CERES
Harvest
IV.iii
28.2.00
Early English Books Online
by Gavin AlexanderWhile the English Short Title Catalogue continues to grow and its proprietors begin work on digitisation of the books themselves (e18, at http://www.e18.psmedia.com/), UMI have rather stolen their thunder with the stunning Early English Books Online, or EEBO. This site will offer snapshots of every page in every book in STC and Wing, that is from 1475 to 1700, taken direct from UMI microfilms. You will need a decent computer and a fast connection, and may be steered towards some plugins on first arrival, but the result is images which are of such high resolution that when printed off they actually beat the quality of print-offs from microfilm. There is a charge, and you may find yourself barred from some areas of the site if your institution does not already subscribe. To see if you are one of the lucky ones, go to http://wwwlib.umi.com/eebo/ and click 'enter.'
Search by author, title, STC/Wing number, or keywords, under either the basic or advanced search options. The matches which come up are in short record format. Click the text icon for a decently full citation. Or click either the camera or pen nib icons for page images and illustrations (anything pictorial) respectively. If the image in question has never been requested before you get a gratifying message reporting on your pioneer status and asking you to wait while the image is transferred from a CD to the server. The excellent viewing plugins allow the page images to be manipulated and printed off.
Like many of the best sites reviewed by CERES, this one will come into its own in a few years, when bandwidth increases allow access to be instantaneous. At present, waiting times can be a little frustrating and, depending on the strength of the adhesion of your backside to its computer chair and the distance of your office from the library, a trip to look at the microfilm may still be a better option. But already, for the simple focussed enquiry (say, for a printout of the title page of a particular edition of a particular book) EEBO is a considerable blessing. And, let's face it, this is the one resource that we at CERES have been waiting for, and preparing you for.