First published in 1993, completely rewritten, this second edition includes a list of all 210 countries of the world and all of the islands, with comments on the existence of insect and spider collections, both public and private. These listings are arranged alphabetically by country, state/province, and city, with private collections listed under the public collection with which they are registered. Part II of the directory is an alphabetical list of the codes assigned to each of the collections described in Part I. This list is also cross-referenced to variations of the codes used in other works, which will eliminate any confusion over this duplication. This classic work provides a ready reference to all collections and is required by all insect and spider systematists.

Volume 2 is arranged alphabetically by periodical title, rather than by abbreviation.

Volume 1 is a comprehensive dictionary with more than 230,000 entries. It covers periodicals from a wide variety of subjects, including: science, social sciences, humanities, law, medicine, religion, library science, engineering, education, business, and art. Volume 1lists, in a single in letter-by-letter sequence, abbreviations commonly used for periodicals together with their full titles.

This brand new addition to the secondary literature on Entomologists is a labour of love by a greatly respected entomology librarian (retired, of the Natural History Museum, London), and at the same time a very efficient tool for research into the literature references providing biographies, bibliographies, portraits, and any other details on deceased entomologists before the end of 2004. It starts with an introduction, giving information on sources, format, and references used, followed by 615 pages of references. The Supplement contains a list of the names that appear in A Compendium of the Biographical Literature on Deceased Entomologists, published in 1977, for which there are no additional references in the present work. The Addendum lists information from two historical works on entomology published in 2006, which could not be included in the main text.