Digitised Quarterly Lists XML and Metadata

Abstract

• Two Centuries of Indian Print 1867-1947. The files in this dataset are derived from the British Library’s collection of bound volume Quarterly Lists: printed catalogue records of Indian books published quarterly and by province of British India between 1867 and 1947. The dataset comprises text from the collection of digitised catalogues created using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. It represents a rich source for researchers interested in the publishing industry and book history in India. The dataset is in Analysed Layout and Text Object (ALTO) Extensible Markup Language (XML) format. The catalogues are predominantly in English language with some Bengali and mostly arranged in table format, capturing descriptive metadata about the books, including the name and addresses of printers and publishers, the number of copies printed and often the price, as well as much more. The catalogues have been made available through the British Library's Two Centuries of Indian Print project, which is also digitising rare Bengali books dating from 1713-1914, the datasets of which will also be made available through this website.