20th-Century American Bestsellers: Library Resources

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DESCRIPTION

Gaskell, Philip. A New Introduction to Bibliography. Useful for learning how to describe books physically, e.g. transcription of title pages (p.325) and pagination (p. 332). English, LIS, Rare Books: 655.1 G24N

Bowers, Fredson Thayer. Principles of Bibliographical Description. New York, Russell & Russell, 1962 [c1949]. LIS, Rare Books, Main Stacks, UGL (Undergrad): 010 B67P

EDITIONS

National Union Catalog. Lists all editions found in American Libraries through 1956; alphabetical by author, then by title of the author's work, then chronologically. The first edition should be the one first listed. For later years see supplements and WorldCat. Reference Room: Case C.

WorldCat. Contains over 30 million records from libraries around the world including UIUC. This database is useful for bibliographic information on books, journals, manuscripts, videos, etc., and for determining library holdings.

Bruccoli, Matthew. First Printings of American Authors. 5 v. Includes illustrations of title pages, etc. English Ref, Reference Room: 016.81 F519

Bibliography of American Literature. Includes authors before 1930. Also available in print: Reference Room, Main Stacks, English Ref, Rare Books, UGR (Undergrad Reference): A.810 B597b (note: A=016).

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Hackett, Alice. 80 years of Best Sellers, 1895-1975. Main Stacks, UGR: 028.1 H121E

Justice, Keith. Bestseller Index: All Books, Publishers Weekly and the New York Times Through 1990. Reference Room: 016.0289 J964b

Publisher's Weekly (online 1997 - date, via EBSCO). Useful for sales and printing information. Also available in print in LIS (2001 - date), Main Stacks (1872 - 2000): 015.73 P964

Bowker Annual. 1956 - date. Occasionally includes sales figures. LIS Ref, Reference Room, Main Stacks: 027.21 A5112

Tebbel, John. History of Book Publishing the United States. 4 v. LIS Reserve: 655.473 T22H

Tanselle, G. Thomas. Guide to the Study of United States Imprints. LIS Ref: 015.73 T15G

Kurian, George. Directory of American Book Publishing. LIS Ref: 655.5 K965D

BIOGRAPHY

Biography Resource Center. Includes full text biographies of contemporary and historical figures drawn from 135 Gale reference works, and articles from 300 popular magazines. Sources include:
     Contemporary Authors (also in print, UGR 928 C767)
     Dictionary of American Biography (also in print: Reference Room, History Ref, 920.073 D561)          

Literature ResourceCenter. Similar to (and occasionally duplicating) entries in the Biography Resource Center, this database includes full text biographical essays drawn from Gale reference sources, including: 
     Dictionary of Literary Biography (also in print, UGR, English Ref, Q.938.1 D561)

Biography Reference Bank. I ncludes full text biographies of contemporary and historical figures drawn from H. W. Wilson reference works, plus periodical articles from Biography Index (some full text). Sources include:
           Current Biography (Also available in print, UGR: 920 C936

American National Biography. Extensive biographical coverage of deceased Americans. Also available in print, History Ref, Reference Room: 920.073 Am3523

Marquis Who's Who. Includes the full text of entries from multiple Who's Who titles, from 1985 to date.

American Biographical Archive, indexed by World Biographical Index. Indexes over 350 biographical dictionaries published between 1702 and 1920. Text available on microfiche in Reference Room: MFICHE 920.07 AM35

Biography and Genealogy Master Index. Indexes historical biographical dictionaries and directories, such as Who's Who in America.

CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTS: PERIODICAL LITERATURE

Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature (1900 - 2001) Reference Room (1st S.E. Index table) For current articles from the popular and scholarly press, see Expanded Academic Index (Infotrac) and Academic Search Premier (Ebsco).

ProQuest Historical Newspapers Online full text coverage of historical newspapers, including the New York Times

Periodical Contents Index Includes retrospective coverage of citations and full text of articles from scholarly literature from the 18th through mid-20th century.

Modern Lanugages International Bibliography (MLA) (online 1963 - date).Standard source for citations for scholarship on literature. Also available in print (1921 - 2001), English Library

JSTOR Includes full text retrospective coverage of articles from scholarly journals from the 19th and 20th centuries

BOOK REVIEWS AND LITERARY CRITICISM

Book Review Digest, (1905-date).Abstracts of reviews from popular and scholarly magazines..Reference Room (1st S.W. Index table), UGR: 028.05 BOO

Book Review Index (1965 - date) Also available in print: Reference Room: 028.05 BOR

Times Literary Supplement Centenary Archive (1902-1990). Recent issues available in English Lib, Main Stacks Q.805 Ti1A

Literature Research Center. Database which includes full text essays of literary criticism drawn from Gale reference works, including:
     Contemporary Literary Criticism. (selective essays online). Also available in print,: English Ref: Q.928 C768
     Twentieth Century Literary Criticism.(selective essays online). Also available in print, English Ref: Q.928 T91

MLA Bibliography (online 1963 - date). Standard bibliography for critical studies of modern literature; indexes monographs, periodical articles, critical editions of literary works, book reviews, collections of essays and doctoral dissertations. Also available in print (1921-2001) English Ref: 016.4 M72M.

Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (1920 - ). Also available in print: English Ref: A.820 M72B

Nagel, James. Facts on File Bibliography of American Fiction: 1866-1918. One of the few bibliographies that include popular authors outside the literary canon. English Ref, UGR: Q.016.813 F1193

Bruccoli, Matthew. Facts on File Bibliography of American Fiction: 1919-1988. 2 v. English Ref: Q.016.813 F119

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Guide to Finding Primary Source Material. Defines what constitutes a primary source and provides information on how to find primary source material in the UIUC Library.

Archives USA. Provides information on the holdings of 5,500 repositories (contact information, areas of special interest, etc), and indexes over 149,000 special collections.

Oxford Reference Online. Searchable database containing over 100 dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press

Xreferplus. Searchable database containing over 300 reference works from multiple publishers.

 

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