§ 7 Dictionary of National Biography
This, the largest of all national collections of biography, owes its existence to the enterprise and munificence of the late George Smith, who founded it in 1882. The work was produced by the co-operation of a large number of scholars acting under the direction of the late Sir Leslie Stephen, with whom was afterwards associated Mr. Sidney Lee; and the latter half of the work was produced under Sir Sidney Lee’s sole editorship.
It was produced in sixty-three quarterly volumes, 1885-1900, the arrangement being alphabetical; and the lives of those who died too late to be admitted in their alphabetical place were included by the issue of three supplementary volumes, which brought the work down to the death of Queen Victoria and just past the close of the nineteenth century. The sixty-six volumes were later reissued, with corrections, on thinner paper, three volumes being converted into one; and this edition in twenty-two volumes constitutes the main dictionary from the earliest times to the close of the Victorian era, in the form now on sale. It contains, in rather more than 30,000 pages, some 30,000 lives, each equipped with a select bibliography. The roll of contributors includes many famous names; conspicuous among the articles are those of Sir Leslie Stephen himself, which are models of form and substance, and those of the present Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford, Dr. C. H. Firth, whose Life of Cromwell is an acknowledged classic.
Continuing the work of the founder, Mrs. George Smith undertook a Supplement covering the years 1901-1911, which was produced by Sir Sidney Lee in 1912-13. This, as the first of a series of twentieth-century volumes, inaugurated what may be regarded as a second and distinct work.
Further, in 1903 was published in one volume an Index and Epitome to the Dictionary, giving within 1,500 pages 30,000 succinct biographies. The value of this compendium, to the very large non-professional public to whom the main work in twenty-two bulky volumes is not readily accessible, need not be emphasized. It has been thought proper, however, to lay stress upon its usefulness as an independent work of reference, which may fairly be expected to take its place, upon thousands of shelves, along with other compendious dictionaries and encyclopaedias; the Index and Epitome, therefore, along with the Index and Epitome to the Supplement of 1901-11, bound with it, is now issued under the short title of Concise Dictionary of National Biography.
The Dictionary of National Biography, with the responsibility for its maintenance, was offered to the University of Oxford in 1917 and gratefully accepted. Work is now in progress on a further decennial supplement covering the years 1912-21. This supplement will be edited by Mr. H. W. Carless Davis of Balliol and Mr. J. R. H. Weaver of Trinity. The Supplement of 1901-11, the Concise Dictionary, and many volumes of the main work, have recently been reprinted from plates; and the sale of the work shows an improvement when compared with the years preceding the war. Whether it will in the future be found practicable to attempt the systematic revision of the main work must still remain in doubt. The manufacturing expense of a new edition would be very heavy, and could be justified only by searching investigations, leading to a very substantial gain in accuracy, which must occupy years and involve a further heavy expenditure. The total outlay required has been estimated at £100,000, and this perhaps could not be defrayed without the munificence of a second founder. It may, however, be hoped that such a work will not at last languish for lack of funds. Meanwhile, under the direction of Mr. H. W. Carless Davis, the Delegates’ adviser upon the Dictionary, preliminary work is being steadily carried on. Subject-indexes have been prepared; a bibliography is in hand of the biographical literature which has accumulated since the publication of the Dictionary; and various special investigations are being made into periods for which the work is especially in need of revision. When it is remembered that a whole army of scholars was continually at work upon the material of the New English Dictionary for more than a quarter of a century before the first page was sent to press, it will be seen that the material of the Dictionary of National Biography may have to be newly surveyed with something of the same elaboration, if that Dictionary is ever to be rebuilt from its foundations.