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Bibliography of British and Irish History

The Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) is the most comprehensive and accurate guide available to what's been written about British and Irish history. It's an essential resource for research and teaching.

BBIH is a subscription service and is available remotely via university and research libraries worldwide.

Announcement

Following the decision of the Royal Historical Society, the Institute of Historical Research is pleased to announce that it will increase its support for BBIH to become the sole academic partner for the project. The IHR is delighted that Professor Roey Sweet and Jenny Lelkes-Rarugal, Editor of BBIH, will continue to lead the bibliography at the IHR in future years, with the support of section editors and our publishing partner Brepols.  We will provide further updates in due course as we work with our partners to manage a smooth transition to the new arrangement.

Using BBIH for studying, teaching and research

Our help pack aims to help you get the most from BBIH when studying, teaching or researching British and Irish history

Latest BBIH update

The June 2024 update to BBIH adds records over 4300 new publications in the field of British and Irish History

The Changing Relevance of Empire

Professor Trevor Burnard reflects on the changing historiography of the British Empire and imperialism from 2003-2022

Recovering Emotions in Historical Research

Dr Helen Metcalfe discusses how BBIH can be used to research the history of emotions

Black British History in BBIH

A selection of 400 recent publications (2010-2020) in the field of Black British History, selected from the Bibliography of British and Irish History.

About the Bibliography

The Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) is the most comprehensive and accurate guide available to what has been published in British and Irish history over the past 125 years. This makes BBIH a key resource for study, research and teaching: the essential starting point for discovering what's been written in any historical field, when and by whom.

What makes BBIH so valuable and useful? 

  • contains over 650,000 records of books, edited collections, journal articles and book chapters
  • includes details of history publications from the early 1900s to present
  • covers the history of the British Isles, the former empire and Commonwealth, the British world, and Britons' activities on the global stage
  • is searchable via a range of options. These include: author, title of publication, subject area, period and places covered, publication type and date/s of publication

What makes BBIH a unique resource?

  • created using systematic and extensive surveys of data on all relevant new publications, including weekly reviews of 800 academic journals and records of the British Library
  • provides links to individual publications in your library or a union catalogue, along with academic reviews of books listed in the bibliography
  • enables you to create your own comprehensive bibliography on any topic
  • the definitive record of British historical research and publishing in the C20th and C21st

BBIH is updated three times a year by specialist bibliographers at the IHR, working with a team of academic historians to ensure accuracy and comprehensiveness. BBIH is a research and publishing project of the IHR, the UK's Royal Historical Society and the Belgian academic press, Brepols.

Access the Bibliography of British and Irish History

BBIH is a subscription service available through many libraries and archives in Britain, Ireland and worldwide. Use your library login to view BBIH.

Access BBIH and follow the 'Enter databases' link

Free institutional trials & personal subscriptions

Institutional subscriptions follow Jisc and Carnegie bandings for UK and US.

Free 30-day institutional trials.

12 month trial at 50% subscription price.

Details of trials and subscription rates

The Bibliography in numbers

BBIH is a essential resource for research and teaching, and the best possible guide to what's been written about British and Irish history.

  • 650,000+ : Records of books, chapters and articles in BBIH
  • 10,000+ : New records added each year in regular updates
  • 8000 : Thematic search categories with the BBIH taxonomy
  • 800 : Academic journals checked weekly for new content
  • 2024 : Includes records of the latest publications

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