# Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography

The Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography was a biographical dictionary of the nineteenth century, published by William Mackenzie in Glasgow.
The second edition, which was published in 1876, was released in two sets. One was a set of 28 volumes (parts), priced at 4 shillings each. The other set was in 14 volumes (divisions), in elegant cloth, bevel boards, cut edges, and priced at 10 shillings each.

## Publication

The Dictionary was issued by part publication, and its first edition appeared from 1857 to 1863. In collected form (1863) there were three volumes, originally issued in 16 parts. A later edition appeared from 1876.

## Staff and writers

The Imperial Dictionary was edited by John Francis Waller from 1857 to 1866; Patrick Edward Dove was general editor for the first 20 numbers, John Service was on the editorial staff 1858 to 1862, acting as sub-editor under Dove. Also involved editorially were William John Macquorn Rankine, Francis Bowen, John Eadie, and John Pringle Nichol.
A list of contributors appeared in the first volume, and a further list in volume II.
* William Lindsay Alexander
* Archibald Allison
* Joseph Angus
* John Anster
* Thomas Arnold
* William Baird
* John Hutton Balfour
* Hugh Barclay
* Thomas Spencer Baynes
* John Relly Beard,
* Edwin Beedell
* Henry Glassford Bell
* Hugh Blackburn
* John Stuart Blackie
* Francis Bowen
* W. B. Boyce
* David Brewster
* J. H. Browne
* Baroness Blaze de Bury
* John Hill Burton
* William Hookham Carpenter
* J. F. Corkran
* George Lillie Craik
* J. P. Darney
* Samuel Davidson
* Joshua Frederick Denham
* M. Desmarest
* Benjamin Disraeli
* James Donaldson
* J. W. Doran
* Patrick Edward Dove
* John Eadie
* John Edmond
* Karl Elze
* Francis Espinasse,
* Patrick Fairbairn
* James Frederick Ferrier
* William Fleming
* Alexander Campbell Fraser
* Samuel H. Gael
* William Gammell
* Robert Grant
* William Alexander Greenhill
* Felix John Hamel
* James Hamilton
* Robert Harrison
* Eben Norton Horsford
* Mary Howitt
* William Howitt
* William Hughes
* Thomas Jackson
* Robert Kane
* Edwin Lankester
* William Leitch
* Peter Lorimer
* Edmund Law Lushington
* William Maccall
* James M'Cosh
* George Alexander Macfarren.
* John Maclean
* Norman Mcleod
* James Ormiston McWilliam
* Augustus Caesar Marani
* William Allen Miller
* George Moore
* John Daniel Morell
* Thomas Boyles Murray
* John Pringle Nichol
* John Nichol
* C. G. Nicholay
* James O'Dowd
* R. S. Oldham
* John G. Palfrey
* Frederick Penny
* Francis Pulszky
* William John Macquorn Rankine
* Edward Francis Rimbault
* Henry Darwin Rogers
* William Howard Russell
* Aurelio Saffi
* R. Siegfried
* Alexander Smith
* Robert Angus Smith
* J. Storer Smith
* Hugh Stowell
* James Summers
* William Symington
* Isaac Taylor,
* James Taylor.
* James Emerson Tennent
* Robert Dundas Thomson
* Walter Thornbury
* James Thorne
* John Tulloch
* Robert Vaughan
* John Veitch
* John Francis Waller
* John Washington
* Francis Cornelius Webb
* W. Webster
* Charles Richard Weld
* Robert Willis
* Horace Hayman Wilson
* Ralph N. Wornum
Other contributors included:
* John Merry Ross,
* Christina Rossetti on Petrarch, and numerous other Italians
* William Michael Rossetti,
* Algernon Charles Swinburne,
There were engravings included by William Thomas Fry, James Thomson, and Richard Woodman.