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.