Eighteenth Century Collections Online provides researchers of the history of science, technology and medicine a unique opportunity to study a period of radical change in Western culture. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, the Western world saw dramatic increases in the productive capacity of nearly all forms of manufacturing. The development of precise machine tools accelerated manufacturing processes; studies in astronomy, improvements in shipbuilding techniques and materials raised navigation to an art; studies in medicine laid the groundwork for important nineteenth century developments in psychiatry, surgery and the public health.

The largest and most comprehensive online historical archive of its kind and an essential resource for advanced study of the eighteenth century, this collection contains every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in the United Kingdom between the years 1701 and 1800. It collects contents from the British Library, the Bodleian, Cambridge University, the National Library of Scotland, the Library of Congress, the National Library of Ireland and the University of Texas.