What’s new in BBIH?
The February 2026 update to the Bibliography of British and Irish History adds over 4,000 new publications. The new update includes books, journal articles, book chapters, and edited collections covering all areas of British and Irish history, from 55 BCE to the present day. This now means that BBIH contains 680,548 records.
The February 2026 update includes:
History titles published between 2016-2026
- 3,460 new titles have been added
Local histories of Britain and Ireland
3,615 publications were added including:
- 446 publications relating to Scottish history
- 137 titles about the history of Wales
- 1,859 publications relating to the history of England
- 380 publications focusing on Irish history, including 65 publications focusing on Northern Ireland
Global histories of the British and Irish worlds
522 new records with the BBIH subject term ‘Imperial and Commonwealth’ were added including:
- 198 records discussing the histories of Asia
- 189 records referring to histories of Australasia and the Pacific Ocean
Researching monumental brasses in BBIH
Since 2024, BBIH has been working with the Monumental Brasses Society to improve the discoverability of the Society’s journal Transactions of the Monumental Brasses Society. Volume 1 (1887) – present are now complete, with new and updated articles searchable in BBIH. You can read more about the project in a co-authored piece with Dr Matthew Sillence in the Monumental Brass Society bulletin, 160.
Citation information in BBIH
BBIH now includes citation information through a new citation plugin (beta version), powered by Perspecti. This tool is available:
- On the BBIH hitlist.
- In the BBIH record, providing the total number of citations along with the bibliographical details of the citing publications.
More about the Perspecti plug-in can be found on Brepols’ website.
Researching LGBTQ+ and women’s histories in BBIH
LGBT+ History Month and Women’s History Month are taking place in February and March. You can use BBIH to research these areas as it contains over:
- 1,468 resources for LBGTQ+ and queer histories, with the February 2026 update containing 24 new publications
- 39,959 publications about the histories of women, with the February 2026 update containing 509 new publications
You can delve into these areas of research further by:
- Exploring the women’s history and LGBTQ+ history online reading lists created by the Bibliography’s editors and Brepols.
- Viewing our tutorial videos about how to use BBIH to research gender and LGBTQ+ histories. These videos are available to view on our page of online tutorials and the IHR’s YouTube channel.
About the Bibliography of British and Irish History
The Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) is the largest and most comprehensive guide available to what’s been written about British and Irish history, from the early 1900s to the present day.
It’s an essential resource for research and teaching, providing up-to-date information (and links) on over 680,000 history books, articles, chapters, edited collections, and theses. New records are added in three annual updates. These records are searchable by a wide range of facets including: title, author, chronology, date and form of publication, historical topic, and geographical region.
The Bibliography is a research project of the UK’s Institute of Historical Research (IHR) and our publisher Brepols.
BBIH is a subscription service and is available remotely via university and research libraries worldwide. Individual subscriptions are also available for personal use. including substantially reduced rates for:
- IHR Friends and Fellows
- Royal Historical Society Fellows and members
- Members of the British Association for Local History and Historical Association