List of historical encyclopedias

This is a list of encyclopedias, arranged by time period. For other arrangements, see list of encyclopedias.

Encyclopedias before 1700

• Nine Books of Disciplines by Marcus Terentius Varro (116 BC – 27 BC).
• Pliny's Natural History AD 77. Highly influential in the Middle Ages.
• Cassiodorus' Institutiones, AD 560. First Christian encyclopedia.
• Yiwen Leiju (622) Tang dynasty, Chinese
• 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)
• Four Great Books of Song (Song Sida Shu)(10th to 11th century) Song dynasty, Chinese
• Liber Floridus, compiled in 1120 by Lambert of St. Omer
• Bartholomeus Anglicus, 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 with over 3 million words.
• Thomas of Cantimpré, Liber de natura rerum, 13th century
• Yongle Encyclopedia (1403–1408). Ming Dynasty Chinese encyclopedia.
• Fons memorabilium universi by Domenico Bandini of Arezzo (early 15th century)
• Paul Skalic, philosopher born in 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.
• Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica) (1596) Ming dynasty, Chinese
• Sancai Tuhui (1609)
• Laurence Beyerlinck, Magnum Theatrum Vitae Humanae, 1631.
• Sir Thomas Browne: Pseudodoxia Epidemica 1646-1672
• Louis Moréri Le grand Dictionaire historique (The Great Historical Dictionary), 1671.
• Pierre Bayle: Dictionnaire Historique et Critique (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

American encyclopedias

• Dobson's Encyclopædia (1789–1798; largely a reprint of the Britannica's 3rd edition)

British encyclopedias

• Lexicon Technicum (1704)
• Chambers's Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1728)
• An Universal History of Arts and Sciences (1745)
• Encyclopædia Britannica (1768, editions 2 and 3 by 1800)
• Encyclopædia Perthensis (1796–1806, ed 2 by 1816)

Chinese encyclopedias

• Gujin Túshu Jíchéng (1725–26) Qing dynasty
• Siku Quanshu (1782) Qing dynasty

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)

Japanese encyclopedias

• Wakan Sansai Zue (1712)

Polish encyclopedias

• Nowe Ateny (1745)
• Zbiór potrzebniejszych wiadomości (1781)

Encyclopedias published 1800–1900

American encyclopedias

• Encyclopaedia Americana (1829–1833) 13 volumes, editor Francis Lieber.
• New American Cyclopaedia (1857–1863) 16 volumes, editors George Ripley and Charles A. Dana.
• American Cyclopaedia (1873–1876), the retitled New American Cyclopaedia.
• Johnson's New Universal Cyclopaedia (1876–1878) 4 volumes. editors Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard and Arnold Henry Guyot.
• Cyclopedia of Universal History (180-84), World History
• Ridpath's Universal History (1895), World History
• Johnson's Universal Cyclopaedia (1893–1897), the retitled Johnson's New Universal Cyclopaedia, edited by Charles Kendall Adams.
• Alden's Library of Universal Knowledge (1879), a reprint of Chambers's Encyclopaedia with American additions.
• International Cyclopaedia (1884), initially it was largely a reprint of Alden's Library of Universal Knowledge, but later editions were improved by editors Harry Thurston Peck, Selim Peabody, Frank Moore Colby, and Daniel Coit Gilman.
• People's Cyclopedia of Universal Knowledge (1881) 4 volumes, editor W. H. De Puy. Contains much from Chambers's Encyclopaedia. The 1898 title was The New People's Cyclopedia of Universal Knowledge.

British encyclopedias

• Rees's Cyclopaedia (1802–1819)
• Encyclopædia Britannica (eds 4–9 by 1889)
• Edinburgh Encyclopaedia (1808)
• British Encyclopaedia (1809)
• Encyclopaedia Londinensis (1810)
• Pantologia (1813)
• Encyclopaedia Metropolitana (1822–1845)
• Penny Cyclopaedia (1833–1846)
• English Encyclopaedia (1854–1862, supp. 1869–1873)
• Chambers's Encyclopaedia (1860; no relation to Chambers's Cyclopaedia of the 18th century)
• Pears Cyclopaedia (1897), originally named Pears' Shilling Cyclopaedia
• The People's Select Cyclopedia (1897) by Charles Nisbett

Danish encyclopedias

• Salmonsens Konversationsleksikon (19 volumes, 1893-1911)

Dutch encyclopedias

See also: Dutch encyclopedia

• 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)

Hungarian encyclopedias

• A Pallas Nagy Lexikona (1893–1897)

Romanian encyclopedias

• Enciclopedia română (Editor: Constantin Diaconovich, 3 volumes, 1896–1904)

Russian encyclopedias

• Plyushar's Encyclopedic Lexicon (17 volumes, 1834-1841)
• Military Encyclopedic Lexicon (15 volumes, 1837-1852)
• Encyclopedia of Military and Marine Sciences (8 volumes, 1883-1897)
• Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (86 volumes, 1890-1906)
• Granat Encyclopedic Dictionary (9 volumes, 1891-1903)

Swedish encyclopedias

• Conversations-lexicon (4 volumes, 1821-1826), a translation of Brockhaus 2nd edition
• Svenskt konversationslexikon (4 volumes, 1845-1851) by Per Gustaf Berg
• Nordisk familjebok (20 volumes, 1876–1899; 2nd ed. 1904–1926)

Spanish encyclopedias

• Enciclopedia moderna (1851), Francisco de P. Mellado

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)
• Cyclopaedia of Political Science - Cyclopaedia of Political Science, Political Economy, and the Political History of the United States by the Best American and European Writers (1881–1899) John J. Lalor. On Econlib.
• The Cyclopedia of New Zealand (1897–1908 mainly vanity press)

Turkish encyclopedias

• [Kamus-ül-Ulûm ve’l-Maarif] Editor Ali Suavi,1870
• [Lûgaat-i Tarihiye ve Coğrafiye] Editor Ahmet Rıfat Efendi,1881 (7 volumes)
• [Sicil-i Osmani] Editor Mehmet Süreyya Bey, 1890
• [Kamus-ül-Alam] Editor » : Şemsettin Sami, 1899 (6 volumes)

Religious encyclopedias

• Coptic Encyclopedia (1993)
• Jewish Encyclopedia (1901–1906)
• Encyclopaedia Judaica
• Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)
• Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (1914; public domain since 2004)
• St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India (1973,82,2010)
• Encyclopedia of Mormonism (1992)
• Orthodox Encyclopedia (Serbe)
• Encyclopaedia of Islam
• Hastings, James: Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics (1908–1926)
• Unitarian-Universalist Encyclopedia ( http:unitarian-universalist.wetpaint.com )

See also

• List of encyclopedias
• List of encyclopedias by branch of knowledge
• List of encyclopedias by language (English)

References

• Collison, Robert, Encyclopaedias: Their History Throughout the Ages, 2nd ed. (New York, London: Hafner, 1966)