A Great Tool for Booksellers: <i>The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</i>
- by Renee Roberts
No need to page through piles of volumes when you can search them electronically
by Renee Magriel Roberts
Writing really great book descriptions is the key to better bookselling, which I define as providing excellent service and accurate information for customers, combined with being able to ask fair prices for the material we sell. A good description goes beyond the physical and edition definition. I like being able to accurately discuss the author, the book's importance and place in the author's oeuvre, and the environment in which the work was created. It is not always easy getting information that is reliable and getting it efficiently, so I was ecstatic to find a tool that will help me do the job better and faster.
Early on I purchased a physical set of the Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) for this purpose. Something of a British institution, my nineteenth-century set offers detailed biographies of British notables, along with detailed bibliographies. Since we have a number of antiquarian biographies in our stock, these reference works are invaluable, as they present a contemporary look at authors and their works, as well as the biographical subjects. However, I have recently set my books aside in favor of the electronic version available by subscription from Oxford University Press (www.oup.com).
This new online reference tool, available for around $300/year, covers some 55,800 lives and 10,300 portrait illustrations. It includes the complete text of the original DNB, which being in the public domain can be used without restraint in any listings I create. Not confined to the 19th century, this new DNB goes right up to the present and is continuously updated, so it works for modern British authors as well.
Unlike my books, this new tool is electronic, so I can readily cut and paste information, saving valuable time when I'm composing book descriptions. It includes reference material (such as a list of kings and queens, Nobel prize winners, and so forth). I can search not only by name, but also do full text searches on all the biographies that contain any word or group of words.
So, for example, if I would like to know more about the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge which is sponsoring one of my books, I will immediately discover the names of many of the notables and authors involved in that Society, including Henry Lord Brougham, Charles Knight, Sir Charles Bell, George Birkbeck, and pages of others.
I can search not only under the full name, but also search pseudonyms, nicknames, aristocratic titles, performing names, initials, incomplete names, and name changes. This is particularly handy if I do not know to whom a pseudonym belongs -- a quick check can reveal the real author (and perhaps save me from selling a valuable book for too little).
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
