This article aims to review two major reference works which set out to survey the field of literary translation into English. Both works typically provide answers to questions like: ‘when did the English start to translate from Japanese?’, ‘which is the English Rilke version that will best suit my needs’, ‘in what way was the post-War boom of South American writers dependent on translation?’, ‘did Chaucer translate only from the French?’, ‘does children’s literature in English translation fare differently from translated works in serious literature?’ These are among the issues addressed.