Difference between revisions of "Main Page"

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<p id="lead"><i>Book Owners Online</i> is a [https://www.bookowners.online/Category:All_Owners directory of historical book owners], with information about their libraries, and signposts to further reference sources. It currently covers seventeenth-century English owners and has begun to be expanded. [https://bookowners.online/Contact Feedback] from users is welcome.</p>
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<p id="lead"><i>Book Owners Online</i> is a [https://www.bookowners.online/Category:All_Owners directory of historical book owners], with information about their libraries, and signposts to further sources. It currently has entries for over 2000 British owners of the 17th and 18th centuries, and is being expanded. [https://bookowners.online/Contact Feedback] from users is welcome, via the site or our [https://www.facebook.com/groups/424763118619629 Facebook] group.</p>
  
[[file:William-dugdale-detail.jpg | thumb| 500px| link= |[[Sir William Dugdale]]: etching by Wenceslaus Hollar, 1656 ([https://bookowners.online/File:William-dugdale-detail.jpg detail])]]
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[[file:William-dugdale-detail.jpg | thumb| 480px| link= |[[William Dugdale 1605-1685|Sir William Dugdale]]: etching by Wenceslaus Hollar, 1656 ([https://bookowners.online/File:William-dugdale-detail.jpg detail])]]
  
 
Book owners played an essential role in creating the documentary heritage we value today. Our libraries, curating our collective printed and written memory, were built on countless donations or purchases from individuals over the centuries.  Books which they kept and valued have significantly shaped ideas about our literary legacy.
 
Book owners played an essential role in creating the documentary heritage we value today. Our libraries, curating our collective printed and written memory, were built on countless donations or purchases from individuals over the centuries.  Books which they kept and valued have significantly shaped ideas about our literary legacy.
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<dd>Book Owners Online works much like Wikipedia. Search using simple keywords in the box above, or browse using special semantic features.</dd></dl>]]
 
<dd>Book Owners Online works much like Wikipedia. Search using simple keywords in the box above, or browse using special semantic features.</dd></dl>]]
 
[[Editorial Team| <dl><dt>Editorial Team</dt>  
 
[[Editorial Team| <dl><dt>Editorial Team</dt>  
<dd>Book Owners Online has an editorial team of three researchers, supported by an advisory group of external experts, including academics, librarians, and bibliophiles.</dd></dl>]] [[Acknowledgements | <dl><dt>Acknowledgements</dt>  
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<dd>Book Owners Online has an editorial team of researchers and volunteers, supported by an advisory group of external experts, including academics, librarians, and bibliophiles.</dd></dl>]] [[Acknowledgements | <dl><dt>Acknowledgements</dt>  
 
<dd>Book Owners Online wishes to acknowledge the help of its funders and those institutions that have granted permission for use of images of books in their collections on the site.</dd></dl>]] [[Contact|<dl><dt>Contact Us : Help Us</dt>  
 
<dd>Book Owners Online wishes to acknowledge the help of its funders and those institutions that have granted permission for use of images of books in their collections on the site.</dd></dl>]] [[Contact|<dl><dt>Contact Us : Help Us</dt>  
 
<dd>Contact details for the Book Owners Online office and editors. We welcome all comments, corrections, and suggestions.</dd>
 
<dd>Contact details for the Book Owners Online office and editors. We welcome all comments, corrections, and suggestions.</dd>
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<div class="teaser">[[File:LuttrellStamp.jpeg | link=Narcissus Luttrell | 670px]]
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<div class="teaser">[[File:P1180631(1).JPG | link=John Morris ca.1580-1658 | 720px]]
  
[[Narcissus Luttrell | The historian and diarist Narcissus Luttrell (1657-1732) was hugely useful to later generations by dating his acquisitions; his books can usually be recognised from his distinctive monogram ink stamp.]]</div>
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[[John Morris ca.1580-1658 | John Morris (d.1658), whose wealth came from piping water round London, had over 1500 books, absorbed by the Royal Library; he wrote his name on his titlepages in different languages, depending on that of the book]]</div>
  
  
<div class="teaser">[[File:Field-cropped.jpg| link=Henry_Field| 720px]]
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<div class="teaser">[[File:BridgewaterPressmark.jpg| link=John Egerton 1646-1701 | 720px]]
  
[[Henry_Field | A number of Henry Field’s books survive with distinctive manuscript book labels in red ink, "Henry Feilde", with running numbers suggesting a sizeable library.]]</div>
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[[John Egerton 1646-1701 | Distinctive early shelfmarks written in books can be a sign of their provenance; one like this shows that a book was once in the Bridgewater Library, of the Egerton family ]]</div>
  
 
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Revision as of 06:27, 5 October 2021

Book Owners Online is a directory of historical book owners, with information about their libraries, and signposts to further sources. It currently has entries for over 2000 British owners of the 17th and 18th centuries, and is being expanded. Feedback from users is welcome, via the site or our Facebook group.

Sir William Dugdale: etching by Wenceslaus Hollar, 1656 (detail)

Book owners played an essential role in creating the documentary heritage we value today. Our libraries, curating our collective printed and written memory, were built on countless donations or purchases from individuals over the centuries. Books which they kept and valued have significantly shaped ideas about our literary legacy.

Key questions which BOO seeks to answer include “did this person own books?”, "how many and what kind?", "what happened to them?", and “where do I look for more information?”. At a time of growing interest in provenance studies, private libraries, and work on the material book, it fills a gap in our book historical reference sources. There are many online sites which start from books or libraries and provide provenance data, but BOO starts with owners.

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