Oxford dictionary of biography

Reference on notable British figures

The Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since The updated Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) was published on 23 September in 60 volumes and online, with 50, biographical articles covering 54, lives.

First series

Hoping to emulate national biographical collections published elsewhere in Europe, such as the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (), in the publisher George Smith (–), of Smith, Elder & Co., planned a universal dictionary that would include biographical entries on individuals from world history. He approached Leslie Stephen, then editor of the Cornhill Magazine, owned by Smith, to become the editor. Stephen persuaded Smith that the work should focus only on subjects from the United Kingdom and its present and former colonies. 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 In May Leslie Stephen resigned and 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. By , more than individuals had contributed to the work. Successive volumes appeared quarterly with complete punctuality until midsummer , when the series closed with volume The year of publication, the editor

• Boswell’s biography of Johnson
• a biography by Antonia Fraser
• The book gives potted biographies of all the major painters.

Word Originlate 17th cent.: from French biographie or modern Latin biographia, from medieval Greek, from bios ‘life’ + -graphia ‘writing’.

The ODNB was first published in , in 60 print volumes and online. Since a continuation project has extended and developed the ODNB’s online edition.

Updates are published monthly. Our January update is composed of biographies of people who have died in the very recent past (all people in the ODNB are deceased). Our other monthly updates are gathered around themes of related lives and also extend the Dictionary’s coverage across earlier periods in the light of recent scholarship and publications. Updates also revise existing biographies in response to new research. Since we have added around biographies and thematic essays.

Dictionary editors also run a programme of public engagement with other national institutions (museums, galleries, the National Trust, English Heritage, and national biographies worldwide), as well as with British public libraries and university research projects in the UK and the United States. The Dictionary's popular podcast series is available on itunes and via our website.

The Oxford DNB is a research and publishing project of the Oxford History Faculty and Oxford University Press. The work of commissioning, editing, writing, updating, and promoting the Dictionary is undertaken by a small team of Oxford historians: Mark Curthoys, Alex May, and Anders Ingram.

The ODNB’s general editor (from October ) is Sir David Cannadine who, in his capacity as editor, is also a Visiting Professor in the Oxford History Faculty.