The Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie, published in ten volumes between 1995 and 1999, is now being published in English. And good English too, concise yet grammatical, stylish even, and with the minimum of abbreviations. Some 60,000 biographies from the German‐speaking world are covered, ranging from the time of Charlemagne to the present day, though no individuals now living are included.
Each entry opens with brief details so the user can immediately place the individual. Thus: Baedeker, Fritz, publisher, bookseller, born 4.12.1844 Koblenz; died 9.4.1925 Leipzig. The articles are generally of paragraph length, outlining the most important events in the person′s life. This includes details of education, significant encounters, career, family and friendships, associations, achievements, prizes and honours. Each entry has a bibliographical reference to further literature on the person. Although not quite measuring up to the high physical quality of the Gale, St James or Routledge biographical dictionaries, the prose is good and the production workmanlike. In addition to the Editors’ Foreword, there are Guidelines for the User (hardly necessary), a Glossary, and a listing of the frequently cited reference works.
The coverage is impressive. There are six Baedekers and no fewer than 44 Bachs! Johann Sebastian is unusual in having some two whole pages for his entry. Adenauer, Adler, Hannah Arendt, Beethoven, biologist Bertalanffy and Bismark are among the famous, while among the mass of the less famous are the four Boguslawskys who conclude the volume: military officer and writer Albert (pseud.), 1834‐1905; hydrographer Georg von, 1827‐1884; Karl Andreas von, 1759‐1817, another military officer and writer (was this a fashionable German occupation?); and Palon Heinrich Ludwig von, 1789‐1871, astronomer.
For German libraries, and libraries specialising in German studies, this will be a valuable purchase. It should also be seriously considered by other general reference libraries. This comprehensive work of 60,000 brief yet informative entries on significant German and German‐speaking people from the last 500 years or so will remain a resource of permanent value for several generations to come. The research and editing are superb, and the physical volume robust. Would that there was something comparable for the British Isles. Who Was Who comes closest, but lacks the broad time span and is split into chronological divisions.
