WHO WROTE THE FIRST ENCYCLOPEDIA?
You go to an encyclopedia to get information. That means you expect it to contain the facts on all important subjects. The word “encyclopedia” began as a Greek word and means “instruction in the whole circle.” It was first used in English by Sir Thomas Elyot in 1538 who said it was “the ernynge whiche comprehendth all lyberall science and studies.”
Today, encyclopedias are generally arranged alphabetically, so that it’s easy to look something up. But in early times they were arranged in any way the author liked. For example, one author of an encyclopedia in the Middle Ages began with a discussion of God and angels, and ended with descriptions of scents, colors and a list of 36 kinds of eggs!
The oldest encyclopedia in existence that covers many subjects was written by a Roman called Pliny. It was called Natural History and it was written in the 1st century A.D. It had 37 volumes and contained more than 20,000 items. Pliny quoted from more than 450 authors. This book was considered so valuable that there were 43 editions of it up to 1536!
The largest encyclopedia ever written was the third Chinese encyclopedia, which was ordered put together by a Chinese emperor who died in 1721. The set contained 5,020 volumes! The first encyclopedia which had the subjects arranged in alphabetical order was written by an English Clergyman, John Harris, and was published in 1704. It was called Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences.
One of the greatest efforts to put together an encyclopedia was made by the French in the 18th century. It was called the Encyclopedie and was begun in 1743. What made it unusual was that many of the most famous Frenchmen of the time wrote articles for it, including Voltaire, Rousseau and Diderot.
The Encyclopedia Britannica or Dictionary of Arts and Sciences was started in Scotland in 1768. It has been published in the United States since 1911.
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