The ''General Dictionary, Historical and Critical'' was a

biographical dictionary A biographical dictionary is a type of encyclopedic dictionary limited to biographical information. Many attempt to cover the major personalities of a country (with limitations, such as living persons only, in ''Who's Who'', or deceased people onl ...

published from 1734 to 1741 in London in 10 volumes. It derived from the '' Dictionnaire historique et critique'' of

Pierre Bayle Pierre Bayle (; 18 November 1647 – 28 December 1706) was a French philosopher, author, and lexicographer. A Huguenot, Bayle fled to the Dutch Republic in 1681 because of religious persecution in France. He is best known for his '' Historica ...

, already translated into English in 1710 by

Pierre des Maizeaux Pierre des Maizeaux, also spelled Desmaizeaux (c. 1666 or 1673June 1745), was a French Huguenot writer exiled in London, best known as the translator and biographer of Pierre Bayle. He was born in Pailhat, Auvergne, France. His father, a minister ...

as ''An Historical and Critical Dictionary'', but expanded the material with many biographies of English figures, this work being assigned largely to

Thomas Birch Thomas Birch (23 November 17059 January 1766) was an English historian. Life He was the son of Joseph Birch, a coffee-mill maker, and was born at Clerkenwell. He preferred study to business but, as his parents were Quakers, he did not go to t ...

. The other two main editors were John Peter Bernard, whose efforts led to his admission as a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

, and John Lockman, who undertook a fresh translation of Bayle's work. The work has been described as the "first important ancestor" of the ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

''. The publishers were Richard Chandler and Caesar Ward.''Dictionary of National Biography'', Chandler, Richard (d. 1744), printer and bookseller, by H. R. Tedder. Published 1887.

Notes

External links

All volumes except 5 and 9 at HathitrustVolumes 5, 8 and 10 at Hathitrust
Biographical dictionaries 1734 books 18th-century encyclopedias {{bio-dict-stub