Encyclopedia

An encyclopedia is a collection, usually a book or website, of information. Some are known as encyclopedic dictionaries. 
 C. Codoner, S. Louis, M. Paulmier-Foucart, D. Hüe, M. Salvat, A. Llinares, L'Encyclopédisme. Actes du Colloque de Caen, A. Becq (dir.), Paris, 1991.

 Blom, Phillip 2004. Enlightening the World: Encyclopédie, the book that changed the course of history. Palgrave Macmillan. New York. An encyclopedia contains a lot of information.


History
Overview
All encyclopedias were printed, until the late 20th century, when some were on CDs and the internet. 21st century encyclopedias are mostly online by internet. The largest encyclopedia in the English language is English Wikipedia, which has more than 6 million articles. The second largest is the Encyclopædia Britannica, which is the largest one that is printed. Either kind of encyclopedia can inform people on various topics.
Ancient times
Book series were used to summarize all knowledge have been published for thousands of years. A famous early one was called Natural History by Pliny the Elder. The name "encyclopedia" is from the 16th century and meant "complete knowledge". The French Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot was the first that had major parts written by many people from all around the world.
Modern times
After the printing press was invented, dictionaries with long definitions began to be called encyclopedias that were books that has articles or subjects For example, a dictionary of science, if it included essays or paragraphs, it was thought of as an encyclopedia or knowledgeable book on the subject of science. Some encyclopedias then put essays on more than one subject in alphabetical order instead of grouping them together by subject. The word, encyclopedia, was put in the title of some encyclopedias.
Publishers
Companies such as Britannica were started for the purpose of publishing encyclopedias for sale to individuals, and for public use in libraries. Akin to dictionaries, these publishers hired hundreds of experts to write articles. Some internet encyclopedias allowed their paying customers to submit articles from other encyclopedias. Other internet encyclopedias accepted writing from non-paying users – users not signed in – of the encyclopedia.

Types of encyclopedias
There are different types of encyclopedias. Some are general and have pages on lots of topics. The English language Encyclopædia Britannica and German Brockhaus are general encyclopedias. Some are about specific topics. 
Examples
Specialized encyclopedias
There are encyclopedias of medicine or philosophy. Others include the Dictionary of National Biography, the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, and Black's Law Dictionary. There are also encyclopedias that cover many topics with one perspective or one cultural bias, including the Conservapedia and Great Soviet Encyclopedia.

There are two main ways of organizing printed encyclopedias: from A to Z or by categories. Most encyclopedias go by A to Z. Many dictionaries have similar information to encyclopedias.
Encyclopedic dictionaries
 The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. Volume I A–M,  volume II NZ. 1971. Oxford University Press.
 Webster’s Third New International Dictionary . . . Unabridged . . . Merriam-Webster. 1961. Encyclopedia. Springfield, MA: G & C Merriam Company.
 Fowler's Modern English Usage. Fowler H.W; 2nd revised edition by Gower E. Oxford University Press.

Related pages
 Taoism
 Confucianism
 Western philosophy
 Encyclopaedia Hebraica
 Encyclopaedia Metallum
 Encyclopædia Britannica
 Ancient Greek philosophy

References

Other websites

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