News-sheet — November 2009
I. Latest news — a new site!
Welcome to Electronic Enlightenment 2: Letters & Lives Online
Our major upgrade to EE brings you new functionality and ease of use, multiple new ways into the resource and new kinds of information, all wrapped up in a sleek new look.
New look: The clear, intuitive design makes it easier to find your way round the site and underlines the wealth of information and the network of links between documents and people, times and places.
New functionality: We have added more functionality to give you what you asked for — more ways into EE's collection of letters and lives, and the ability to do more complex and powerful searches.
New options for letters include searching by:
- language (11 languages to choose from);
- age of writer or recipient (from 4 to 99);
- date range of letters.
New options for lives include searching by:
- occupation (nearly 700 occupations);
- nationality (40 nationalities);
- birth & death information.
New options for sources include searching by:
- archive & country of manuscript (over 500 archives in 30 countries);
- title & publisher of early printed editions.
New browse options include browsing:
- all lives by occupation;
- all lives by nationality;
- all EE editions by author;
- all EE editions by publisher.
II. New editions
Adam Smith — the definitive collection, only in EE
EE now offers the most comprehensive collection of the philosopher Adam Smith's correspondence available anywhere! Letters published since the appearance of Ernest Mossner & Ian Ross's scholarly edition of the Correspondence of Adam Smith (Oxford University Press, 1987 — already in EE) include the following, newly added:
- Letters from Adam Smith, Adam Ferguson and others in "'This very awkward affair': an entanglement of Scottish professors with English lords", ed. D. D. Raphael, D. R. Raynor, I. S. Ross. SVEC 278 (1990): 419–463.
- Adam Smith to his printer, Thomas Cadell, in "Adam Smith an Thomas Cadell: Zwei neue Briefe", ed. Heiner Klemme. Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 73 (1991): 277–280.
- "An unpublished letter from Adam Smith to Sir John Macpherson", ed. F. P. Lock. The Scottish Historical Review 85 (2006): 135–137.
Gustavus III — unexpected sidelights on the French Revolution
EE is also pleased to announce the correspondence of the Swedish king Gustavus III, from the edition of Gustave III par ses lettres published by Norstedts Förlag of Stockholm. This little-known correspondence sheds unexpected light on European affairs of the late 18th century, including Swedish involvement in the plan to rescue the French royal family from the Revolution. . .
- 17 May 1791 — Gustavus promises military support to Louis XVI;
- 16 June 1791 — he awaits the French royal family at Aachen;
- 30 June 1791 — a secret letter of support to the French king;
- 22 July 1791 — he writes to George III canvassing support.
III. New biographies
Many new biographies have been added over the last months, including these from the edition of Gustavus III:
- Marie Antoinette, queen of France (1755–1793), wife of Louis XVI;
- Prince Charles of Sweden (1748–1818), loyal younger brother of Gustavus III;
- Greve Hans Axel von Fersen (1755–1810), general, diplomat and conspirator;
- Baron Erik Magnus Staël von Holstein (1749–1802), husband of Mme de Staël.
IV. MARC records
Over 3500 MARC records for letter-writers in EE are now available for free download!