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[[File:FWEncyclopedia.jpg|right|300px|thumb|''Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Encyclopedia'', ''ca.'' 1960s]]

[[File:FWEncyclopedia.jpg|right|300px|thumb|''Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Encyclopedia'', ''ca.'' 1960s]]

'''Encyclopedia''' (Greek: ''ἐνκύκλιos παιδεία'', ''enkyklios paideia''; "circle of instruction") refers to a reference resource giving information on many subjects or on the many aspects of one subject.  As such, an encyclopedia is generally a summary, a storehouse of knowledge collected in an alphabetical or thematic way with an objective and universal claim, and not specialized, monothematic or subjective as a treaty or an essay.  [[Encyclopedia Britannica|Encyclopaedia Britannica]] is among the best known and widely read print encyclopedias, though [[Wikipedia®]] and [[Conservapedia]] are both well-known encyclopedias based on [[MediaWiki]] software and hosted on the internet.

'''Encyclopedia''' (Greek: ''ἐνκύκλιos παιδεία'', ''enkyklios paideia''; "circle of instruction") refers to a reference resource giving information on many subjects or on the many aspects of one subject.  As such, an encyclopedia is generally a summary, a storehouse of knowledge collected in an alphabetical or thematic way with an objective and universal claim, and not specialized, monothematic or subjective as a treaty or an essay.  [[Encyclopedia Britannica|Encyclopaedia Britannica]] is among the best known and widely read print encyclopedias, though [[Wikipedia]] and [[Conservapedia]] are both well-known encyclopedias based on [[MediaWiki]] software and hosted on the internet.

==History==

==History==

The origins of what was to become the modern encyclopedia began in ancient times.  In Sumeria, during the fourth millennium BC, a thematic glossary was written as a first attempt to order or catalog the knowledge of the world, and 600 years later a similar attempt is registered in Ebla following a conventional order of signs.  These first attempts are called lexical lists<ref>http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/dcclt/intro/lexical_intro.html</ref>, and were based on a listing of professions, vessels, trees, animals, etc, and written in [[cuneiform]].

The origins of what was to become the modern encyclopedia began in ancient times.  In Sumeria, during the fourth millennium BC, a thematic glossary was written as a first attempt to order or catalog the knowledge of the world, and 600 years later a similar attempt is registered in Ebla following a conventional order of signs.  These first attempts are called lexical lists<ref>http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/dcclt/intro/lexical_intro.html</ref>, and were based on a listing of professions, vessels, trees, animals, etc, and written in [[cuneiform]].

In ancient Egypt there are also thematic lists that can be considered as protoencyclopedias<ref>https://www.scribd.com/document/74618841/121-Ancient-Egyptian-Onomastics</ref>. The Ramessum Onomasticon<ref>http://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=4395</ref><ref>https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/publications/online_research_catalogues/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=3428395&partid=1&catalogueOnly=true&catParentPageid=33723&output=bibliography/!!/OR/!!/7682/!//!/The%20Ramesseum%20Papyri/!//!!//!!!/&catalogueName=The%20Ramesseum%20Papyri&catalogueSection=The%20Ramesseum%20Papyri&sortBy=catNumber</ref>, written around 1750 BC is a list of words grouped by categories. Another work of the same genre, but much more developed, is the Onomastic of Amenophis<ref>https://www.jstor.org/stable/543434?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents</ref><ref>https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/4972/9/Simmance14MRes2.pdf</ref>, made around 1100 BC. It has 610 elements organized in a thematic way and would contain more than 2000 different information with the ambition to create «a systematic catalog of the universe. This distant ancestor of the encyclopedic dictionary would have the task to propose a program of instruction for humanity founded on the organization of the world.

In ancient Egypt, there are also thematic lists that can be considered as protoencyclopedias<ref>https://www.scribd.com/document/74618841/121-Ancient-Egyptian-Onomastics</ref>. The Ramessum Onomasticon<ref>http://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=4395</ref><ref>https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/publications/online_research_catalogues/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=3428395&partid=1&catalogueOnly=true&catParentPageid=33723&output=bibliography/!!/OR/!!/7682/!//!/The%20Ramesseum%20Papyri/!//!!//!!!/&catalogueName=The%20Ramesseum%20Papyri&catalogueSection=The%20Ramesseum%20Papyri&sortBy=catNumber</ref>, written around 1750 BC is a list of words grouped by categories. Another work of the same genre, but much more developed, is the Onomastic of Amenophis<ref>https://www.jstor.org/stable/543434?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents</ref><ref>https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/4972/9/Simmance14MRes2.pdf</ref>, made around 1100 BC. It has 610 elements organized in a thematic way and would contain more than 2000 different information with the ambition to create «a systematic catalog of the universe. This distant ancestor of the encyclopedic dictionary would have the task to propose a program of instruction for humanity founded on the organization of the world.

The Greek philosopher [[Plato]] (428-348 BC) made a summary of the knowledge of his time in one of his dialogues, the Timaeus<ref>http://www.bard.edu/library/arendt/pdfs/Cornford-Plato%27sCosmology.pdf</ref>, which can be considered a "methodical encyclopedia," covering such subjects as astronomy, cosmology, medicince, and physics.  His disciple [[Aristotle]] (384-322 BC) produced a large number of treatises<ref>http://classics.mit.edu/Browse/browse-Aristotle.html</ref> on a wide variety of subjects with a truly encyclopedic spirit and without equivalents in the ancient world (poetics, rhetoric, logic, politics, physics, psychology, biology, ethics, etc.).  However, his efforts were not disseminated until some 275 years after his death, towards the year 50 BC.  Other early encyclopedic writers were not so fortunate; Democritus<ref>https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/democritus/</ref> and Posidonius<ref>http://www.attalus.org/translate/poseidonius.html</ref> are among those whose works are largely lost or in fragments.

The Greek philosopher [[Plato]] (428-348 BC) made a summary of the knowledge of his time in one of his dialogues, the Timaeus<ref>http://www.bard.edu/library/arendt/pdfs/Cornford-Plato%27sCosmology.pdf</ref>, which can be considered a "methodical encyclopedia," covering such subjects as astronomy, cosmology, medicine, and physics.  His disciple [[Aristotle]] (384-322 BC) produced a large number of treatises<ref>http://classics.mit.edu/Browse/browse-Aristotle.html</ref> on a wide variety of subjects with a truly encyclopedic spirit and without equivalents in the ancient world (poetics, rhetoric, logic, politics, physics, psychology, biology, ethics, etc.).  However, his efforts were not disseminated until some 275 years after his death, towards the year 50 BC.  Other early encyclopedic writers were not so fortunate; Democritus<ref>https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/democritus/</ref> and Posidonius<ref>http://www.attalus.org/translate/poseidonius.html</ref> are among those whose works are largely lost or in fragments.

Among the Romans, the first to attempt to summarize ancient knowledge was Marcus Terentius Varro (116-27 BC), whose ''Antiquitatum rerum humanarum et divinarum libri XLI''<ref>https://archive.org/details/4737996</ref> have only endured as fragments and extracts in other later authors and encyclopedists. For Varro, the path to knowledge was the etymology, as it was for the much later Visigoth, St. Isidore of Seville, probably the last to use Varro's work for his own encyclopedia, the ''Etymologies''<ref>https://sfponline.org/Uploads/2002/st%20isidore%20in%20english.pdf</ref>. For Varro the term ''verbum'' ("word") came from ''veritas'' ("truth"), which legitimized that procedure. A work of 41 books, 25 were devoted to human affairs and the rest to the divinity of the pagan gods.  The original work disappeared over the years, due to various medieval recasts.

Among the Romans, the first to attempt to summarize ancient knowledge was Marcus Terentius Varro (116-27 BC), whose ''Antiquitatum rerum humanarum et divinarum libri XLI''<ref>https://archive.org/details/4737996</ref> have only endured as fragments and extracts in other later authors and encyclopedists. For Varro, the path to knowledge was the etymology, as it was for the much later Visigoth, St. Isidore of Seville, probably the last to use Varro's work for his own encyclopedia, the ''Etymologies''<ref>https://sfponline.org/Uploads/2002/st%20isidore%20in%20english.pdf</ref>. For Varro the term ''verbum'' ("word") came from ''veritas'' ("truth"), which legitimized that procedure. A work of 41 books, 25 were devoted to human affairs and the rest to the divinity of the pagan gods.  The original work disappeared over the years, due to various medieval recasts.

Towards the beginning of the first century of our era, Aulo Cornelio Celsus wrote ''De Artibus'' (''ca''. 30 BC), an encyclopedia in 26 books which covered subjects of agriculture, war, rhetoric, philosophy, law, and medicine, with this last subject - called ''De Medicina'' - having survived to modern times<ref>https://archive.org/details/demedicina02celsuoft/page/xii</ref>.  A few years later would come one of the best known works of antiquity, the ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Natural History'') by [[Pliny the Elder]]<ref>https://archive.org/details/plinysnaturalhis00plinrich/page/n8</ref>. He compiled a work of 37 chapters that cover the history of art and architecture, medicine, geography, geology and all aspects of the world around him, releasing it in 77 AD. He stated in his prologue that he had compiled twenty thousand facts from two thousand titles of two hundred different authors, and added that many others came from his own experience.

Towards the beginning of the first century of our era, Aulo Cornelio Celsus wrote ''De Artibus'' (''ca''. 30 BC), an encyclopedia in 26 books which covered subjects of agriculture, war, rhetoric, philosophy, law, and medicine, with this last subject - called ''De Medicina'' - having survived to modern times<ref>https://archive.org/details/demedicina02celsuoft/page/xii</ref>.  A few years later would come one of the best-known works of antiquity, the ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Natural History'') by [[Pliny the Elder]]<ref>https://archive.org/details/plinysnaturalhis00plinrich/page/n8</ref>. He compiled a work of 37 chapters that cover the history of art and architecture, medicine, geography, geology and all aspects of the world around him, releasing it in 77 AD. He stated in his prologue that he had compiled twenty thousand facts from two thousand titles of two hundred different authors, and added that many others came from his own experience.

In his ''Noctes Atticae'' (''Attic Nights'', II century, AD), Aulus Cornelius Gellius (125-180 AD) lectures on numerous subjects of literature, arts, philosophy, history, law, geometry, medicine, natural sciences, meteorology and geography, although with a more essayistic and scholarly spirit than systematic and encyclopedic<ref>http://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=2894</ref>. On the other hand, the ''Polyhistor'', the work of the Roman writer Gaius Julius Solinus (d. 400 AD), presents the curiosities of the world by regions<ref>https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A12581.0001.001?view=toc</ref>. Although the work has been lost, numerous elements of it, as in the case of Varro, were collected in medieval encyclopedias. At the beginning of the 4th century Nonio Marcello wrote ''De compendiosa doctrina'', a compilation or epitome of treatises on language and various techniques, and arranged alphabetically<ref>https://www.academia.edu/19042817/Nonio_Marcello._De_conpendiosa_doctrina._Libri_I-_III._Volume_I</ref>.  Marciano Capella, a lawyer who lived in Algeria, was the author of ''De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii'' ("Weddings of Philology and Mercury"), written between 410 and 420<ref>https://galileo.ou.edu/exhibits/marriage-philology-and-mercury</ref>. This manual in the form of allegorical narration synthesizes in 9 books the knowledge of the time: philology, grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy and harmony. It was very popular in Carolingian times, and served as a reference to organize studies in basic education (the Trivium) and higher (the Quadrivium). It was read even in the Renaissance and inspired Copernicus in particular<ref>https://www.academia.edu/15365008/Copernicus_Capella_and_Circumsolar_Orbits</ref>.  

In his ''Noctes Atticae'' (''Attic Nights'', II century, AD), Aulus Cornelius Gellius (125-180 AD) lectures on numerous subjects of literature, arts, philosophy, history, law, geometry, medicine, natural sciences, meteorology and geography, although with a more essayistic and scholarly spirit than systematic and encyclopedic<ref>http://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=2894</ref>. On the other hand, the ''Polyhistor'', the work of the Roman writer Gaius Julius Solinus (d. 400 AD), presents the curiosities of the world by regions<ref>https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A12581.0001.001?view=toc</ref>. Although the work has been lost, numerous elements of it, as in the case of Varro, were collected in medieval encyclopedias. At the beginning of the 4th century Nonio Marcello wrote ''De compendiosa doctrina'', a compilation or epitome of treatises on language and various techniques, and arranged alphabetically<ref>https://www.academia.edu/19042817/Nonio_Marcello._De_conpendiosa_doctrina._Libri_I-_III._Volume_I</ref>.  Marciano Capella, a lawyer who lived in Algeria, was the author of ''De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii'' ("Weddings of Philology and Mercury"), written between 410 and 420<ref>https://galileo.ou.edu/exhibits/marriage-philology-and-mercury</ref>. This manual in the form of allegorical narration synthesizes in 9 books the knowledge of the time: philology, grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy and harmony. It was very popular in Carolingian times, and served as a reference to organize studies in basic education (the Trivium) and higher (the Quadrivium). It was read even in the Renaissance and inspired Copernicus in particular<ref>https://www.academia.edu/15365008/Copernicus_Capella_and_Circumsolar_Orbits</ref>.  

The ''Grand Dictionaire Historique'' (1674)<ref>https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5500775b.texteImage</ref> by Louis Moréri was the first large, national-language, alphabetical reference work for the topics of history, biography and geography. In his tradition stands the peculiar ''Dictionnaire historique et critique'' (1696/1697) by Pierre Bayle, which was originally intended to correct and supplement Moréris's work. For rather short articles, Bayle provided a very detailed and critical apparatus of annotations. Since Bayle primarily treated those objects that interested him personally, his work is to be regarded as an ''ego document'', an intellectual autobiography which stood rather beside, and not in place of, a general encyclopedia.

The ''Grand Dictionaire Historique'' (1674)<ref>https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5500775b.texteImage</ref> by Louis Moréri was the first large, national-language, alphabetical reference work for the topics of history, biography and geography. In his tradition stands the peculiar ''Dictionnaire historique et critique'' (1696/1697) by Pierre Bayle, which was originally intended to correct and supplement Moréris's work. For rather short articles, Bayle provided a very detailed and critical apparatus of annotations. Since Bayle primarily treated those objects that interested him personally, his work is to be regarded as an ''ego document'', an intellectual autobiography which stood rather beside, and not in place of, a general encyclopedia.

By 1700 biographical and historiographic information, largely missing from earlier works, was added to a new generation of encyclopedias.  As dictionaries they also arranged articles alphabetically, breaking with the earlier thematic arrangement . With Antoine Furetière's ''Dictionnaire universel des arts et sciences'' (1690)<ref>https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k50614b.image</ref>, this new direction began in the history of the encyclopedia, and carried to a a further step, the bridging of the contrast of scientific-philosophical and biographical-historical subjects, such as in the ''Universal Lexicon'' (1732-1754) by Johann Heinrich Zedler<ref>https://www.zedler-lexikon.de/</ref>, a major work published in 68 volumes which was the first encyclopedia containing biographies of living people.

By 1700 biographical and historiographic information, largely missing from earlier works, was added to a new generation of encyclopedias.  As dictionaries they also arranged articles alphabetically, breaking with the earlier thematic arrangement. With Antoine Furetière's ''Dictionnaire universel des arts et sciences'' (1690)<ref>https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k50614b.image</ref>, this new direction began in the history of the encyclopedia, and carried to a a further step, the bridging of the contrast of scientific-philosophical and biographical-historical subjects, such as in the ''Universal Lexicon'' (1732-1754) by Johann Heinrich Zedler<ref>https://www.zedler-lexikon.de/</ref>, a major work published in 68 volumes which was the first encyclopedia containing biographies of living people.

==Modern encyclopedias==

==Modern encyclopedias==

The ''Encyclopédie'' in turn inspired the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', which had modest beginnings in Edinburgh: two Scotsman, Andrew Bell and Colin Macfarquhar conceived the idea of publishing their own version the first edition, distributed between 1768 and 1771, was composed of just three volumes hastily completed - A-B, C-L and M-Z - for a total of 2659 pages. In 1797, when the third edition was completed, it had been expanded to 18 volumes dealing with a wide range of subjects, with entries provided by a set of authorities in their field.

The ''Encyclopédie'' in turn inspired the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', which had modest beginnings in Edinburgh: two Scotsman, Andrew Bell and Colin Macfarquhar conceived the idea of publishing their own version the first edition, distributed between 1768 and 1771, was composed of just three volumes hastily completed - A-B, C-L and M-Z - for a total of 2659 pages. In 1797, when the third edition was completed, it had been expanded to 18 volumes dealing with a wide range of subjects, with entries provided by a set of authorities in their field.

''Encyclopædia Britannica'' went through eleven editions before its publishing headquarters was moved from London to Chicago; the 1911 work is regarded as among the finest encyclopedias ever printed.  A 28-volume fifteenth edition was published in 1974 in which the format of the encyclopedia was divided into three major sections: the ''Micropædia: Ready Reference and Index'', which presented the basic, general information normally found; the ''Macropædia: Knowledge in Depth'', which presented many articles in great detail; and the ''Propædia: Outline of Knowledge'', the guide to the encyclopedia as a whole with its thematic connections as well as an index to the contributers<ref>https://www.britannica.com/topic/Encyclopaedia-Britannica-English-language-reference-work/Fifteenth-edition</ref>.  By 2012 it had expended to 32 volumes.

''Encyclopædia Britannica'' went through eleven editions before its publishing headquarters was moved from London to Chicago; the 1911 work is regarded as among the finest encyclopedias ever printed.  A 28-volume fifteenth edition was published in 1974 in which the format of the encyclopedia was divided into three major sections: the ''Micropædia: Ready Reference and Index'', which presented the basic, general information normally found; the ''Macropædia: Knowledge in Depth'', which presented many articles in great detail; and the ''Propædia: Outline of Knowledge'', the guide to the encyclopedia as a whole with its thematic connections as well as an index to the contributers<ref>https://www.britannica.com/topic/Encyclopaedia-Britannica-English-language-reference-work/Fifteenth-edition</ref>.  By 2012 it had expanded to 32 volumes.

===''Brockhaus Enzyklopädie''===

===''Brockhaus Enzyklopädie''===

====''Encyclopaedia Americana''====

====''Encyclopaedia Americana''====

German-American lawyer and political scientist Francis Lieber would take the seventh of the ''Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon'' and use it for the 13-volume ''Encyclopaedia Americana'' (1820), which would eventually become the second largest printed universal lexicon in the English language after the ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. As the name implies, it is primarily focused on North America, with coverage of American and Canadian history and geography particularly extensive.

German-American lawyer and political scientist Francis Lieber would take the seventh of the ''Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon'' and use it for the 13-volume ''Encyclopaedia Americana'' (1820), which would eventually become the second-largest printed universal lexicon in the English language after the ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. As the name implies, it is primarily focused on North America, with coverage of American and Canadian history and geography particularly extensive.

The 175th anniversary edition of 2004 contains 45,000 articles with 25 million words and was written with the participation of 6500 authors. It contains 9,000 bibliographies, 150,000 cross-references, over 1,000 tables, 1,200 maps and nearly 4,500 black and white and color photographs. Since 1923, The Americana Annual has been published as a yearbook to update the set.

The 175th-anniversary edition of 2004 contains 45,000 articles with 25 million words and was written with the participation of 6500 authors. It contains 9,000 bibliographies, 150,000 cross-references, over 1,000 tables, 1,200 maps and nearly 4,500 black and white and color photographs. Since 1923, The Americana Annual has been published as a yearbook to update the set.

====Funk & Wagnalls====

====Funk & Wagnalls====

New York based publisher Funk & Wagnalls was originally founded in 1875, publishing exclusively religious books until the publication of ''The Literary Digest'' in 1890, marks the move to specializing in dictionaries and encyclopedias. In 1894 they published its most memorable publication, ''The Standard Dictionary of the English Language''. In 1912 ''Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia'' was launched, based on an edition of ''Chambers' Encyclopedia''. In 1965, the company was acquired by Reader's Digest Association and again by Dun & Bradstreet. In subsequent years, the company sold its publishing rights to other companies.

New York-based publisher Funk & Wagnalls was originally founded in 1875, publishing exclusively religious books until the publication of ''The Literary Digest'' in 1890, marks the move to specializing in dictionaries and encyclopedias. In 1894 they published its most memorable publication, ''The Standard Dictionary of the English Language''. In 1912 ''Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia'' was launched, based on an edition of ''Chambers' Encyclopedia''. In 1965, the company was acquired by Reader's Digest Association and again by Dun & Bradstreet. In subsequent years, the company sold its publishing rights to other companies.

The claim to fame that Funk & Wagnalls had became a part of popular culture, as it was named repeatedly in skits on television's ''Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In'' and ''The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson'' during the later part of the 20th century.  It was also sold by the volume in grocery stores, with shoppers adding to their personal sets every week<ref>http://historysdumpster.blogspot.com/2012/08/funk-wagnalls.html</ref>.

The claim to fame that Funk & Wagnalls had became a part of popular culture, as it was named repeatedly in skits on television's ''Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In'' and ''The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson'' during the later part of the 20th century.  It was also sold by the volume in grocery stores, with shoppers adding to their personal sets every week<ref>http://historysdumpster.blogspot.com/2012/08/funk-wagnalls.html</ref>.