List of encyclopedias by date

Encyclopedias before 1700

• Nine Books of Disciplines by Marcus Terentius Varro
• Naturalis Historia by Pliny the Elder ; highly influential through the Middle Ages, the oldest encyclopedia for which there is an extant copy
• De verborum significatu by Sextus Pompeius Festus
• Onomasticon by Julius Pollux
• The Emperor's Mirror, Wei dynasty, Chinese
• De compendiosa doctrina, by Nonius Marcellus

  5th century

• Martianus Capella, De nuptiis Mercurii et Philologiae, introduced the division in seven liberal arts

  6th century

• Cassiodorus' Institutiones, AD 560; first Christian encyclopedia

  7th century

• Yiwen Leiju, 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

  8th century

• Venerable Beda, De natura rerum

  9th century

• Adab al-katib by Ibn Qutayba ; the earliest Arabic work that could be called an encyclopedia
• Bibliotheke by Patriarch Photius, the earliest Byzantine work that could be called an encyclopedia
• Hrabanus Maurus, 842. De rerum naturis , derived from Isidore's text
• De Administrando Imperio, a domestic and foreign policy manual by emperor Constantine VII

  10th century

• Suda
• Four Great Books of Song , Song dynasty, Chinese
• Wamyō Ruijushō

  11th century

• De omnifaria doctrina, by Michael Psellos
• Speculum universale, by Radulfus Ardens

  12th century

• De diversis artibus, compiled 1100-1120 by Theophilus Presbyter
• Liber Floridus, compiled in 1120 by Lambert of St. Omer
• Imago mundi, treaty of cosmography and history by Honorius Augustodunensis, about 1110
• Didascalicon, by Hugues de Saint-Victor, 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

  14th century

• Al-Nuwayri, The Ultimate Ambition in the Arts of Erudition
• Ranulf Higden, Polychronicon
• Conrad of Megenberg, Buch der Natur
• James le Palmer, Omne Bonum
• Moses ben Judah, Love in Delights

  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, 1541
• Conrad Gessner, Historia animalium , 1551–58, 1587.
• Charles Estienne, Dictionarium historicum, geographicum et poeticum, 1553.
• 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, 1571
• Theodor Zwinger, Theatrum Vitae Humanae, 1588
• Bernardino de Sahagún: La Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España, 1545-1590
• Antonio Possevino, Bibliotheca selecta, 1593
• Bencao Gangmu , Ming dynasty, Chinese

  17th century

Chinese

• Sancai Tuhui, compiled by Wang Qi and Wang Siyi
• Song Yingxing, Tiangong Kaiwu, 1637

  Croatian

• Ivan Belostenec, Gazophylacium, seu Latino-illyiricorum onomatum aerarium, c. 1674, published in 1740

  English

• Sir Thomas Browne: Pseudodoxia Epidemica 1646-1672
• John Dunton: The ladies dictionary..., 1694

  French

• Dictionnaire théologique, historique, poétique, cosmographique et chronologique by :fr:Daniel de Juigné-Broissinière|Daniel de Juigné-Broissinière an adaptation of Charles Estienne's
• Le portrait de la sagesse universelle, avec l'idée générale des sçiances et leur plan représenté en cent tables by :fr:Léon de Saint-Jean|Léon de Saint-Jean an extract in French of the authors Latin Enciclopaediae praemessum
• by Saunier
• La science universelle by Jean Magnon
• Louis Moréri Le Grand Dictionnaire historique, 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, 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

  Hungarian

• János Apáczai Csere: Magyar encyclopaedia, c. 1655

  Encyclopedias published 1700–1800

American encyclopedias

• Dobson's Encyclopædia

  British encyclopedias

• The great historical, geographical, genealogical and poetical dictionary by Jeremy Collier
• An Universal, Historical, Geographical, Chronological and Poetical Dictionary
• Lexicon Technicum
• Chambers's Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences
• An Universal History of Arts and Sciences by Dennis de Coetlogon
• Encyclopædia Britannica
• Chemical Dictionary by William Nicholson
• Encyclopædia Perthensis

  Chinese encyclopedias

• Gujin Tushu Jicheng, Qing dynasty
• Siku Quanshu, Qing dynasty

  French encyclopedias

• Dictionnaire de Trévoux
• Encyclopédie, by Diderot and D'Alembert
• Descriptions des Arts et Métiers
• Encyclopédie ou dictionnaire universel raisonné des connaissances humaines, Yverdon,
• Encyclopédie Méthodique by Charles-Joseph Panckoucke

  German encyclopedias

• Reales Staats- und Zeitungs-Lexicon by Philipp Balthasar Sinold von Schütz
• Curieuses Natur- Kunst- Gewerk- und Handlungs-Lexicon by Paul Jacob Marperger
• Allgemeines lexikon der Künste und Wißenschaften by Johann Theodor Jablonski
• Musicalisches Lexicon by Johann Gottfried Walther
• Allgemeines Gelehrten-Lexicon by Christian Gottlieb Jöcher
• Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon by Johann Heinrich Zedler
• Oekonomische Encyklopädie by Johann Georg Krünitz
• Deutschen Encyclopädie
• Historisch-biographisches Lexikon der Tonküstler by Ernst Ludwig Gerber
• Conversations-Lexikon mit vorzüglicher Rücksicht auf die gegenwärtigen Zeiten

  Italian encyclopedias

• Vincenzo Coronelli Biblioteca Universale Sacro-Profana
• Gianfrancesco Pivati Nuovo dizionario scientifico e curioso, sacroprofano
• Lorenzo Hervás y Panduro Idea dell'Universo

  Japanese encyclopedias

• Wakan Sansai Zue

  Polish encyclopedias

• Nowe Ateny
• Zbiór potrzebniejszych wiadomości

  Encyclopedias published 1800–1900

American encyclopedias

• Minor Encyclopedia, edited by Thaddeus M. Harris, copies much of Kendal's Pocket Encyclopedia
• Domestic Encyclopedia, first American edition, expanded to 5 volumes ; second American edition 1821
• Low's Encyclopaedia, the first true American encyclopedia
• Encyclopaedia Americana, 13 volumes, editor Francis Lieber.
• New American Cyclopaedia, 16 volumes, editors George Ripley and Charles A. Dana
• American Cyclopaedia, the retitled New American Cyclopaedia
• Johnson's New Universal Cyclopaedia, 4 volumes; editors Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard and Arnold Henry Guyot
• Cyclopedia of Universal History, world history
• The Complete Compendium of Universal Knowledge
• Ridpath's Universal History, world history
• Johnson's Universal Cyclopaedia, the retitled Johnson's New Universal Cyclopaedia, edited by Charles Kendall Adams.
• Alden's Library of Universal Knowledge, a reprint of Chambers's Encyclopaedia with American additions
• International Cyclopaedia, 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, 3 volumes, 700 pages each, editor W. H. De Puy. Contains much from Chambers's Encyclopaedia. The 1898 title was The New People's Cyclopedia of Universal Knowledge.

  Arabic encyclopedias

• Al-Muhit al Muhit, Butrus al-Bustani

  British encyclopedias

• Encyclopaedia Londinensis
• English Encyclopaedia
• Domestic Encyclopedia
• Kendal's Pocket Encyclopedia
• Rees's Cyclopædia
• Encyclopædia Perthensis
• Encyclopædia Britannica
• Edinburgh Encyclopædia
• British Encyclopedia, or Dictionary of Arts and Sciences
• Encyclopædia Edinensis
• Pantologia
• Encyclopædia Metropolitana
• Penny Cyclopaedia
• English Cyclopaedia
• Chambers's Encyclopaedia
• Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
• Dictionary of Political Economy, by Inglis Palgrave
• Pears Cyclopaedia, originally named Pears' Shilling Cyclopaedia
• The People's Select Cyclopedia, by Charles Nisbett
• Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

  Czech encyclopedias

• Riegrův slovník naučný
• Otto's encyclopedia

  Danish encyclopedias

• Salmonsens Konversationsleksikon
• ''Den Store Danske Leksikon - several editions, up to 26 volumes

  Dutch encyclopedias

• Winkler Prins Geïllustreerde Encyclopaedie

  French encyclopedias

• - a bibliography of French encyclopedias up to Larousse
• Encyclopédie Méthodique,
• Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique, François-Joseph Fétis
• Encyclopédie nouvelle
• Petite Encyclopédie du jeune âge, Larousse
• Nouvelle Biographie Générale, Ferdinand Hoefer
• Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle by Pierre Larousse, really an encyclopedia despite its name
• Dictionnaire de chimie pure et appliquée, Charles-Adolphe Wurtz
• Dictionnaire de botanique, Henri Ernest Baillon
• La Grande Encyclopédie'', general secretaries of the editorial board: Ferdinand-Camille Dreyfus and André Berthelot

  German encyclopedias

• Oekonomische Encyklopädie , Editor Johann Georg Krünitz
• Enzyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften im Grundrisse, G. F. W. Hegel
• Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste
• Brockhaus
• Pierers Universal-Lexikon
• Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft, "Pauly-Wissowa"
• Meyers Konversations-Lexikon
• Realencyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche, Johann Jakob Herzog
• Herders Konversations-Lexikon
• Handbuch der Organischen Chemie, Friedrich Konrad Beilstein
• Lexikon der gesamten Technik, Otto Lueger
• Encyklopädie der mathematischen Wissenschaften, Felix Klein

  Hungarian encyclopedias

• Fejér György: A tudományok encyclopaediája rövid rajzolatban, Pest
• Lánghy István: A tudományok ismeretére tanító könyv, Pest
• Nyiry István: A tudományok öszvessége, Sárospatak
• Közhasznú Esmeretek Tára, Pest
• Ifjúsági ismeretek, Bécs
• Vállas Antal: Nemzeti encyclopaedia, Pest
• Ujabb kori ismeretek tára, Pest
• Ismerettár. Nélkülözhetetlen segédkönyv a történelem, természet s egyéb tudományok köréből, Pest
• Egyetemes magyar encyclopaedia
• Magyar lexikon, Budapest
• A Pallas Nagy Lexikona

  Japanese encyclopedias

• Koji Ruien

  Polish encyclopedias

• Encyklopedia Powszechna or Encyklopedia Orgelbranda
• Encyyklopedia Kościelna

  Romanian encyclopedias

• Enciclopedia română

  Russian encyclopedias

• Plyushar's Encyclopedic Lexicon
• Military Encyclopedic Lexicon
• Starchevsky's Spravochny entsiklopedichesky slovar
• Encyclopedia of Military and Marine Sciences
• Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary
• Granat Encyclopedic Dictionary

  Spanish encyclopedias

• Enciclopedia moderna, Francisco de P. Mellado
• Diccionario geográfico, estadístico, histórico, de la isla de Cuba

  Swedish encyclopedias

• Conversations-lexicon, a translation of the German Brockhaus 2nd edition
• Svenskt konversationslexikon, by Per Gustaf Berg
• Nordisk familjebok first edition 20 volumes 1876-1899
• Nordisk familjebok second edition 38 volumes 1904-1926
• Nordisk familjebok third edition 26 volumes 1924-1939
• Nordisk familjebok third edition 26 volumes, second printing, including not so few coloured posters 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.
• Svensk Uppslagsbok first edition 30 volumes 1929-1937
• Svensk Uppslagsbok second edition 32 volumes 1947-1955
• 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.
• 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
• Sicil-i Osmani Editor Mehmet Süreyya Bey, 1890
• Kamus-ül-Alam Editor » : Şemsettin Sami, 1899

  Religious encyclopedias

• The Coptic Encyclopedia
• Jewish Encyclopedia
• Encyclopaedia Judaica
• Catholic Encyclopedia
• Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge
• St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India
• Encyclopedia of Mormonism
• Orthodox Encyclopedia
• Encyclopaedia of Islam
• Hastings, James: Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics
• Unitarian-Universalist Encyclopedia

  Specialist encyclopedias

• The Engineer's and Mechanic's Encyclopaedia
• Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts and Manufactures
• Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities
• Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
• 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], John J. Lalor
• ''The Cyclopedia of New Zealand