Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (A.D.B.), comprehensive biographical work of reference, equivalent to the Dictionary of National Biography. Edited by the historical committee of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (Königlich Bayrische Akademie der Wissenschaften), it comprises 56 vols. and an index and was published in the years 1875-1912. A successor, also published by the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, the Neue Deutsche Biographie, began to appear in 1953.

Title page of first volume in 1875

The volumes of the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie.

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB) is one of the most important and most comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language.

It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences between 1875 and 1912 in 56 volumes, printed in Leipzig by Duncker & Humblot. The ADB contains biographies of about 26,500 people who died before 1900 and lived in the German language Sprachraum of their time, including people from the Netherlands before 1648.

Its successor, the Neue Deutsche Biographie, was started in 1953 and is planned to be ready in 2017.

External links

• E-ADB - complete text as scanned images
• Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie - fulltext articles at Wikisource.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)