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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:- Liverpool's  First  Directory:  a  reprint  of  the  names and addresses from Gore's Directory for 1766; to which is added a street  directory  for  the  same  year,  compiled  by  George  T.  Shaw  &  Isabella Shaw. Also, a history of the Liverpool directories from 1766 to 1907 by George T. Shaw (1907)- Scholes's Manchester and Salford Directory: or, an alphabetical  list  of  the  merchants,  manufacturers,  and  principal  inhabitants, with the new numbers as affixed to their houses (1794)- Scholes's Manchester and Salford Directory: or, an alphabetical  list  of  the  merchants,  manufacturers,  and  principal  inhabitants: with the numbers as affixed to their houses (1797)- Pigot  and  Deans'  New  Directory ...