List of encyclopedias

This article contains a list of encyclopedias, including projects to create new works. Because the number of works that can be considered encyclopedias is very large, this list does not attempt to be comprehensive.

Encyclopedias 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-katib (The book of knowledge) by Ibn Qutayba (828–889). Earliest Arabic work that could be called an Encyclopedia.
• Bibliotheke by Patriarch Photius (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.
• Pavao Skalic, Croatian philosopher from Zagreb, first to use the term encyclopedia in the current sense. Encyclopediae seu orbis disciplinarum tam sacrarum quam profanarum epistemon, 1559 (Basel, Switzerland), 1571 (Köln, Germany).
• Theodor Zwinger (1533–1588), Theatrum Vitae Humanae, 1588.
• Sir Thomas Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica 1646-1672
• 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)
• Wakan Sansai Zue (1712)
• Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1728 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

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 Cyclopaedia (1st ed. 1897)
• The People's Select Cyclopedia (1897) by Charles Nisbett, pub by Hodder and Stoughton

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)

American encyclopedias

• Encyclopaedia Americana, Francis Lieber (1829–1858)
• 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)
• International Encyclopaedia (1884–1898)
• Academic American Encyclopedia

Dutch encyclopedias

• Winkler Prins Geïllustreerde Encyclopaedie (1870-1882; 2nd ed. 1884-1888)

French encyclopedias

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

• 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 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–present

• 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 (1908-10, and numerous editions to 1964)
• World Book Encyclopedia (1917)
• Encyclopedia International (1963)
• Encyclopedia of Desalination and water and Water Resources
• Encarta (1993) (incorporating some content from Funk and Wagnalls)
• Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems
• Funk and Wagnalls (1912–2001?)
• Encyclopedia Mythica (1995)

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, ??

Dutch encyclopedias

• Winkler Prins Geïllustreerde Encyclopaedie (3rd ed. 1905-1912; 9th ed. 1990-1993)
• Oosthoek's Geïllustreerde Encyclopaedie (1916-1923; 7th ed. 1976-1981)
• Grote Nederlandse Larousse Encyclopedie (1971-1979)
• Grote Spectrum Encyclopedie (1974-1980)
• Dutch columnist Battus wrote a parody encyclopaedia with fake articles called De encyclopedie (1978).

French encyclopedias

• Encyclopædia Universalis (1968–....)
• Claude Augé Nouveau Petit Larousse Illustré

German encyclopedias

• Brockhaus (eds. 15–21 by 2006)
• Meyers Konversations-Lexikon (6th ed. 1902–1908; 9th (final) ed. 1971–1979)
• Herders Konversations-Lexikon (3rd ed. 1902–1907; 5th ed. 1952–1956)

Iranian encyclopedias

• Encyclopedia Iranica (1979)
• Treasure Box of Knowledge (1993)

Italian encyclopedias

• Enciclopedia italiana di scienze, lettere ed arti (1929-1960)
• Dizionario enciclopedico italiano (1955-)

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)
• Encyclopaedia of Islam

Unitarian-Universalist Encyclopedia ( http:unitarian-universalist.wetpaint.com )

Russian encyclopedias

• Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (1890-1906)
• Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Swedish encyclopedias

• Svenska uppslagsverk, a comprehensive bibliography maintained by collector Christofer Psilander
• Category:Swedish encyclopedias

• Nordisk familjebok (editions 2-4 of 20+ volumes each, 1904-1957)
• Svensk uppslagsbok (2 editions, 31 and 32 volumes, 1929-1955)
• Kunskapens bok (6 editions, 8 or 9 volumes each, 1937-1959)
• Focus (5 volumes, 1958-1960, introducing a new era of smaller modular encyclopedias, several later editions)
• Bra Böckers Lexikon (4 editions of 25 volumes each, 1973-1995)
• Bonniers familjelexikon (20 volumes, 1983-1986)
• Nationalencyklopedin (20 volumes, 1989-1996)
• Lexikon 2000 (25 volumes, 1995)

General

Printed works

English language

• The Children's Encyclopedia, by Arthur Mee.
• Collier's Encyclopedia
• Columbia Encyclopedia: a one-volume encyclopedia from Columbia University Press last published in 2000.
• Cambridge Encyclopedia: a one-volume encyclopedia from Cambridge University Press last published in 1997.
• Compton's Encyclopedia: 26 volume encyclopedia
• Encyclopedia Americana: both a print work and currently a part of Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia.
• Encyclopædia Britannica: one of the best-known encyclopedias in English. See also the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
• Encyclopedia of Associations: a printed directory of associations and nonprofit groups published by Thomson Gale. Also available online as Associations Unlimited.
• Funk and Wagnalls
• Groliers Encyclopedia
• Grolier Book of Knowledge: 20 volumes of equal length
• New American Desk Encyclopedia: Small paperback encyclopedia last published in 1997
• Oracle Encyclopædia: a five volume encyclopedia published in 1895
• The Poets' Encyclopedia edited by Michael Andre
• Random House Encyclopedia: a one-volume encyclopedia from Random House last published in 1990
• Pears Cyclopaedia: a one-volume encylopaedia published annually in the United Kingdom
• The Penguin Encyclopedia: a one-volume encyclopedia published by the Penguin Group in 2002 and edited by David Crystal
• World Book: designed for family use, World Book claims to be the world's best selling print encyclopedia

Spanish language

• Diccionario Enciclopédico Espasa
• Diccionario Enciclopédico Hispano-Americano de Literatura, Ciencias y Artes: Barcelona, Montaner y Simón,1887-1899, reprints and appendices up to 1910. Wonderful and very readable articles, many of them written by known Spanish scholars of the day. Reprinted by the London editor Walter M. Jackson (C. H. Simonds Company, Impresores, Boston, Estados Unidos de Norte América). See reference at http://www.filosofia.org/enc/eha/eha.htm
• Enciclopedia Encarta
• Enciclopedia universal ilustrada europeo-americana; the biggest encyclopedia of its time. Also known as Enciclopedia Espasa o Enciclopedia Espasa-Calpe
• Enciclopedia Labor
• Enciclopedia Libre Universal also known as Enciclopedia Libre
• Enciclopedia Salvat
• Gran Enciclopedia Planeta, 20 volume, DVD and on-line encyclopedia, 2004
• Nueva enciclopedia Durvan

Other languages

• Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste: very large 19th-century German encyclopaedia by Ersch and Gruber
• Brockhaus: German encyclopedia
• Brockhaus and Efron: Russian imperial encyclopedia in 86 volumes
• Den Store Danske Encyklopædi (The Great Danish Encyclopedia) in Danish
• Enciklopedija Jugoslavije in Croatian and Serbian
• Enciklopedija Slovenije in Slovenian
• Enciclopedia României in Romanian (1939)
• Great Soviet Encyclopedia (Большая Советская Энциклопедия): The second largest and most comprehensive encyclopedia in Russian; here were 3 editions, 3rd edition of 1969-1978 contains 30 volumes
• Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon: huge 18th-century German encyclopedia by Johann Heinrich Zedler
• Gujin tushu jicheng: Chinese encyclopedia completed in 1725 (10 million Chinese characters)
• Tamil Kalaik kaLanjiyam:Tamil 10 volume encyclopedia published in 1963.
• Lexicon Universale in Latin (1698)
• Magyar Nagylexikon (The Great Hungarian Lexicon): 19 volume general encyclopedia in Hungarian
• Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (1999): 27 volume German encyclopedia of music and musicians
• Meyers Konversations-Lexikon; in German
• Pomorska enciklopedija: in Croatian (The Maritime Encyclopedia)
• Medicinska enciklopedija: in Croatian
• Tehnička enciklopedija: in Croatian (Technical encyclopedia)
• Enciklopedija hrvatske umjetnosti: in Croatian (The Encyclopedia of Croatian Art), (2005)
• Filmska enciklopedija: in Croatian (The Film encyclopedia)
• Nationalencyklopedin: encyclopedia in Swedish
• Nordisk familjebok: encyclopedia in Swedish
• Otto's encyclopedia: the largest Czech encyclopedia published between 1888-1908 and 1930-1943
• The Persian Encyclopedia : a three volume Persian encyclopedia edited by Gholamhossein Mosahab, partially based on the early editions of the Columbia Encyclopedia
• Vojna Enciklopedija in Serbian (The Military Encyclopedia)
• Wielka Encyklopedia Powszechna PWN, 13 volumes, 1962-1970, the largest encyclopedia to date in Polish
• Wielka Encyklopedia PWN, 2001-2005, the successor to the WEP PWN; larger and more objective, it is currently being finished

On CD-ROM, DVD-ROM and/or the Internet

• AllRefer.com: Columbia Encyclopedia
• Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia: only available in electronic form.
• Encyclopædia Britannica. See also the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
• Encyclopedia of Kirill and Mefodiy: in Russian.
• Gran Enciclopedia Planeta, in Spanish.
• Microsoft Encarta: published by Microsoft. It is only available in electronic form.
• Micronet Universal: in Spanish.
• Rubricon: the largest online encyclopedic portal in Russian.
• Wikipedia: a project to create a comprehensive encyclopedia using wiki software, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
• World Book

Website only

• Encyclopedia of Cigarettes: detailed information on cigarettes.
• Enciclopedia Libre: project to create a Spanish encyclopedia using wiki software, released under the GFDL.
• Encyclopedia of Life Sciences
• Encyclopaedia of Turkey: An online encyclopedia about Turkey and Anatolian Culture.
• EncycloZine: an online encyclopedia of books and knowledge.
• Everything2
• Encyclopedia DG
• Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia: an electronic encyclopedia published by Grolier.
• Hierarchypedia: an online encyclopedia using Wikimedia that is no longer online. [1]
• Internet FAQ archives
• netcyclo: John Anderson's Internet encyclopedia project.
• Nupedia: a peer reviewed, open content encyclopedia project, currently inactive.
• Open Site: an effort inspired by, but not officially affiliated with, the Open Directory Project.
• Probert Encyclopaedia: an online topical encyclopedia consisting of almost 100,000 short entries, published by Mathew Probert and based in the United Kingdom.
• Susning.nu: project to create a Swedish encyclopedia using wiki software.
• Wikinfo: although based structurally on Wikipedia, it is not a Wikimedia project.
• Wikiweise: project to create a German encyclopedia using wiki software, released under the GFDL.
• WikiZnanie: project to create a Russian encyclopedia using wiki software, released under the BSD DPL.

Specialized

National, regional, ethnic or cultural

Africa

• Encyclopedia Zimbabwe

Australian

• The Australian Encyclopedia (1926) - 1926
• The Australian Encyclopedia (1958) - 1958
• Encyclopaedia of Australia - 1968
• Encyclopedia of Melbourne Sept 2005. Edited by Andrew Brown-May and Shurlee Swain. 864 pp. ISBN 978-0-521-84234-1 - Online version

Austria

• aeiou Encyclopedia (1996ff.) Austrian

Belarus

• Belarusian Soviet Encyclopedia in 12 volumes (1969-1974)
• Encyclopedia of Literature and Art of Belarus in 5 volumes
• Encyclopedia of Ethnography of Belarus in 1 volume
• Encyclopedia of History of Belarus in 6 volumes
• Belarusian Encyclopedia in 18 volumes
• Encyclopedia of Grand Duchy of Lithuania 1 volume so far

Canadian

• - (1898-1900)
• Canada and its Province - (1913-1917)
• The Canadian Encyclopedia - (1985 and 1988)
• Encyclopedia Canadiana - (1957)
• The Encyclopedia of Canada - (1935-1937)
• Encyclopedia of Music in Canada - (1981 and 1992)
• The Junior Encyclopedia of Canada - (1989)

Croatia

• Opća enciklopedija JLZ - (1977-1982)
• Hrvatska opća enciklopedija (started in 1999- 7th vol. 2005 of 11)
• Opća i nacionalna enciklopedija (2005- complete 2007)

Iranian

• Loghatnameh Dehkhoda: a fourteen volume Persian dictionary edited by Dr. Ali Akbar Dehkhoda
• Encyclopædia Iranica: on Iranian peoples and Iran (Persia)
• Encyclopaedia of Iran and Islam published in Persian in Tehran
• Encyclopaedia of Persian Language and Literature published by the Academy of Persian Language and Literature in Persian in Tehran
• The Encyclopedia of Iranian Old Music: Published in Tehran, 2000.

London

• The London Encyclopaedia 1007 page reference of the city of London, pub. 1983

New Zealand

• Encylopedia of New Zealand (1966)
• Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand - online

Poland

• Encyklopedia Polski (Encyclopedia of Poland).
• Encyklopedia powszechna PWN (PWN Universal Encyclopedia).

Slovenia

• Enciklopedija Slovenije - published in 1987-2002

South Asia

• The Cambridge Encyclopedia of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives: A concise encyclopedia on the Indian subcontinent.
• Banglapedia: The national encyclopedia of Bangladesh published by the Bangladesh Asiatic Society.

United States

• Encyclopedia of New Jersey
• Handbook of Texas

Subject

Art

• Grove Dictionary of Art in 34-volumes (1996)

Entertainment

• All Game Guide: A comprehensive online guide to computer and video games created by All Media Guide.
• All Movie Guide: A comprehensive online guide to movies created by All Media Guide.
• All Music Guide: A comprehensive online guide to music created by All Media Guide.
• The Film Encyclopedia
• Quasimodobell: Online Encyclopedia for music artists & bands

Fiction (or fictional)

• Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge, a fictional Chinese encyclopedia invented by Jorge Luis Borges
• 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.
• The Rocklopedia Fakebandica by T. Mike Childs, pub. 2004
• The Star Trek Encyclopedia

History and biography

• Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography: 19th century Americans
• Children's Encyclopedia of American History
• An Encyclopedia of Battles: comprehensive accounting of battles and wars throughout history.
• An Encyclopedia of World History: single-volume work. First Edition, 1940. Sixth Edition, 2001.
• Encyklopedia Polski (Encyclopedia of Poland).
• Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History From 458 to 1905: Harper & Brothers
• Historical Dictionary of Switzerland [2], historical encyclopedia of Switzerland in German, French and Italian, (Print edition: 2002-).
• Historisches Lexikon Bayerns multimedia online encyclopedia of Bavarian history.
• The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia
• Oxford Classical Dictionary: Despite the name, a one-volume encyclopedia for antiquity.
• Polski słownik biograficzny (Polish Biographical Dictionary: begun 1935, a work in progress). For content list, see here.
• Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft: Pauly-Wissowa (Eds.) (1894-1980; specialising in classical antiquity).

Judaism

• Encyclopedia Judaica: published 1972-1991.
• Jewish Encyclopedia: published 1901-1906. Original full 12 volumes.
• Talmudic Encyclopedia (cf. ).
• Jewish Virtual Library
• Shorter Jewish Encyclopedia in Russian: 11 volumes, published 1976-2005 in Jerusalem.

Literature

• Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia
• Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature
• The Cambridge History of English and American Literature
• The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, First edition 1979, second edition (April 1993), by John Clute and Peter Nicholls
• The Literary Encyclopedia, online, started in 2000
• The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural (1986), edited by Jack Sullivan

Mathematics

• Encyclopedic Dictionary of Mathematics (EDM2), Second edition 1993, The Mathematical Society of Japan. The preferred reference of professionals.
• Mathworld online encyclopedia by Eric Weisstein
• CRC Concise Encyclopedia of Mathematics, Second edition 2002, based on Mathworld
• planetmath
• On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS)
• Encyclopaedia of Mathematics Springer Verlag 2002

Medicine

• American Medical Association Complete Medical Encyclopedia
• Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine
• Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary

Music

• Enciclopedia della musica, 2001-2005, edited by Jean-Jacques Nattiez, in 5 volumes. Collection of in-depth essays rather than brief, dictionary-like entries.

Philosophy

• The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Paul Edwards.
• Encyclopédie philosophique universelle, published by Presses Universitaires de France.

Religion (other)

• Catholic Encyclopedia
• Encyclopedia of Mormonism

Science

• The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Space, 1990 ISBN 0-521-36426-4
• McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology: also comes in a one-volume edition.
• Encyclopedia Astronautica: a reference website maintained by space-travel enthusiast Mark Wade.

Sports

• , 10th Edition, 1996 ISBN 0-02-861435-6
• Total Baseball, The Ultimate Baseball Encyclopedia, 2004, by John Thorn et al
• Total Tennis, The Ultimate Tennis Encyclopedia, 2003, by Bud Collins
• The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding
• , 2004, by David Neft et al
• L'Encyclopédie des sports. Plus de 3000 sports et jeux du monde entier, 2005, Grund
• World Sports Encyclopedia, 2003, Atena/MBI

Other

• The American Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants: a comprehensive illustrated work on garden plants.
• American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers
• The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft: 1997, one large volume
• Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Crochet
• Encyclopedia of Counseling
• Encyclopedia of Marxism: an online encyclopedia released under the GNU Free Documentation License, part of the Marxist Internet Archive.
• Encyclopedia of Nutritional Supplements
• An Encyclopaedia of Occultism: 1920 work on occultism
• Encyclopedia Titanica [3]; Exhaustive information about the sinking of RMS Titanic
• The Encyclopedia of Window Fashions
• Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential published since 1972 by the Union of International Associations (UIA). Previously published in three book volumes and on CD-ROM; now published and developed online here.
• watch-wiki an online encyclopedia released under the GNU Free Documentation License
• Illustrated Encylopedia Of Aircraft
• Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology
• Larousse Gastronomique Encyclopedia of food and cooking.
• A Military Encyclopedia
• MusicBrainz: a project to create a free music encyclopedia, released under the Open Content License. The first goal is to create a database similar to CDDB.
• Nazarian`s Gun`s Recognition Guide
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (ongoing since 1995)
• The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets
• Dutch author Battus wrote a parody encyclopedia, titled The Encyclopedia.

See also: List of digital library projects

Categories

Find

Find