Monday, January 14, 2008

Sample Source

While looking for info on confectionaries in the early nineteenth century, I've just stumbled across this lovely book on Google Books. Now that's what I call a great source for historical sweets! Guess whose future hero will have a fondness for bergamot drops.

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 About this book Read this bookThe Complete Confectioner: Or, The Whole Art of Confectionary Made Easy ... By Frederick Nutt


Btw, if you haven't yet discovered the wonders of Google Books, go exploring straight away. This service is just fantastic, not just for authors of historical fiction researching Regency sweets or snuff shops, but also for scholars of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature (I'm not quite sure how many older books they have scanned in). With Google Books you can make full-text searches in all books that have been registered with Google or have been scanned in by Google. You don't always get a full view (even if the book in question is no longer under copyright), but the limited preview or even the snippet preview can be helpful. You can also limit your search to books published within a specific time.

All in all, it's definitely a neat tool!

1 comment:

  1. Yes, Google Books is "definitely a neat tool," and to state the obvious, as the Smart Bitches' recent research demonstrates, it's also a great tool for readers who want to check there hasn't been any plagiarism involved in the creation of the novels they're reading.

    And just to clarify in advance, so that no misinterpretations arise, I say that as a simple statement of fact, not as a subtle threat to authors or as an allusion to any reader disillusionment or cynicism which may, possibly, have arisen as a result of the recent discoveries.

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