Often you will be working with a catalog for a specific library when you’re looking for a book. But union catalogs, which list works from multiple institutions, can be a powerful resource. Such catalogs can not only give you an overview of a category of books (usually based on era and/or national borders) but they often provide information about a book’s publication and leads for further research. And many catalogs now include links to digital facsimiles of items.
Below are some major union catalogs that cover the hand-press period:
- Censimento nazionale delle edizioni italiane del XVI secolo (EDIT16): works printed in Italy in the 16th century
- English Broadside Ballad Archive (EBBA): images and transcriptions of primarily 17th century English ballads, along with recordings of extant tunes
- English Short-Title Catalogue (ESTC): items published in English or in the British Isles and North America from 1473–1800; includes links to EEBO & ECCO & sometimes other digitizations
- Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke (GW): the long-standing classic catalog of incunabula
- Incunabula Short Title Catalogue (ISTC): another catalog of incunabula, supplementing the GW
- Répertoire International des Sources Musicales catalog (RISM): ongoing database of music manuscripts and printed music for the time between 1600 and 1800; manuscripts make up the bulk of the collection, but there is a fair amount of printed works that are easy to filter for; links to digitized copies are included
- Short-title Catalogue, Netherlands (STCN): books published in the Netherlands or anywhere in Dutch between 1540 and 1800
- Short Title Catalogus Vlaanderen (STCV): books published in Flanders before 1801
- Universal Short Title Catalogue (USTC): books published in Europe up through 1650 (for full range, click the “Search USTC-16 & 17” option); includes links to digitized copies where applicable. The following national union catalogs are incorporated into USTC’s records; it can sometimes be easier to work directly from these catalogs instead of going through USTC: EDIT16, GW, ISTC, STCN, VD-16-18
- Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachbereich erschienenen Drucke des 16. Jahrhunderts (VD-16): books printed in German-language regions in the 16th century
- Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachbereich erschienenen Drucke des 17. Jahrhunderts (VD-17): books printed in German-language regions in the 17th century
- Digitalisierung und Erschließung der im deutschen Sprachraum erschienenen Drucke des 18. Jahrhunderts (VD-18): in-progress catalog and digitization of books printed in German-language regions in the 18th century
- Primeros Libros de las Americás: Although this is primarily a collection of digitized works, not a cataloging project, it does provide a list of known extant titles of books printed in the Americas before 1601