FW: Readex Adding New Material to Early American Imprints

[Shapiro, Fred]

The following may be of interest to some on this list:


Readex to Dramatically Enrich Its Digital Edition of Early American Imprints
with Newly Discovered Materials

An abundance of rare printed items from the Library Company of Philadelphia
enhance a venerable resource

JANUARY 13, 2010 (NAPLES, FL) – Early American Imprints, Series I and II, the
definitive resource for researching every aspect of 17th- and 18th-century
America, has been dramatically expanded. In early 2010 Readex will release
Early American Imprints: Supplements from the Library Company of Philadelphia,
1670-1819, a new resource featuring rare and unique holdings from the Library
Company that form the largest collection of early American imprints to have
been identified and cataloged during the last 40 years. Spanning from 1670 to
1819, these remarkable printed materials, particularly valuable for studying
popular culture, offer new terrain for exploration, and represent a significant
contribution to early American letters.

“These collections are rich in imprints that have never before been available
in the digital Early American Imprints because they came to light after the
completion of the bibliographies on which it was based,” says James N. Green,
the Library Company’s Librarian. “By adding them to their Archive of
Americana, Readex has made it even more truly the national digital library of
early American print.”

Early American Imprints: Supplements from the Library Company of Philadelphia
includes nearly 2,000 newly discovered books, pamphlets and broadsides that are
fully integrated with Early American Imprints, Series I and II. The new
collection, available in two parts, includes items relevant to a host of
humanities topics and representative of numerous genres of colonial print, many
emanating from the middle and lower orders of society. Its surprising content
is garnering acclaim among academic researchers.

“This astonishing number of newly discovered books, broadsides and pamphlets
from the Library Company of Philadelphia are an invaluable resource to
scholars,” says Philip F. Gura, William S. Newman Distinguished Professor of
American Literature and Culture, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“Their addition to the Readex digital editions of Early American Imprints,
Series I and II: Evans and Shaw-Shoemaker will greatly expedite scholarship in
American history, literature, and culture generally.”

“This digitized supplement does more than fill gaps with its unique items,”
says Sally Hadden, Associate Professor of History and Courtesy Professor of
Law, Florida State University. “It's chock full of amazing broadsides and
one-of-a-kind items that will broaden student research papers and handsomely
illustrate journal articles yet to be written. Graduate students will finally
have access to these unusual essentials—intriguing sources that vibrantly
illustrate life in early America. No library should be without it.”

About the Library Company of Philadelphia
The Library Company is an independent research library specializing in American
history, society and culture from the 17th through the 19th centuries. Founded
in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin, the Library Company is America’s first
successful lending library and oldest cultural institution. Its collections
include the pre-1820 imprints of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, which
are on deposit and are included in this Supplement.

About Readex, a division of NewsBank
For more than 50 years, the Readex name has been synonymous with research in
historical materials and government documents. Recognized by librarians,
students and scholars for its efforts to transform academic scholarship, Readex
offers a wealth of Web-based collections in the humanities and social sciences,
including the Archive of Americana; World Newspaper Archive, and the Foreign
Broadcast Information Service Daily Reports.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org