We would like to thank, at Routledge, Kieron Corless for having suggested this volume, Roger Thorp, who encouraged us through the work and saw the book to publication, also Ruth Jeavons and Hywel Evans. The volume benefited from Rictor Norton’s work as copy editor. Our Editorial Advisers, in addition to writing a large number of entries themselves, have provided regular counsel on which figures ought to be included here, helped us locate contributors, and aided greatly in sorting out questions about the appropriate balance between various countries, periods and domains of activity. A particular word of thanks should go to Wilhelm von Rosen for helping us to put together a group of Nordic entries and contributors, and to David William Foster for advising us on Latin American entries. Henny Brandhorst at Homodok in Amsterdam helped line up writers and entries on the Low Countries, and Vicki Feaklor, in the United States, kindly circulated our draft lists and appeals for contributions through the e-mail list of the Committee on Gay and Lesbian History. The contributors themselves have put together entries which, though confined by strict word limits, often provide small-scale essays not just on the individuals about whom they have written but on broad historical contexts. Many contributors have willingly taken on extra entries at our request—sometimes when other authors, alas, did not come through with the pieces they promised—and we are most grateful. Robert Aldrich translated the entries by Giovanni Dall’Orto, Maria Di Rienzo and Didier Godard; Nicholas Haldosen translated the entry by Hanna Hallgren. Julie Manley, at the start of this project, and Ruth Williams, during the last stages of editing, provided truly invaluable secretarial assistance, and cheerfully and efficiently handled various versions of entries, countless changes made while we edited them, and a constantly evolving list of contributors and entries. Patrick Ferry kindly helped with the final checking and collation.