I would like to be able obtain a listing of all publications made during the
American Revolutionary period.  I would like to structure the listing by year, e.g.
1778, or by decade e.g. 1775-1785.  My efforts todate have been to look under
the names of a specific author e.g. Washington, Jefferson, Franklin,
etc.  I"m concerned that I'm missing a great deal of information.  I'm
interested in "Everything" that was published prior to 1819, in the
English language.  I look forward to receing your help.  Sincerely 
Waldo5555

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Request for Question Clarification by kriswrite-ga on 07 Nov 2003 16:18 PST

Waldo~

Are you looking for "everything" published worldwide? In the English
language? In England? In the colonies?

Kriswrite

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Clarification of Question by waldo5555-ga on 17 Nov 2003 17:20 PST

Thanks for your efforts.  I'm appreciative of the scope of a question
for "everything" that was printed during the colonial period.  I am
interested
in publications that are in English and printed prior to the year 1820, in the
American colonies.  Any treaty, bill, alliance, declaration, proclimation,
or address that may have had some contribution to our American revolution, or
to the establishment of our American republic would be of interest to me.


Waldo5555-ga

Just to expand upon what Kriswrite has said, there are frequently
questions on Google Answers where someone asks for "everything": for
example, every company that sells a particular type of product. 
Personally, I am always reluctant to attempt to answer such a
question, because if I miss one thing, then I have not provided
"everything".

With respect to "all publications", it is easy to demonstrate that
this is literally impossible.  There is no database of every single
publication, if for no other reasons than there are simply too many,
and there are a good number that are very local or very obscure. 
Take, for example, a hypothetical pamphlet with an initial circulation
of 20 in a small town in South Carolina in 1778.  Perhaps there are no
existing copies; or perhaps there are two existing copies that
everyone today has forgotten about.  This may be an extreme example;
but the point is that every book, pamphlet, newspaper, and other form
of publication, especially from 200 years ago, may not be recorded, or
in any event not recorded in one place.  This is especially true, as
Kriswrite noted, because there are various places where such
publications would have occurred.

The best we can do is find sources for most, or at least many,
publications from a particular year.  For famous historical figures,
we can presumably find nearly all.