Online dictionary of national 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 Britannic