Oxford University's Dictionary of National Biography provides a short biography for just about every king, queen, nobleman or celebrity who ever lived in England, from ancient times to the year 1900.
First Edition: The DNB was first published 1885-1901, in 63 volumes plus a three-volume supplement, for a total of 66 volumes. The three supplements were basically collections of biographies for people who had died after the first printings of volumes 1 to 63 (1885 - 1901).
Second Edition: The DNB was re-issued in 1908-1909 as a 22 vol. corrected edition. "Errors have as far as possible been corrected, and some of the bibliographies have been revised, but otherwise the text remains unaltered" -- Publisher's note, v.1 of the 1908 issue (of which the 1921 and 1937 issues are reprints)
Vol. 22 of the Second Edition includes a 1st supplement. Vol. 23 was later appended to the Second Edition (first published in 1912, and reprinted in 1939).
Third and Fourth Editions: The entire Second Edition was reprinted in 1921-1922 and again in 1937-1938 with minor changes in the indexes and a new composite lists of contributors.
Volumes 23-29 consist of supplements covering January 1901-1970, each containing a cumulative alphabetical index
Volume 30 (1971-1980) was edited by Lord Blake and C.S. Nicholls, with an index covering the years 1901-1980 in one alphabetical series
The 2004 Edition is available through Archive.org as ebooks that can be borrowed (requires sign up and sign in). To find the volumes of the 2004 Edition, simply go to the Archive.org search engine and search on the term "Dictionary of National Biography 2004."
The 2017 Edition is available through the National Biographical Dictionary home page. With the appropriate library card or permissions, one may search the entire collection with database search engine.
First Edition: The DNB was first published 1885-1901, in 63 volumes plus a three-volume supplement, for a total of 66 volumes. The three supplements were basically collections of biographies for people who had died after the first printings of volumes 1 to 63 (1885 - 1901).
Second Edition: The DNB was re-issued in 1908-1909 as a 22 vol. corrected edition. "Errors have as far as possible been corrected, and some of the bibliographies have been revised, but otherwise the text remains unaltered" -- Publisher's note, v.1 of the 1908 issue (of which the 1921 and 1937 issues are reprints)
Vol. 22 of the Second Edition includes a 1st supplement. Vol. 23 was later appended to the Second Edition (first published in 1912, and reprinted in 1939).
Third and Fourth Editions: The entire Second Edition was reprinted in 1921-1922 and again in 1937-1938 with minor changes in the indexes and a new composite lists of contributors.
Volumes 23-29 consist of supplements covering January 1901-1970, each containing a cumulative alphabetical index
Volume 30 (1971-1980) was edited by Lord Blake and C.S. Nicholls, with an index covering the years 1901-1980 in one alphabetical series
The 2004 Edition is available through Archive.org as ebooks that can be borrowed (requires sign up and sign in). To find the volumes of the 2004 Edition, simply go to the Archive.org search engine and search on the term "Dictionary of National Biography 2004."
The 2017 Edition is available through the National Biographical Dictionary home page. With the appropriate library card or permissions, one may search the entire collection with database search engine.
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