Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon, 1902

An encyclopedia, or, traditionally, encyclopædia, is a comprehensive written compendium that contains information on all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge. Encyclopedias are divided up into articles with one article on each subject covered. The articles on subjects in an encyclopedia are usually accessed alphabetically by article name and can be contained in one volume or many volumes, depending on the amount of material included.^[1] 1913 advertisement for Encyclopædia Britannica. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1600x1200, 763 KB) Brockhaus Universal-Lexikon, ca. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1600x1200, 763 KB) Brockhaus Universal-Lexikon, ca. ... Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon, 1902 The Brockhaus Enzyklopädie is a German-language encyclopedia published by Brockhaus. ... A compendium is a concise yet comprehensive compilation of a body of knowledge. ... The ASCII codes for the word Wikipedia represented in binary, the numeral system most commonly used for encoding computer information. ... For other uses, see Knowledge (disambiguation). ...

Portrait of Diderot by Louis-Michel van Loo, 1767 Denis Diderot (October 5, 1713 – July 31, 1784) was a French philosopher and writer. ...

General

Etymology, spelling

The word encyclopedia comes from the Classical Greek "ἐγκύκλιος παιδεία" (pronounced "enkyklios paideia"), literally, a "[well-]rounded education," meaning "general knowledge." Though the notion of a compendium of knowledge dates back thousands of years, the term was first used in the title of a book in 1541 by Joachimus Fortius Ringelbergius, Lucubrationes vel potius absolutissima kyklopaideia (Basel, 1541). The word encyclopaedia was first used as a noun in the title of his book by the Croatian encyclopedist Pavao Skalić in his Encyclopaedia seu orbis disciplinarum tam sacrarum quam prophanarum epistemon (Encyclopaedia, or Knowledge of the World of Disciplines, Basel, 1559). One of the oldest vernacular uses was by François Rabelais in his Pantagruel in 1532.^[3][4] Beginning of Homers Odyssey The Ancient Greek language is the historical stage of the Greek language[1] as it existed during the Archaic (9th–6th centuries BC) and Classical (5th–4th centuries BC) periods in Ancient Greece. ... Joachim Sterck van Ringelbergh (Joachimus Fortius Ringelbergius) (Antwerp, c. ... The term encyclopedist is usually used for a group of French philosophers who collaborated in the 18th century in the production of the Encyclopédie, under the direction of Denis Diderot. ... Stanislav Pavao (Paul) Skalić (1534-1573), also known as Paul Skalich or Pauli Scalichii de Lika, was a Croatian encyclopedist, humanist, and adventurer from Zagreb. ... François Rabelais François Rabelais (c. ...

Several encyclopedias have names that include the suffix -p(a)edia, e.g., Banglapedia (on matters relevant for Bengal). Encyclopedias contain data about numerouse subjects

In British usage, the spellings encyclopedia'ajimon and encyclopaedia are both current;^[5] in American usage, only the former is commonly used.^[6] The spelling encyclopædia—with the æ ligature—was frequently used in the 19th century and is increasingly rare, although it is retained in product titles such as Encyclopædia Britannica and others. The Oxford English Dictionary (1989) records encyclopædia and encyclopedia as equal alternatives (in that order), and notes the æajimon would be obsolete except that it is preserved in works that have Latin titles. Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1961–2002) features encyclopedia as the main headword and encyclopaedia as a minor variant. In addition, cyclopedia and cyclopaedia are now rarely-used shortened forms of the word originating in the 17th century. For Æ, the Irish writer, see George William Russell. ... In writing and typography, a ligature occurs where two or more letterforms are written or printed as a unit. ... The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. ... The Oxford English Dictionary print set The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP), and is the most successful dictionary of the English language, (not to be confused with the one-volume Oxford Dictionary of English, formerly New Oxford Dictionary of English, of... 1888 advertisement for Websters Dictionary Websters Dictionary is the common title given to English language dictionaries in the United States, derived from American lexicographer Noah Webster. ...

See also: American and British English spelling differences#Simplification of ae (æ) and oe (œ)

Spelling differences redirects here. ...

Characteristics

The encyclopedia as we recognize it today was developed from the dictionary in the 18th century. A dictionary primarily focuses on words and their definitions, and typically provides limited information, analysis, or background for the word defined. While it may offer a definition, it may leave the reader still lacking in understanding the meaning or significance of a term, and how the term relates to a broader field of knowledge. For other uses, see Dictionary (disambiguation). ... Words has several meanings: words in Unix. ... For alternative meanings see definition (disambiguation) A definition may be a statement of the essential properties of a certain thing, or a statement of equivalence between a term and that terms meaning. ... The ASCII codes for the word Wikipedia represented in binary, the numeral system most commonly used for encoding computer information. ... Look up understanding in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

To address those needs, an encyclopedia treats each subject in more depth and conveys the most relevant accumulated knowledge on that subject or discipline, given the overall length of the particular work. An encyclopedia also often includes many maps and illustrations, as well as bibliography and statistics. Historically, both encyclopedias and dictionaries have been researched and written by well-educated, well-informed content experts. // An academic discipline, or field of study, is a branch of knowledge which is taught or researched at the college or university level. ... For other uses, see Map (disambiguation). ... Illustration by Jessie Willcox Smith. ... For Works Cited lists, see Citation. ... This article is about the field of statistics. ...

Four major elements define an encyclopedia: its subject matter, its scope, its method of organization, and its method of production.

• Encyclopedias can be general, containing articles on topics in every field (the English-language Encyclopædia Britannica and German Brockhaus are well-known examples). General encyclopedias often contain guides on how to do a variety of things, as well as embedded dictionaries and gazetteers. There are also encyclopedias that cover a wide variety of topics but from a particular cultural, ethnic, or national perspective, such as the Great Soviet Encyclopedia or Encyclopaedia Judaica.
• Works of encyclopedic scope aim to convey the important accumulated knowledge for their subject domain, such as an encyclopedia of medicine, philosophy, or law. Works vary in the breadth of material and the depth of discussion, depending on the target audience. (For example, the Medical Encyclopedia produced by A.D.A.M., Inc. for the U.S. National Institutes of Health.)

Persian encyclopedias

• Some systematic method of organization is essential to making an encyclopedia usable as a work of reference. There have historically been two main methods of organizing printed encyclopedias: the alphabetical method (consisting of a number of separate articles, organised in alphabetical order), or organization by hierarchical categories. The former method is today the most common by far, especially for general works. The fluidity of electronic media, however, allows new possibilities for multiple methods of organization of the same content. Further, electronic media offer previously unimaginable capabilities for search, indexing and cross reference. The epigraph from Horace on the title page of the 18th century Encyclopédie suggests the importance of the structure of an encyclopedia: "What grace may be added to commonplace matters by the power of order and connection."
• As modern multimedia and the information age have evolved, they have had an ever-increasing effect on the collection, verification, summation, and presentation of information of all kinds. Projects such as Everything2, Encarta, h2g2 and Wikipedia are examples of new forms of the encyclopedia as information retrieval becomes simpler.

Some works titled "dictionaries" are actually similar to encyclopedias, especially those concerned with a particular field (such as the Dictionary of the Middle Ages, the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, and Black's Law Dictionary). The Macquarie Dictionary, Australia's national dictionary, became an encyclopedic dictionary after its first edition in recognition of the use of proper nouns in common communication, and the words derived from such proper nouns. Look up topic, topicality in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. ... Brockhaus is a German encyclopedia published by Brockhaus. ... A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary, an important reference for information about places and place-names (see: toponomy), used in conjunction with an atlas. ... Title page of the 3rd ed. ... The Encyclopaedia Judaica is a 26-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people and their faith, Judaism. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... National Institutes of Health Building 50 at NIH Clinical Center - Building 10 The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical research. ... This is a picture of the three volumes of the 2002 edition of The Persian Encyclopedia, taken by Behnam Esfahbod on July 20, 2004. ... This is a picture of the three volumes of the 2002 edition of The Persian Encyclopedia, taken by Behnam Esfahbod on July 20, 2004. ... This article needs cleanup. ... A hierarchy (in Greek: , derived from — hieros, sacred, and — arkho, rule) is a system of ranking and organizing things or people, where each element of the system (except for the top element) is a subordinate to a single other element. ... Horace, as imagined by Anton von Werner Quintus Horatius Flaccus, (December 8, 65 BC - November 27, 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus. ... Everything2, Everything2, or E2 for short, is a collaborative Web-based community consisting of a database of interlinked user-submitted written material. ... Encarta is a digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft Corporation. ... H2G2 is also an acronym for the The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. ... Wikipedia (IPA: , or ( ) is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization. ... Dictionary of the Middle Ages: Supplement 1 (2003) The Dictionary of the Middle Ages is a 13-volume encyclopedia of the Middle Ages published by the American Council of Learned Societies between 1982 and 1989, with a supplemental volume added in 2003. ... The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS for short) is the primary reference work for the basic facts about every ship ever used by the United States Navy. ... Blacks Law Dictionary, 7th edition Blacks Law Dictionary is the definitive law dictionary for the law of the United States. ... Image:Macq4TH 3D NEW.jpg The Macquarie Dictionary, 4th edition. ... An encyclopedic dictionary typically includes a large number of short listings discussing a wide of topics. ...

Naturalis Historia, 1669 edition, title page. The Latin title appears in the genitive case, Naturalis Historiae

One of the first encyclopedic works was the Naturalis Historia of Pliny the Elder, a Roman statesman living in the first century AD. He compiled a work of 37 chapters covering natural history, art and architecture, medicine, geography, geology and all aspects of the world about him. He boasted in the preface that he had compiled 20,000 facts from 2000 different works by 100 authors, and added many others from his own experience. It became very popular in the Roman world, and survived the Dark Ages with many copies being made and distributed in the western world. It was one of the first classical manuscripts to be printed in 1601, and has remained popular ever since as a source of information on the Roman world. Although much of the work has been criticized for his lack of candour in checking the "facts", some of his text has been confirmed by recent research. Front page of Plinys Naturalis Historia from [1] This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Front page of Plinys Naturalis Historia from [1] This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... // Events Samuel Pepys stopped writing his diary. ... Naturalis Historia Pliny the Elders Natural History is an encyclopedia written by Pliny the Elder. ... Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19th Century portrait. ... Roman or Romans may refer to: A thing or person of or from the city of Rome. ... Petrarch, who conceived the idea of a European Dark Age. From Cycle of Famous Men and Women, Andrea di Bartolo di Bargillac, c. ...

Bartholomeus Anglicus' De proprietatibus rerum (1240) was the most widely read and quoted encyclopedia in the High Middle Ages^[7] while Vincent of Beauvais's Speculum Majus (1260) was the most ambitious encyclopedia in the late-medieval period at over 3 million words.^[7] Bartholomeus Anglicus (Bartholomew of England) was an early 13th century scholastic scholar of Paris, a member of the Franciscan order. ... The cathedral Notre Dame de Paris, a significant architectural contribution of the High Middle Ages. ... The Dominican friar Vincent of Beauvais (ca 1190 - 1264?) wrote the main encyclopedia that was used in the middle ages. ...

The early Muslim compilations of knowledge in the Middle Ages included many comprehensive works, and much development of what we now call scientific method, historical method, and citation. About year 960, the Brethren of Purity of Basra^[8] were engaged in their Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity. Notable works include Abu Bakr al-Razi's encyclopedia of science, the Mutazilite Al-Kindi's prolific output of 270 books, and Ibn Sina's medical encyclopedia, which was a standard reference work for centuries. Also notable are works of universal history (or sociology) from Asharites, al-Tabri, al-Masudi, Tabari's History of the Prophets and Kings, Ibn Rustah, al-Athir, and Ibn Khaldun, whose Muqadimmah contains cautions regarding trust in written records that remain wholly applicable today. These scholars had an incalculable influence on methods of research and editing, due in part to the Islamic practice of isnad which emphasized fidelity to written record, checking sources, and skeptical inquiry. The historiography of early Islam is the study of how various historians have treated the events of the first two centuries of Islamic history. ... Scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. ... The historical method comprises the techniques and guidelines by which historians use primary sources and other evidence to research and then to write history. ... For other uses, see Citation (disambiguation). ... The Brethren of Purity (اخوان الصفا; also translated as Brethren of Sincerity) were an obscure and mysterious organization of neo-Platonic Arabic philosophers in Basra, Iraq (then seat of the Abbasid Caliphate) sometime during the 900s CE. They are remembered primarily because of a work they produced- the Encyclopedia of the Brethren... This article is about the city of Basra. ... The Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity (also variously known as the Epistles of the Brethren of Sincerity, the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity or Epistles of the Brethren of Purity and Loyal Friends; Arabic: Rasail ikhwan as-safa wa khillan al-wafa ) was an encyclopedia written by... For other uses, see Razi. ... Mutazili (Arabic المعتزلة) is an extinct theological school of thought within Islam. ... For the Christian theologian, see Abd al-Masih ibn Ishaq al-Kindi. ... This article needs cleanup. ... Universal history is basic to the Western tradition of historiography, especially the Judeo-Christian wellspring of that tradition. ... The Asharite (Arabic الأشعرية al-ash`aryah) is a school of early Muslim philosophy that wasinstrumental in drastically changing the direction of Islamic philosophy, separating its development radically from that of philosophy in the Christian world. ... Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Jarir at-Tabari (AD 838-AD 923), Iranian historian and theologian, was born in Amol, Tabaristan (south of the Caspian), and studied in Ray (Rages) , Baghdad, and in Syria and Egypt. ... Abd al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn Masudi (d. ... Balamis 14th century Persian version of Universal History by al-Tabari Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Jarir at-Tabari 838–923 (father of Jafar, named Muhammad, son of Jarir from the province of Tabaristan, Arabic الطبري), was an author from Persia, one of the earliest, most prominent and famous Persian... The History of the Prophets and Kings (Arabic: تاريخ الرسل والملوك Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-Muluk, popularly Tarikh al-Tabari) is a history by Persian author and historian Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (838–923) from the Creation to AD 915, and is renowned for its detail and accuracy concerning Arab and Muslim... Ibn Rustah (in Persian: ابن رسته) was a 10th century Persian explorer and geographer born in Rosta district, Isfahan, Persia (See Encyclopaedia Iranica [1]). He wrote a geographical compendium. ... Ibn KhaldÅ«n or Ibn Khaldoun (full name, Arabic: , ) (May 27, 1332 AD/732 AH – March 19, 1406 AD/808 AH), was a famous Berber Muslim polymath: a historian, historiographer, demographer, economist, philosopher, political theorist, sociologist and social scientist born in present-day Tunisia. ... The Muqaddimah records an early Muslim view of universal history. Many modern thinkers view it as one of the first works of sociology. ... The isnad (Arabic اسناد or in Quranic era Arabic اسند) are the citations or backings that establish the legitimacy of the hadith, which are the sayings of Muhammad, Prophet of Islam. ...

The enormous encyclopedic work in China of the Four Great Books of Song, compiled by the 11th century during the early Song Dynasty (960–1279), was a massive literary undertaking for the time. The last encyclopedia of the four, the Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau, amounted to 9.4 million Chinese characters in 1000 written volumes. There were many great encyclopedists throughout Chinese history, including the scientist and statesman Shen Kuo (1031–1095) with his Dream Pool Essays of 1088, the statesman, inventor, and agronomist Wang Zhen (active 1290–1333) with his Nong Shu of 1313, and the written Tiangong Kaiwu of Song Yingxing (1587–1666), the latter of whom was termed the "Diderot of China" by British historian Joseph Needham.^[9] The Four Great Books of Song (Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) was compiled by Li Fang and others during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). ... Northern Song in 1111 AD Capital Bianjing (汴京) (960–1127) Linan (臨安) (1127–1276) Language(s) Chinese Religion Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism Government Monarchy Emperor  - 960–976 Emperor Taizu  - 1126–1127 Emperor Qinzong  - 1127–1162 Emperor Gaozong  - 1278–1279 Emperor Bing History  - Zhao Kuangyin taking over the throne of the Later Zhou... The Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau (Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ) was the largest encyclopedia compiled during the Chinese Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD). ... Technical note: Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... This is a Chinese name; the family name is Shen Shen Kuo or Shen Kua (Chinese: ; pinyin: ) (1031–1095) was a polymathic Chinese scientist and statesman of the Song Dynasty (960–1279). ... Shen Kuo (沈括) (1031-1095 AD) The Dream Pool Essays (Pinyin: Meng Xi Bi Tan; Wade-Giles: Meng Chi Pi Tan Chinese: 梦溪笔谈) was an extensive book written by the polymath Chinese scientist and statesman Shen Kuo (1031-1095) by 1088 AD, during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) of China. ... Wáng ZhÄ“n (王禎) (fl. ... Song Yingxing (Traditional Chinese:宋應星; Simplified Chinese:宋应星; Wade Giles: Sung Ying-Hsing; 1587-1666 AD) was a Chinese scientist and encyclopedist who lived during the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). ... Portrait of Diderot by Louis-Michel van Loo, 1767 Denis Diderot (October 5, 1713 – July 31, 1784) was a French philosopher and writer. ... Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (December 9, 1900 – March 24, 1995) was a British biochemist and pre-eminent authority on the history of Chinese science. ...

The Chinese emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty oversaw the compilation of the Yongle Encyclopedia, one of the largest encyclopedias in history, which was completed in 1408 and comprised over 11,000 handwritten volumes, 370 million Chinese characters, of which only about 400 remain today. In the succeeding dynasty, emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty personally composed 40,000 poems as part of a 4.7 million page library in 4 divisions, including thousands of essays, called the Siku Quanshu which is probably the largest collection of books in the world. It is instructive to compare his title for this knowledge, Watching the waves in a Sacred Sea to a Western-style title for all knowledge. Encyclopedic works, both in imitation of Chinese encyclopedias and as independent works of their own origin, have been known to exist in Japan since the ninth century CE. The king or wang (王 wang2) was the Chinese head of state from the Zhou to Qin dynasties. ... The Yongle Emperor (May 2, 1360–August 12, 1424), born Zhu Di, was the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty of China from 1402 to 1424. ... For other uses, see Ming. ... Page from the Yongle Encyclopedia The Yongle Encyclopedia (traditional Chinese: ; simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally “The Great Canon [or Vast Documents] of the Yongle Era”) was a Chinese compilation commissioned by the Chinese Ming Dynasty emperor Yongle in 1403. ... The Qianlong Emperor (September 25, 1711–February 7, 1799) was the fifth emperor of the Manchu Qing dynasty, and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China. ... Flag (1890-1912) Anthem Gong Jinou (1911) Qing China at its greatest extent. ... Siku quanshu (Traditional Chinese: 四庫全書; Simplified Chinese: 四库全书; pinyin: si4ku4 quan2shu1), or encyclopedia of the four archives, is the largest collection of Chinese philopsophers, historians, and poets in Chinese History. ...

These works were all hand copied and thus rarely available, beyond wealthy patrons or monastic men of learning: they were expensive, and usually written for those extending knowledge rather than those using it.^[7]

17th–19th centuries

Encyclopédie, 1773

The beginnings of the modern idea of the general-purpose, widely distributed printed encyclopedia precede the 18th century encyclopedists. However, Chambers' Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1728), and the Encyclopédie of Diderot and D'Alembert (1751 onwards), as well as Encyclopædia Britannica and the Conversations-Lexikon, were the first to realize the form we would recognize today, with a comprehensive scope of topics, discussed in depth and organized in an accessible, systematic method -- although it is notable that to an extent Chambers, in 1728, was following the still earlier lead of John Harris' Lexicon Technicum, of 1704 and later editions (see also below), which was also by its title and content "An Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences: Explaining not only the Terms of Art, but the Arts Themselves". Download high resolution version (600x898, 121 KB)Info: Cover of the Encyclopédie. ... Download high resolution version (600x898, 121 KB)Info: Cover of the Encyclopédie. ... This article is about the 18th-century French encyclopaedia. ... The term encyclopedist is usually used for a group of French philosophers who collaborated in the 18th century in the production of the Encyclopédie, under the direction of Denis Diderot. ... Table of Trigonometry, 1728 Cyclopaedia Cyclopaedia, or, A Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (folio, 2 vols. ... This article is about the 18th-century French encyclopaedia. ... The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. ... Brockhaus is a German encyclopedia published by Brockhaus. ... Lexicon technicum, or an universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences The first alphabetical encyclopaedia written in English, it was the work of a London clergyman, John Harris. ...

Much encyclopaedism of the French Renaissance was based upon the notion of not including every fact known to humans, but only that knowledge that was necessary, where necessity was judged by a wide variety of criteria, leading to works of greatly varying sizes. Béroalde de Verville laid the foundation for his encyclopaedic works in a hexameral poem entitled Les cognoissances nécessaires for example. Often, the criteria had moral bases, such as in the case of Pierre de La Primaudaye's L'Academie Française and Guillaume Telin's Bref sommaire des sept vertus &c.. Encyclopaedists encountered several problems with this approach, including how to decide what to omit as unnecessary, how to structure knowledge that resisted structure (often simply as a consequence of the sheer amount of material that deserved inclusion), and how to cope with the influx of newly discovered knowledge and the effects that it had on prior structures.^[10] This article is about the cultural movement known as the French Renaissance. ... François Béroalde de Verville (Paris, April 27, 1556 - October 19-26, 1626) was a French Renaissance novelist, poet and intellectual. ...

The term encyclopaedia was coined by 15th century humanists who misread copies of their texts of Pliny and Quintilian, and combined the two Greek words "enkuklios paideia" into one word. Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19th Century portrait. ... Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (c. ...

The English physician and philosopher, Sir Thomas Browne, specifically employed the word encyclopaedia as early as 1646 in the preface to the reader to describe his Pseudodoxia Epidemica or Vulgar Errors, a series of refutations of common errors of his age. Browne structured his encyclopaedia upon the time-honoured schemata of the Renaissance, the so-called 'scale of creation' which ascends a hierarchical ladder via the mineral, vegetable, animal, human, planetary and cosmological worlds. Browne's compendium went through no less than five editions, each revised and augmented, the last edition appearing in 1672. Pseudodoxia Epidemica found itself upon the bookshelves of many educated European readers for throughout the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries it was translated, for many years it was not thought compatible with the French and Dutcheze, into the French, Dutch and German languages as well as Latin. Sir Thomas Browne (October 19, 1605 – October 19, 1682) was an English author of varied works that disclose his wide learning in diverse fields including medicine, religion, science and the esoteric. ... Sir Thomas Brownes vast work refuting the common errors and superstitions of his age, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, first appeared in 1646 and went through five editions, the last revision occurring in 1672. ... For other uses, see Latin (disambiguation). ...

Harris' Lexicon Technicum, title page of 2nd edition, 1708

John Harris is often credited with introducing the now-familiar alphabetic format in 1704 with his English Lexicon Technicum: Or, An Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences: Explaining not only the Terms of Art, but the Arts Themselves -- to give its full title. Organized alphabetically, its content does indeed contain explanation not merely of the terms used in the arts and sciences, but of the arts and sciences themselves. Sir Isaac Newton contributed his only published work on chemistry to the second volume of 1710. Its emphasis was on science -- and conformably to the broad 18th-century understanding of the term 'science', its content extends beyond what would be called science or technology today, and includes topics from the humanities and fine arts, e.g. a substantial number from law, commerce, music, and heraldry. At about 1200 pages, its scope can be considered as more that of an encyclopedic dictionary than a true encyclopedia. Harris himself considered it a dictionary; the work is one of the first technical dictionaries in any language. Lexicon technicum, or an universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences The first alphabetical encyclopaedia written in English, it was the work of a London clergyman, John Harris. ... This article refers to John Harris, an English writer. ... Sir Isaac Newton FRS (4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727) [ OS: 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1727][1] was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, and alchemist. ...

Ephraim Chambers published his Cyclopaedia in 1728. It included a broad scope of subjects, used an alphabetic arrangement, relied on many different contributors and included the innovation of cross-referencing other sections within articles. Chambers has been referred to as the father of the modern encyclopedia for this two-volume work. Ephraim Chambers (c1680 - 15 May 1740), was an English writer and encyclopedist, who is primarily known for producing the Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. ... Table of Trigonometry, 1728 Cyclopaedia Cyclopaedia, or, A Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (folio, 2 vols. ...

A French translation of Chambers' work inspired the Encyclopédie, perhaps the most famous early encyclopedia, notable for its scope, the quality of some contributions, and its political and cultural impact in the years leading up to the French revolution. The Encyclopédie was edited by Jean le Rond d'Alembert and Denis Diderot and published in 17 volumes of articles, issued from 1751 to 1765, and 11 volumes of illustrations, issued from 1762 to 1772. Five volumes of supplementary material and a two volume index, supervised by other editors, were issued from 1776 to 1780 by Charles Joseph Panckoucke. This article is about the 18th-century French encyclopaedia. ... The French Revolution (1789–1815) was a period of political and social upheaval in the political history of France and Europe as a whole, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on... Jean le Rond dAlembert, pastel by Maurice Quentin de La Tour Jean le Rond dAlembert (November 16, 1717 – October 29, 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist and philosopher. ... Portrait of Diderot by Louis-Michel van Loo, 1767 Denis Diderot (October 5, 1713 – July 31, 1784) was a French philosopher and writer. ... Charles-Joseph Panckoucke (26 November 1736 - 19 December 1798) was a French writer and publisher, notable for the Encyclopédie méthodique, a successor to the Encyclopédie of Diderot. ...

The Encyclopédie represented the essence of the French Enlightenment.^[11] The prospectus stated an ambitious goal: the Encyclopédie was to be a systematic analysis of the "order and interrelations of human knowledge."^[12] Diderot, in his Encyclopédie article of the same name, went further: "to collect all the knowledge that now lies scattered over the face of the earth, to make known its general structure to the men among we live, and to transmit it to those who will come after us," to make men not only wiser but also "more virtuous and more happy."^[13] ...

Realizing the inherent problems with the model of knowledge he had created, Diderot's view of his own success in writing the Encyclopédie were far from ecstatic. Diderot envisioned the perfect encyclopedia as more than the sum of its parts. In his own article on the encyclopedia, Diderot also wrote, "Were an analytical dictionary of the sciences and arts nothing more than a methodical combination of their elements, I would still ask whom it behooves to fabricate good elements." Diderot viewed the ideal encyclopedia as an index of connections. He realized that all knowledge could never be amassed in one work, but he hoped the relations among subjects could be.

The Encyclopédie in turn inspired the venerable Encyclopædia Britannica, which had a modest beginning in Scotland: the first edition, issued between 1768 and 1771, had just three hastily completed volumes - A-B, C-L, and M-Z - with a total of 2,391 pages. By 1797, when the third edition was completed, it had been expanded to 18 volumes addressing a full range of topics, with articles contributed by a range of authorities on their subjects. The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. ...

The second-oldest Polish encyclopedia — after Nowe Ateny (The New Athens) by Benedykt Chmielowski — was published in 1781 by the poet, novelist and future Primate of Poland, Ignacy Krasicki. This was the two-volume Zbiór potrzebniejszych wiadomości (A Collection of Needful Knowledge). NaÅ‚Ä™cz – Chmielowski coat of arms Benedykt Joachim Chmielowski Born in Łuck 1700 1763) – Polish priest. ... The poor poet A poet is a person who writes poetry. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... Archbishops of Gniezno and simultaneously Primates of Poland since 1412. ... Ignacy Krasicki Ignacy Krasicki (February 3, 1735, in Galicia — March 14, 1801, in Berlin) was a Polish prince of the Roman Catholic Church, a social critic, a leading writer, and the outstanding poet of the Polish Enlightenment, hailed by contemporaries as the Prince of Poets. ...

The German-language Conversations-Lexikon was published at Leipzig from 1796 to 1808, in 6 volumes. Paralleling other 18th century encyclopedias, its scope was expanded beyond that of earlier publications, in an effort at comprehensiveness. It was, however, intended not for scholarly use but to provide results of research and discovery in a simple and popular form without extensive detail. This format, a contrast to the Encyclopædia Britannica, was widely imitated by later 19th century encyclopedias in Britain, the United States, France, Spain, Italy and other countries. Of the influential late-18th century and early-19th century encyclopedias, the Conversations-Lexikon is perhaps most similar in form to today's encyclopedias. Examples of German language in Namibian everyday life. ... Brockhaus is a German encyclopedia published by Brockhaus. ... Leipzig ( ; Sorbian/Lusatian: Lipsk from the Sorbian word for Tilia) is, with a population of over 506,000, the largest city in the federal state of Saxony, Germany. ... The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. ...

The early years of the 19th century saw a flowering of encyclopedia publishing in the United Kingdom, Europe and America. In England Rees's Cyclopaedia (1802–1819) contains an enormous amount in information about the industrial and scientific revolutions of the time. A feature of these publications is the high-quality illustrations made by engravers like Wilson Lowry of art work supplied by specialist draftsmen like John Farey, Jr. Encyclopaedias were published in Scotland, as a result of the Scottish Enlightenment, for education there was of a higher standard than in the rest of the United Kingdom. Reess Cyclopaedia, or The New Cyclopaedia, or, Universal Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences was edited by Revd. ... Wilson Lowry (January 24, 1762 - June 23, 1824) was an English engraver. ... John Farey, Jr. ... This article is about the country. ... The Scottish Enlightenment was a period of intellectual ferment in Scotland, running from approximately 1740 to 1800. ...

The 17-volume Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle and its supplements were published in France from 1866 to 1890. The Grand Dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle (Great Universal Dictionary of the 19th Century), often called the Larousse du dix-neuvième is an encyclopedic dictionary, a work of Pierre Larousse. ...

Encyclopædia Britannica appeared in various editions throughout the century, and the growth of popular education and the Mechanics Institutes, spearheaded by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge led to the production of the Penny Cyclopaedia, as its title suggests issued in weekly numbers at a penny each like a newspaper. It has been suggested that Folk high school be merged into this article or section. ... Historically, Mechanics Institutes were educational establishments formed to provide adult education, particularly in technical subjects, to working people. ... The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge was founded in 1828 in London, mainly at the instigation of Lord Brougham with the objects of publishing information to people who were unable to obtain formal teaching, or who preferred self-education. ... The Penny Cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge was a multi-volume encyclopedia edited by George Long and published by Charles Knight alongside the Penny Magazine. ...

In the early 20th century, the Encyclopædia Britannica reached its eleventh edition, and inexpensive encyclopedias such as Harmsworth's Encyclopaedia and Everyman's Encyclopaedia were common.

20th century

1913 advertisement for Encyclopædia Britannica, the oldest and one of the largest contemporary English encyclopedias.

Three PC based encyclopedias from the 1990s.

In the United States, the 1950s and 1960s saw the introduction of several large popular encyclopedias, often sold on installment plans. The best known of these were World Book and Funk and Wagnalls. Modified version of Image:EncycBrit1913. ... Modified version of Image:EncycBrit1913. ... The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. ... World Book Encyclopedia is, according to its publisher in the United States, the number-one selling print encyclopedia in the world [1]. The first edition (1917) contained 8 volumes. ... Funk and Wagnalls is a publisher based in New York City. ...

The second half of the 20th century also saw the publication of several encyclopedias that were notable for synthesizing important topics in specific fields, often by means of new works authored by significant researchers. Such encyclopedias included The Encyclopedia of Philosophy (first published in 1967 and now in its second edition), and Elsevier's Handbooks In Economics [1] series. Encyclopedias of at least one volume in size exist for most if not all Academic disciplines, including, typically, such narrow topics such as bioethics and African American history. This is a list of academic disciplines (and academic fields). ... Bioethics is the ethics of biological science and medicine. ... African American history is the portion of American history that specifically discusses the African American or Black American ethnic group in the United States. ...

By the late 20th century, encyclopedias were being published on CD-ROMs for use with personal computers. Microsoft's Encarta was a landmark example, as it had no print version. Articles were supplemented with video and audio files as well as numerous high-quality images. Similar encyclopedias were also being published online, and made available by subscription. The CD-ROM (an abbreviation for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (ROM)) is a non-volatile optical data storage medium using the same physical format as audio compact discs, readable by a computer with a CD-ROM drive. ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ... Encarta is a digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft Corporation. ... Online means being connected to the Internet or another similar electronic network, like a bulletin board system. ...

Traditional encyclopedias are written by a number of employed text writers, usually people with an academic degree, and distributed as proprietary content. Encyclopedias are essentially derivative from what has gone before, and particularly in the 19th century, copyright infringement was common among encyclopedia editors. However, modern encyclopedias are not merely larger compendia, including all that came before them. To make space for modern topics, valuable material of historic use regularly had to be discarded, at least before the advent of digital encyclopedias. Moreover, the opinions and world views of a particular generation can be observed in the encyclopedic writing of the time. For these reasons, old encyclopedias are a useful source of historical information, especially for a record of changes in science and technology.^[14] As of 2007, old encyclopedias whose copyright has expired, such as the 1911 edition of Britannica, are also the only free content encyclopedias released in print form. A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ... A degree is any of a wide range of status levels conferred by institutions of higher education, such as universities, normally as the result of successfully completing a program of study. ... Proprietary indicates that a party, or proprietor, exercises private ownership, control or use over an item of property, usually to the exclusion of other parties. ... The Cathach of St. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... Free content is any kind of functional work, artwork, or other creative content upon which no legal restriction has been placed that significantly interferes with peoples freedom to use, understand, redistribute, improve, and share the content. ...

Free encyclopedia

The concept of a new free encyclopedia began with the Interpedia proposal on Usenet in 1993, which outlined an Internet-based online encyclopedia to which anyone could submit content and that would be freely accessible. Early projects in this vein included Everything2 and Open Site. In 1999, Richard Stallman proposed the GNUPedia, an online encyclopedia which, similar to the GNU operating system, would be a "generic" resource. The concept was very similar to Interpedia, but more in line with Stallman's GNU philosophy. The Interpedia was the name given to the first proposals for an Internet encyclopedia which would allow anyone to contribute by writing articles and submitting them to the central catalog of all Interpedia pages. ... Usenet (USEr NETwork) is a global, decentralized, distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name. ... The idea to build a free encyclopedia using the Internet can be traced at least to the 1993 Interpedia proposal; it was planned as an encyclopedia on the Internet to which everyone could contribute materials. ... Everything2, Everything2, or E2 for short, is a collaborative Web-based community consisting of a database of interlinked user-submitted written material. ... Open Site is a free internet encyclopedia with many editors. ... Richard Matthew Stallman (born March 16, 1953), often abbreviated rms,[1] is an American software freedom activist, hacker,[2] and software developer. ... GNUPedia (later renamed GNE) was a project to create a free content encyclopedia (licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License) under the auspices of the Free Software Foundation that has been discontinued. ... GNU is a free software operating system. ... GNU (pronounced ) is a computer operating system composed entirely of free software. ...

It was not until Nupedia and later Wikipedia that a stable and thriving free encyclopedia project was able to be established on the Internet. The English Wikipedia became the world's largest encyclopedia in 2004 at the 300,000 article stage ^[15] and by late 2005, Wikipedia had produced over two million articles in more than 80 languages with content licensed under the copyleft GNU Free Documentation License. As of July 2007, Wikipedia has over 2.0 million articles in English and well over 8 million combined in over 250 languages. Nupedia was a Web-based encyclopedia whose articles were written by experts and licensed as free content. ... Wikipedia (IPA: , or ( ) is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization. ... The reversed c in a full circle is the copyleft symbol. ... “GFDL” redirects here. ... July 2007 is the seventh month of that year. ...

21st century

Encarta visual browser, an example of 21st century encyclopedias.

Wikipedia is one of the first "user generated content" encyclopedias.

The encyclopedia's hierarchical structure and evolving nature is particularly adaptable to a disk-based or on-line computer format, and all major printed multi-subject encyclopedias had moved to this method of delivery by the end of the 20th century. Disk-based (typically DVD-ROM or CD-ROM format) publications have the advantage of being cheaply produced and extremely portable. Additionally, they can include media which are impossible to store in the printed format, such as animations, audio, and video. Hyperlinking between conceptually related items is also a significant benefit. On-line encyclopedias, like Wikipedia, offer the additional advantage of being (potentially) dynamic: new information can be presented almost immediately, rather than waiting for the next release of a static format (as with a disk- or paper-based publication). Many printed encyclopedias traditionally published annual supplemental volumes ("yearbooks") to update events between editions, as a partial solution to the problem of staying up-to-date, but this of course required the reader to check both the main volumes and the supplemental volume(s). Some disk-based encyclopedias offer subscription-based access to online updates, which are then integrated with the content already on the user's hard disk in a manner not possible with a printed encyclopedia. Image File history File links Bold textEncartas Visual Browser (fair use). ... Image File history File links Bold textEncartas Visual Browser (fair use). ... Encarta is a digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft Corporation. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1058x1058, 477 KB) aa Wikipedia logo, version 1058px square, no text Wikipedia logo by Nohat (concept by Paullusmagnus); compare Wikipedia File links The following pages link to this file: Arabic language Talk:Anarcho-capitalism Talk:Algorithm Talk:Anno Domini Talk:The... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1058x1058, 477 KB) aa Wikipedia logo, version 1058px square, no text Wikipedia logo by Nohat (concept by Paullusmagnus); compare Wikipedia File links The following pages link to this file: Arabic language Talk:Anarcho-capitalism Talk:Algorithm Talk:Anno Domini Talk:The... Wikipedia (IPA: , or ( ) is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Disk storage is a general category of a computer storage mechanisms, in which data is recorded on planar, round and rotating surfaces (disks, discs, or platters). ... This article is about the machine. ... Look up format in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... DVD is an optical disc storage media format that is used for playback of movies with high video and sound quality and for storing data. ... The CD-ROM (an abbreviation for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (ROM)) is a non-volatile optical data storage medium using the same physical format as audio compact discs, readable by a computer with a CD-ROM drive. ... The bouncing ball animation (below) consists of these 6 frames. ... Methods and media for sound recording are varied and have undergone significant changes between the first time sound was actually recorded for later playback until now. ... For other uses, see Video (disambiguation). ... // A hyperlink, is a reference or navigation element in a document to another section of the same document or to another document that may be on a (different) website. ... Wikipedia (IPA: , or ( ) is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization. ...

Information in a printed encyclopedia necessarily needs some form of hierarchical structure. Traditionally, the method employed is to present the information ordered alphabetically by the article title. However with the advent of dynamic electronic formats the need to impose a pre-determined structure is less necessary. Nonetheless, most electronic encyclopedias still offer a range of organizational strategies for the articles, such as by subject area or alphabetically.

CD-ROM and Internet-based encyclopedias also offer greater search abilities than printed versions. While the printed versions rely on indexes to assist in searching for topics, computer accessible versions allow searching through article text for keywords or phrases.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Encyclopedias

• List of encyclopedias
• Encyclopedic dictionary
• Wikipedia:Size comparisons
• Biographical dictionary
• Dictionary
• Lexicon
• Thesaurus
• History of science and technology
• Library and information science
• Lexicography

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... This article contains a list of encyclopedias, including projects to create new works. ... An encyclopedic dictionary typically includes a large number of short listings discussing a wide of topics. ... Biographical dictionaries — a type of encyclopedic dictionary limited to biographical information — have been written in many languages. ... For other uses, see Dictionary (disambiguation). ... Look up lexicon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For the American rapper, see TheSaurus (rapper). ... The history of science and technology (HST) is a field of history which examines how humanitys understanding of science and technology has changed over the millennia. ... Library and information science (LIS) is the study of issues related to libraries and the information fields. ... The pursuit of lexicography is divided into two related disciplines: Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. ...

Notes

17 November is also the name of a Marxist group in Greece, coinciding with the anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic uprising. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... 17 November is also the name of a Marxist group in Greece, coinciding with the anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic uprising. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... Dictionary of the Middle Ages: Supplement 1 (2003) The Dictionary of the Middle Ages is a 13-volume encyclopedia of the Middle Ages published by the American Council of Learned Societies between 1982 and 1989, with a supplemental volume added in 2003. ...

References

External links

Look up encyclopedia, encyclopaedia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• CNET's encyclopedia meta-search (includes Wikipedia)
• Encyclopaedia and Hypertext
• Internet Accuracy Project - Biographical errors in encyclopedias and almanacs
• Encyclopedia - Diderot's article on the Encyclopedia from the original Encyclopédie.
• What makes a scholarly encyclopedia?
• Errors and inconsistencies in several printed reference books and encyclopedias
• Digital encyclopedias put the world at your fingertips - CNET article
• Librarians' Internet Index - a list of encyclopedias online
• Encyclopedias online University of Wisconsin - Stout listing by category
• Chambers' Cyclopaedia, 1728, with the 1753 supplement
• Encyclopædia Americana, 1851, Francis Lieber ed. (Boston: Mussey & Co.) at the University of Michigan Making of America site
• Encyclopædia Britannica, articles and illustrations from 9th ed., 1875–89, and 10th ed., 1902–03.
• Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., 1911, at the LoveToKnow™ site.