Sauron - 28-8-2007 at 10:37
I recently had the good fortune to download almost the entire acyclic and isocyclic portion of the Beilstein Hauptwerk (main series, Band I through
XVI, missing Band XII.)
This is about 490-450 Mb after unzipping the rar files. The remaining volumes (not yet available from this source) are the heterocycles. And the
indexes. Not to mention the first and second supplements, the third & fourth supplement, or the fifth supplement.
Even this partial acquisition of only the Haiptwerk is a major one, for Beilstein the the organic literature's equivalent of the keys of the kingdom.
I am activelt seeking the missing volume, the heterocycle volumes, indexes, Either digitized or hardcopy.
The Hauptwerke surveys the chemical literature through January 1, 1910, thur providing entry to the lit. of the nineteenth century and the first
decade of the twentieth. The first and second supplements add a decade each, and the third/fourth supplement, takes it through 1959. The fifth
supplement goes twenty years further to 1979 and is the only part of the compilation to be in both German and English, All the others are in German.
Here is an excellent introduction to the Handbuch, in English, from UC San Diego. I converted this to pdf.
Attachment: Using the Beilstein Handbook.pdf (202kB)
This file has been downloaded 1680 times
Sauron - 30-8-2007 at 00:32
It seems that complete or nearly complete sets of the Haupwerk, the second supplement and the fifth supplement can be found in serviceable condition
at prices under $10 per volume.
I am still looking for the first supplement set and the combined third/fourth supplement set. It seems likely they are out there, too.
New, paperback editions are abut $2500 for the Hauptwerk and same again for each supplement, which puts the total around $13,000 which is absurd!
But even that is cheap compared to one year of the online database.
I am inclined to buy used sets and make a long terms project out of scanning them, perhaps with a page-tuening automatic scanner. Anyone else think
this a worthy idea?
A complete set of the Hauptwerk and all five supplements would be about 150 books for maybe $1500, not counting the Centennial Index set if I can
scoop that up too.
This would cover the chemical literature from the nineteenth century through 1979 for acyclic, isocyclic and heterocyclic systems plus natural
products, very thoroughly and systematically, a bargain for a couple thousand $$. It would be a bear to scan, though.
[Edited on 30-8-2007 by Sauron]
re: Beilstein
madelectrolyzer - 4-4-2012 at 10:44
How far have you gotten with your Beilstein project ?
I'd be very interested in sharing (both cost and pdf's).
Where'd you find these complete (or almost) @ $10 in "serviceable condition" ?
While every major university library I've visited has the (old) hardcopies,
I'd be really thrilled to have them available on my pc/laptop in entirety.
As you said... somewhat of a crown jewel of chemical literature.
Many other good works (Ullmann, Kirk-Othmer) can be downloaded from
usenet but not (yet) Beilstein ... I've seen one downloadable volume on
google books ("Cyclische Kohlenwasserstoffe", 4. Auflage)
[update] now there's one more ("Acyclische Sulfinsaeuren"), plus the first
original Beilstein (one book from 1883)
Don't know if there's a way to motivate them to start digitizing the whole
series, or even continue at their pace a little more systematically though...
[Edited on 4-4-2012 by madelectrolyzer]
S.C. Wack - 4-4-2012 at 16:51
Google books has serious search (of all things) flaws. A certain year of something often has to be searched for 6 different ways before being found on
page 9 of some unrelated search. I have from them 1897, 1903 and 4, but nothing from 1883. The first 5 volumes of the Hauptwerk were there also. And
the 86-88-90 edition were somewhere else.
Sauron is not here any more. The djvu's of which he spoke are around before and after him.
gsd - 5-4-2012 at 06:51
Several Beilsteins are available here.
[Edited on 5-4-2012 by gsd]
Formatik - 5-4-2012 at 12:39
Archive has especially the third edition and its supplements which is also very useful (nearly 1 GB big).
A problem with the djvu file versions of the 4 Auflage of Beilstein is that they are rather incomplete (there are pages missing from some of the
volumes). Google used to have volumes I to V of the 4 Auflage, but I don't see them now. These volumes were complete. I have them and can upload them
somewhere if wanted.
Beilstein upload
madelectrolyzer - 9-4-2012 at 08:17
@Formatik many thanks for offering that, however, meanwhile I've found all of those, and I'm really looking for the 3rd (or better) Ergaenzungsband,
which covers literature well into mid last century. I have access to it at the library here of course.