How to find old books: identifying and locating older editions tracing the publication history of a writer or a work researching the printed output of a time period

Can't find it in WorldCat?

The following resources help you identify older material, verify or correct a citation, and sometimes locate obscure material. A more complete listing of resources is available in the Guide to Primary Literature.

• The NUC Catalogue indexes books printed before 1956. Includes books printed in Europe and Latin America.
  B Level  (North end) Z881.A1C28 QUARTO
  
• The British Library (Museum) Catalogue indexes books before 1955. Also available online
  General Reference on M Level Z921.B86 1959 QUARTO

 Individual Catalogues

• Short-title catalogue of books printed in Italy and of books printed in Italian printed abroad: 1501 to 1600. held in selected North American libraries. General Reference (M Level) Z2334 .S56 1970
  
• Sho rt-title catalogue of books printed in Italy and of Italian books printed in other countries from 1465 to 1600
  now in the British Museum. Special Collections Reference (A Level) Z2342 .B7 1958
  
• Répertoire des ouvrages imprimés en langue italienne au XVIIè siècle conservés dans les bibliothèques de
  France. General Reference (M Level) Z2342.M5 1967
  
• Catalogue of seventeenth century Italian books in the British Library. 
  Special Collections Reference (A Level) Z 2342.B658 1988
  Catalogo cumulativo, del Bollettino delle pubblicazioni italiane1886-1957. (CUBI) Books published in Italy from
  1886-1957. D Level Z2345.F63 Quarto
  
• Bibliografia nazionale italiana 1958-1988. D Level stacks Z2345.B583
  
• CLIO : catalogo dei libri italiani dell'Ottocento (1801-1900) - catalogue of nineteenth century Italian books
  (1801-1900). D level stacks. Z2341.C56 1991 QUARTO
  
• Catalogo generale della libreria italiana. 1847-1920. D level stacks. Z2341 .A85 QUARTO.
  
• Biblia: Biblioteca del libro italiano antico. La biblioteca volgare: libri di poesia.
  General Reference (M Level) Z 2342 .B53 1996
  
• Catalogue of books printed on the continent of Europe, 1501-1600. 
  Special Collections Reference (A Level) Z 1014 .A38 1967
  
  

Need to find the text online?

• Google Books now has the complete page images from thousands of books, most of them "old". Use the Advanced Search for more precision.
  Try searching on a phrase from the book you're looking for. Or keywords that will easily identify it.
  
• Many texts are online in various e-text archives, like Biblioteca Italiana
  
• See the page on E-Texts in Italian Literature for more.

Special Collections  on A Level is your best resource for help with rare books.