Encyclopedia

An (alternatively encyclopaedia/encyclopædia) is a written compendium of knowledge. The term comes from the Greek {{polytonic|????????? ???????}} (engkuklios paideia), literally "a rounded education". Many encyclopedias are titled Cyclopaedia and the terms are interchangeable.

List of encyclopedias

Notable encyclopedias and encyclopedists before 1700

• Pliny's Natural History AD 77. Highly influential in the Middle Ages.
• Cassiodorus' Institutiones, AD 560. First Christian encyclopedia.
• St. Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae, AD 636. Christian encyclopedia, most influential encyclopedia of the early Middle Ages.
• Fa yüan chu lin, AD 668, a buddhist encyclopedia of 100 volumes, compiled by Tao-shih
• Adab al-k?tib (The book of knowledge) by Ibn Qutayba (828?889). Earliest Arabic work that could be called an Encyclopedia.
• Bibliotheke by Patriarch Photios (9th century). Earliest Byzantine work that could be called an Encyclopedia.
• Hrabanus Maurus, 842. De rerum naturis (On the nature of things). Derived from Isidore's text.
• Suda (10th century)
• Bartholomeus de Glanvilla, De proprietatibus rerum, 1240. The most widely read and quoted encyclopedia in the late-medieval period.
• Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Majus, 1260. The most ambitious encyclopedia in the late-medieval period over 3 million words.
• Yongle Encyclopedia (1403?1408). Ming Dynasty Chinese encyclopedia.
• Theodor Zwinger (1533–1588), Theatrum Vitae Humanae, 1588.
• Louis Moréri The Great Historical Dictionary, 1671.
• Pierre Bayle Historical and Critical Dictionary, 1695.
• Vincenzo Coronelli publisher of Biblioteca Universale Sacro-Profana early 18th century, the first encyclopedia to be alphabetical.
• John Henry Alsted
• John Jacob Hoffman

Encyclopedias published 1700–1800

• Lexicon technicum (1704)
• Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1723 and later eds; usually cited as Chambers's Cyclopaedia)
• An Universal History of Arts and Sciences (1745)
• Encyclopædia Britannica (1771, and eds 2 and 3 by 1800)
• Encyclopædia Perthensis (1796–1806, ed 2 by 1816)

French encyclopedias

• Encyclopédie (1751–1772)
• Encyclopédie Méthodique (Panckoucke) 1782–1832
• Encyclopædia Universalis (1968–....)

German Encyclopedias

• Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon (1751–1754)
• Conversations Lexikon mit vorzüglicher Rücksicht auf die gegenwärtigen Zeiten (1796–1808; see Brockhaus)

Encyclopedias published 1800–1900

• Rees's Cyclopaedia (1802–1819)
• Encyclopædia Britannica (eds 4–9 by 1900)
• Edinburgh Encyclopaedia (1808)
• British Encyclopaedia (1809)
• Encyclopaedia Londinensis (1810)
• Pantologia (1813)
• Encyclopaedia Metropolitana (1817–1845)
• Penny Cyclopaedia (1833–1846)
• English Encyclopaedia (1854–1862, supp. 1869–1873)
• Chambers's Encyclopaedia (1860–1868; no relation to Chambers's Cyclopaedia of the C18)
• Pears' Cyclopedia (1st ed. 1897)

Specialist Encyclopedias

• Engineer's and Mechanic's Encyclopaedia (1836/1837; 2nd ed. 1849; often cited as Hebert's Encyclopaedia)
• Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts and Manufactures (1852; often cited as Tomlinson's Cyclopaedia)
• A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1842)
• Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870)
• Nazarian`s Gun`s Recognition Guide

American Encyclopedias

• New American Encyclopaedia (1858–1863 and annual supplements to 1902)
• American Encyclopaedia (1873–1876)
• New Universal Encyclopaedia (1875–1877)
• Johnson's Universal Encyclopaedia (1893–1895)
• Encyclopedia Americana (1839–1847)
• International Encyclopaedia (1884–1898)

French Encyclopedias

Dictionnaires généraux, universels, encyclopédiques, et autres? A bibliography of French encyclopedias up to Larousse.

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• Encyclopédie Méthodique (Panckoucke) 1782–1832
• Encyclopédie nouvelle (Pierre Leroux and Jean Reynaud) 1839–1840
• Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle by Pierre Larousse (17 volumes 1866–1877)—really an encyclopedia despite its name
• La Grande Encyclopédie, general secretaries of the editorial board: Camille Dreyfus and André Berthelot (31 volumes 1886–1902)

German Encyclopedias

• Oekonomische Encyklopädie (General System of State, City, Home and Agriculture) Editor D.Johann Georg Krünitz (242 Volumes 1773–1858)
• Brockhaus (eds. 1–14 by 1900)
• Pierers Universal-Lexikon (1824–1836; 7th ed. 1888–1893)
• Meyers Konversations-Lexikon (1839–1855; 5th ed. 1893–1897)
• Herders Konversations-Lexikon (1854–1857; 2nd ed. 1875–1879)

Swedish Encyclopedias

• Nordisk familjebok (1876–1899; 2nd ed. 1904–1926)

Encyclopedias published 1900–2000

• Encyclopædia Britannica (eds. 10–16 by 2000)
• Harmsworth's Encyclopaedia (1905; known in the USA as Nelson's Encyclopaedia)
• Everyman Encyclopaedia (c. 1910)
• The Children's Encyclopedia (1911)
• World Book Encyclopedia (1917)
• Encyclopedia International (1963)
• Encarta (1993) (incorporating some content from Funk and Wagnalls)
• Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems
• Funk and Wagnalls (1912–2001?)
• Encyclopedia Mythica (1995)
• Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana (?)

American Encyclopedias

• New International Encyclopaedia (1902)
• Collier's Encyclopedia (1951–1952)
• The Nuttall Encyclopaedia
• Dictionary of the Middle Ages (1982–1989)

Chinese Encyclopedias

• Chinese Children's Encyclopedia ??????
• Cihai, combines dictionary and encyclopedia, ??

French Encyclopedias

• Claude Augé Nouveau Petit Larousse Illustré

German Encyclopedias

• Brockhaus (eds. 15–20 by 2000)
• Meyers Konversations-Lexikon (6th ed. 1902–1908; 9th (final) ed. 1971–1979)
• Herders Konversations-Lexikon (3rd ed. 1902–1907; 5th ed. 1952–1956)

Religious Encyclopedias

• Jewish Encyclopedia (1901?1906)
• Encyclopedia Judaica
• Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)
• Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (1914; public domain since 2004)
• Encyclopedia of Mormonism (1992)
• Orthodox Encyclopedia (Serbe)
• Encyclopedia of Islam

Russian Encyclopedias

• Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Encyclopedias published 2000 onwards

• Wikipedia (2001 onwards)
• Everything2
• Open Site (2002 onwards)

Spanish Encyclopedias

• Gran Enciclopedia Planeta (2004, Spain)

Fictional Encyclopedias

• Encyclopedia Galactica was created and referenced by Isaac Asimov's Foundation series.
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy pays homage to the Encyclopedia Galactica, but is apparently better because it is slightly cheaper and has the words "Don't Panic" written on the cover.
• Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Recognition, a fictional Chinese encyclopedia invented by Jorge Luis Borges