550-1850, which highlights the influence of continental travel on British art, architecture, urban planning, literature and philosophy.
  • Independent Voices
    Digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, the extreme right-wing press and alternative literary magazines during the latter half of the 20th century
  • India, Raj and Empire
    This resource draws on the manuscript collections of the National Library of Scotland and focusses on the History of South Asia between the foundation of the East India Company in 1615 and the granting of independence to India and Pakistan in 1947.
  • International Medieval Bibliography
    Bibliography of the European Middle Ages (c.300-1500) covering journal articles and miscellany volumes worldwide.
    TCD subscribes to IMB ONLY. IMB, BCM and IBHR share one interface, however, the search will produce results from IMB only.
  • Irish Newspaper Archives
    Contains 63 full text Irish newspapers from which it is possible to search, retrieve and view Ireland's past in the exact format it was published.
  • Irish Times
    Latest news including sport, analysis, business, weather and more from the definitive brand of quality news in Ireland.
    Full text available on ProQuest: 1995 to present.
  • Irish Times Digital Archive
    This historical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time.
  • Irish Women Poets of the Romantic Period Best Bet
    Comprises more than eighty volumes of poetry by Irish women writing between 1768 and 1842.
  • Jane Austen's Fiction Manuscripts
    Jane Austen’s fiction manuscripts are the first significant body of holograph evidence surviving for any British novelist. They represent every stage of her writing career and a variety of physical states: working drafts, fair copies, and handwritten publications for private circulation.
  • JSTOR Best Bet
    Comprehensive multidisciplinary and discipline-specific collections digital archive.
    Access to the following collections: Ireland Collection, Arts and Sciences I to VIII, JSTOR Arts & Sciences XII Collection, Global Plants and the Life Sciences Collection.
  • Library Hub Discover
    Taking over from its predecessor Copac, it provides libraries and users with the ability to do fast searches across the merged catalogues of 110 UK academic and specialist libraries.
  • LION Best Bet
    Over 355,000 works of English and American literature.
    Literature Online runs from the 8th Century to the 21st Century and includes 340,000
    works of poetry, 6,000 works of Drama, 2,250 works of prose as well as 180+ journals
  • Literary Encyclopedia Best Bet
    Global literary reference work written by over 1400 specialists from universities around the world, and currently provides over 3700 authoritative profiles of authors, works and literary and historical topics.
  • Literary Manuscripts Berg
    The Berg Collection is recognised as one of the finest literary research collections in the world, and the Victorian holdings are the undisputed jewel in its crown. This collection makes them available online, and includes unpublished poems, working notebooks, holograph manuscripts and drawings that trace the inspiration and genesis behind the period’s greatest works.
  • Literary Manuscripts Leeds
    Materials include 17th and 18th century poetry from the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds.
  • London Review of Books Best Bet
    The archive contains every piece ever published in the magazine: over 13,500 articles by more than 2000 contributors from the past 30 years.
  • Middle English Dictionary
    Analysis of lexicon and usage for the period 1100-1500. See Dictionary of Old English and Oxford English Dictionary to provide a full description of the vocabulary of English.
  • Mirror Historical Archive, 1903-2000
    Mirror Historical Archive, 1903-2000 features more than 800,000 pages of full text searchable, scans of the complete run of the Mirror from 1903-2000, including the Sunday Mirror.
  • MLA Best Bet
    Bibliographic records relating to: literature, language, linguistics, and folklore.
    Coverage from 1963 to the present.
    Provides access to scholarly research in over 3,000 journals and series. It also covers relevant monographs, working papers, proceedings, bibliographies, and other formats.
  • National Theatre Collection Best Bet
    National Theatre Collection: Volumes I & II bring the stage to life through access to high-definition streaming video of world-class productions and unique archival material offering significant insight into theatre and performance studies.
  • Nineteenth Century Collections Online
    Nineteenth Century Collections Online is a multi-year global digitization and publishing program focusing on primary source collections of the long nineteenth century.
    The nineteenth century was the first great age of industrialization and technological innovation. It was an age of political revolution and reform, nationalism and nation building, the expansion of empire and colonialism, growing literacy and education, and the flowering of culture—both popular and high. It was an age that witnessed the development of the power-driven printing press and a massive explosion of written material that dwarfed the output of the centuries that preceded it. Any undertaking that attempts to synthesize the vast array of nineteenth-century content may be at best only provisionally comprehensive. Nevertheless, bringing a coherent, interdisciplinary, and global vision to the project is an important challenge. Gale's international board of scholars, working in tandem with advisors for each of the program's archives, have steered the program's direction and helped identify the collections that most enhance it—for scholars and students alike.
  • Nineteenth Century Literary Society
    Discover the work of one of the world’s most important publishing dynasties through this collection from the historic John Murray Archive. From book history to travel writing, politics to poetry, this newly digitised resource introduces an unparalleled repository for nineteenth century culture and the literary luminaries who shaped it.
  • Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue Best Bet
    Defines the printed record of the English-speaking world from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the end of the First World War.
    More than 1,200,000 cross-searchable records drawn from the catalogues of the Bodleian Library, the British Library, Harvard University Library, the Library of Congress, the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, the National Library of Scotland and the University Libraries of Cambridge and Newcastle.
    It is now accessed via the C19: The Nineteenth Century Index.
  • Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers
    Approximately 1.7 million pages of primary source newspaper content from the 19th century.
    The collection encompasses the entire 19th century. Topics covered include: the American Civil War, African-American culture and history, Western migration and Antebellum-era life among other subjects.
  • Observer Newspaper (1791-2003)
    Full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue with coverage of the politics, society and events of the time.
  • Old English Online
    Old English is the ancestor of modern English and was spoken in early medieval England. This website is designed to help you read Old English, whether you are a complete beginner or an advanced learner. It will introduce you, topic by topic, to the structure and sound of the Old English language in easy to digest chunks with plenty of opportunity to practice along the way.
  • Oxford Bibliographies
    Combining features of an annotated bibliography and a high-level encyclopedia, these research guides direct researchers to the best available scholarship across the following subjects: Biblical Studies, British and Irish Literature, Classics, Islamic Studies, Jewish Studies, Philosophy.
  • Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
    55,000 specially written biographies, which describe the lives of people who shaped the history of the British Isles and beyond.
  • Oxford English Dictionary Best Bet
    The Oxford English Dictionary is the accepted authority on the evolution of the English language over the last millennium.
  • Oxford Scholarly Editions Online
    The Library has access to the following modules: Aristotle, Greek Comedy, Greek Tragedy, Herodotus, Latin Drama, Latin History, Latin Poetry, Latin Prose, Plato, Thucydides.
  • PLAYOGRAPHYIreland Best Bet
    Professionally produced Irish plays written in English since the formation of the Abbey, Ireland's National Theatre, in 1904 and Playography na Gaeilge (plays written and produced in the Irish language since 1901).
  • Printed Catalogue of Trinity College Library Best Bet
    Also known as the 1872 Printed catalogue lists works catalogued by the Library up to 1872.
  • Project MUSE Best Bet
    Covers the fields of literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, economics, and many others.
    TCD does not have access to Project Muse books
  • ProQuest Dissertations & Theses: A & I Best Bet
    Comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses from around the world, spanning from 1743 to the present day.
  • ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Guardian (1821-2003) and The Observer (1791-2003)
    Political, business, sports, literary, and entertainment events from the past 200 years.
  • ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times with Index (1851-2018)
    Coverage of the politics, society and events of the time and a search capability using subject terms in combination with searchable full text, full page, and article-level images. From 1851 to 2018.
  • Romanticism: Life, Literature and Landscape
    A digital version of the single largest collection of working notebooks, verse manuscripts and correspondence of William Wordsworth and his fellow writers anywhere in the world.
  • Samuel Beckett Digital Manuscript Project Best Bet
    A collaboration between the Centre for Manuscript Genetics (University of Antwerp), the Beckett International Foundation (University of Reading) and the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center (University of Texas at Austin).
  • Scottish Women Poets of the Romantic Period Best Bet
    Contains over 60 volumes of rare lyric poetry, together with reviews, essays and associated bibliographical and biographical material written between 1789 and 1832
  • Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Newspapers Collection: Part I and II Best Bet New
    Part II is now available: It consists of entirely new full-colour scans of the original volumes in the British Library. Many of these documents are fragile and highly prized by those studying this historical period. Items in this new collection include:
    ‘Missing’ Burney: items from within the Burney collection which were not included in the original microfilm that the digital collection was created, comprising more than 9,000 pages. With Part II, these lost pages are now available to explore.
    ‘Additional Burney’: items outside of the original ‘core’ Burney collection, more seventeenth- and eighteenth-century newspaper titles and issues, that were marked by the British Library as “Add.Burney”. It adds more than 100 new titles, including the Public Hue and Cry, and 130 expansions to titles in Part I of Burney.
  • Shakespeare in Performance
    Rare and unique prompt books from the world-famous Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC. The prompt books tell the stories of key performances as they were put on in theatres throughout Great Britain, the United States and further afield, between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries.
  • Shakespeare's Globe Archive
    Documenting over 300 productions from 1997-2016 from the Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, this digital collection is a critical resource for the study of Shakespeare, theatre, cultural history and early-modern literature.
  • Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture and Law
    Brings together every statute passed by every colony and state on slavery, all federal statutes related to slavery, and all reported state and federal cases on slavery. The database also contains hundreds of books and pamphlets written about slavery.
  • Sources: A National Library of Ireland Database Best Bet
    Contains over 180,000 catalogue records for Irish manuscripts, and for articles in Irish periodicals.
  • The Shakespeare collection
    Date range of documents: 1517-1975
  • The Shakespeare Web
    Information on the life and works of William Shakespeare, as part of the educational resource eNotes.com. Includes study guides, critical essays, biographical notes, and separate comprehensive eNotes guides to many of his works.
  • Times Digital Archive, 1785-2014
    The Times Digital Archive is an online, full-text facsimile of more than 200 years of The Times, one of the most highly regarded resources for eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century news coverage. This historical newspaper archive allows researchers an unparalleled opportunity to search and view the best-known and most cited newspaper in the world online in its original published context. Read by both world leaders and the general public, The Times has offered readers in-depth, award-winning, objective coverage of world events since its creation in 1785 and is the oldest daily newspaper in continuous publication. With over 12 million articles available, the archive supports research across multiple disciplines and areas of interest, including business, humanities, political science, and philosophy, along with coverage of all major international historical events.
  • Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive, 1902-2019 Best Bet
    Founded in 1902 as a supplement to The Times (London), for more than 100 years the Times Literary Supplement has forged a reputation for fine writing, literary discoveries and insightful debate. From Anglo-centric beginnings in 1902, by the mid-20th century the TLS had developed into a truly international publication, with contributors from every region of the world.
    Until 1974, writings and influential criticism of hundreds of the twentieth century's most important writers and thinkers were kept anonymous to foster open discussion. The Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive now discloses the identity of these contributors.
    The value of this archive lies in its reach, offering comprehensive coverage of the latest and most important publications in multiple languages. Many of the world’s most notable writers, critics and thinkers have contributed to the TLS, making it a rich resource for following the developments of debate, opinion and perspective.
  • Victorian Popular Culture
    This resource is a portal comprised of four modules, inviting users into the darkened halls, small backrooms, big tops and travelling venues that hosted everything from spectacular shows and bawdy burlesque, to the world of magic, spiritualist séances, optical entertainments and the first moving pictures.
  • Web of Science Core Collection
    Current and retrospective multidisciplinary information from thousands of worldwide research journals.
  • Wellesley Index to Victorian periodicals 1824-1900 Best Bet
    Identifies the authors of articles within 45 major Victorian periodicals, and provides a bibliography for each contributor.
    It is accessed now via the C19: The Nineteenth Century Index.
  • Women Writers Online Best Bet
    Collection of early women’s writing (more than 320 texts) in English between
    1526 and 1850, focusing on materials that are rare or inaccessible.
    Published by the Women Writers Project at Northeastern University.
  • WorldCat.org
    Freely-available union catalogue of thousands of libraries worldwide (US-based).

Books

Children's Literature

Dictionaries and Encyclopaedias

Drama

Irish Interest

Newspapers

Old and Middle English

Theses