The Greatest British Reference Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
714 Encyclopedia Britannica Encyclopedia Britannica 1768 British English
806 The Story of Art Ernest H. Gombrich 1950 British English
1526 A History of Western Philosophy Bertrand Russell 1945 British English
1706 The Principia Mathematica Alfred North Whitehead, Bertrand Russell 1910 British English
2110 Oxford English Dictionary Oxford University Press 1884 British English
2613 Book of Common Prayer Thomas Cranmer 1549 British English
2880 Scouting For Boys Robert Baden-Powell 1908 British English
3413 A Biographical Dictionary Of Film David Thomson 1975 British English
3469 The Story Of English Robert McCrum 1986 British English
3638 The Tomb Of Tutankhamun Howard Carter 1954 British English
3638 An Outline Of European Architecture Nikolaus Pevsner 1943 British English
4415 The House Book Terence Conran 1974 British English
4644 Micrographia Robert Hooke 1665 British English
4817 The New Oxford Book Of English Verse Helen Gardner 1972 British English
5847 Revolution in the Head Ian MacDonald 1994 British English
9219 Eats, Shoots and Leaves Lynne Truss 2003 British English
9689 The Code Book Simon Singh 1999 British English
9815 The Supernatural Index Mike Ashley 1995 British English
9847 The Gothic Quest Montague Summers 1938 British English
9909 The Oxford Book Of Letters Frank Kermode, Anita Kermode 1995 British English
9953 A Gothic Bibliography Montague Summers 1940 British English
10245 A History of Philosophy Frederick Charles Copleston 1946 British English
10308 A Dictionary of the English Language Samuel Johnson 1755 British English
10429 A Bibliography Of The Works Of Sir Henry Rider Haggard J. E. Scott 1947 British English
10846 The World Of Economics John Eatwell, Murray Milgate, Peter Newman 1991 British English
12566 Dinner Meera Sodha British English
13362 Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases Peter Mark Roget 1852 British English
13575 The Sound Of The City Charlie Gillett 1970 British English
13743 Dictionary Of Subjects And Symbols In Art James Hall 1974 British English
14554 Reading Shakespeare's Sonnets Don Paterson 2010 British English
14788 A Dictionary Of Modern English Usage H. W. Fowler 1926 British English
14788 French Country Cooking Elizabeth David 1951 British English
15686 The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Buddhist Wisdom Gill Farrer-Halls British English
15745 The Faber Book Of Aphorisms W. H. Auden 1962 British English
15810 The New Guide To Modern World Literature Martin Seymour-Smith 1973 British English
15916 Mrs Beeton's Book Of Household Management Isabella Beeton 1861 British English
17162 Bathtub Science Shar Levine 2001 British English
17162 The Periodic Table Adrian Dingle, Simon Basher 2007 British English
17162 Microlife That Helps Us Steve Parker 2005 British English
17077 The Golden Dawn Israel Regardie 1971 British English
17162 A Taste Of India Madhur Jaffrey 1985 British English
17162 The Etymologicon Mark Forsyth 2011 British English
17162 The Ode Less Travelled Stephen Fry 2005 British English