| Part I |
Bibliographic sources that list and describe early American printed works. |
| Part II |
Microprint sources that reproduce early American printed works. |
| Part III |
Detailed instructions for locating microprint reproductions in Early American Imprints microcard set in the Media & Microforms collection on the 2nd floor. |
| PART
1
Bibliographic Sources Which
List and Describe Original Texts for works published 1639 - 1800
|
Evans, Charles. American Bibliography: A chronological dictionary of all books, pamphlets, and periodical publications printed in the United States of America from the genesis of printing in 1639 down to and including the year 1820. 15 vols. (Later referred to as Evans.) Evans intended to carry his bibliography through 1820, but in fact stopped with 1800.
|
Shipton, Clifford Kenyon and Mooney, James E. National Index of American Imprints Through 1800; the Short-Title Evans. 2 vols. (later referred to as Shipton) Shipton corrects and adds to Evans. It serves as an index to the microcard collection of Early American Imprints.
- ref Z1215 S495 & Microcard Z1215 S495
|
| Bristol, Roger P. Supplement to Charles Evans' American Bibliography. 2 vols. (later referred to as Bristol) Items are listed chronologically, and include Evans supplement numbers for locating reproductions in Early American Imprints. Most of the items listed by Bristol do not appear in either Evans or Shipton. |
| for colonial period to mid 1860s |
Sabin, Joseph. Bibliotheca Americana or A Dictionary of Books Relating to America from its Discovery to the Present Time. 29 vols.
Sabin cites books, pamphlets and periodicals printed in the Western Hemisphere and works about the region printed elsewhere. Items are listed by author. Anonymous works are listed under "the most obvious subject." Many anonymous works are listed under the places (states, cities, etc.) to which they refer. Coverage of individual volumes varies. See the preface to volume 29 for details.
|
Thompson, Lawrence S. The New Sabin
Books described by Joseph Sabin and his successors, now described again on the basis of examination of originals and fully indexed by title, subject, joint authors, and institutions and agencies. Works are listed alphabetically by author or title within each volume. Cumulative author-title-subject index in volume 11.
|
| Shaw, Ralph R. & Richard H. Shoemaker. American Bibliography: A Preliminary Checklist for 1801-1819, 19 vols. A checklist compiled from secondary sources such as publishers' lists. Within each yearly volume, items are listed alphabetically by author or title. Almost completes Evans' goal of cataloging early American imprints through 1820.
|
| Shoemaker, Richard H. Checklist of American Imprints for 1820-
The Library has volumes covering 1820-1844. Compiled from secondary sources. Items are listed alphabetically within yearly volumes. Gives locations of known originals and fuller titles than Roorbach. Cumulative author and title indexes cover 1820-1829 and 1830-1839. |
| Roorbach, Orville A. Bibliotheca Americana, Catalogue of American Publications Including Reprints and Original Works from 1820-1852, Inclusive, 1 vol. (plus 3 supplements to 1861) A checklist, giving publisher, size, price, and only sometimes, date. Items are listed alphabetically by author or title. Periodicals are listed separately at the back. |
| for works published 1861-1910 |
| Kelly, James. The American Catalogue of Books (Original and Reprints) Published in the United States from Jan. 1861-Jan. 1871, 2 vols. Continues
Roorbach and provides the same kind of information. Each volume includes
a list of learned and literary societies and their publications. Kelly and the earlier
Roorbach are recognized to be incomplete and often inaccurate. They must
be used, however, because they are the most general lists for the 1820-1870
period.
|
| The American Catalogue ... of Books in Print and For Sale... 13 vols. The standard bibliographical source for 1876-1910. Follows the format of Roorbach and Kelly, but adds subject indexes. American Catalogue
is considered comprehensive and generally reliable, although information was based on publishers' reports rather than actual examination of the items.
|
PART II
Microprint Sources Which Contain Reproductions of Original Texts for the Period 1639-1800 |
| Early American Imprints Reproduces many of the items listed in Evans, Shipton and Bristol.
|
|
from the discovery of
America to 1914 |
Library
of American Civilization Reproductions
of "material relating to all aspects of American life and literature, from
their beginnings to the outbreak of World War I." Includes books, pamphlets,
periodicals, biographies and autobiographies, poetry, fiction and nonfiction.
Author, title and subject indexes plus a broad topical index, the
BiblioGuide, are kept on top of the microcard cabinet 121. Microcards
are filed by LAC numbers. The
BiblioGuide groups items under 29 major topics and many subtopics. Topics
include early exploration, the frontier, Afro-Americans, Amerindians, biographies,
daily life, immigration and minorities, music and dance, literature, etc.
Many periodical articles are cited, and reproductions of several of the
periodicals indexed in Poole's Index may be found here.
- Microcard LAC cabinet 121 and
Biblioguide: Media and Microforms Z1236 L59 shelved above cabinet 121
|
| for the 18th Century
|
American Periodical Series: eighteenth century
Reproduces entire issues of 18th century periodicals. American Periodicals... a guide to the ...collection (Reference PS 655 A552) is shelved on top of periodicals microfilm periodical cabinet #35 in the Media and Microforms collection. It gives reel numbers for locating specific periodicals. These periodicals are also listed in the Library catalog. The library has reel numbers 1-33 only, although the Guide includes many 19th century titles also.
- Microfilm PS 655 A55
ref PS 655 A552 shelved with the Microfilm
|
| for the 18th,
19th and early 20th Centuries |
American
Literature
Reproductions of original
works by authors considered "significant to American literature," beginning
roughly from the time of the American Revolution and excluding authors
still living at the end of 1930. Arranged alphabetically, the
Library's set covers authors Adams-Mitchell only. History and
travel writing are also excluded. Blanck's Bibliography of American
Literature, 9 volumes, lists works included or planned for inclusion.
It is shelved with the microcard set.
- Microfilm PS 504 A64
Microcard Z 1255 B55
shelved with the Microcard set
|
 |
Western
Americana: A collection of 1,012 books and documents of the 18th,19th and
early 20th century
An annotated bibliography
of this collection is shelved above microfiche cabinet #119 in the Media and Microforms collection. It is arranged
by topics and includes author and title indexes. Individual works are
also listed in the Library catalog.
|
PART III
Locating
Reproductions of Early American Imprints
microcard set, 1639-1800 |
Shipton's National Index of American Imprints is the official finding aid for this microcard set. Shipton lists items alphabetically by author or title if the author is not known and provides a number for finding the item in the microcard set. Shipton verified and corrected many items listed by Charles Evans. Evans depended on publishers' announcements for information and many of his items have never been located.
- Microcard Z 1215 S495
and Ref Z 1215 S495
|
Evans' American Bibliography is often
consulted in addition to Shipton because it provides full descriptive titles and bibliographic information necessary to identify particular items. Evans lists items according to the year of publication and provides a classified subject index in each yearly volume. Volume 14 is a cumulative author-title index to the set. The subject indexes provide broad headings such as Biography (including funeral sermons), Theology (including other sermons), Literature (including newspapers and magazines), History, Law, etc. Items about Native
Americans appear under at least three different headings: History, Languages,
and Law. There is also an index to printers.
The Evans number may
be used to locate a microcard reproduction, but only if it is verified in
Shipton. In the examples below, the Evans item numbered 1859 does not exist.
Shipton has corrected Evans and provided a similar title which is available
in the microcard set under a different Evans number (1784). |
| Example in Evans The Evans number is shown in bold |
1859 |
TRAVIS, DANIEL
An
Almanack for . . .1717
New-York:
Printed by William Bradford. 1716.] 12 mo |
1717
A.D.
(pub.date) |
| |
| Example in
Shipton The Evans/Shipton number is shown in bold |
| |
Travis, Daniel.
MDCCXVI. An Almanack
New London and Boston, 1716. [16] pp.
(No copy of the New York edition listed by Evans is known; possibly his entry is a ghost of this imprint.)
AAS copy. |
1784 |
|
| To locate an author or title not listed in Evans or Shipton,
use Bristol's Supplement to Charles Evans (Ref Z 1215 E92334). Copy the mp (microprint) number shown in bold below.
This is also called the Evans supplement number. Bristol lists items according to year of
publication. Volume two contains
author-title and publisher-printer indexes. Bristol includes many
items not in Evans including many broadsides. |
| Example in Bristol The Evans supplement number is shown in bold |
| B6933 |
DEEKER, JOSEPH |
|
| |
Air balloon. The subscriber...is perfectly acquainted with the...construction of Air Balloons...New York, June 10, 1789 [New York, 1789] broadside 34 x 20.5 cm. |
mp. 45463 |
|
| Locate your Evans or Evans Supplement - mp number in Early American Imprints, a microcard set located in the Media and Microforms collection. Early American Imprints does not include reproductions of periodicals and serials listed by Evans or of items
erroneously listed by him |
| View the microcards using the Readex microcard reader. For help in locating and using the microcards or the reader, ask for assistance in the Media and Microforms area. Readex microcards are a very old technology. The readers cannot be replaced. There is no way to make paper copies of these microcards. |
| Compiled by Barbara Pease/Henrietta Lo |
|
