A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
From the Invention of Printing to the year 1800

Based on the collections of the
principal libraries in the world

Research on this multi-volume work started in 1958. The first volume appeared in 1965, and eighteen numbered volumes have been published to date (total of 23 physical volumes). Volume XIII appeared in April 1999, Volume XIV in April 2000, Volume XV in April 2001, Volume XVI in April 2002, Volume XVII in May 2003. Volume XVIII Part 1 in January 2004; Part 2 in August 2004 and will list works illustrating the vocabulary of law, architecture, art, architecture, heraldry; Part 3 is nearing completion and lists works on military and naval arts and sciences. It is hoped that the final volume will be published in 2008: fifty years since the project’s beginning in 1958.

Volumes in the Series

I English grammars written in English [1965]
II English grammars written in other languages; polyglot grammars and dictionaries [1967]
III Miscellaneous works dealing with various aspects of English [Parts 1 & 2] [1970]
IV Spelling [1967]
V The English Dictionary [1966]
VI Rhetoric; prosody; rhyme; pronunciation; elocution; phonetics  [1969]
VII Logic; philosophy; epistomology; universal language  [1967]
VIII Short-hand [1966]
IX Non-standard English; cant; dialect [1971]
X Education; teaching of languages [1972]
Addenda [1973]
XI Place and personal names; geographical dictionaries;  glossaries; Gazetteers; London street names,     &c. [1977]
XII Romance languages [Parts 1 & 2] [1985-87]
XIII Germanic languages [1999]
XIV Slavonic, Oriental, African, & Other languages [2000]
XV Latin language (1500-1650) [2001]
XVI Latin language (1651-1800) [2002]
XVII Vocabulary of Botany, Horticulture & Agriculture [2003]*
XVIII Part 1 Zoology, Chemistry, Geology, Mining, Mathematics, Astronomy, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine [2004]
XVIII Part 2 Law, Art, Architecture, Heraldry [2004]
XVIII Part 3 Military & Naval Arts & Sciences [2005]
XVIII Part 4  Trade, Commerce, Measures, Coinage, Bible, Music [In preparation]
XIX Material in manuscript [In preparation]
XX Periodical Literature[In preparation]
XXI Addenda & Corrigenda (all volumes)
XXII Indexes (all volumes)

Note: a few copies of Volumes XI and XII (2 parts), XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII (i, ii, iii) are still available.

An article on the history of this project was published in the May Bulletin of the Henry Sweet Society. For a personal account of the project see How it all started.

*For a review of Volume XVII by Ian Jackson see Taxon, 53 (1), February 2004.

When completed the Bibliography will have recorded over 25,000 works in 100,000+ editions/issues, with 250,000 locations in over 1000 libraries throughout the world.

Email: r_alston@sunbeach.net

67 Ocean City, St. Philip, Barbados – Tel: 246-416-9097                                                 

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Updated: 20-11-05