Major Update of Iberian Books Summer 2018

After more than a decade of work by the Iberian Books team, we are delighted to announce that the database has now reached its terminal date of 1700, and that the data will be published as part of the UCD Digital Library by the end of the Summer. This more than doubles the previous size of the repository, which now contains information on 131,000 items, which survive in around 650,000 copies in 2,300 libraries worldwide. There are also 43,000 links to digitised copies. In addition to the newly added data, we have made a vast number of corrections and additions to the data for the period 1472-1650.

We would like to thank our funders, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, without whose support this work would not have been possible.

Major Update of Iberian Books Live December 2015

The first major update to Iberian Books' datasets has now gone live. This includes a formidable volume of new information gathered by the project team over the past eighteen months, as well as corrections submitted by librarians, scholars and book collectors worldwide. The update adds an impressive 1,000 items, 20,000 copies, and 2,800 digital links.

The updated version, made available by the UCD Digital Library Group, also boasts a number of new features. 4,000 title page images have been included, by virtue of our collaboration with a host of partner institutions.

Also new is a traffic light system, offering a simple and transparent indication of the reliability level of each record, or at least our confidence in it.

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  Green signals a record which is considered highly reliable - items mentioned in a major analytical catalogue or inspected by a member of the project team or collaborator.
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  Amber signals items known to survive in at least two collections worldwide and/or are mentioned in a major listing bibliography, such as Palau.
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  Red signals items which are unique, have no surviving copy, and/or are not listed in a major bibliographical work of reference.

Most of these red signal items will in fact be completely genuine. However, there will also be a good number of bibliographical ghosts lurking in this category. Therefore, scholars should be particularly cautious when using and citing these records.

If you have any suggestions for future enhancements to the resource, or wish to suggest additions or corrections to entries, please contact the Project's Director, Dr Sandy Wilkinson.

Iberian Books, Unique Iberian Items in US Collections, and the Pine Tree Foundation of New York

Iberian Books is delighted to announce a major collaboration with Szilvia Szmuck-Tanenbaum and the Pine Tree Foundation of New York. The Foundation has offered very significant and generous financial and practical support which will enable every single Iberian item held in a US institution and listed as unique to be checked book in hand by a collaborating institution, or by a well-qualified bibliographer. According to our current assessment, the number unique items in US collections for the period 1472-1650 is around 2,000. The largest holding of such items is the impressive library of the Hispanic Society of America in New York. The HSA holds 700 items which are known only in that collection.

More about the Hispanic Society of America  

Iberian Books volumes 2 and 3 published by Brill, November 2015

Volumes 2 and 3 of Iberian Books have just been published by Brill. These handsome volumes cover the first half of the seventeenth century, 1601-1650 and list 45,000 items which survive in 215,000 copies in 1,800 libraries worldwide. This set supplements Iberian Books, which logs Iberian print production up to 1601. Together these volumes over a foundational resource, and offer a powerful research tool for all scholars interested in early-modern Iberian culture.

More at the Brill website  

Project confirms two new appointments

We are delighted to confirm the appointment of Dr Alejandra Ulla Lorenzo for the third phase of Iberian Books, covering the second half of the seventeenth century. Alejandra will be based in Madrid and be responsible for managing all field work. Alejandra gained her PhD at the University of Santiago de Compostela and is a specialist in seventeenth-century drama. Alejandra was co-editor of the second phase of Iberian Books, covering the first half of the century, and has published widely on Golden-Age theatre.

We are equally delighted to announce that Dr Alba de la Cruz will be joining the team from 1 September 2014. Alba gained her PhD from the Universidad Complutense in Madrid in 2013, focusing on Las prensas del Rey: Imprenta y política en la segunda mitad del siglo XVIII (1759-1808). This is available at http://eprints.ucm.es/24624/1/T35132.pdf Alba will be based in Madrid and will assist in inventory work in libraries in the city and elsewhere in Europe.