The "DNB," as it is popularly known, was the great undertaking of Virginia Woolf's father, Sir Lesley Stephen, and was brought to press by his great friend, the Shakespeare biographer and scholar, Sir Sidney Lee.  Beginning with the earliest historical records, hundreds of volunteers individually contributed biographical notes on the men and women who were considered important in England.  Obviously, the decisions about who "was considered important" left out ordinary people by the millions, but the vast scope of the project swept up an amazing number of country squires, minor authors, business men and women, politically notorious rascals, and other curiosities among the "movers and shakers" of each era.  Among the figures covered especially well in the DNB were book collectors, authors, publishers and printers.  For this reason, it is the descriptive bibliographer's first stop when tracing the names found in old books printed in England or owned by English readers or collectors.  Similar resources exist for other nations (e.g., Who's Who for Americans), but no other nation has such a thorough accounting of its people, their ancestors and descendents.