Dictionary of National Biography
Encyclopedia
The Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history
, published from 1885. The updated Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) was published on 23 September 2004 in 60 volumes and online.
collections published in Europe, such as the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie
(1875), in 1882 the publisher George Smith
(1824–1901), of Smith, Elder & Co.
, planned a universal dictionary which would include biographical entries on individuals from world history. He approached Leslie Stephen
, then editor of the Cornhill Magazine
, owned by Smith, to become editor. Stephen persuaded Smith that the work should focus on subjects from the UK and its present and former colonies only. An early working title was the Biographia Britannica, the name of an earlier eighteenth-century reference work
. The first volume of the Dictionary of National Biography appeared on 1 January 1885. In May 1891, Leslie Stephen resigned the editorship. Sidney Lee
, Stephen's assistant editor from the beginning of the project, succeeded him as editor. A dedicated team of sub-editors and researchers worked under Stephen and Lee, combining a variety of talents from veteran journalists to young scholars who cut their academic teeth on dictionary articles at a time when postgraduate historical research in British universities was still in its infancy. While much of the dictionary was written in-house, the DNB also relied on external contributors, who included several respected writers and scholars of the late nineteenth century. Successive volumes appeared quarterly with complete punctuality until midsummer 1900, when the series closed with volume 63. The year of publication, the editor and the range of names in each volume is given below.
on 22 January 1901. Corrections were added.
After issuing a volume of errata in 1904, the dictionary was reissued with minor revisions in 22 volumes in 1908 and 1909; a subtitle said that it covered British history "from the earliest times to the year 1900". In the words of the 1911 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica
, the dictionary had "elucidated the private annals of the British", providing not only concise lives of the notable deceased, but additionally lists of sources which were invaluable to researchers in a period when few libraries or collections of manuscripts had published catalogues or indices, and the production of indices to periodical literatures was just beginning. Throughout the twentieth century, further volumes were published for those who had died, generally on a decade-by-decade basis, beginning in 1912 with a supplement edited by Lee covering those who died between 1901 and 1911. The dictionary was transferred from its original publishers, Smith, Elder & Co., to Oxford University Press
in 1917. Until 1996, Oxford University Press continued to add further supplements featuring articles on subjects who had died during the twentieth century.
The supplements published between 1912 and 1996 added about 6,000 lives of people who died in the twentieth century to the 29,120 in the 63 volumes of the original DNB. In 1993 a volume containing missing biographies was published. This had an additional 1,000 lives, selected from over 100,000 suggestions. This did not seek to replace any articles on existing DNB subjects, even though the original work had been written from a Victorian perspective and had become out of date due to changes in historical assessments and discoveries of new information during the twentieth century. Consequently, the dictionary was becoming less and less useful as a reference work.
In 1996, the University of London
published a volume of corrections, cumulated from the Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research.
committed itself to overhauling the DNB. Work on what was known until 2001 as the New Dictionary of National Biography, or New DNB, began in 1992 under the editorship of Colin Matthew
, professor of modern history at the University of Oxford
. Matthew decided that no subjects from the old dictionary would be excluded, however insignificant the subjects appeared to a late-twentieth-century eye; that a minority of shorter articles from the original dictionary would remain in the new in revised form, but most would be rewritten; and that room would be made for about 14,000 new subjects. Suggestions for new subjects were solicited through questionnaires placed in libraries and universities and, as the 1990s advanced, online, and assessed by the editor, the 12 external consultant editors and several hundred associate editors and in-house staff.
The new dictionary would cover British history, "broadly defined" (including, for example, subjects from Roman Britain, the United States of America before its independence, and from Britain's former colonies, provided they were functionally part of the Empire and not of "the indigenous culture" (Introduction)) up to 31 December 2000. The research project was conceived as a collaborative one, with in-house staff co-ordinating the work of nearly 10,000 contributors internationally. It would remain selective – there would be no attempt to include all members of parliament, for example – but would seek to include significant, influential or notorious figures from the whole canvas of the life of Britain and its former colonies, overlaying the decisions of the late-nineteenth-century editors with the interests of late-twentieth-century scholarship in the hope that "the two epochs in collaboration might produce something more useful for the future than either epoch on its own", but acknowledging also that a final definitive selection is impossible to achieve.
Following Matthew's death in October 1999, he was succeeded as editor by another Oxford historian, Professor Brian Harrison
, in January 2000.
The new dictionary, now known as the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (or ODNB), was published on 23 September 2004 in 60 volumes in print at a price of £7500, and in an online edition for subscribers. Most UK holders of a current library card can access it online free of charge. The print edition is currently selling for £1500. At publication, the 2004 edition had 50,113 biographical articles covering 54,922 lives, including entries on all subjects included in the old DNB. (The old DNB entries on these subjects may be accessed separately through a link to the "DNB Archive" – many of the longer entries are still highly regarded.) A small permanent staff remain in Oxford to update and extend the coverage of the online edition. Brian Harrison
was succeeded as editor by another Oxford historian, Dr Lawrence Goldman
, in October 2004. The first online update was published on 4 January 2005, including subjects who had died in 2001. A further update, including subjects from all periods, followed on 23 May 2005, and another on 6 October 2005. New subjects who died in 2002 were added to the online dictionary on 5 January 2006, with continuing releases in May and October in subsequent years following the precedent of 2005. The ODNB also includes some new biographies on people who died before the DNB was published and are not included in the original DNB, because they have become notable since the DNB was published through the work of more recent historians, for example William Eyre
(fl. 1634–1675).
The online version has an advanced search facility, allowing a search for people by area of interest, religion and "Places, Dates, Life Events". This accesses an electronic index that cannot be directly viewed.
Response to the new dictionary has been for the most part positive, but in the months following publication there was occasional criticism of the dictionary in some British newspapers and periodicals for reported factual inaccuracies. However, the number of articles publicly queried in this way was small – only 23 of the 50,113 articles published in September 2004, leading to fewer than 100 substantiated factual amendments. These and other queries received since publication are being considered as part of an ongoing programme of assessing proposed corrections or additions to existing subject articles, which can, when approved, be incorporated into the online edition of the dictionary. In 2005, The American Library Association
awarded the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography its prestigious Dartmouth Medal
. A general review of the Dictionary was published in 2007.
DNB
History of the United Kingdom
The history of the United Kingdom as a unified sovereign state began with the political union of the kingdoms of England, which included Wales, and Scotland on 1 May 1707 in accordance with the Treaty of Union, as ratified by the Acts of Union 1707...
, published from 1885. The updated Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) was published on 23 September 2004 in 60 volumes and online.
The first series
Seeking to emulate national biographicalBiography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
collections published in Europe, such as the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie
Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie
Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie is one of the most important and most comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language....
(1875), in 1882 the publisher George Smith
George Murray Smith
George Murray Smith was the son of George Smith who with Alexander Elder started the Victorian publishing firm of Smith, Elder & Co.. His brainchild, The Cornhill Magazine, was the premier fiction-carrying magazine of the 19th century.The firm was extremely successful. G. M...
(1824–1901), of Smith, Elder & Co.
Smith, Elder & Co.
Smith, Elder & Co. was a firm of British publishers who were most noted for the works they published in the 19th century.The firm was founded by George Smith and Alexander Elder and successfully continued by George Murray Smith .They are notable for producing the first edition of the Dictionary...
, planned a universal dictionary which would include biographical entries on individuals from world history. He approached Leslie Stephen
Leslie Stephen
Sir Leslie Stephen, KCB was an English author, critic and mountaineer, and the father of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell.-Life:...
, then editor of the Cornhill Magazine
Cornhill Magazine
The Cornhill Magazine was a Victorian magazine and literary journal named after Cornhill Street in London.Cornhill was founded by George Murray Smith in 1860 and was published until 1975. It was a literary journal with a selection of articles on diverse subjects and serialisations of new novels...
, owned by Smith, to become editor. Stephen persuaded Smith that the work should focus on subjects from the UK and its present and former colonies only. An early working title was the Biographia Britannica, the name of an earlier eighteenth-century reference work
Biographia Britannica
Biographia Britannica was a multi-volume biographical compendium, "the most ambitious attempt in the latter half of the eighteenth century to document the lives of notable British men and women". The first edition, edited by William Oldys, appeared in 6 volumes between 1747 and 1766...
. The first volume of the Dictionary of National Biography appeared on 1 January 1885. In May 1891, Leslie Stephen resigned the editorship. Sidney Lee
Sidney Lee
Sir Sidney Lee was an English biographer and critic.He was born Solomon Lazarus Lee at 12 Keppel Street, Bloomsbury, London and educated at the City of London School and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated in modern history in 1882. In the next year he became assistant-editor of the...
, Stephen's assistant editor from the beginning of the project, succeeded him as editor. A dedicated team of sub-editors and researchers worked under Stephen and Lee, combining a variety of talents from veteran journalists to young scholars who cut their academic teeth on dictionary articles at a time when postgraduate historical research in British universities was still in its infancy. While much of the dictionary was written in-house, the DNB also relied on external contributors, who included several respected writers and scholars of the late nineteenth century. Successive volumes appeared quarterly with complete punctuality until midsummer 1900, when the series closed with volume 63. The year of publication, the editor and the range of names in each volume is given below.
Supplements and revisions
Since the scope included only deceased figures, the DNB was soon extended by the issue of three supplementary volumes, covering subjects who had died between 1885 and 1900 or who had been overlooked in the original alphabetical sequence. The supplements brought the whole work up to the death of Queen VictoriaVictoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
on 22 January 1901. Corrections were added.
After issuing a volume of errata in 1904, the dictionary was reissued with minor revisions in 22 volumes in 1908 and 1909; a subtitle said that it covered British history "from the earliest times to the year 1900". In the words of the 1911 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
, the dictionary had "elucidated the private annals of the British", providing not only concise lives of the notable deceased, but additionally lists of sources which were invaluable to researchers in a period when few libraries or collections of manuscripts had published catalogues or indices, and the production of indices to periodical literatures was just beginning. Throughout the twentieth century, further volumes were published for those who had died, generally on a decade-by-decade basis, beginning in 1912 with a supplement edited by Lee covering those who died between 1901 and 1911. The dictionary was transferred from its original publishers, Smith, Elder & Co., to Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
in 1917. Until 1996, Oxford University Press continued to add further supplements featuring articles on subjects who had died during the twentieth century.
The supplements published between 1912 and 1996 added about 6,000 lives of people who died in the twentieth century to the 29,120 in the 63 volumes of the original DNB. In 1993 a volume containing missing biographies was published. This had an additional 1,000 lives, selected from over 100,000 suggestions. This did not seek to replace any articles on existing DNB subjects, even though the original work had been written from a Victorian perspective and had become out of date due to changes in historical assessments and discoveries of new information during the twentieth century. Consequently, the dictionary was becoming less and less useful as a reference work.
In 1996, the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
published a volume of corrections, cumulated from the Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research.
Concise dictionary
There were various versions of the Concise Dictionary of National Biography, which covered everyone in the main work but with much shorter articles; some were only two lines. The last edition, in three volumes, covered everyone who died before 1986.Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
In the early 1990s Oxford University PressOxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
committed itself to overhauling the DNB. Work on what was known until 2001 as the New Dictionary of National Biography, or New DNB, began in 1992 under the editorship of Colin Matthew
Colin Matthew
Henry Colin Gray Matthew , an historian, was the first editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and editor of the diaries of William Ewart Gladstone....
, professor of modern history at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
. Matthew decided that no subjects from the old dictionary would be excluded, however insignificant the subjects appeared to a late-twentieth-century eye; that a minority of shorter articles from the original dictionary would remain in the new in revised form, but most would be rewritten; and that room would be made for about 14,000 new subjects. Suggestions for new subjects were solicited through questionnaires placed in libraries and universities and, as the 1990s advanced, online, and assessed by the editor, the 12 external consultant editors and several hundred associate editors and in-house staff.
The new dictionary would cover British history, "broadly defined" (including, for example, subjects from Roman Britain, the United States of America before its independence, and from Britain's former colonies, provided they were functionally part of the Empire and not of "the indigenous culture" (Introduction)) up to 31 December 2000. The research project was conceived as a collaborative one, with in-house staff co-ordinating the work of nearly 10,000 contributors internationally. It would remain selective – there would be no attempt to include all members of parliament, for example – but would seek to include significant, influential or notorious figures from the whole canvas of the life of Britain and its former colonies, overlaying the decisions of the late-nineteenth-century editors with the interests of late-twentieth-century scholarship in the hope that "the two epochs in collaboration might produce something more useful for the future than either epoch on its own", but acknowledging also that a final definitive selection is impossible to achieve.
Following Matthew's death in October 1999, he was succeeded as editor by another Oxford historian, Professor Brian Harrison
Brian Harrison (historian)
Professor Sir Brian Howard Harrison was the editor of Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, published by Oxford University Press, from January 2000 to September 2004 and Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford...
, in January 2000.
The new dictionary, now known as the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (or ODNB), was published on 23 September 2004 in 60 volumes in print at a price of £7500, and in an online edition for subscribers. Most UK holders of a current library card can access it online free of charge. The print edition is currently selling for £1500. At publication, the 2004 edition had 50,113 biographical articles covering 54,922 lives, including entries on all subjects included in the old DNB. (The old DNB entries on these subjects may be accessed separately through a link to the "DNB Archive" – many of the longer entries are still highly regarded.) A small permanent staff remain in Oxford to update and extend the coverage of the online edition. Brian Harrison
Brian Harrison (historian)
Professor Sir Brian Howard Harrison was the editor of Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, published by Oxford University Press, from January 2000 to September 2004 and Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford...
was succeeded as editor by another Oxford historian, Dr Lawrence Goldman
Lawrence Goldman
Lawrence Goldman is an historian and current editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He has an M.A. from the University of Oxford and a M.A. and PhD. from University of Cambridge...
, in October 2004. The first online update was published on 4 January 2005, including subjects who had died in 2001. A further update, including subjects from all periods, followed on 23 May 2005, and another on 6 October 2005. New subjects who died in 2002 were added to the online dictionary on 5 January 2006, with continuing releases in May and October in subsequent years following the precedent of 2005. The ODNB also includes some new biographies on people who died before the DNB was published and are not included in the original DNB, because they have become notable since the DNB was published through the work of more recent historians, for example William Eyre
William Eyre (leveller)
William Eyre , was an English Parliamentary army officer in the English Civil War and a Leveller.-Early life:Eyre's origins are unknown, but Paul Hardacre writing in the ODNB suggests that as he held a captains rank in the Parliamentary cavalry in the First English Civil War, but started as a...
(fl. 1634–1675).
The online version has an advanced search facility, allowing a search for people by area of interest, religion and "Places, Dates, Life Events". This accesses an electronic index that cannot be directly viewed.
Response to the new dictionary has been for the most part positive, but in the months following publication there was occasional criticism of the dictionary in some British newspapers and periodicals for reported factual inaccuracies. However, the number of articles publicly queried in this way was small – only 23 of the 50,113 articles published in September 2004, leading to fewer than 100 substantiated factual amendments. These and other queries received since publication are being considered as part of an ongoing programme of assessing proposed corrections or additions to existing subject articles, which can, when approved, be incorporated into the online edition of the dictionary. In 2005, The American Library Association
American Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
awarded the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography its prestigious Dartmouth Medal
Dartmouth Medal
The Dartmouth Medal of the American Library Association is awarded annually to a reference work of outstanding quality and significance, published during the previous calendar year.-History:...
. A general review of the Dictionary was published in 2007.
First series contents
Contents of each volume of the first series with year of publication and editor.| Volume | Names | Year published | Editor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abbadie – Anne | 1885 | Stephen |
| 2 | Annesley – Baird | ||
| 3 | Baker – Beadon | ||
| 4 | Beal – Biber | ||
| 5 | Bicheno – Bottisham | 1886 | |
| 6 | Bottomley – Browell | ||
| 7 | Brown – Burthogge | ||
| 8 | Burton – Cantwell | ||
| 9 | Canute – Chaloner | 1887 | |
| 10 | Chamber – Clarkson | ||
| 11 | Clater – Condell | ||
| 12 | Conder – Craigie | ||
| 13 | Craik – Damer | 1888 | |
| 14 | Damon – D'Eyncourt | ||
| 15 | Diamond – Drake | ||
| 16 | Drant – Edridge | ||
| 17 | Edward – Erskine | 1889 | |
| 18 | Esdale – Finan | ||
| 19 | Finch – Forman | ||
| 20 | Forrest – Garner | ||
| 21 | Garnett – Gloucester | 1890 | |
| 22 | Glover – Gravet | Stephen & Lee | |
| 23 | Gray – Haighton | ||
| 24 | Hailes – Harriott | ||
| 25 | Harris – Henry I | 1891 | |
| 26 | Henry II – Hindley | ||
| 27 | Hindmarsh – Hovenden | Lee | |
| 28 | Howard – Inglethorpe | ||
| 29 | Inglish – John | 1892 | |
| 30 | Johnes – Kenneth | ||
| 31 | Kennett – Lambart | ||
| 32 | Lambe – Leigh | ||
| 33 | Leighton – Lluelyn | 1893 | |
| 34 | Llywd – MacCartney | ||
| 35 | MacCarwell – Maltby | ||
| 36 | Malthus – Mason | ||
| 37 | Masquerier – Millyng | 1894 | |
| 38 | Milman – More | ||
| 39 | Morehead – Myles | ||
| 40 | Myllar – Nicholls | ||
| 41 | Nichols – O'Dugan | 1895 | |
| 42 | O'Duinn – Owen | ||
| 43 | Owens – Passelewe | ||
| 44 | Paston – Percy | ||
| 45 | Pereira – Pockrich | 1896 | |
| 46 | Pocock – Puckering | ||
| 47 | Puckle – Reidfurd | ||
| 48 | Reilly – Robins | ||
| 49 | Robinson – Russell | 1897 | |
| 50 | Russen – Scobell | ||
| 51 | Scoffin – Sheares | ||
| 52 | Shearman – Smirke | ||
| 53 | Smith – Stanger | 1898 | |
| 54 | Stanhope – Stovin | ||
| 55 | Stow – Taylor | ||
| 56 | Teach – Tollet | ||
| 57 | Tom – Tytler | 1899 | |
| 58 | Ubaldini – Wakefield | ||
| 59 | Wakeman – Watkins | ||
| 60 | Watson – Whewell | ||
| 61 | Whichcord – Williams | 1900 | |
| 62 | Williamson – Worden | ||
| 63 | Wordsworth – Zuylestein |
See also
- List of contributors to the Dictionary of National Biography
- Biographical dictionaryBiographical dictionaryBiographical dictionaries – a type of encyclopedic dictionary limited to biographical information – have been written in many languages. Many attempt to cover the major personalities of a country...
External links
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography website
- Free index to the ODNB
- About the Oxford DNB, Oxford University Press site
- Introduction to the Oxford DNB, Oxford University Press site
- Corrections to the ODNB submitted and peer-reviewed by members of soc.medieval/Gen-Med
DNB
- Online volumes of the first and second series
- Online volumes of the first and second series, selected from Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
and Google Books at The Online Books Page.
| Volume | Date | From | To | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Index and Epitome | 1903 | The Index, with a summary for each entry. | ||
| Volume 1 | 1885 | Abbadie | Anne | |
| Volume 2 | 1885 | Anneslya | Baird | |
| Volume 3 | 1885 | Baker | Beadon | |
| Volume 4 | 1885 | Beal | Biber | |
| Volume 5 | 1886 | Bicheno | Bottisham | |
| Volume 6 | 1886 | Bottomley | Browell | |
| Volume 7 | 1886 | Brown | Burthogge | |
| Volume 8 | 1886 | Burton | Cantwell | |
| Volume 9 | 1887 | Canute | Chaloner | |
| Volume 10 | 1887 | Chamber | Clarkson | |
| Volume 11 | 1887 | Clater | Condell | |
| Volume 12 | 1887 | Conder | Craigie | |
| Volume 13 | 1888 | Craik | Damer | |
| Volume 14 | 1888 | Damon | D'Eyncourt | |
| Volume 15 | 1888 | Diamond | Drake | |
| Volume 16 | 1888 | Drant | Edridge | |
| Volume 17 | 1889 | Edward | Erskine | |
| Volume 18 | 1889 | Esdaile | Finan | |
| Volume 19 | 1889 | Finch | Forman | |
| Volume 20 | 1889 | Forest | Garner | |
| Volume 21 | 1890 | Garnett | Gloucester | |
| Volume 22 | 1890 | Glover | Gravet | |
| Volume 23 | 1890 | Gray | Haighton | |
| Volume 24 | 1890 | Hailes | Harriott | Incorrectly labeled as Volume 25 |
| Volume 25 | 1891 | Harris | Henry I | |
| Volume 26 | 1891 | Henry II | Hindley | |
| Volume 27 | 1891 | Hindmarsh | Hovenden | |
| Volume 28 | 1891 | Howard | Inglethorp | |
| Volume 29 | 1892 | Inglis | John | |
| Volume 30 | 1892 | Johnes | Kenneth | |
| Volume 31 | 1892 | Kennett | Lambart | |
| Volume 32 | 1892 | Lambre | Leigh | |
| Volume 33 | 1893 | Leighton | Lluelyn | |
| Volume 34 | 1893 | Llwyd | MacCartney | |
| Volume 35 | 1893 | MacCarwell | Maltby | |
| Volume 36 | 1893 | Malthus | Mason | |
| Volume 37 | 1894 | Masquerier | Millyng | |
| Volume 38 | 1894 | Milman | More | |
| Volume 39 | 1894 | Morehead | Myles | |
| Volume 40 | 1894 | Myllar | Nichols | |
| Volume 41 | 1895 | Nichols | O'Dugan | |
| Volume 42 | 1895 | O'Duinn | Owen | |
| Volume 43 | 1895 | Owens | Passelewe | |
| Volume 44 | 1895 | Paston | Percy | |
| Volume 45 | 1896 | Pereira | Pochrich | |
| Volume 46 | 1896 | Pockock | Puckering | |
| Volume 47 | 1896 | Puckle | Reidfurd | |
| Volume 48 | 1896 | Reily | Robins | |
| Volume 49 | 1897 | Robinson | Russell | |
| Volume 50 | 1897 | Russen | Scobell | |
| Volume 51 | 1897 | Scoffin | Sheares | |
| Volume 52 | 1897 | Shearman | Smirke | |
| Volume 53 | 1898 | Smith | Stanger | |
| Volume 54 | 1898 | Stanhope | Stovin | |
| Volume 55 | 1898 | Stow | Taylor | |
| Volume 56 | 1898 | Teach | Tollet | |
| Volume 57 | 1899 | Tom | Tytler | |
| Volume 58 | 1899 | Ubaldini | Wakefield | |
| Volume 59 | 1899 | Wakeman | Watkins | |
| Volume 60 | 1899 | Watson | Whewell | |
| Volume 61 | 1900 | Whichcord | Williams | |
| Volume 62 | 1900 | Williamson | Worden | |
| Volume 63 | 1900 | Wordsworth | Zuylestein | |
| Supplementary volumes for the first edition | ||||
| Supplement Volume 1 | 1901 | Abbott | Childers | |
| Supplement Volume 2 | 1901 | Chippendale | Hoste | |
| Supplement Volume 3 | 1901 | How | Woodward | |
| Errata | 1904 | |||