5.0212 Electronic STC (2/64)

Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Thu, 4 Jul 91 15:51:53 EDT

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 5, No. 0212. Thursday, 4 Jul 1991.

(1) Date: Wed, 3 Jul 91 17:48:19 BST (50 lines)
From: D.A.Bank@vme.glasgow.ac.uk
Subject: Re: 5.0205 Rs: E-STC; TACT

(2) Date: Mon, 1 Jul 91 13:58:12 BST (14 lines)
From: David Shaw <djs@ukc.ac.uk>
Subject: Electronic STC and Wing

(2) --------------------------------------------------------------61----
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 91 17:48:19 BST
From: D.A.Bank@vme.glasgow.ac.uk
Subject: Re: 5.0205 Rs: E-STC; TACT (3/33)

*Re* STC, for Lamar Hill, Philip Rider and others:

The Pollard and Redgrave Revised STC 1475-1640 was converted to
machine-readable text at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, in 1989.
The resulting records (i.e. each STC numbered entry, with cross-
reference records also) were processed into database field-format.

The results were sent via the British Library to RLIN. Henry Snyder
should be consulted for further details of the next phase, which
will amplify the Pollard and Redgrave information by fully transcribing
the title pages of all the books listed in the catalogue. This will
bring STC into conformity with ESTC, and there are plans to do the
same for the Wing books covering the period 1641 to 1700. The great
result of all this will of course be an online catalogue of the
whole corpus of British books published between 1475 and 1800. When
completed, it will be indispensable for many purposes and a landmark
in the history of scholarship.

The University of Glasgow has been glad to contribute to the 1475-1800
project, but our interests are mainly in the 1475 to 1640 period.
We have a 10-year old project called DEBORAH (Database of English
Books of the Renaissance, and their Authors and Histories) which
gives highly detailed subject and author access to these books. The
database provides abstracts, subject headings, polemical standpoints,
author affiliations, translation history, whether illustrated, the
year of first publication, and so on. There are over thirty fields
in total; the information has been built up from reading in
the original texts (including microfilms of them), with a view to
(a) covering every main edition of the period - excluding Bibles,
Prayer Books etc. - with a subject and author description which is
(b) as full and systematic as possible. "Main edition" here =
main edition of *every* book.

Our interest in these books is historical and cultural rather than
(primarily) bibliographical. The main aim is to open up the period
to kinds of research which only computer-coordinated searching on
*all* the books to 1640 will support. I will be happy to answer
queries and provide samples by EM if there's enough interest.
Just over 75% of the database is completed up to, but not including,
the final editing stage.

David Bank <D.A.Bank@UK.AC.GLASGOW.VME>

Humanities Reference Systems
University of Glasgow
Glasgow, U.K.

(2) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 1 Jul 91 13:58:12 BST
From: David Shaw <djs@ukc.ac.uk>
Subject: Electronic STC and Wing

I understand that the Bibliographical Society has given
permission for the conversion of the text of the Short-Title
Catalogue of English Books to 1640 and that a similar permission
is being obtained for Wing (1641-1700).
Further information could be obtained from the ESTC office at the
British Library, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG, G.B.

I can also confirm how useful the index volume (vol. 3) is for STC.

David Shaw, Univ. of Kent at Canterbury.