German: Reference Books and Sites

Best Choices for German Literature

University of Virginia Library

PO Box 400113

Charlottesville VA 22904-4113

434.924.3021

fax: 434.924.1431

Encyclopedias - General Information

Wikipedia

The German version of the free encyclopedia written by volunteers. Often excellent, but verify facts and opinions before using them.

Zedler, Johann Heinrich. Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon (1732-1754)

64 volumes with 4 supplements. Also on paper at Alderman Reference AE27.G7 1732

Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste ... hrsg. von J. S. Ersch und J. G. Gruber (1818-1889)

After 167 volumes, Ersch-Gruber was finally abandoned, still incomplete. Also on paper at Alderman AE27.E772.

Meyers Konversationslexikon (1888-1889)

Also the Brockhaus (1894-1896) and some smaller specialized reference works from the 19th century.

Other 19th Century Encyclopedias

Search a collection of early encyclopedias, literature, and other historic works as well as 40,000 images of paintings, drawings, and prints.

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Grove Art Online

Grove Music Online

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy

New Dictionary of the History of Ideas

 

Author information

Literature Resource Center

Includes the MLA International Bibliography, the lengthy critical essays with bibliographies from the Dictionary of Literary Biography, biographical/bibliographical data from Contemporary Authors, and other information.

Kritisches Lexikon zur deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur: KLG

Alderman Reference Z2230.K7    Looseleaf format with occasional updates. Extensive bibliographies of primary and secondary material. Inhalt=List of included authors.

Kürschners Deutscher Literatur-Kalender

Z2230.K92    Current and cumulations for deceased authors (Nekrolog) in Alderman Reference; older years in stacks and at Micfilm;S11-33 (Jge. 1-22,1879-1925). Brief biographies and lists of works. Very useful for minor authors.

 

Dictionaries

Das Wörterbuch-Netz

Includes the first edition of Grimm, the Goethe-Wörterbuch, several Middle High German dictionaries and some west german dialect dictionaries. Use Stichwortsuche for a quick lookup of headwords in all the dictionaries.

More specialized dictionaries in Alderman Reference, PF3625-PF4591.