LibGuides: English: which resources do I use?: Renaissance

Bibliographies

A bibliography is an organised list or digital database containing a collection of references to published literature, including books, journal and newspaper articles, conference proceedings, reports, etc.

Iter Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Bibliographic database covering literature on the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400 – 1700).

Books

You may find some of these books useful. See your reading list for the required and recommended reading for your module.

King James Bible This link opens in a new window Fully searchable online edition of the 1611 King James or Authorized version of the Bible. Annotations, calendars, genealogies and tables are also included. Read online or search across the whole work. Can also be cross searched with other resources from Literature Online.

The Norton Anthology of English Literature by Katharine Eisaman Maus (Editor); James Noggle (Editor); Jahan Ramazani (Editor); Catherine Robson (Editor); James Simpson (Editor); Jon Stallworthy (Editor); Jack Stillinger (Editor); Stephen Greenblatt (General Editor); M. H. Abrams (General Editor); Carol T. Christ; Alfred David; Barbara K. Lewalski; Lawrence Lipking; George M. Logan (Editor); Deidre Shauna Lynch (Editor) The Ninth Edition offers more complete works and more teachable groupings than ever before, the apparatus you trust, and a new, free Supplemental Ebook with more than 1,000 additional texts. Read by more than 8 million students, The Norton Anthology of English Literature sets the standard and remains an unmatched value.The Norton Anthology of English Literature is now available as an interactive ebook, at just a fraction of the print price
ISBN: 9780393912500
Publication Date: 2012
English Renaissance Drama by David Bevington; Lars Engle; Katharine Eisaman Maus; Eric Rasmussen Popular in their own time, the 27 plays included here--by Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, John Webster, Thomas Middleton, among many others--reveal why these playwrights' achievements, like Shakespeare's, deserve reading, teaching, and performing afresh in our time. Edited by a team of exceptional scholars and teachers, this anthology opens an extraordinary tradition in drama to new readers and audiences.
ISBN: 0393976556
Publication Date: 2002
Broadview Anthology of British Literature Volume 2, The Renaissance and the early seventeenth century by Black, Joseph
ISBN: 9781554812905
Publication Date: 2016

To find material from the Renaissance period (c1500-1660), try searching the resources below:

Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson Online This link opens in a new window Fully searchable version of the complete works of Ben Jonson, with accompanying textual and contextual materials.
Cecil Papers‎ This link opens in a new window The Cecil Papers is a major collection of early-modern historical documents from the reigns of Elizabethan I and James I/VI. More than 150,000 pages have been digitised in full colour to create a definitive online archive of almost 30,000 manuscript documents written by some of the most significant figures of Elizabethan and Jacobean history. These are accompanied by the complete Calendar of the Cecil Papers, featuring summaries and/or transcripts of many documents and two eighteenth-century volumes of selected transcriptions.
Early English Books Online (EEBO) This link opens in a new window Full text digital versions of nearly every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America, spanning from 1473 to 1700, plus works in English printed elsewhere. The collection includes pamphlets, books, broadsheets, manuscripts and periodicals.
Early English Prose Fiction This link opens in a new window English prose fiction from 1500 to 1700, including works by John Bunyan, Sir Philip Sidney, Thomas Nashe and Aphra Behn.
Grand Tour This link opens in a new window Taking the phenomenon of the Grand Tour as a starting point, this resource explores the relationship between Britain and Europe from c.1550 to 1850, exploring the Anglo-European response to continental travel for pleasure, business and diplomacy.
King James Bible This link opens in a new window Fully searchable online edition of the 1611 King James or Authorized version of the Bible. Annotations, calendars, genealogies and tables are also included. Read online or search across the whole work. Can also be cross searched with other resources from Literature Online.
Literary Manuscripts - Leeds This link opens in a new window This resource offers literary scholars the opportunity to examine manuscripts of 17th and 18th century verse held in the celebrated Brotherton Collection at the University of Leeds.
Oxford Scholarly Editions Online This link opens in a new window Full text major works of poetry, prose and drama. Classical Latin and Greek literature, plus literature from the 15th to the 19th centuries are included. Read major works of literature online alongside explanatory notes and details of variations in the text.
Parker Library On the Web This link opens in a new window Digitised images of rare Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts and early printed books from the historic Parker Library collection at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
Perdita Manuscripts This link opens in a new window The Perdita Project was set up to find and digitise early modern women authors who were lost because their writing existed only in manuscript form. The digitised manuscripts in this collection were written or compiled by women in the British Isles during the 16th and 17th centuries. Content includes accounts and receipt books, diaries, biographies, prose, poetry, psalms, travel writing, historical writing and more.
ProQuest One Literature - Incorporating Literature Online This link opens in a new window Collection of 20th Century English Poetry, 20th Century Drama, 20th Century American Poetry literature, literary criticism, and reference works.
State Papers Online This link opens in a new window Digitised manuscripts of British government papers from 1509 to 1782. Content includes correspondence, reports, memoranda, and parliamentary drafts. Parts I-IV Early Modern and Parts I-IV 18th Century available: Parts I & II: The Tudors, 1509-1603 Henry VIII-Elizabeth I . Parts III & IV: The Stuarts and Commonwealth, James I - Anne I, 1603-1714 . C18 Parts I-IV: 1714-1782, papers domestic and foreign Stuart and Cumberland papers from the Royal Archives
Enhanced access: Parts I-IV Early Modern, Parts I-IV 18th Century, Stuart and Cumberland papers now available.

For help using these resources, see the guides on this page.

EEBO - Early English Books Online

Early English Books Online (EEBO) This link opens in a new window Full text digital versions of nearly every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America, spanning from 1473 to 1700, plus works in English printed elsewhere. The collection includes pamphlets, books, broadsheets, manuscripts and periodicals.

EEBO is an excellent resource for primary research.

It contains full-texts of early printed books from the 16th and 17th centuries.

You can view the material as originally published, in order to appreciate the text in its original form and also examine similarities and differences between variant versions of the texts.

Comprehensive online help is available to help you make the most of the service.

Starting from the EEBO Home Screen select the Advanced Search option and complete the search form.

You can use the Look up Authors option to help you complete the search form.

The illustration below shows you how to Look for and select Shakespeare from the list

Once you have selected the author click Add to search to continue.

You can also enter your own search terms into a box without using the Look up feature.

In this example, add to your search by manually entering richard third into the Document Title box

Click on Search once you have added all your search concepts.

You do not just have to search by author and/or title.

You could search by themes such as cunning, disguise, despair, intrigue etc. and discover how these themes appear in the literature across the database. You can add these to the keywords search box.

Once you have run your search you will see a list of matching search results.

If you retrieve too many results you can go back and Refine your search

You can also choose the most relevant results, by using the checkboxes and adding them to your Marked List.

You have a two different view display options either Full Text PDF or Image full text.

Not all formats are available for each item - they will vary between items.

You can adjust the image size if you wish to analyse it in greater detail.

For further information on how to use EEBO, please visit the links below:

EEBO libguide

EEBO webinar tutorial (44 mins)

Sample searches - examples of searching by keyword, author, etc.

Oxford Scholarly Editions Online

Oxford Scholarly Editions Online gives access to primary texts from writers between 1485-1901.

Browse by Work, Edition or Author.

Once you are inside the full text of a work you can:

Move through the play with the arrows at the top of the page.
Shrink the left-hand navigation bar by clicking the little arrow at its top, if required.
Hide the notes if you prefer by unchecking the notes box on the title bar
Click on the note symbols at the ends of the lines to scroll the notes pane to the right place.

The three little tabs on the left help you navigate around the work or edition.

The magnifying glass tab lets you search, jump to a print page, see the pdf of that original print page, or jump to a location in the text.
In the Location box, enter 3.3.57 if you want to go to Act III Scene iii line 57

At the top right of the tool bar you'll find pdf and printer icons for saving or printing.

If you highlight some text and choose ‘Copy and cite’ from the pop up menu, you’ll be able to automatically add a citation and the URL to the text you highlighted, so you can copy the lot: convenient for note-taking.

Run a 'Quick search' across works, titles, authors, and full text.

For example, search "to be or not to be"

You can refine your results using the options on the left hand side; for example, choose to refine where your keyword appears by checking the relevant box under 'Show Hits Within'. You can also refine by author, genre or date.

Jump to a precise location in a text, e.g. Shakespeare Sonnet 18, or Marlowe, Faustus, 12.81

ProQuest One Literature/Literature Online: search by literary period

ProQuest One Literature - Incorporating Literature Online This link opens in a new window Collection of 20th Century English Poetry, 20th Century Drama, 20th Century American Poetry literature, literary criticism, and reference works.

When searching ProQuest One Literature you can refine your search by literary period.

Click on Advanced Search and choose Primary Texts on the left side of the page.

Click on Look up Literary Periods.

Either search for Renaissance or browse alphabetically and select Renaissance Period, 1500-1660 and add to search.

You can add additional keywords and author details if you like, or just click Search to see everything under this category in the database.

Defining Gender

Defining Gender This link opens in a new window UK primary source materials from 1450 to 1910 relating to the study of history, literature, sociology and education from a gendered perspective. Documents include ephemera, pamphlets & periodicals, education documents, books, personal writings, business records, government papers, ballads and literature.

Defining Gender is a collection of original primary source material from British archives.

It will aid those studying history, literature, sociology, education and cultural studies from a gendered perspective.
The types of documents in the collection vary from pamphlets and letters to diaries and illustrated writings.
Topics addressed range from anatomy, children and education to etiquette, fashion, sexuality and sport.