An encyclopedia or encyclopædia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by article name or by thematic categories, or else are hyperlinked and searchable. Encyclopedia entries are longer and more detailed than those in most dictionaries. Generally speaking, encyclopedia articles focus on factual information concerning the subject named in the article's title; this is unlike dictionary entries, which focus on linguistic information about words, such as their etymology, meaning, pronunciation, use, and grammatical forms.
Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, better known as Encyclopédie, was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements, revised editions, and translations. It had many writers, known as the Encyclopédistes. It was edited by Denis Diderot and, until 1759, co-edited by Jean le Rond d'Alembert.
Encyclopedia Americana is a general encyclopedia written in American English. It was the first major multivolume encyclopedia that was published in the United States. With Collier's Encyclopedia and Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopedia Americana became one of the three major English-language general encyclopedias; the three were sometimes collectively called "the ABCs". Following the acquisition of Grolier in 2000, the encyclopedia has been produced by Scholastic.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later Bolshaya rossiyskaya entsiklopediya in an updated and revised form. The GSE claimed to be "the first Marxist–Leninist general-purpose encyclopedia".
Cyclopædia: or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences is an encyclopedia prepared by Ephraim Chambers and first published in 1728; six more editions appeared between 1728 and 1751 with a Supplement in 1753. The Cyclopædia was one of the first general encyclopedias to be produced in English.
Rees's Cyclopædia, in full The Cyclopædia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature was an important 19th-century British encyclopaedia edited by Rev. Abraham Rees (1743–1825), a Presbyterian minister and scholar who had edited previous editions of Chambers's Cyclopædia.
An encyclopedic dictionary typically includes many short listings, arranged alphabetically, and discussing a wide range of topics. Encyclopedic dictionaries can be general, containing articles on topics in many different fields; or they can specialize in a particular field, such as art, biography, law, medicine, or philosophy. They may also be organized around a particular academic, cultural, ethnic, or national perspective.
The Australian Encyclopaedia is an encyclopedia focused on Australia. In addition to biographies of notable Australians the coverage includes the geology, flora, fauna as well as the history of the continent. It was first published by Angus and Robertson in two volumes, one each in 1925 and 1926. The most recent edition, the sixth, is of eight volumes published in 1996.
The Encyclopædia Britannica has been published continuously since 1768, appearing in fifteen official editions. Several editions have been amended with multi-volume "supplements", consisted of previous editions with added supplements or gone drastic re-organizations (15th). In recent years, digital versions of the Britannica have been developed, both online and on optical media. Since the early 1930s, the Britannica has developed several "spin-off" products to leverage its reputation as a reliable reference work and educational tool.
The Encyclopedia of Ukraine, published from 1984 to 2001, is a fundamental work of Ukrainian Studies.
The Popular Encyclopedia or Conversations Lexicon was a British encyclopedia that was published from 1837 to 1893 by Blackie and Son, of Glasgow. It was originally a reprint of Francis Lieber's Encyclopedia Americana, itself based on the Brockhaus Enzyklopädie.
The Lincoln Library of Essential Information was originally published as a one-volume general-reference work, in 1924. In later years, it was published in two- and three-volume editions, and the title was changed.
Felix Klein's Encyclopedia of Mathematical Sciences is a German mathematical encyclopedia published in six volumes from 1898 to 1933. Klein and Wilhelm Franz Meyer were organizers of the encyclopedia. Its full title in English is Encyclopedia of Mathematical Sciences Including Their Applications, which is Encyklopädie der mathematischen Wissenschaften mit Einschluss ihrer Anwendungen (EMW). It is 20,000 pages in length and was published by B.G. Teubner Verlag, publisher of Mathematische Annalen.
The General Biographical Dictionary was a bestselling book of the early 19th century, compiled by British author Alexander Chalmers. It is the work on which Chalmers' fame as a biographer mainly rests.
Encyclopedias have progressed from the beginning of history in written form, through medieval and modern times in print, and most recently, displayed on computer and distributed via computer networks.
Low's Encyclopædia is an early American encyclopedia, titled The New and Complete American Encyclopædia or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. It was published in New York City, from 1805 to 1811. Consisting of seven volumes quarto, it is noteworthy among America's earliest encyclopedias for having been written in the United States, as opposed to being an American reprint of a British work, as were, for examples, Dobson's Encyclopedia, the Bradford printing of Rees's Cyclopædia, Samuel A. Mitchell's American printing (1816) of the British Encyclopedia, or Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1809), or the Birch and Small printing of the Domestic Encyclopedia.
The Domestic Encyclopaedia; or, A dictionary of facts, and useful knowledge: comprehending a concise view of the latest discoveries, inventions, and improvements, chiefly applicable to rural and domestic economy is a small encyclopedia of the English language, in four volumes, published in London in 1802 by Murray and Highley, and compiled by Anthony Florian Madinger Willich. While most encyclopedias of the time, such as Encyclopædia Britannica, were printed in quarto, or in the case of Chambers Cyclopædia, even folio, the Domestic Encyclopedia was printed in octavo, 5 1/2 by 8+1⁄2 inches. There are roughly 500 pages per volume, and 28 plates in total. Volume 4 includes a 70-page supplement and a 33-page index. The subject matter of the encyclopedia centers around domestic and agricultural information, during a time when most people were farmers. Most of the plates show farm equipment.
Kendall's Pocket Encyclopedia was written by Edward Augustus Kendall and printed in London in 1802 by W. Peacock and Sons, with a second edition in 1811.
The original Encyclopædia Americana was published in the United States beginning in the late 1820s and continued with new editions and supplements into the 1850s. Other than the name, it had no connection with the Encyclopedia Americana that began publishing in 1902 or the Americanized version of the Encyclopædia Britannica published in the 1880s.
