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 Post-Office Annual Directory for 1808. Being a list of upwards of 16,000 merchants, traders, &c. of London, and parts adjacent (1808)- The Post Office London Directory, 1841. Comprising, amongst other information, street directory, commercial directory, trades' directory ... [Part 1: Street, Commercial, & Trades Directories] (1841)- The Post Office London Directory, 1841. Comprising, amongst other information, street directory, commercial directory, trades' directory ... [Part 2: Law, Court, & Parliamentary Directories, etc.] (1841)- The Small Edition of the Post Office London Directory, 1852. Comprising, amongst other information, official directory; commercial directory; court directory; parliamentary directory; postal directory; banking directory; &c. (1851)- The Post Office London Directory for 1882, comprising, amongst other information, official, street, commercial, trades, law, court, parliamentary, postal, city & clerical, conveyance & banking directories. [Part 1: Official & Street Directories] (1882)- The Post Office London Directory for 1882, comprising, amongst other information, official, street, commercial, trades, law, court, parliamentary, postal, city & clerical, conveyance & banking directories. [Part 2: Commercial & Professional Directory] (1882)- The Post Office London Directory for 1882, comprising, amongst other information, official, street, commercial, trades, law, court, parliamentary, postal, city & clerical, conveyance & banking directories. [Part 3: Trades & Professional Directory] (1882)- The Post Office London Directory for 1882, comprising, amongst other information, official, street, commercial, trades, law, court, parliamentary, postal, city & clerical, conveyance & banking directories. [Part 4: Law, Court & Parliamentary Directories, etc.] (1882)- The Business Directory of London and provincial and foreign trade guide (l'Annuaire du Commerce de Londres), 1884. [Part 1: Alphabetical Section] (1884)- The Business Directory of London and provincial and foreign trade guide (l'Annuaire du Commerce de Londres), 1884. [Part 2: Classified Section and Provincial & Foreign Register] (1884)- The Post Office London Trades' Directory for 1891 (1891)