Library Research Guide for Hist 1984A: Book History: Before the Modern Age

General  --  Baltic Countries  --  Belgium  --  China  --  Denmark  --  France  --  Germany  --  Ireland  --  Islamic World  --  Italy  --  Luxembourg  --  Netherlands  --  Portugal  --  Spain  --  Switzerland  --  United Kingdom  --  United States

General

See also the Printers/Publishers/Booksellers page

World Biographical Information System (WBIS) includes full text of thousands of biographical dictionaries accessible by name of biographee. Partly online full text, partly microfiche or print. More information.

• Many of the sources listed below are in the WBIS.  The phrase "Biographical Archive" indicates inclusion in  the WBIS.  NIS means not in the WBIS.

Allgemeines Gelehrten-Lexicon: darinne die Gelehrten aller Stände sowohl männ- als weiblichen Geschlechts, welche vom Anfange der Welt bis auf ietzige Zeit gelebt, und sich der gelehrten Welt bekannt gemacht, nach ihrer Geburt, Leben, merckwürdigen Geschichten Absterben und Schrifften aus den glaubwürdigsten Scribenten in alphabetischer Ordnung beschrieben warden, ed. by Christian Gottlieb Jöcher. Leipzig. 4 v.
HOLLIS Records
Online Version
--Comprehensive and still useful compilation of biographical sketches of scholars of many nationalities and periods but particularly strong for the Middle Ages.  Includes persons living before 1750.  A supplement, Fortsetzung und Erganzungen adds more names from the period covered by the original, as well as others of a slightly later date. In both references are given to sources, and source lists, especially in the supplement, are quite full. The 7 v. of the supplement cover A-Romuleus (no more were published). Full text in the World Biographical Information System.

Repertoire des sources historiques du Moyen Age: bio -bibliographie, by Ulysse Chevalier. Nouv. ed. ref., corr. et considerablement augm. Paris: A. Picard, 1905-1907.
HOLLIS Records
Internet Archive full text: vol. 1  --  vol. 2
--The most complete and important work for the medieval period, arranged alphabetically, giving under the French form of each name: (1) brief biographical data, i.e., characterizing phrases and dates of birth and death, and (2) references to books, periodicals, society transactions, etc., where some account of the personage may be found. Very useful for out-of-the-way names, or for complete lists of references on more familiar names.

An annotated index of medieval women, by Anne Echols and Marty Williams. New York : M. Wiener Pub. ; Oxford : Berg, 1992. xxiv, 635 p.
Widener | RR3602.1.2
--Brief biographies for some 1,500 medieval women living between 800-1500, arranged alphabetically by first name. Covers some 30 countries and a variety of social classes and activities. Instructions for use, p. xiii-xxiv. The main index, listing women alphabetically by name, provides life dates; countries; characteristics, accomplishments; up to ten subject descriptors; and references. Separate indexes for dates, countries, biographical categories, names/titles/estates/regions/ cities. Lists of sources, alphabetical by author; shorter list of sources without authors, alphabetical by title.

Key figures in medieval Europe: an encyclopedia, ed. by Richard K. Emmerson and Sandra Clayton-Emmerson. New York : Routledge, 2006, 733 p.
Widener  |  WID-LC    |  D115 .K49 2006
--Includes around 1000 figures.  Covers 500-1500. Articles drawn from the Routledge Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages. Each article has references to a substantial terminal bibliography.  Includes a few Asian figures.  Many entries are accompanied by illustrations. Appendixes include “A Chronology of Events”, lists of “Popes, Emperors, and Monarchs”, “Colleges and Universities and their Dates of Founding”, “Major Monasteries, Abbeys, and Convents and their Founders and Dates”, and “Individuals Listed by Occupation or Contribution”.  Substantial index.

The late medieval age of crisis and renewal, 1300-1500 : a biographical dictionary, ed. by Clayton Drees. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001, 546 p
--About 350 cultural - artistic, literary, scientific, theological - figures, largely from England, France, Italy. Indexed in Biography and genealogy master index

The rise of the medieval world, 500-1300 : a biographical dictionary / edited by Jana K. Schulman. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002, 500 p.
Widener | WID-LC | CT114 .R57 200
--About 350 cultural - artistic, literary, scientific, theological - figures, largely from England, France, Italy

Contemporaries of Erasmus : a biographical register of the Renaissance and Reformation, ed. by Peter G. Bietenholz. Toronto; Buffalo : University of Toronto Press, 1985-1987.  3 v.
HOLLIS Record with Online Version
--Major source for the Renaissance.  Over 1900 biographical sketches of persons, especially intellectuals, educators, religious reformers, and political figures,  mentioned in correspondence or works of Erasmus (1466-1536).  “Editorial Notes” section is important for effective use. Sources accompany each article.  Strongest on French, Dutch, and Germans; weaker on Italians for whom: Cosenza’s Biographical and bibliographical dictionary of the Italian humanists and of the world of classical scholarship in Italy, 1300-1800.

Biographical and bibliographical dictionary of the Italian humanists and of the world of classical scholarship in Italy, 1300-1800, by Mario Emilio Cosenza. 2d ed., rev. and enl. Boston : G. K. Hall, 1962- . 6 v.
HOLLIS Record

Renaissance and Reformation, 1500-1620 : a biographical dictionary / edited by Jo Eldridge Carney. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2001, 417 p.
HOLLIS Record NIS
--Covers cultural - artistic, literary, scholarly, scientific – figures.  Lists of biographees by discipline and by country, terminal bibliography, name index.

Who's who in Europe , 1450-1750, by Henry Arthur Francis Kamen. London ; NY: Routledge, 2000, 321 p.
HOLLIS Record
--Very brief information on over 1000 persons.  Excludes Europeans with careers outside Europe, and Ottomans in Europe NIS

L’Europe des humanistes (XIVe-XVIIe siècles) / répertoire établi par J.-F. Maillard, J. Kecskeméti et M. Portalier. Paris] : CNRS ; [Turnhout] : Brepols, 1995. 543 p. 
HOLLIS Record
 --Gives names, dates, brief occupation and references to over 200 biographical dictionaries and other works for manuscript collectors, scholars, editors and others involved in study of the ancient authors.

Handbuch Gelehrtenkultur der Frühen Neuzeit, by Herbert Jaumann. Berlin; New York: W. de Gruyter, 2004-
HOLLIS Record
--First vol. of this work comprises biographical articles with lists of works, editions, and secondary sources (keyed to bibliography in front of vol.) on Renaissance and early modern (15th-early 18th centuries) scholars and intellectuals. 
--Full text of much of the book is available in Google Books, linked from the HOLLIS record. Second volume (not yet received) is a thematic dictionary.

Biographical Dictionaries and Encyclopedias:  Post-Reformation Digital Library

Wiley-Blackwell encyclopedia of eighteenth-century writers and writing, 1660-1789, by Paul Baines, Julian Ferraro, Pat Rogers. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K. ; Malden, MA : Wiley-Blackwell, 2011, 397 p.
HOLLIS Record with Online Version

Popular autobiographical writing. Pp. 253-350 in: The flight of Icarus: artisan autobiography in early modern Europe, by James S. Amelang. Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 1998, 497 p.
Widener: WID-LC  CT25 .A49 1998
--Includes for each author: brief biographical information, editions, mss location, secondary sources. New World as well as Europe.  Authors born before 1772 with texts starting before 1800.

Biographie universelle, ancienne et moderne, ou, Histoire, par ordre alphabétique, de la vie publique et privée de tous les hommes qui se sont fait remarquer par leurs écrits, leurs actions, leurs talents, leurs vertus ou leurs crimes : ouvrage entièrement neuf, rédigé par une Société de gens de lettres et de savants. Paris : Michaud frères, 1811-1862. 85 v.
HOLLIS Record

Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne : ou, Histoire, par ordre alphabétique, de la vie publique et privée de tous les hommes qui sont fait remarquer par leurs écrits, leurs actions, leurs talents, leurs vertues ou leurs crimes, ouvrage rédigé par une société de gens de lettres et de savants. Nouv. éd., rev., corr. et considérablement augm. d'articles omis ou nouveaux. Paris: Delagrave, [1870-1873] 45 v.
HathiTrust full text (1843- ed.)
HathiTrust full text
HathiTrust full text [1880 2nd ed.]
Also available in Gallica

Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours : avec les renseignements bibliographiques et l'indication des sources à consulter... sous la direction de Hoefer. Paris : Firmin Didot, 1862-1870. 46 v.
HOLLIS Record
HathiTrust full text

Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours, avec les renseignements bibliographiques et l'indication des sources à consulter, publiée par mm. Firmin Didot frères sous la direction de m. le dr. Hoefer...Paris, Firmin Didot frères, fils et cie, 1853-66 [v. 1, 1857] 46 v.
HOLLIS Record
Internet Archive full text
HathiTrust full  text
--Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne (widely known as Michaud) and the Nouvelle biographie generale (widely known as Hoefer) are both enormous mid-19th century dictionaries of universal biography, especially good for French persons. They contain much not available elsewhere.  There are differences between Michaud and Hoefer. In spite of some inaccuracies, Michaud is more carefully edited; its articles, signed with initials, are longer and often better than those in Hoefer; its bibliographies (except in one respect, as noted below) are better; and it contains more names in the second half of the alphabet, N-Z.  Hoefer contains more names, especially minor ones, from A-M; has some articles which are better than the corresponding articles in Michaud; and in the source lists gives titles in the original language, whereas Michaud translates into French.  Hoefer was planned to be more concise and more comprehensive than Michaud, to include names of people then living, and to list many minor names omitted from Michaud.

Major Figures

Cambridge companion to Descartes

Cambridge companion to Montaigne

Cambridge companion to Pascal

Baltic Countries

Baltische biographische Lexika: Digitization of around 12 late 19th early 20th century Baltic biographical dictionaries.

Belgium

Biographie nationale. Bruxelles: H. Thiry-van Buggenhoudt, 1866-1986. 
LOCATION: Widener: Neth 1961.30 Vols. 3, 7-8, 11 Library has: 44 v.   
--Long, signed articles by specialists, with source lists. Names were not selected for inclusion until a person had been dead ten years, the earlier volumes contain mainly persons who died before 1850. The supplement includes both early names and names of the 19th and 20th centuries.  Vol. 1-27 are arranged in a single alphabet; subsequent volumes are not. Vol. 36 comprises an index to v. 1-35; vol. 44 contains index to v. 37-44.  Contents: v. 1-27, A-Z; v.28, Table générale; 29-35, Supplément 1-7; v. 36, Supplément 8: Table générale (supersedes v. 28); v. 37-44, Supplément 9-16.  Online index of biographees available: http://www.cfwb.be/arb/en/biographie.htm. Full text (v. 1-27 only) and brief data from vols. 29-44 available in Biographical archive of the Benelux Countries.   
Full text via Online Books Page

Nationaal biografisch woordenboek. Brussel, Paleis der Academien, 1964- 
LOCATION: Widener: Neth 1961.32 Library has: v. 1-15    
--Flemish biographical dictionary which includes sketches of numerous persons who were omitted from the Belgian {i}Biographie nationale{/i}.    Each volume is an alphabetical listing with a cumulative index in each successive volume. References with each article.  Full text for persons born 1860 or after included in Biographical archive of the Benelux Countries.

Nouvelle biographie nationale. Bruxelles: Academie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique: Diffusion, P. Mardaga, 1988-2010 
LOCATION: Widener: WID-LC CT1163.A3 N68 1988 Library has: v. 1-5  
--Continuation of the Academie's Biographie nationale. Subjects are deceased Belgians or others who figured largely in the area's history from the middle ages to the present century, but with emphasis on recent figures. Entries are typically a page or more and include substantial source lists and occasionally portraits or other illustrations. Each volume is a complete alphabet of entries without reference to period or other organizing principle. Cumulative name index at the end of each volume from vol. 3 on.  Online index of biographees available which also includes the Biographie nationale: http://www.cfwb.be/arb/en/biographie.htm. Brief data, not the full text, of v. 1-4 available in Biographical archive of the Benelux Countries. Full text of vols 1-10 (scroll down below Biographie nationale)

China

Chinese History: a new manual, by Endymion Wilkinson. Fifth ed. Cambridge, MA: Endymion Wilkinson, c/o Harvard University Asia Center, 2018, 1276 pages
Several editions
HOLLIS Records
--See the reviews of Chinese names and biographical sources in Chapter 3, People.

A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220 A.D.), by Rafe De Crespigny. (Handbook of Oriental studies, Section 4, China, v. 19)  Leiden ; Boston : Brill,  2007, 1306 p.
Location :  Harvard-Yenching Ref (W) DS748.15 .D4 2007x
Subject :  China -- History -- Han dynasty, 202 B.C.-220 A.D. -- Biography -- Dictionaries.
--Information, often very brief, on roughly 21,000 persons. Articles keyed to substantial bibliography.  Terminal section includes genealogical tables, list (with brief information) of provinces and “commandery” units, overview of administrative structure, bibliography, and subject index.

Sung biographies, ed. by Herbert Franke.1. Aufl.Wiesbaden : Steiner, 1976-v. ; (Mnchener ostasiatische Studien ; Bd. 16, 17 )
Fine Arts | Reading Room | RFA56.71.83
--Biographies of 440 persons (263 in English, 168 in German, 9 in French) for the Sung period (AD 960-1279). Vols. 1-3 cover 405 people with a few Tibetan, Japanese and other foreigners. Vol. 4 devoted to 35 painters.  Each biography has reference list.  Few Buddhist or Taoist Chinese represented.  Biographies vary widely in quality and length, and there are major omissions. Review: A. P. Cohen in Journal of the American Oriental Society, v. 99, no 1 (1979), pp. 126-128. Full text in Chinese biographical archive.

In the service of the Khan : eminent personalities of  the early Mongolian period (1200-1300) / edited by  Igor de Rachewiltz ... [et al.] with the assistance of  May Wang.   Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz, 1993. 808 p.   (Asiatische Forschungen, 0571-320X ; Bd. 121 )
Widener | WID-LC | DS752.5 .I52 1993x

Dictionary of Ming biography, 1368-1644 / the Ming Biographical History Project of the Association for Asian Studies ; L. Carrington Goodrich, editor, Chaoying Fang, associate editor. New York : Columbia University Press, 1976. 2 v. (xxi, 1751 p.)
Widener | Ch 247.7
--Substantial signed articles with extensive source lists referring to predominantly Chinese-language sources. Indexed selectively by names appearing in the biographies as well as their subjects, also by topics and titles of books. Full text in Chinese biographical archive.

Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing period (1644-1912), ed. by Arthur W. Hummel. Washington: Library of Congress. Orientalia Division, 1943-44. 2 v.
Widener | Ch 68.10
Online full text:  vol 1
Online full text:  vol 2
--Over 800 sketches of eminent Chinese, dying before 1912, of the epoch ruled by the Ch'ing dynasty (1644-1912).  Detailed, authoritative, signed articles with references to sources.  Considerable information on people dying after 1912 may be found within the main articles via the name index.  Terminal list of biographees arranged in chronological order, name index (including names mentioned within biographies), index of titles of books, and subject index. Full text in Chinese biographical archive.

Denmark

Dansk biografisk leksikon. 3. udg. / redaktr Sv. Cedergreen Bech. Kbenhavn : Gyldendal, 1979-1984. 16 v. ; + suppl. (26 p.) 
Widener | WID-LC | CT1263 .D33 1979 +  Supplement, 1984-1995
Online Version
--The latest edition of this standard Danish biographical dictionary contains signed articles with thorough source lists on figures from early history through the present. Some names found in previous editions no longer appear, but there are numerous additions, including some early figures, as well as those who have come to prominence since the last edition (1933-44). An asterisk after the contributor's name indicates that the article has been carried over from the previous edition without substantial change. A list of additions and corrections, an index of contributors, a comprehensive name index (including references to entries found only in the earlier editions), and a chronological index are found in v. 16.  First ed. (1887-1905) available online in Project Runeberg.

France

Dictionnaire de biographie francaise / sous la direction de J. Balteau ... M. Barroux ... M. Prvost ... avec le concours de nombreux collaborateurs ... Paris, Letouzey et An, 1933- v. ; 
--Widener | RR 1771.4 Widener | Fr 9018.39 Very numerous short (paragraph-page length) articles with source lists.  Covers French overseas possessions and French Flanders.  Includes foreigners important in French history. Contents: v. 1-20 (fasc. 130 (2020)), A-Leyris d'Esponchès.  For coverage of the later part of the alphabet, other sources must be used, including Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne and Nouvelle biographie generale, both for pre1870s figures.

Les écrits féminins non fictionnels de la Renaissance : un inventaire descriptif, by Pierre-Louis Vaillancourt, Dawn Smyth.  NY ; Ottawa: Legas, 2003, 183 p.
HOLLIS Record
--A bio-bibliography, that is, with brief biographical information; 16th Century

Les grands hommes d'état de l'histoire de France

Dictionnaire des femmes de l'Ancienne France consists of a list of all known women who lived between the 5th and the 18th centuries. Roughly a fifth of the approximately 1400 names linked to biographies of two types: those written by current scholars and those extracted from 16th-19th century biographical dictionaries.

Germany

Biographische Nachschlagewerke. List of sources with links to full text

Deutsche biographie includes:

Allgemeine deutsche Biographie / herausgegeben durch die Historische Commission bei der Knigl. Akademie der Wissenschaften. 2., unvernderte Aufl., Neudruck der 1. Aufl. von 1875. Berlin : Duncker & Humblot, 1967-1971. 56 v.
Widener | RR 1786.2.2  
--Online version is searchable by name, birth/death dates, religion, epoch, occupation, author of article, but not full text. Contains long, signed articles, with source lists, on Germans from early times to the end of the 19th century.  In Fraktur type.  Articles are longer than most of those in the Dictionary of German biography.  Contents of the print Allgemeine deutsche Biographie: v. 1-45, A-Z; v. 46-55, Nachträge bis 1899, Andr-Z (A-Ad included in v. 45); v. 56, General Register.  As there are supplementary sections in many volumes, it is essential that the index (v. 56 or online) be used to find the complete record.  General Register (v. 56), only, included in German biographical archive

Neue deutsche Biographie / herausgegeben von der Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, c1953- v.
Widener | RR 1786.4         
--Not intended to supersede its predecessor {i}Allgemeine deutsche Biographie{/i} (ADB), although many of the same names appear in it, along with persons who have died since the older work was published and some additional names from earlier periods. Articles are signed and with source lists of materials by and about biographees. References to portraits sometimes noted. Index in each volume, covering the part of the alphabet contained therein, includes references to entries in the ADB thus calling attention to articles omitted from the newer work. Currently up to vol. 22 (2004; Roh-Schin) which includes ADB & NDB-Gesamtregister auf CD-ROM Zweite Auflage.  The online index to the first 21 volumes (http://mdz1.bib-bvb.de/~ndb/index.html), together with the ADB, can be searched by birth/death dates, religion, epoch, occupation, and author of article. Articles are longer than most of those in the Dictionary of German biography.

Deutsche biographische Enzyklopädie online Online version is more up-to-date than print. Print version:
Widener: RR 1786.5

Includes about 61,000 paragraph-length biographies of deceased individuals from Charlemagne to the 20th century from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and other German-speaking countries, including non-German residents. Short entries keyed to other biographical dictionaries in 13 page list in front of each volume. There are also longer (up to about 3 columns), signed articles on major figures which contain primary and secondary source lists.  Secondary sources mainly German; English and other scholarship largely absent. Emphasis on subject’s achievements with little on personal or social matters.  Good coverage of pseudonyms and variant name forms.  The ten-volume English-language ed. includes all the names in vols 1-10 (a-z) of the German ed. The names in the Nachtrage in v. 11 have been integrated into the English ed. main alphabetical sequence.  The index of persons (v. 11, parts 1 and 2) and the indexes of places and professions (vol. 12, parts 1 and 2) are not included, nor is the Supplementary volume of additional names (vol. 13), in the English ed.  Full text of German ed. in German biographical archive.  CD-ROM version, Deutsche biographische Enzyklopdie & Deutscher biographischer Index (397874) available only in German. The two works can be searched together or separately. Search criteria include name, sex, occupation, birth/death years/places, place of activity, titles of works, region, persons referred to, full text. 

English version:
Dictionary of German biography. München: K.G. Saur, 2001-2006. 10 v.
Widener: WID-LC CT759 .D4813 2001x'

Biographie Portal is a joint index of:

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB)
Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB)
Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815-1950 (ÖBL)
Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS)
and several other sources

Verfasser-Datenbank : Autoren der deutschsprachigen Literatur und des deutschsprachigen Raums : von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart brings together the

• Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters, Deutscher Humanismus 1480-1520
• Frühe Neuzeit in Deutschland 1520-1620
• Killy-Literaturlexikon. Autoren und Werke des deutschsprachigen Kulturraums

Ireland

Dictionary of Irish Biography: From the Earliest Times to the Year 2002. University College Dublin. James Quinn  9 v.
Print copy  --  Online Access
--Published in collaboration with the Royal Irish Academy, this is the most comprehensive and scholarly source for Ireland.  Includes over 9000 entries, ranging from 200 to 15,000 words. Articles have source lists; location of personal papers given at end of body of article. Covers the full range of occupations. Includes those born in Ireland but active overseas and those born elsewhere and living in Ireland.  Online version is full text searchable, with the advanced search offering gender, birth/death/floruit date, place, religion, occupation, contributor searches.  Free website offers searches and retrieves names and brief descriptions but full text by subscription. No subject index in the print ed. One-volume dictionaries of Irish biography include Boylan’s 259218 A dictionary of Irish biography, 160465 Modern Irish lives, and 279940 Women of Ireland: a biographic dictionary

Islamic World

Arabic biographical dictionaries : a summary guide and bibliography, by Paul Auchterlonie. Durham: Middle East Libraries Committee, 1987. 60 p.
Widener | WID-LC | DS39.2.A2 Z993x 1987
--Offers a classified listing of "the best-known, fullest and most useful biographical dictionaries" (p. 1) for the classical and modern periods. Author, editor, translator, and title index. Includes both Arabic and European-language dictionaries, with 6-page list of “Works in Western Languages or by Westerners on Arabic Biographical Dictionaries.”
--Serves as a companion to Diana Grimwood-Jones’ article, Genealogy, biographical dictionaries and Who's Whos, pp. 78-100 in Arab-Islamic bibliography : the Middle East Library Committee guide (HOLLIS Record). 

Arabic biographical sources, classical and modern: a guide, by Ragai N. Makar and Judith F. Jarrow. Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah, Marriott Library, Special Collections Dept., Middle East Library, 1993, 181 leaves
HOLLIS Record
--Extensive annotated bibliography of exclusively Arabic-language works, grouped by type, subject and country with author index.

Biographical dictionaries as the scholars’ alternative history of the Muslim community, by Wadad Al-Qadi. Pp. 23-75 in Organizing knowledge : encyclopaedic activities in the pre-eighteenth century Islamic world, ed. by Gerhard Endress ; Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2006, 234 p.
HOLLIS Record

Encyclopaedia of Islam Online offers over 13,000 articles on topics in Middle Eastern and Islamic studies.

Italy

Dizionario biografico degli Italiani / [direttore, Alberto M. Ghisalberti]. Roma : Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 1960- Widener | RR 1781.5.1 = Index Widener | RR 1781.5
Online Version
--Scholarly dictionary of national biography with often long (1 - over 15 pp.) signed biographies of deceased Italians from the 5th century to the present. Substantial source lists, including archival collections, with each sketch.

Dizionario enciclopedico italiano. Roma : Instituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 1955-1961. 12 v.
Widener | RR 2040.5 F 

Luxembourg

Biographie nationale du pays de Luxembourg depuis ses originees jusqu'a nos jours; collection présentée par Jules Mersch. Luxembourg, Imprimerie de la Cour Victor Buck, 1947-75. 22 v.
Widener | Neth 2002.5
Nonalphabetical. Each fascicule includes some six to nine long articles on persons or families of various periods in the history of Luxembourg, often with source lists and many illustrations. Two fascicules form a volume, continuously paged and including an index to the names appearing in the articles in each volume. The final fascicule, a personal name index, indicates birth and death dates and an identifying note as well as giving reference to volume and page for the biographical sketch. Fasc. 1 was published in a revised and corrected edition, 1957.

Netherlands

De Nederlandse Leeuw: Een gids voor biografische gegevens van Nederlanders: List of biographical sources.  

Biografisch Portaal van Nederland

Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek onder redactie van dr. P. C. Molhuysen ... en prof. dr. P. J. Blok ... met medewerking van tal van geleerden... Leiden, A. W. Sijthoff's uitgevers-maatschappij, 1911-37. 10 v. 
Widener | WID-LC | CT1143 .M7 1911x     
--Covers persons dying before 1910. Each volume is arranged alphabetically and has a cumulated index to all previous volumes. Vol. 10 has an index to the set. Articles vary from several lines to more than a page. Most articles with references. 
Available online at Instituut voor Nederlandse  or  Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse letteren

Nationaal Biografisch Woordenboek van Vlaanderen

Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland (DVN) (Online Dictionary of Dutch Women)

Portugal

Dicionário de história dos descobrimentos portugueses, direcção de Luís de Albuquerque ; coordenação de Francisco Contente Domingues. Lisboa : Caminho, 1994. 2 v.
Portugal -- History -- Period of discoveries, 1385-1580 -- Dictionaries -- Portuguese
HOLLIS Record

Spain

Diccionario biográfico español. Madrid : Real Academia de la Historia, 2009-2013.
HOLLIS Record  --  Online Version
--Substantial scholarly articles on over 40,000 individuals from all periods of Spanish history.  Articles with lists of works, secondary sources, and locations of personal papers. There is good coverage of Islamic Spain.

Switzerland

Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz. Basel: Schwabe, 12 v. 2002- 
In French, German, or Italian.

UK

Oxford dictionary of national biography : in association with the British Academy : from the earliest times to the year 2000 / ed. by H.C.G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford; NY: Oxford University Press, 2004. 60 v.
HOLLIS Record Print and online access

A biographical encyclopedia of early modern Englishwomen: exemplary lives and memorable acts, 1500-1650, ed. by Carole Levin, Anna Riehl Bertolet, and Jo Eldridge Carney. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017, 630 pages :
HOLLIS Record

United States

American National Biography

African American national biography, ed. by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Evelyn Brooks-Higginbotham. NY: Oxford University Press, 2013, 12 v.
HOLLIS Records
Online version (Continuously updated)