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Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The aim of the project was to improve access to local and trade directories for the period 1750-1919 by making a substantial collection of English and Welsh directories available online as a Digital Library of Historical Directories. This digital resource comprises in total some 600 directories, covering every English county together with Wales, and ranging widely over the period 1750-1919 (the latter cut-off point chosen for copyright reasons). There is a particular focus on the 1850s, 1890s and 1910s, with at least one directory provided for each county in each of these decades. The digitisation of the volumes involved a two-stage process, in which (1) the hard-copy source was scanned to produce a graphic image of each page, and then (2) those images were processed using OCR software to generate a machine-readable text file.An online version of this resource can be found on the Website of the University of Leicester. This data collection includes the following directories:- The Illustrated Guide to the London and Dover Railway: accompanied by a complete and accurate tourist's and traveller's directory to the counties in communication with the line, Kent, Surrey, and Sussex: visitors' notes to the metropolis (1846)- Slater's Classified Directories of the Following Important English towns: Birmingham, Bristol, Derby, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield and West Bromwich (1847)- Hunt & Co.'s Directory of Dorsetshire, with part of Hants and Wilts ... also of the city of Bristol and the towns of Axbridge, Bruton (1851)- Slater's (late Pigot & Co.) Royal National and Commercial Directory and Topography of the counties of Berkshire, Cornwall, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Somersetshire, Wiltshire, and South Wales, comprising classified lists of the merchants, bankers, professional gentlemen, manufacturers and traders (1852-53)- Post...