- The BIOGRAPHIE UNIVERSELLE ANCIENNE ET MODERNE is the most important of the large dictionaries of universal biography, still very useful in spite of the fact that the articles are now more than 80 years old. Michaud is more carefully edited, its articles, which are signed with initials, are longer and often better than those in Hoefer. (C.M. WINCHELL, Guide to Reference Books, 7th ed. 1951)