The Biographa literaria, to coin a phrase, began publication in 1978 and has now reached volume 272, Russian Prose Writers between the World Wars. It is a major work of reference that not only includes creative writers but also critics, publishers, journalists, historians and book collectors: ‘figures who in their time and in their way influenced the mind of a people.’ Most of the volumes deal with American and British literature, but others cover the literatures of Canada, a number of European countries, Latin America, Russia, Africa, Japan, and the literatures of classical Greece and Rome. Now Australia has been honoured with a place in this monumental work and the chance to have its literature on show around the world. The two Australian volumes published to date cover writers whose first important work was published up to the end of 1950. Two more volumes are planned to bring the story up to 2000.