Cambridge, United Kingdom, September 29, 2009 - ProQuest is pleased to announce that the 250th edition of The Annual Register™ is now available online. This volume, published in 2009, covers the events of 2008 and also includes a number of special features to commemorate the 250th anniversary, including a personal history of The Annual Register by the historian M.R.D. Foot and a speculative piece on The Annual Register and what the world might look like in 2059, by the economist Richard O’Brien.

Dan Burnstone, Vice President, Arts and Humanities Publishing said, ‘It is wonderful to see the entire 250 year history of The Annual Register available online. The Annual Register is both informed and accessible and because its writers are so close to the events that they analyze, it provides a uniquely fascinating slant on the past – the first draft of history by historians’.

The Annual Register was first written under the editorship of the eminent philosopher and statesman Edmund Burke, and has been produced continuously since that date. Every year since 1758 leading contemporary scholars compiled a comprehensive record of the year’s critical events, providing an invaluable record of contemporary opinion, historical context and biographical information. It gives readers a sharp insight into contemporary thought from eminent scholars and writers year by year.

The complete full text back-files of The Annual Register (http://annualregister.chadwyck.co.uk) are available online through an interface that allows facsimile pages of the original print edition to be scanned, downloaded and printed. The Annual Register Online comprises articles on each of the world’s countries or regions, as well as articles on international organisations, economics, the environment, science, law, religion, the arts and sport, together with obituaries, a chronicle of major events and selected documents. This wide-ranging resource will appeal to a variety of readers from scholars of history, law, literature, religion, arts and sports to the local reader in the local library, given the rich contemporary information that chroniclers of The Annual Register have recorded for 250 years.

The Annual Register Online is being offered to public libraries for free as part of the 250th anniversary celebrations. Please contact Emma Beer at emma.beer@proquest.co.uk for more details.

The 250th anniversary of The Annual Register will be celebrated on the 1st of October at a dinner hosted by Dr. Vincent Cable at the House of Commons, with many distinguished guests from academics, Annual Register Board members, and well-known public broadcasters.

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