Research Guides: HIST 350 and 354: Technologies as Politics in Early Modern Europe and Technologies of Information in Early Modern Europe (HC): Background Information

Background on Early Modern History

Dictionnaire de l'Ancien Régime
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A dictionary of French early modern history.

The following sources provide overviews of ideas, people, and events in early modern history. They are a quick way to find out the basic facts and current points of debate.

When using an article in an encyclopedia or handbook, always check the bibliography for further reading at the end of the article. It will provide a selective list of the books, articles, and, frequently, Web resources considered to be the most up-to-date and reliable.

Europe 1450 to 1789
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Online subject encyclopedia for early modern Europe which provides historical background for specific topics as well as broader issues. The bibliographies at the ends of articles are good places to find more information.
Encyclopedia of World History
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You can browse the section for early modern history: http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/hmencyclwh/the_early_modern_period_1500_1800/0?searchId=c2609e68-98ae-11e3-853c-0aea1e3b2a47&result=0 or search for a specific term or phrase.
Encyclopedia of world trade
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This reference on the history of trade in all time periods traces the historical and contemporary interaction of trade, commerce, and culture in detail.

Background on English History

Elizabethan World
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A collection of essays on major aspects of the Elizabethan era, including "Familia reginae: the Privy Court" and "Intellectual Developments."
Encyclopedia of Tudor England
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Presents close to 900 articles with selective bibliographies.
A Companion to the Global Renaissance: English Literature and Culture in the Era of Expansion
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Includes many essays on English views and experiences of the wider world including, "'The Whole Globe of the Earth': Almanacs and Their Readers."
Britain in the Hanoverian age, 1714-1837
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A companion to eighteenth-century Britain
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Includes an overview of political, social, and cultural history.
Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment
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The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Eighteenth-Century Writers and Writing 1660 - 1789
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Background on French History

World of Paper: Louis XIV, Colbert de Torcy, and the Rise of the Information State
Offers a fresh interpretation of bureaucracy through a close examination of the department of the Sun King's last foreign secretary, Jean-Baptiste Colbert de Torcy. Torcy, who served as foreign secretary from 1696-1715, is widely regarded as one of the most brilliant foreign ministers of the ancien regime.

Background on Publishing and Literature

Agent of change: print culture studies after Elizabeth L. Eisenstein
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This collection of twenty essays affirms the catalytic properties of Eisenstein's study as a stimulus to further inquiry across geographic, temporal, and disciplinary boundaries. Topics treated include early modern marginalia, the use of architectural title pages in Renaissance books, the role of the printed word in nation-building, and changing histories of reading in the electronic age.
Books in the Catholic World during the Early Modern Period
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The current volume aims to shed new light on the relationships between Catholicism and books during the early modern period, gathering studies with special focus on trade, common readings and the mechanisms used to control readership in different territories.
Cambridge History of the Book in Britain
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See volumes 3-5 for the early modern era.
Cheap Print in Britain and Ireland to 1660
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Includes essays covering many different types of popular literature with details on their printing histories.
History of Reading in the West
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Written by a distinguished group of international contributors, it analyzes the transformations of reading methods and materials over the ages, showing that revolutions of reading have generally preceded revolutions of the book. The authors examine nor only the technical innovations that changed physical aspects of books and other texts, but also the evolving forms of reading and the growth and transformation of the reading public.
Print Culture in Early Modern France
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In this book, Carl Goldstein examines the print culture of seventeenth-century France through a study of the career of Abraham Bosse, a well-known printmaker, book illustrator, and author of books and pamphlets on a variety of technical subjects. Also available as an ebook.
Reading Experience Database for the United Kingdom (RED)
Searchable database of information about readers of specific books. At this point there is data for the United Kingdom, but not for France or Spain.

Subject Guide

Margaret Schaus

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Subjects: Africana & Black Studies, Cities, Classics, History, Latin American & Iberian Studies, Political Science, Writing Program

Biographical Dictionaries

Complete dictionary of scientific biography
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Provides information on the history of science through articles on the professional lives of scientists. All periods of science from classical antiquity to modern times are represented.
Dictionnaire de biographie française
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The dictionary is in progress and has currently treated individuals through Le Prevost. For the latter part of the alphabet, see the older dictionary by Michaud, la Biographie universelle.
Literature Resource Center
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Provides access to biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of authors from every age and literary discipline. Available at Malvern
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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Contains scholarly, brief biographies of people who shaped the history of the British Isles and beyond,from the earliest times to the year 2001. Articles focus on noteworthy people from all walks of life.