encyclopedia

Work of reference covering either all fields of knowledge or one specific subject. Although most encyclopedias are alphabetical, with cross-references, some are organized thematically with indexes, to keep related subjects together.

The earliest extant encyclopedia is the Historia Naturalis/Natural History AD 23–79 of Pliny the Elder. The first alphabetical encyclopedia in English was the Lexicon Technicum/Technical Lexicon 1704, compiled by John Harris. In 1728 Ephraim Chambers published his Cyclopaedia, which coordinated scattered articles by a system of cross-references and was translated into French 1743–45. This translation formed the basis of the Encyclopédie, which was edited by Diderot and d'Alembert and published 1751–72. By this time the system of engaging a body of expert compilers and editors was established, and in 1768–71 the Encyclopaedia Britannica first appeared. The first encylopedia to be published on CD-ROM was the Academic American Encyclopedia 1985.

Other major encyclopedias include the Chinese encyclopedia printed 1726, the German Conversations-Lexikon/Conversation Lexicon of Brockhaus, and the French Grand Dictionnaire Universel du XIXème Siècle/Great Universal Dictionary of the 19th Century of Pierre Larousse 1866–76.

American encyclopedias include the Encyclopedia Americana and Collier's Encyclopedia, both prepared with attention to cultural and stylistic interpretations appropriate to the USA.