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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:- A Complete Directory And Guide to the Town and Castle of Cardiff, the surrounding towns, villages, gentlemen's seats and remarkable places (1796)- A Complete Directory & Guide to the towns & castles of Cardiff and Caerphilly, the city and cathedral of Landaff, and the surrounding towns, villages, gentlemens' seats, & remarkable places, &c (1813)- Swansea Directory, compiled to October 1816; alphabetical lists of the corporation, clergy, merchants, bankers, professors of law and physic, manufactories, tradesmen, &c. &c., public buildings, schools, hospitals, and charitable institutions (1816)- The Bath Directory: containing an alphabetical arrangement of the names and places of abode of the inhabitants: also an enlarged street directory ... to which is added, an elaborate account of the regulations of the General Post Office (1846)- Hunt & Co.'s Directory & Topography for the cities of...