Information On an Old Encyclopedia

Pliny the Elder
Encyclopedias remained on earth for 2000 years. The oldest is Naturalis Historia written by Pliny the Elder in Roman times. It is spread over 37 sections covering art and design of the structure, natural history, medicine, geography, geology and other facets that were found with him. The data have been compiled from 2,000 works from 200 different authors, but was not able to read the entries. It was published in the year 77-79. Previously, the works of Marcus Terentius Varro were already there, but they are lost in time.




Middle Ages
The Etymologiae (about 630) is known as the first encyclopedia of the Middle Ages compiled by St. Isidore of Seville, a great scholar of the Middle Ages. This encyclopedia includes 448 chapters in 20 volumes with quotations and excerpts from the work of other authors.

The Middle Ages saw primarily concerned proprietatibus Bartholomeus Anglicus De rerum (1240).
Vincent of Beauvais Speculum Majus (1260) was quite progressive with more than 3 million words in the period between the late Middle Ages.

Suda is a Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world. It is written in a Greek lexicon containing 30,000 entries.

17th-19th Centuries
The modern idea of ​​an encyclopedia printed, which could be widely distributed for general use, came with Cyclopaedia (1728) and the Encyclopedia of Diderot and D'Alembert (since 1751) and the Encyclopedia of Chambers and Conversations Lexikon. These activities focused on global issues that have a large scope and depth and organized. The dictionary of the House may follow the example of John Harris Lexicon Technicum.

Sir Thomas Browne, a famous English scientist and physician uses the word encyclopedia in 1646 in his vulgar errors, which refutes the common mistakes of his time. This encyclopedia is structured on the model tested the Renaissance or "scale of creation." You climb the hierarchical tree of mineral, vegetable, animal, human and cosmological planetary worlds.

John Harris now credits the likes Alphabetical introduced in 1704 with Technicum Lexicon: A universal English dictionary of arts and sciences. Explain not only the terms of art, but the arts themselves, "emphasized science as knowledge of the 18th century, however, extended beyond their humanity to understand and fine arts subjects such as law, business, music, and heraldry.

Century 20
In the early 1920s, Universal Encyclopedia encyclopedia Harmsworth and children became popular and affordable resources. In the U.S., 50 and 60 saw several big issues implemented and is gaining popularity. They were sold in installments. Funk and Wagnalls Worldbook and did better.

In the second half, several encyclopedias have been published. His work has been marked that synthesize specific issues important areas obtained through new research. The Encyclopedia of Philosophy and Economics Elsevier manuals were these two books. Most academic disciplines are covered in a volume dedicated, even including narrow topics such as bioethics and African American history.