Lives that shaped an era. Dictionary Of National Biography (Volume IV) Beal-Biber offers an authoritative roll-call of notable British figures, from household names to lesser-known worthies who steered debates in nineteenth-century Britain and the wider Victorian era England. A foundational British biography collection and Victorian reference book, this historical biographical dictionary pairs brisk, readable entries with documentary care, providing succinct life-portraits, contemporary context and bibliographic leads that guide further study. Entries move cleanly between politics, literature, science, the church and imperial administration, giving readers a practical map of who mattered and why in Victorian public life. Designed for ease of consultation, the volume avoids academic fog while supplying the tracing-points scholars and family historians need - initials, dates, published works and pointers to primary sources are all presented with editorial discipline. It is a compact window into nineteenth-century Britain that welcomes both serendipitous browsing and methodical research. Republished by Alpha Editions in a careful modern edition, this volume preserves the spirit of the original while making it effortless to enjoy today - a heritage title prepared for readers and collectors alike. Part of the wider Leslie Stephen works and editorial tradition, Volume IV shows the rigour and breadth that helped establish the Dictionary as a touchstone long before the Oxford Dictionary of Biography reorganised later scholarship. Today it functions as a scholarly research resource and an academic libraries reference, used to corroborate facts, locate contemporary judgment and supply citation leads. Genealogists prize the original notices as a genealogy research tool; historians and students rely on it for context in British history studies. For casual browsers the entries offer immediate discovery; for classic-literature collectors and historians the volume is both reference and artefact - a Victorian reference book whose compact authority continues to reward patient reading and repeated consultation and ongoing reference.