Arranged in three parts, this bibliography and guide to British directories in its second edition explains their evolution, describes the different types of directories and their content, and offers a new chapter on the use of directory material in historical studies. Over 2200 directory titles are listed, with indexes by publisher, place and subject. This updated edition also provides a guide to the 120 library collections of directories.

This book offers the student of English Baptist history (1741-1845) access to a remarkable archive of Baptist letters found in the collections of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, of which only a handful have ever been seen before. Not only do these letters add greatly to our understanding of Baptist history during these years, but the biographical footnotes and glossary of names included in the book provide an invaluable resource tool for students who do not have the opportunity to conduct archival research. The most striking aspect of the Baptist correspondence in the Raffles Collection are the seventy-five letters addressed to John Sutcliff (1752-1814), Baptist minister at Olney (1775-1814). This book also provides identifications of more than 850 individuals, including 480 Baptist ministers, missionaries, and laypersons, of which nearly 300 can be found in the biographical glossary at the end of the volume. The remaining individuals are primarily ministers of other denominations, political figures, merchants, and writers, of which approximately ninety can be found in the glossary. No other volume in print provides students of Baptist history with such a resource for biographical information on Baptist ministers, missionaries, and laypersons from this period. The publication of this book also establishes the John Rylands University Library as one of the more significant depositories of Baptist archival materials, especially as related to the workings of the Baptist Missionary Society, within the United Kingdom.

Lively, exciting, amusing - this collection of ballads reveal the bawdy, anarchic sub-culture of England before the Industrial Revolution. Drawn from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, it demonstrates the great wealth and variety of the English broadside ballads during these periods. At this time political balladry was rife and Irish ballads began to be composed in English - their distinctive background giving them a unique range of poetry. Indeed, these ballads represent an extensive, varied and important area of English literature. Written, as the editors observe, 'to provide a moment in which listeners could enjoy verse, wit and song', they very much reflect the lively observation, love of detail and social awareness of the age of the novel. This volume includes 127 ballads, ranging from 'Admiral Benbow' and 'The Jolly Bacchanal' to 'The Bottle the Best Companion' and 'The Young Man's Fortune'. Reprinted from contemporary or near-contemporary broadsides in the Madden Collection at the University Library, Cambridge, the head and tail blocks, a distinguished feature of the original texts, are also reproduced for this edition. The introduction is designed to enable individuals to read the texts in perspective and with pleasure. The book further includes a select bibliography and an index of ballad titles. This book was first published in 1975.