PLRE.Folger
Private Libraries in Renaissance England
PLRE.Folger, a project of the Folger Shakespeare Library (Washington, D.C.), complements the printed volumes of Private Libraries in Renaissance England (PLRE), an ongoing editorial project that has now published ten volumes since 1992 in the Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies (MRTS) series, currently published by the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (Tempe, AZ).
Three searchable databases are available on this site:
Books, which contains all the information entered in PLRE
Names, which is designed to assist in searching Books
Owners, which is designed to assist in searching Books
The introduction to every volume of PLRE carries a statement about the relationship of the printed volumes and the database. It is repeated here:
The PLRE database and the PLRE volumes are different and complementary presentations of the material in PLRE. They are not substitutes one for the other.
Accordingly, users of PLRE.Folger are directed to any PLRE volume for a description of the purpose and methodology of PLRE and for details about the PLRE material as it is presented on this website and in print. Additional information about the PLRE book-lists not accessible on this website, all of which is available in the printed volumes, includes:
1) brief biographical introductions focusing on the owners' books,
2) sources cited in the PLRE.Folger records, and
3) the Cumulative Catalogue, which consists of a variety of indices and data summaries.
For an abbreviated description of the purpose and methodology of PLRE, click on The PLRE Project to the right.
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PLRE has benefited from the generous financial support of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, and the British Academy.