Service

Historical Texts

Cover: Gold, Silver, Lead. A collection of original stories. (published 1867)
Creative Commons attribution information
Cover: Gold, Silver, Lead. A collection of original stories. (published 1867)
©British Library via Historical Texts
All rights reserved

A single platform providing access to over 400,000 texts from four key collections, dating from the late 15th century to the First World War.

Browse Historical Texts

For enquiries contact:

About Historical Texts

The texts are held in four collections all brought together on a single platform and searchable separately or collectively using an extremely powerful, academically focused search engine:

  • Early English Books Online (EEBO)
  • Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)
  • British Library 19th Century Collection (BL)
  • UK Medical Heritage Library

Benefits for students and researchers

  • Offers three individually important collections spanning more than 400 years in one place, making research easier, quicker and more comprehensive
  • Enable users to search the full text of many historical works, including rare and obscure works they might otherwise not know about and that provide a rich source of original findings
  • Provides valuable insight into the form and appearance of original works, making research more rewarding, interesting and engaging
  • Removes the time-consuming, costly need to visit libraries where original works are physically held
  • Provides a rich source of original illustrations for use in scholarly works and presentations
  • Optimised for tablet and mobiles to support new ways of accessing content

Benefits for academic staff

  • Brings lectures and other presentations to life through the inclusion of original source material and illustrations
  • Gives access to rare and obscure resources that can add originality and breadth to a topic
  • Provides a rich source of original illustrations for teaching materials
  • Engages visual learners

Benefits for institutions and librarians

  • Offers cost savings compared to separate EEBO and ECCO subscriptions via commercial providers.
  • Offers the administrative and user-training benefits of a single subscription, login and interface covering all three collections
  • VAT free for institutions that join our VAT-exempt cost sharing group

Who can use Historical Texts?

Learners and staff at all UK FE colleges and HE institutions that are subscribed to the service.

Eligible institutions can request a free 30-day trial.

Further information on how to subscribe can be found on the Jisc Collections website:

Historical Texts replaces Jisc Historic Books.

Browse Historical Texts

Latest @HistoricalTexts tweets

Believe it or not these are designs for ice creams! "From The Book of Ices", part of the UKMHL collection...… https://t.co/LEnzYdsG8n

Our Advisory Board is meeting today to discuss progress and future plans for the Historical Texts service. As usual… https://t.co/isyZyZUWfu

Did you know you can view page images and full text side-by-side in the Viewer in Historical Texts?… https://t.co/EMzL4VvaWw