HIST 358: The Self before the Selfie (HC): Primary Sources

There are some online collections available at Haverford for early modern printed texts.  They reproduce every page in a book and are searchable by word and phrase.

Primary texts have been edited, reprinted in facsimiles, or transferred to microfilm can be borrowed through E Z Borrow or interlibrary loan if they are not in Tripod.  Many of them will be listed in Tripod or WorldCat under subject terms along with a word or phrase indicating that it is a primary text.  Look for terms including:  Sources, Correspondence or  Early works to 1800.

  For example, the search children "early works to 1800"   produces many books from the 18th century including:    

          An Account of a savage girl, caught wild in the woods of champagne: Translated from the French of madam H-T. With a preface, containing several particulars omitted in the original...  Published 1768

        The royal primer: or The first book for children: Adapted to their tender capacities.  Authorized by His Majesty King George III.  To be Used throughout His Majesty's Dominions.  Published 1788

         A treatise on education: With a sketch of the author's method. By George Chapman, A.M. Master of the grammar-school of Dumfries.  Published 1773.

Major series of early modern women's writings
Other Voice in Early Modern Europe - A series of print editions by or about women.  Individual titles are listed in Tripod.  Authors lived from the late Middle Ages through the first half of the 18th century.

Major series of literary and moral texts addressing issues of concern:

Conduct Literature for Women, 1720-1770.  6 volumes    Focused on Britain  

Conduct Literature for Women, 1770-1830.  6 volumes   Focused on Britain

Eighteenth-century Coffee-house Culture.   4 volumes  Focused on Britain 

Books printed in the 17th or 18th century are kept in libraries' rare book collections. 

But many libraries have digitized copies in their collections.  WorldCat is a good place to check for digital copies through

the Internet tab on the results screen.

Librarians at Bryn Mawr have put together title lists of primary source material concerning 17th and 18th century Europe:

See also the online version of this exhibition at Bryn Mawr from 2011 which features pages on Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire and Restif de la Bretonne:
         Beyond the Text: Illustrations in Eighteenth-Century French Novels

Librarians at Bryn Mawr welcome your questions and visits to use rare materials.  See the Special Collections page for hours and contact information.

Resources at the University of Pennsylvania

Maclure Collection of French Revolutionary Materials Catalog    BMC link     HC link  
More than 25 thousand pamphlets published in France, between 1788 and 1802.  Available in Special Collections and also on microfilm.  See an introductory page on the Penn library website.