Much of the list now out of print or within a journal published many years ago so accessing them may be difficult. However, most if not all, will be available in the library of the Royal Entomoligical Society. Until recently this was only open to members but now there is an arrangement whereby access is given to members of the Amateur Entomologists Society. Most of the back issues of journals can be ordered from your local library although you should be warned that if the original source of the material is the British Library there are restrictions to the amount you may copy.
Beetles of the Britain and Ireland Vol 1, Duff,A.G., 2012
Sphaeriusidae to Silphidae. First part of four volumes. Excellent.
Beetles of the Britain and Ireland Vol 4, Duff,A.G., 2016
Cerambycidae to Curculionidae. Excellent.
The Coleoptera of the British Islands, Fowler W.W., 1887Provides a key and species description of all Coleoptera at that time. It comes in 5 or 6 volumes (the sixth published as a supplement in 1913 with H. Donisthorpe) and in two editions. The small paper edition has no plates and is considerably cheaper , the large paper edtion has numerous colour plates but can be quite expensive, It is now available on several archive sites on the web Access to a modern checklist with synonomy such as that available on The Coleopterist website is essential to use this work.
A Practical Handbook of British Beetles. Joy. 1932Covers all the British Coleoptera as of 1932. It comes in two volumes, one text the other B&W line drawings. As with any older text the nomenclature is out of date so to use this book you should have a copy of Hodge and Jones (q,v,) excellent book and access to the Coleopterist’s website (q.v) which has a up to date checklist, with synonomy, of British Beetles. There was a reprint in 1976 and again in the 90’s by E.W Classey which will be a lot cheaper second hand but I believe is again now out of print. It should be noted that the reprint is slightly smaller than the original so the scale of the line drawings is incorrect. It has recently (2009) been published on a CD by Pisces.
Beetles of the British Isles, Linssen,E.F., 1959
Published in two volumes this is the book that many of us started with so it’s included here more out of affection than for any other reason. It’s long out of print. There are no keys but the illustrations, especially of weevils, can be of help when you are completely stumped by a specimen.
A Field Guide in Colour to Beetles, Harde, K.W., 1999
We aren’t sure whether this still in print but you should be able to pick a copy from the web. It’s basically a lot of good colour pictures, published originally in East Europe it covers european beetles but has a lot of British species. The British edition published by Blizt Editions has a forward by Peter Hammond.
Coleopterist’s Handbook, Cooter J. et al.
Published by the AES this is a great book for the beginner giving a thorough introduction to collecting and curating techniques. The later editions also give a guide to the main families. As this is written a new edition has been published including colour plates and is available from The AES. It is a must for the serious beginner and still very helpful for the experienced collector.
A Review of the scarce and threatened Coleoptera of Great Britain Part 1, Hyman, P.S.
and Parsons, M.S., 1992
Joint Nature Conversation Committee
The invertebrates of living and decaying timber in Britain and Ireland, Alexander K.N.A., 2002
English Nature Research Reports no. 467
A provisional annotated checklist. Describes the biology etc. of a wide selection of wood decay insects, beetles are particularly well covered.
Forestry commission handbook 1. HMSO publications
Beetles of the Czech and Slovak Republics, Hurka K., 2005
Kabourek
Illustrated guide with over 1000 set species photographed with short notes for each species.
British Water Beetles, Balfour-Browne F., 2003
Pisces Conservation
CD of all three volumes of Balfour-Browne's original work.
A key to the Adults of British Water Beetles, Friday, L., 1988
AIDGAP
A quality key with plenty of line drawings though, sadly. we believe now to be out of print.
Keys to adults of the water beetles of Britain and Ireland (Part 1), Foster, G.N. and Friday, L.E., 2011
Keys to adults of the water beetles of Britain and Ireland (Part 2), Foster, G.N., Bilton, D.T. and Friday, L.E., 2014
Atlas of the Predacious Water Beetles of Britain and Ireland, Foster, Bilton and Nelson, 2016
National Environmental Research Council
Not just an atlas, contains a wealth of ecological and life history detail.
A key to the Families of British Beetles, Unwin, D.M., 1988
Field Studies Council
A key with plenty of line drawings to the families of British beetles.
Edward Arnold
Pests of field crops, Jones, F.G.W. and Jones, M.G., 1964
British Museum (Natural History)
Reprinted in 1963 by Johnson Reprint Corporation.
Chapman and Hall
Checklist of beetles of the British Isles, Duff, A.G., 2012 2nd edition
A concise British flora in colour, Keble Martin, W.
Key with line drawings and distribution maps.
Key with line drawings.
Out of print.
Provisional atlas of the Cantharoidea and Buprestoidea of Britain and Ireland, Alexander, K.N.A., 2003
Institute of Terestrial Ecology
We have tried to avoid giving our opinions on the keys we use but we make an exception in this case. Both Fowler and Joy, in our view, are at best unreliable with regards to Cantharis, this work however is excellent. Unfortunately it was written as part of a Ph.D and is consequently not published. Our copy was very kindly supplied by Dr. Keith Alexander.
We have recently found that a digitalised key is available on the web. This has been updated by Brian Eversham and is found at Wildlife Trust Beds, Cambs and Northants
Ground Beetles, Forsythe, T.G. 2000
Naturalists’ Handbooks 8. Richmond Publishing
Full Key and some illustrations to British carabids.
Carabidae of the Czech and Slovak republics, Hurka, K., 1996
Taxonomic key to East European species with colour plates for 200 species and many line drawings. Includes almost all British species
Provisional atlas of the ground beetles of Britain (Coleoptera, Carabidae), Luff, 1998
Institute of Terrestrial Ecology
Carabidae, Lindroth, 1974
RES Handbook
Key to British species with line drawings.
Out of print.
Carabidae, Luff, M. 2007 RES Handbook
New key to British species with line drawings within the couplets (Aidgap style) plus many colour plates.
Key with line drawings
Out of Print
Key in English with line drawings and colour pictures
Provisional Atlas of the longhorn beetles (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) of Britain, Twinn, P.F.G. and Harding, P.T. 1999
Institute of Terrestrial Ecology
Chrysomelidae, Leaf Beetles of Europe and the Mediterranean area., Warchalowski, A., 2003
Published in Poland this is in English and the key covers all the British species (I believe). With line drawings of nearly all aedeagi and many spermatheca.
Keys to the adults of seed and leaf beetles of Britain and Ireland, Hubble, D., 2012
Aidgap.
Leaf Beetles of the Eastern Europe, Bienkowski, A., 2004
Published in Moscow this is in English and the key covers almost all the British species. With line drawings.
Key with drawings of genitalia
Key with drawings of genitalia
Key with drawings of genitalia
Includes a key by Cox to all British Donaciinae
Atlas of the seed and leaf beetles of Britain and Ireland, Cox, M. L.,2007
National Environmental Research Council
Not just an atlas, contains a wealth of ecological and life history detail.
Clambidae, Johnson, C., 1966
RES Handbook
Key with line drawings of aedeagi.
Ladybirds, Majerus, M. & Kearns, P., 1989
Naturalists’ Handbooks 10. Richmond Publishing
Field key to ladybirds and full key for coccinellids with colour plates and line drawings
Ladybirds, Majerus, M., 1994
The New Naturalist Library, Harper Collins
Ladybird beetles of Central Europe, Nedved, O., 2015
Academia Praha
Lagriidae, Alleculidae, Tetratomidae, Melandryidae, Salpingidae,
Pythidae, Mycteridae, Oedemeridae, Mordellidae, Scraptiidae, Pyrochroidae,
Rhipiphoridae, Anthicidae, Aderidae and Meloedae, Buck, F.D., 1954
RES Handbook
Key with line drawings to the above mentioned families
Out of print.
Orthocerous Weevils, Morris, M.G. 1990
RES Handbook
Key with line drawings to Nemonychidae, Anthribidae, Urodontidae, Attelabidae and Apionidae.
Broad-nosed Weevils, Morris, M.G. 1997
RES Handbook
Key with line drawings to Entiminae.
True weevils (Part 1), Morris, M.G., 2002
RES Handbook
Key with line drawings to subfamilies Raymondionyminae to Smicronychinae.
True weevils (Part 2), Morris, M.G., 2008
RES Handbook
Key with line drawings to subfamily Ceutorhynchinae
True weevils (Part 3), Morris, M.G., 2012
RES Handbook
Key with line drawings to subfamilies Curculioninae, Baridinae and Orobitidinae.
The Brentidae of Northern Europe, Gonget, H., 2003
Fauna entomologica Scandinavica. CD. Apionidae.
Adults and Larvae of Hide, Larder and Carpet Beetles and
their relatives and Derontid Beetles, Peacock, E.R., 1993
RES Handbook
Key with line drawings and some black and white photographs.
Key and many line drawings.
Elateridae of the Czech and Slovak republics, Laibner, S., 2000
Key to Elateridae with a colour photograph of all but one British species.
Out of Print
Heteroceridae, Clarke, R.O.S., 1973
RES Handbook
Key with line drawings.
Histeroidea, Halstead, D.G.H., 1963
RES Handbook
Key to Sphaeritidae and Histeridae with line drawings.
Out of print
Translation of the Dr. Vogt's key appearing in Die Kafer Mitteleuropas, 1971.
Key in English with line drawings and colour pictures
Pollen Beetles, Kirk-Spriggs, A. H., 1996
RES Handbook
Key to Kateretidae and Meligethinae with line drawings and black & white photographs.
Phalacridae, Thompson, R.T., 1958
RES Handbook
Key with line drawings.
Out of print.
Pselaphidae, Pearce, E.J., 1957
RES Handbook
Key with line drawings.
Out of print.
Beetles of the family Ptinidae of Central Europe, Zahradnik, P., 2013
Academia Praha
Scaraboidea, Britton, E.R., 1956
RES Handbook
Key to Lucanidae, Trogidae, Geotrupidae and Scarabaeidae
Out of print, see Jessop below.
Scaraboidea, Jessop, L., 1986
RES Handbook
Key to Lucanidae, Trogidae, Geotrupidae and Scarabaeidae
British ScraptiidaeLevey, B., 2009
RES Handbook
Key to scraptiidae (Anaspis and Scraptia) with figures and colour photos of set specimens.
Staphylinidae section (a), Tottenham, C.E., 1954
RES Handbook
Key to Piestinae to Euaesthetinae.
Out of print
Staphylinidae section (a), Lott, D.A., 2009
RES Handbook
Part 5 Key to Scaphidiinae, Piestinae, Oxytelinae.
Staphylinidae section (a), Lott, D.A. and Anderson, R., 2011
RES Handbook
Parts 7 and 8 Key to Oxyporinae, Steninae, Euaesthetinae, Pseudopsinae, Paederinae and Staphylininae.
key to the genus.
Tenebrionidae, Brendell,M.J.D., 1975
RES Handbook
Key with line drawings