Merriam-Webster's Biographical Dictionary

by Merriam-Webster

Book Overview

Offers brief profiles of nearly 7,000 notable individuals. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0877797439
• ISBN13: 9780877797432
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Merriam-Webster
• Length: 1170 Pages
• Weight: 3.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.2" x 7.3" x 9.9"

Customer Reviews

This biographical dictionary is simply the best!

Merriam Webster's Biographical Dictionary is an excellent source of information on more or less important dead persons (yes, only someone who has already died can qualify for an entry!). It covers all fields of human activities - politicians, rulers, writers, inventors etc. Even a small Slovenian nation has its representatives in this comprehensive volume (e.g. composer Jacobus Gallus, poet France Preseren, writer Ivan Cankar, politician Anton Korosec), though, unfortunately, the real nationality of two very important Slovenes who lived in Austria (physicist Josef Stefan and Nobel laureate Fritz Pregl) haven't been revealed.It's not surprising that in such comprehensive and informative book (it has circa 30,000 entries!) there are some mistakes (e.g. wrongly spelled first and even last names like in the cases of Viet Stoss - correctly spelled first name is Veit - and B. J. Feijoo y Montenogro - correctly spelled last name is Feijoo y Montenegro), and overlooked important persons (e.g. famous Welsh novelist and playwright Richard Llewellyn, who died in 1983, doesn't have an entry!)However, it's still definitely one of the most authoritative biographical dictionaries available (it's simply the best, just like its twin brother Merriam Webster's Geographical Dictionary is in its field - see my review there!), and is worth every single penny or cent. I use it pretty often and hardly wait for a new edition with new entries and, of course, some necessary corrections (some of them contributed by me).

FILLS THE BILL

This dictionary has over 30,000 entries with preferred pronounciation. I particularly wanted an American publisher so I would have more American entries. The material is detailed enough to begin referencing. The print is adequately sized--just barely(approx. 8 pt. headings and 6 pt. entries). It is easy to use, though I would have liked a thumb-guide. It's a very good price. I am quite satsified with my purchase.A note on the choice of entries. A biographical dictionary does not contain living entries. For that sort of information you need a Who's Who type of publication that has constant updates. It is usually a very expensive purchase, and the buyer has to be meticulous to be certain he is getting the "type" of persons in which he is interested. In this day and age of 15-minute celebrity, to include everyone anyone has ever heard of would take a constantly shifting entire library.

As good as it gets

If the browser in Jacksonville had read the preface, he or she would have discovered that the dictionary does not cover living persons. So as estimable as Mr Crystal, et al, surely are, they aren't as yet eligible for inclusion. That aside, the book is as accurate as any reasonable person could need it to be and as complete as it can be without becoming unwieldy. And the price is excellent.