This is a list of encyclopedias, arranged by time period. For other arrangements, see Lists of encyclopedias.
5th century
- Martianus Capella, De nuptiis Mercurii et Philologiae, introduced the division in seven liberal arts
6th century
- Bṛhatsaṃhitā of Varāhamihira (c. 505 – c. 587)
- Cassiodorus' Institutiones (full title: Institutiones Divinarum et Saecularium Litterarum), AD 560; first Christian encyclopedia
12th century
- De diversis artibus, compiled 1100-1120 by Theophilus Presbyter
- Manasollasa composed by king Someshvara III of the Western Chalukya Empire of India.
- Liber Floridus, compiled in 1120 by Lambert of St. Omer
- Imago mundi, treaty of cosmography and history by Honorius Augustodunensis, about 1110
- De philosophia mundi, written about 1125–35 by William of Conches
- Didascalicon, by Hugues de Saint-Victor (1096-1141), proposal of a new classification of sciences and a new method of lecture of the Bible
- Hortus deliciarum, written by Herrade of Landsberg, the first woman to write an encyclopedia, between 1159 and 1175
13th century
- Otia Imperialia by Gervase of Tilbury, 1214
- Guillaume d'Auvergne, De universo creaturarum, 1231.
- Gautier de Metz L’Image du monde, 1246, in Lorrain dialect, based on Honorius Augustodunensis
- Bartholomeus Anglicus, De proprietatibus rerum, 1240; the most widely read and quoted encyclopedia in the late-medieval period.
- Thomas of Cantimpré, Liber de natura rerum, 1256.
- Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Majus, 1260, the most ambitious encyclopedia in the late-medieval period, with over 3 million words
- Brunetto Latini, Li Livres dou Trésor, in French
15th century
- Ming dynasty Chinese, Yongle Encyclopedia, 1403–08
- Domenico Bandini of Arezzo, Fons memorabilium universi, early 15th century
- Werner Rolevinck, Fasciculus temporum, 1474
- Alfonso de la Torre, Visio delectable, c.1484
- Jacob Meydenbach, Hortus Sanitatis, 1491
16th century
- Giorgio Valla, De expetendis et fugiendis rebus, 1501
- Domenico Nani Mirabelli, Polyanthea nova, 1503
- Gregor Reisch, Margarita philosophica, 1503
- Johannes Aventinus, Encyclopedia orbisque doctrinarum, hoc est omnium artium, scientiarum, ipsius philosophiae index ac divisio, 1517
- Juan Luis Vives, De disciplinis libri XX, 1531
- Joachim Sterck van Ringelbergh, Lucubrationes vel potius absolutissima kyklopaideia (Basel), 1541
- Conrad Gessner, Historia animalium (Gessner book), 1551–58, 1587
- Charles Estienne, Dictionarium historicum, geographicum et poeticum, 1553
- Theodor Zwinger (1533–1588), Theatrum Humanae Vitae, 1565
- Pal 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)
- Bernardino de Sahagún: La Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España, 1545-1590
- Antonio Possevino, Bibliotheca selecta, 1593
- Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica) (1596), Ming dynasty, Chinese
17th century
Chinese
- Sancai Tuhui, compiled by Wang Qi and Wang Siyi (1609)
- Song Yingxing, Tiangong Kaiwu (The Exploitation of the Works of Nature), 1637
Croatian
- Ivan Belostenec, Gazophylacium, seu Latino-illyiricorum onomatum aerarium, c. 1674 (completed in manuscript), published in 1740
French
- Dictionnaire théologique, historique, poétique, cosmographique et chronologique (1643) by Daniel de Juigné-Broissinière an adaptation of Charles Estienne's Dictionarium historicum, geographicum et poeticum (1553)
- Le portrait de la sagesse universelle, avec l'idée générale des sçiances et leur plan représenté en cent tables by Léon de Saint-Jean (1655) an extract in French of the authors Latin Enciclopaediae praemessum (1635)
- L'Encyclopédie des beaux esprits, contenant les moyens de parvenir à la connoissance des belles sciences by Saunier (1657)
- La science universelle by Jean Magnon (1663)
- Louis Moréri Le Grand Dictionnaire historique (The Great Historical Dictionary), 1671
- Antoine Furetière, Dictionnaire universel contenant généralement tous les mots françois, tant vieux que modernes, et les termes de toutes les sciences et des arts 1690.
- Pierre Bayle: Dictionnaire Historique et Critique (Historical and Critical Dictionary), 1695
Latin
- Antonio Zara: Anatomia ingeniorum et scientiarum, 1615
- Johann Heinrich Alsted: Encyclopaedia septem tomi distincta 1630
- Laurentius Beyerlinck, Magnum Theatrum Vitae Humanae, 1631
- Peter Lauremberg, Pansophia, 1633
- Athanasius Kircher, Ars magna sciendi, 1669
- Michael Pexenfelder, Apparatus eruditionis tam rerum quam verborum per omnes artes et scientias, 1670
- Johann Jacob Hofmann, Lexicon universale, historico-geographico-chronologico-poetico-phîlologicum‘, Basel, 1677
- Johann Christoph Wagenseil: Pera librorum iuvenilium, 1695
American encyclopedias
- Minor Encyclopedia (1803), edited by Thaddeus M. Harris, copies much of Kendal's Pocket Encyclopedia
- Domestic Encyclopedia (1803–1804), first American edition, expanded to 5 volumes (4 in the British); second American edition 1821
- Low's Encyclopaedia (1805–1811), the first true American encyclopedia
- 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 (1880–1884), world history
- The Complete Compendium of Universal Knowledge (1891)
- 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 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), 3 volumes, 700 pages each,[2] editor W. H. De Puy. Contains much from Chambers's Encyclopaedia. The 1898 title was The New People's Cyclopedia of Universal Knowledge.
- Barkham Burroughs' Encyclopaedia (1889), miscellany
Czech encyclopedias
- Riegrův slovník naučný (11 volumes, 1860–1874; supplement vol. 1890)
- Otto's encyclopedia (28 volumes, 1888–1909)
French encyclopedias
- Dictionnaires généraux, universels, encyclopédiques, et autres… - a bibliography of French encyclopedias up to Larousse
- Encyclopédie Méthodique (Panckoucke), (1782–1832)
- Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique, François-Joseph Fétis (1835–1844)
- Encyclopédie nouvelle (Pierre Leroux and Jean Reynaud) (1839–1840)
- Petite Encyclopédie du jeune âge, Larousse (1853)
- Nouvelle Biographie Générale, Ferdinand Hoefer (1853–1866)
- Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle by Pierre Larousse (17 volumes 1866–1877), really an encyclopedia despite its name
- Dictionnaire de chimie pure et appliquée, Charles-Adolphe Wurtz (1874–1878)
- Dictionnaire de botanique, Henri Ernest Baillon (1876–1892)
- La Grande Encyclopédie, general secretaries of the editorial board: Ferdinand-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)
- Enzyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften im Grundrisse, G. F. W. Hegel (1817)
- Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste (Ersch–Gruber; 1818–1889, uncompleted)
- Brockhaus (eds. 1–14 by 1900)
- Pierers Universal-Lexikon (1824–1836; 7th ed. 1888–1893)
- Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft, "Pauly–Wissowa" (1839–1852, 2nd ed. 1890–1980)
- Meyers Konversations-Lexikon (1839–1855; 5th ed. 1893–1897)
- Realencyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche, Johann Jakob Herzog (1853–1868)
- Herders Konversations-Lexikon (1854–1857; 2nd ed. 1875–1879)
- Handbuch der Organischen Chemie, Friedrich Konrad Beilstein (1880–1882)
- Lexikon der gesamten Technik, Otto Lueger (1st Edition 1894–1899)
- Encyklopädie der mathematischen Wissenschaften, Felix Klein (1898–1933)
Hungarian encyclopedias
- Fejér György: A tudományok encyclopaediája rövid rajzolatban (2 vol.), Pest (1818)
- Lánghy István: A tudományok ismeretére tanító könyv, Pest (1827)
- Nyiry István: A tudományok öszvessége (3 vol.), Sárospatak (1829–1831)
- Közhasznú Esmeretek Tára (12 vol.), Pest (1831–1834) (→ hu)
- Ifjúsági ismeretek (4 vol.), Bécs (1840)
- Vállas Antal: Nemzeti encyclopaedia (7 vol.), Pest (1845–1848)
- Ujabb kori ismeretek tára (6 vol.), Pest (1850–1855) (→ hu)
- Ismerettár. Nélkülözhetetlen segédkönyv a történelem, természet s egyéb tudományok köréből (10 vol.), Pest (1858–1864) (→ hu)
- Egyetemes magyar encyclopaedia (1859–1876) (→ hu)
- Magyar lexikon (16 vol.), Budapest (1879–1885) (→ hu)
- A Pallas Nagy Lexikona (1893–1897)
Polish encyclopedias
- Encyklopedia Powszechna or Encyklopedia Orgelbranda (1st Edition, 28 volumes, 1859–1868)
- Encyyklopedia Kościelna (33 volumes, 1873–1933)
Swedish encyclopedias
- Conversations-lexicon (4 volumes, 1821–1826), a translation of the German Brockhaus 2nd edition
- Svenskt konversationslexikon (4 volumes, 1845–1851), by Per Gustaf Berg
- Nordisk familjebok first edition 20 volumes 1876–1899 (of which the two last ones are supplementary volumes)[4]
- Nordisk familjebok second edition 38 volumes 1904–1926 (of which the last four and a part of number 34 are supplementary volumes)[4]
- Nordisk familjebok third edition 26 volumes 1924–1939 (of which the end of number 25 and the entire 26th volume are supplementary, covering history until summer of 1939. The Spanish Civil War is covered until its end, but nothing on the Second World War)[5]
- Nordisk familjebok third edition 26 volumes, second printing, including not so few coloured posters (like national maps, city maps a poster of all the flags of the world etc) and a huge number of full page black and white portraits. These The additional pages are not enumerated. 1942–1944. The second printing also got a new binder, but not even errors are corrected inside the work. Still a notable enough difference when compared to the first printing.
- Nordisk familjebok fourth edition 22 volumes 1951–1955.[5]
- Svensk Uppslagsbok first edition 30 volumes 1929–1937 [6]
- Svensk Uppslagsbok second edition 32 volumes 1947–1955 [6]
- Bonniers Lexikon 15 volumes 1961–1967. Known as "Äpplet", "The Apple". Perhaps the most widely spread encyclopedia ever, written in the Swedish language. Looks nice on the shelf.
- Reflex 4 volumes for children age 10 and older. 1968–1971. A regular inventory in many Swedish class rooms during the 1970's.[7]
- The new Bonniers Lexikon 24 volumes, 1993–1998.
- Nationalencyklopedin or NE 20 volumes, 1989–1996. DVD versions in 1996 and 2000. Online today.
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)[8]
"The People's Cyclopedia". The Week: A Canadian Journal of Politics, Literature, Science and Arts. 1 (1): 16. 6 Dec 1883. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
- Collison, Robert, Encyclopaedias: Their History Throughout the Ages, 2nd ed. (New York, London: Hafner, 1966)