LibGuides: History 498D: Practices and Places of Enlightenment: I. Reference Sources

1. Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

Encyclopedias attempt to summarize the state of knowledge in a field of inquiry. A good encyclopedia can be a valuable starting point for your research, especially as many include bibliographies.

Two online reference collections that students often find useful are: Credo Reference, and Gale Virtual Reference Library.

Lexikon zum aufgeklärten Absolutismus in Europa : Herrscher--Denker--Sachbegriffe by Helmut Reinalter
Call Number: 909.08 R274l
ISBN: 382528316X
Science in the Enlightenment by William E. Burns
Call Number: 509.033 B937s
ISBN: 1576078868
Publication Date: 2003-11-17
Historical Dictionary of the Enlightenment by Harvey Chisick
Call Number: 940.2503 C447h
ISBN: 0810850974
Publication Date: 2005-02-10
Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment by Alan Charles Kors (Editor)
Call Number: 940.253 ONLINE
ISBN: 0195104315
Publication Date: 2002
4 vols. "Unlike Delon's volumes [above], which have a French and European orientation, Kors largely focuses on British and North American perspectives" (from the Choice review by W. Baker).
Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment by Michel Delon (Editor); Philip Stewart (Translator)
Call Number: Q. 940.253 En19
ISBN: 157958246X
Publication Date: 2001
2 vols. English translation of Dictionnaire Européen des Lumières. "Focuses primarily on concepts, bringing to bear recent advances in scholarship and new geographic and disciplinary approaches [...] Shorter articles treat cultural institutions and categories ('Salons,' 'Conversation'). A third tier treats anthropological categories ('Body,' 'Love,' 'Work') [...] A general bibliography cites sources common to many articles, key research tools, and major journals in the field" (from the Choice review by S. F. Roberts).
Europe, 1789 to 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of Industry and Empire by John Merriman (Editor); Jay Winter (Editor)
Call Number: 940.28 ONLINE
ISBN: 0684313596
Publication Date: 2006
Online version of the 5 volume original. "Articles span social, political, economic, and intellectual history, but demonstrate most prominently the new influence of cultural studies" (from the Choice review by M. Todd).

2. Bibliographies

The American Historical Association's Guide to Historical Literature by Mary Beth Norton (General Editor)
Call Number: 016.9 G9411995
ISBN: 0195057279
Publication Date: 1995
2 vols. Online resource. Also available in print through our catalog. A little old, but still highly regarded, and useful as a starting point into just about any historical topic. An excellent introduction to historiographical themes and seminal works.
The New Cambridge bibliography of English literature by edited by George Watson
Call Number: 016.82 B31C1969
ISBN: 0521072557
See volume 2, 1660-1800. Includes good coverage of book production and distribution, including libraries.
A Bibliography of Eighteenth Century Legal Literature: A Subject and Author Catalogue of Law Treatises and All Law Related Literature Held in the Main Legal Collections in England by by J.N. Adams and G. Averley
Call Number: K40 .A33
ISBN: 0907977014
Publication Date: 1982
Withdrawn.
Bibliography of British history : the Eighteenth Century, 1714- 1789 by edited by Stanley Pargellis and D.J. Medley
Call Number: A.942.07P21B
See also the volumes covering Stuart period, 1603-1714 and 1789-1851.
History of Travel
A guide we created for a class on the history of travel. Lists reference sources (including bibliographies and catalogs) and full text collections.
The Art of Biography in Eighteenth Century England : A Bibliographical Supplement by Donald A. Stauffer
Call Number: 820.9 ST2AR1
The Eighteenth Century by American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies
Call Number: 016.8209 Ei4
ISBN: 0161-0996
Annual bibliography published since 1975.

3. Biographies

Dictionnaire de Biographie Française.
The French national biography--still being published. Most recent volume is for "M".

Electronic Enlightenment
Transcribed letters between correspondents in Europe, the Americas and Asia, covering the 17th and 18th centuries. Difficult to search--doesn't support Boolean queries, only single word or phrase searches. Features Enlightenment "figures". Correspondents can be browsed by name, nationality, or occupation. Includes Electronic Enlightenment Biographies (under the section "Lives": browse biographies by nationality or occupation of subject) and the apparently-defunct Reading Room, which is a small reference library of dictionaries, encyclopedias (including biographical encyclopedias), and a short bibliography of Enlightenment journals and newspapers.
more...less...
Electronic Enlightenment is supposed to include the complete, Oxford University Press edition of John Locke's correspondene.

Biography and Genealogy Master Index This link opens in a new window
Identifies biographical entries in hundreds of reference sources, many available only in print.
Biography In Context This link opens in a new window
Full text collection of over 300,000 biographies, from throughout history, and across the globe.
World Biographical Information System This link opens in a new window
Archives Biographiques Françaises = French Biographical Archive. Biographical entries from 611 reference works published between 1647 and 1999. Part of World Biographical Information System.

Dictionnaire des Constituants : 1789-1791.
Biographical dictionary of members of the French National Assembly. See also Dictionnaire des Conventionnels for members of the National Convention, 1792-1795.
Dictionnaire des Parlementaires Français.
Biographical dictionary. Covers 1789-1889.

Facts and Statistics

European political facts, 1648-1789 by Jack Babuscio and Richard Minta Dunn
Call Number: 320.94 B119E
ISBN: 0333321111
The Routledge Companion to Britain in the Eighteenth Century, 1688-1820 by Jeremy Gregory and John Stevenson
Call Number: 941.07 G862r 2007
ISBN: 0415378834
International Historical Statistics: Europe, 1750-2000 by Brian Mitchell
Call Number: Q. 314 M69e2003
ISBN: 0333994116
Publication Date: 2003
Population, labor and industry, trade, and so forth. Few of the statistics here begin before 1800. Still, a good overview of the kind of statistical information available.