Over eight hundred artists are listed, each with a biographical paragraph, select lists of illustrated books, and a list of references. Many of the entries have a typical illustrated added, though often reduced to fit the double columns, and sometimes awkwardly placed (as well as having the captions confusingly placed above or below). If compiled with more care this would have been a most useful tool for collectors (and dealers), but there are in this first edition too many errors in the lists of illustrated books, which themselves are curiously arranged in alphabetical order by author rather than by date. Moreover the lists of references have unexpected omissions - and it would have been useful to have had the most substantial entries shown in bold for easy reference. It must be admitted that lists of books of this sort are very difficult to compile with complete accuracy, and even in its present state there is much to be learned from the dictionary. If the entries for individual artists were to be checked by expert collectors of particular artists before any second edition is published this could be turned into an invaluable reference book.