Explore full-colour scans of recovered and additional early newspapers from the acclaimed collection in the British Library.
Deliver Greater Research Opportunities
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Newspapers Collection Part II presents an invaluable resource for scholars across many disciplines. By incorporating the Burney Additional Newspapers, also preserved by the British Library, this digital archive expands upon the original with material from around 200 titles, including newspapers, newsbooks, and broadsheets from this transformative period. This newly digitised collection, sourced from high-quality images, complements the existing Burney Newspaper Collection by offering new titles and additional issues of already digitised titles.
This collection is not merely an extension but a separate and distinct archive that provides a wealth of additional material. Each item is meticulously tagged with a shelfmark number (e.g., Burney.Add.113.(6)), allowing for precise searches via the Shelfmark drop-down field in the Advanced Search feature. Completing this digitisation project ensures the original Burney collection is now fully accessible online for the first time.
For historians, literary scholars, sociologists, and researchers in related fields, Burney Newspapers Collection Part II offers a treasure trove of primary sources that highlight the cultural, political, and social landscapes of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. By providing access to these additional materials, scholars can gain deeper insights, cross-reference information, and explore previously unavailable content, enriching their research and contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of this pivotal era.
Value of the Collection
- In Great Company: This collection completes and expands on materials in the acclaimed Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Newspapers Collection to provide researchers with a full view of the Burney collection and additional relevant media.
- Inherently Interdisciplinary: Content supports research of seventeenth and eighteenth-century British political history, economics and business, literature, advertising, theatre, the press, and more.
- Unique Insights: Compiling about 200 years of accounts, explanations, and points of view across England, Ireland, Scotland, and the British colonies, these papers provide unique insights into British history and culture.
- Rare Content: The original Burney volumes are in fragile condition and under restricted access, with primary access previously available only through microfilm. The digitization of this collection offers full-text access to researchers worldwide.
Content Includes
"Missing" Burney Files
c. 9,500 pages; approximately 70 titles totaling 2,300 issues from the Burney collection not included in Part I’s digitization.
"Additional" Burney Files
c. 60,000 pages; additional issues from 232 titles from the same era as the Burney collection, but not originally collected by Charles Burney. These files carry the British Library shelfmark “Add.Burney.”
- 131 titles already in Part I for which missing issues have been located.
- 101 new titles such as The Public Hue and Cry (in several variants).
Published by the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police, this newspaper recorded details of crimes, notices for wanted criminals, and appeals for information. Unlike the original Burney collection archive, which was scanned from microfilmed copies, Part II will consist entirely of new full-color scans from the original volumes held in the British Library.
Look Inside
Additional Details
subjects covered
- British Studies
- Western European Studies
- Gender & Women's Studies
- Humanities & Social Sciences
Platform Features & Tools
Term Frequency
Researchers can see the frequency of search terms within sets of content to begin identifying central themes and assessing how individuals, events, and ideas interact and develop over time.
Topic Finder
By grouping commonly occurring themes, this tool reveals hidden connections within search terms—helping to shape research by integrating diverse content with relevant information.
Cross-Search Capability
Search across the content of complementary primary source products in one intuitive environment, enabling innovative new research connections.