Book Reviews Sources for 19th Century Literature
Compiled by Kathy Johnson, University Libraries, with the Assistance of Colleagues* from the Literatures in English Section, Association of College and Research Libraries of the American Library Association
*Rob Melton, University of California San Diego, and Steve Perisho, Seattle Pacific Univeristy Library.
Fall 2004
Printed Sources Available in the University Libraries,
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
LOVE Ref PN2256 .M37 1984
American Literary and Drama Reviews: an Index to Late Nineteenth Century
Periodicals
LOVE Ref AI3 .C652x 10 vols.
Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Humanities Journals, 1802-1974
LOVE Ref Z1035 .A1 C64 15 vols.
Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals, 1886-1974
LOVE Mprint B7
Early American Periodicals Index to 1850. Box D. Book Reviews.
(Readex Microprint)
[Located on the south end of the Microforms Room
balcony.]
LOVE Ref Z1225 .E35 2 vols.
A Guide to Critical Reviews of United States Fiction, 1870-1910,
compiled by Clayton L. Eichelberger
LOVE Ref PN523 .W444x
The Literary Index to American Magazines, 1815-1865, by Daniel
A. Wells
LOVE Ref PR442 .W348x v.1 & v. 2
Literary Reviews in British Periodicals, 1798-1820; a Bibliography with
a Supplementary List of General (Non-Review) Articles on Literary Subjects,
compiled by William S. Ward.
LOVE Ref PR442 .W349x
Literary Reviews in British Periodicals, 1821-1826 : a Bibliography with
a Supplementary List of General (Non-Review) Articles on Literary Subjects
/ compiled by William S. Ward.
LOVE Ref PS88 .L584x
Literary writings in America: a bibliography, [covers 1850-1940]
8 v.
Printed card file (about 250,000 cards) resulting from a WPA project attempting to list all U.S. creative literature, including books and periodical articles, published 1850-1940. Not always complete or accurate but a valuable source especially for little-known writers. Book reviews listed by authors of book and of review. Source of annotation: http://hcl.harvard.edu/widener/services/research/bookreviews/bookreview3.html
LOVE PN 761 .N56 v. 6 only
Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism
See the section Print and Electronic Resources Not Available Through the University Libraries for information how to access indexing to this online and the print copies for volumes 1-138 at Nebraska Wesleyan's library.
LOVE Ref AI3 .R44 2 volumes
Nineteenth Century Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, 1890-1899
Also available online as part of Readers'
Guide Retro. See below for information on access.
LOVE Ref AI3 .P7 6 volumes in 7 parts
Poole's Index to Periodical Literature, 1802-1906 (indexing also
online through Nineteenth Century MasterFile (Paratext)).
See below for information on access.
LOVE PR590 .R43 [3 vols. in 9 parts]
The Romantics Reviewed: Contemporary Reviews of British Romantic Writers,
compiled by Donald Reiman
LOVE Ref AI3 .W45
Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals, 1824-1900. Five volumes.
It is better to look for book reviews in the online version, available through IRIS. http://iris.unl.edu Indexes by Title, W, Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals (1824-1900)
Notes: This publication is an issue-by-issue list of the contents of 43 major periodicals. It includes an index of the authors of articles and reviews, but it does not index by the author of the book reviewed. Reviews written by a given author can easily be found by looking in the cumulated index of authors in vol. 5; the only way to find reviews of a specific book is to scan the entries starting in the year it was published.
Annotation from "Sources for Nineteenth-Century Book Reviews" from Indiana University Bloomington Libraries http://www.indiana.edu/~librcsd/libguide/bookrev/book19.html
Microfilm Sets for the Time Period (without complete indexes to articles)
LOVE Mfilm NX1 .B758 224 reels. 71 periodicals.
British Periodicals in the Creative Arts
[Titles of individual periodicals are listed in
the UNL Libraries Catalog, but I am not aware of a separate index to individual
articles in this set.]
LOVE Mfilm Z6956 .G6 E18 168 18th and 19th century British periodicals on 902
reels of microfilm.
Early British Periodicals
[Titles of individual periodicals are listed in
the UNL Libraries Catalog, but I am not aware of a separate index to individual
articles in this set.]
LOVE Mfilm PR1 .E56
English Literary Periodicals 1681-1914. 233 periodicals on 969
reels of microfilm.
[Titles of individual periodicals are listed in the UNL Libraries Catalog, but no separate index to individual articles in this set is available at Love Library. There is an online index available through Computer Indexed Systems, but UNL does not subscribe.]
Electronic Sources Available through the University Libraries, University of
Nebraska-Lincoln
American Periodicals Series
Available http://iris.unl.edu Indexes by Title, A, American Periodicals Series. Full text database American Periodicals Series Online 1740-1900 provides excellent search capability. Start with "Search for Articles." Try looking up British authors as well as American.
19th Century MasterFile . Available http://iris.unl.edu
Indexes by Title, N, 19th Century Masterfile.
Includes Poole's Index to Periodical Literature (1802-1906), Index to Legal Periodical Literature (1786-1922), Index to Periodical Articles in Religion (1890-1899), The Psychological Index (1894-1905), Index to Periodicals (1890-1906), and Cumulative Index to a Selected List of Periodicals (1896-1899).
Keep searches simple. It is better to sort through too many results than to be too specific and miss some relevant items.
Reader's Guide Retro
Includes Nineteenth Century Readers' Guide, 1890-1900. Available Available http://iris.unl.edu Indexes by Title, W, WilsonWeb. Check the box for Readers' Guide Retro. Then key in your author's last name and, if the name is common, one word from the title of his or her book. Then limit by date 1890-1900 to retrieve the nineteenth century entries. Note: this resource does not index periodicals printed from 1800-1889.
Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals, 1824-1900. Available http://iris.unl.edu Indexes by Title, W, Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals (1824-1900)
You can try searching by the title of the book or by the author's name (last name only may provide more results than using both first and last names). Many entries do not include the word "review." Be sure to start your search at the top of the list of periodicals in the left frame. This resource is not full text; you will need to consult the UNL Libraries Catalog for information about local periodical holdings.
Print and Electronic Sources NOT Available through the University Libraries,
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Consider checking for these resources if you visit another university or college library.
Index to English Literary Periodicals, 1681-1914 Produced by Computer Indexed Systems.
[Love Library has the microform set of English Literary Periodicals (LOVE Mfilm PR1 .E56). Titles of individual periodicals are included in the UNL Libraries Catalog, but Love Library does not have the online index to the individual articles.]
New York Times (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)
Dates and Format: 1851-1999, electronic.
Notes: Full text electronic archive of the New York Times. Use the Advanced Search and select Article Type: Review. "Book Reviews: Nineteenth-Century Book Reviews" from Indiana University Bloomington Libraries http://www.indiana.edu/~libsalc/history/bookreview/book19.html
Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism.
Published by Gale, this set of 154 volumes to date provided "Excerpts from Criticism of the Works of Novelists, Poets, Playwrights, Short Story Writers, and Other Creative Writers Who Died between 1800 and 1900, from the First Published Critical Appraisals to Current Evaluations." [Source: subtitle page of volume 6, Love PN761 N56.]
Currently, the UNL Libraries only have one volume (6) of this 154 volume set, but Nebraska Wesleyan Library has 138 of the 154 volumes; call number is REF PN761 .N5. You can check whether your author is included in any of the volumes of this set by looking up your author on the Gale Group Literary Index at http://www.galenet.com/servlet/LitIndex
PCI (Periodicals Contents Index)
Dates and format: 1799-1995 (varies). Electronic.
Notes: Contains nearly two million book reviews from over 3000 scholarly journals. Select Book reviews only and enter the author's name in the Article Title Keyword field. "Book Reviews: Nineteenth-Century Book Reviews" from Indiana University Bloomington Libraries http://www.indiana.edu/~libsalc/history/bookreview/book19.html
Times Digital Archive
Dates and Format: 1785-1986 (when archive is completed--check resource for progress), electronic. Notes: Full text electronic archive of the London Times. Use the Advanced Search and select Reviews (under the Features section). "Book Reviews: Nineteenth-Century Book Reviews" from Indiana University Bloomington Libraries http://www.indiana.edu/~libsalc/history/bookreview/book19.html
Selected useful websites that list resources for 19th century reviews:
Western European Studies Section, Association of College and Research Libraries. "Indexes and Guides to Western European Periodicals in the Humanities and Social Sciences." http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/~hierl/wess/igwep/IGWEP.html
Widener Library of the Harvard College Library. "Finding Book Reviews:
Part 3: Older Books (through mid-1980s)." Harvard College Library.
http://hcl.harvard.edu/widener/services/research/bookreviews/bookreview3.html
Widener Library of the Harvard College Library. "Finding Book Reviews:
Part 4: 18th-19th Century British Book Reviews." Harvard College Library.
http://hcl.harvard.edu/widener/services/research/bookreviews/bookreview4.html
Wroth, Celestina. "Finding Book Reviews: Introduction and Short Cuts."
Indiana University Libraries [Bloomington].
http://www.indiana.edu/~libsalc/history/bookreview/bookrev.html
Wroth, Celestina. "Book Reviews: Nineteenth-Century Book Reviews."
Indiana University Libraries [Bloomington].
http://www.indiana.edu/~libsalc/history/bookreview/book19.html
I am also ordering a copy of Robert Balay's Early Periodical Indexes:
Bibliographies and Indexes of Literature Published in Periodicals before 1900,
which should provide titles of additional resources.
For comments, corrections, or additions to this guide, please contact Kathy
Johnson, 472-2553, kjohnson6@unl.edu, Research
and Instructional Services, N203 Love Library 4100.