List of encyclopedias by branch of knowledge

This is a list of notable encyclopedias sorted by branch of knowledge. For the purposes of this list, an encyclopedia is defined as a "compendium that contains information on either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge." For other sorting standards, see List of encyclopedias.

General knowledge

Catalan

• Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana – Catalan-language encyclopedia, started in fascicles, and published in 1968 by

Chinese

• Encyclopedia of China
• Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China – Chinese language encyclopedia completed in 1725 (10 million Chinese characters)
• Yongle Encyclopedia – once contained 11,095 volumes and around 370 million Chinese characters but now contains less than 400 volumes

Czech

• Riegrův slovník naučný – first Czech encyclopedia published in 1860–1874 with 11 volumes, supplement vol. in 1890, online)
• Otto's encyclopedia – largest Czech-language encyclopedia published between 1888 and 1908 (28 vols) and 1930–1943 (12 vols, incomplete). Volumes 1–28 online
• Příruční slovník naučný – first post-war encyclopedia. With strong communist ideology. Four volumes, 1962–1967.
• Malá československá encklopedie – Small Czechoslovak encyclopedia, it was supposed to be forerunner to Great Czechoslovak encyclopedia that was never published, 6 volumes, 1984–1987.
• Diderot (8 volumes, 1999–2000)
• Universum (10 volumes, 1999–2001)
• Czech Wikipedia (2002–)

Danish

• Den Store Danske Encyklopædi

Dutch

• Winkler Prins – published in print between 1870 and 1993 and made available digitally to the present day
• Oosthoek – published between 1907 and 1981
• Christelijke Encyclopedie – published between 1926 and 2005
• Eerste Nederlandse Systematisch Ingerichte Encyclopaedie – published between 1946 and 1952
• Standaard Encyclopedie – published between 1969 and 1974 by Standaard Uitgeverij Antwerpen
• Grote Nederlandse Larousse Encyclopedie – published between 1971 and 1979
• Grote Spectrum Encyclopedie – published between 1974 and 1980

English

• Academic American Encyclopedia – 21-volume work published in 1980, also issued by Grolier under the names Barnes & Noble New American Encyclopedia, Global International Encyclopedia, Grolier Academic Encyclopedia, Grolier International Encyclopedia, Lexicon Universal Encyclopedia, and Macmillan Family Encyclopedia
• Chambers's Encyclopaedia – published in 1859 by W. Chambers and R. Chambers
• The Children's Encyclopedia – by Arthur Mee, published 1908–64 in the UK and in the US starting in 1910 as Grolier's The Book of Knowledge
• Children's Illustrated Encyclopedia – published by Dorling Kindersley
• Collier's Encyclopedia
• Columbia Encyclopedia – one-volume encyclopedia from Columbia University Press last published in 2000
• The Complete Compendium of Universal Knowledge (1891)
• Compton's Encyclopedia – 26-volume encyclopedia
• Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia
• Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences – 1728 publication by Ephraim Chambers
• Dobson's Encyclopædia – first encyclopedia printed in the United States, but mostly a reprint of the Encyclopædia Britannica Third Edition
• Edinburgh Encyclopædia – 18 volumes printed and published by William Blackwood and edited by David Brewster between 1808 and 1830
• Encyclopædia Britannica – one of the best-known encyclopedias in English, online-only since 2010
• Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite – DVD version of Encyclopædia Britannica
• Encyclopædia Metropolitana – 39 volumes in 59 parts published between 1817 and 1845
• Encyclopedia Americana – both a print work and currently a part of Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia
• English Cyclopaedia – 23 volumes, published 1854–1862
• English Encyclopaedia – 10 volumes, published in 1802
• Everybody's Enquire Within – illustrated book of miscellaneous knowledge issued in weekly instalments from 1937 to 1938
• Everyman's Encyclopaedia – published by Joseph Dent from 1913 as part of the Everyman's Library
• Everything2 – collaborative Web-based database of interlinked user-submitted articles
• Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia – first published in 1912; changed its name to Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Encyclopedia in 1931
• Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia – electronic encyclopedia published by Grolier
• Groliers Encyclopedia
• Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia – edited by John Alexander Hammerton and published 1921–22
• Hutchinson Encyclopedia – single-volume work first published in 1948
• New American Cyclopedia – 16 volumes published between 1857 and 1866
• Nupedia – peer reviewed, open content online encyclopedia project, currently inactive
• Open Site – effort inspired by, but not officially affiliated with, the Open Directory Project
• Oracle Encyclopædia – five-volume encyclopedia published in 1895
• An Outline of Modern Knowledge – published in 1931 by Victor Gollancz
• Pears Cyclopaedia – one-volume encyclopaedia published annually in the United Kingdom
• Probert Encyclopaedia – online topical encyclopedia consisting of almost 100,000 short entries, published by Mathew Probert and based in the United Kingdom
• World Book Encyclopedia – designed for family use; the world's best selling print encyclopedia

French

• Découvertes Gallimard – illustrated encyclopaedia in pocket format, 588 volumes plus 150⁺ volumes of spin-offs, published 1986–present
• Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers – contributed by the Encyclopédistes, edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert, published 1751–1772

German

• Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste – very large, unfinished 19th-century encyclopaedia by Ersch and Gruber in 167 volumes
• – best-known encyclopedia in German, online-only since 2014
• Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon – huge 18th-century encyclopedia by Johann Heinrich Zedler
• Meyers Konversations-Lexikon
• Oeconomische Encyclopädie – Started by Johann Georg Krünitz in 1773 and finished 1858 in 242 volumes

Indonesian

• Ensiklopedi Umum dalam Bahasa Indonesia – the first encyclopedia in Indonesia

• Ensiklopedia Nasional Indonesia – published from 1988 to 2004 with 400 contributors

Italian

• Treccani – also known as Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti

Latin

• Lexicon Universale – published in 1698

Lithuanian

• Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija

Persian

• The Book of Healing – 30-volume Persian-language encyclopedia published by Avicenna () in 1027 ( Kitāb al-Å ifāʾ, Latin: Sufficientia)
• The Persian Encyclopedia () – three-volume encyclopedia edited by Gholamhossein Mosahab, partially based on the early editions of the Columbia Encyclopedia

Polish

• Nowe Ateny – published in 1745–1746
• Universal Encyclopedia – 1859, 28 volumes, Orgelbrand
• Wielka Encyklopedia Powszechna PWN – 1962–1970, 13 volumes, PWN
• Wielka Encyklopedia PWN – 2001–2005, 31 volumes, PWN

Portuguese

Romanian

Russian

• Brockhaus and Efron – imperial encyclopedia in 86 volumes
• Great Soviet Encyclopedia (Большая Советская Энциклопедия) – second largest and most comprehensive encyclopedia in Russian; there were three editions; the third edition of 1969–78 contains 30 volumes
• Great Russian Encyclopedia – universal Russian encyclopedia, completed in 36 volumes (2004–2017)

Slovak

• Slovenský náučný slovník. 3 volumes 1932. First general encyclopedia in Slovak language.
• Pyramída. Published between 1971 and 1990 in journal form (224 issues).
• Malá slovenská encyklopédia. 1 volume 1993
• Encyclopaedia Beliana. 20 planned volumes, 1999–, 9 volumes published as of 2021
• VÅ¡eobecný encyklopedický slovník. 2002, four volumes
• Slovak Wikipedia. 2003–
• Univerzum – vÅ¡eobecná obrazová encyklopédia A – Ž. 1 volume, 2011

Slovenian

• Enciklopedija Slovenije

Spanish

• Enciclopedia Libre Universal (also known as Enciclopedia Libre) – project to create a Spanish encyclopedia using wiki software, released under the GFDL
• Enciclopedia universal ilustrada europeo-americana – largest encyclopedia of its time; also known as Enciclopedia Espasa o Enciclopedia Espasa-Calpe

Swedish

• Nationalencyklopedin – encyclopedia in Swedish
• Susning.nu – project to create a Swedish-language encyclopedia using wiki software; an anyone-can-edit encyclopedia until 2004; shut down in 2009

Turkish

• Anabritannica – published in Turkey and based on the Britannica Micropædia

Ukrainian

• Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia (Українська радянська енциклопедія) – encyclopedia in Ukrainian; its first edition was 17 volumes

Multiple languages

• Microsoft Encarta – computer-based encyclopedia published by Microsoft, now discontinued
• Wikipedia – world's largest free encyclopedia; a project to create a comprehensive encyclopedia using wiki software

Specialized encyclopedias

National, regional, ethnic or cultural

Australia

• Australian Encyclopaedia (1925, 1958, 1977, 1983, 1988, 1996)

Austria

• aeiou Encyclopedia (1996ff.)

Bangladesh

• Banglapedia – 10 volumes published in 2003; bilingual; English and Bengali

Brazil

• ' – 2020
• ' – 2001
• ' – 1960–2010
• ' – 1981
• ' – 1972
• ' – 1969
• ' – 1957

Canada

• The Canadian Encyclopedia (1985 and 1988, CD-ROM and website since, active as of 2025)
• The Junior Encyclopedia of Canada (1990)

Croatia

• Hrvatska opća enciklopedija (started in 1999 – 7th vol. 2005 of 11)

Ethiopia

• Encyclopaedia Aethiopica – basic reference work for Ethiopian and Eritrean studies

Germany

• Deutsche Biographie (Biographical dictionary of Germans)

Iceland

• Icelandic Encyclopedia A–Ö

Iran

• Encyclopædia Iranica – on Iranian peoples and Persia
• Encyclopaedia Islamica
• Encyclopaedia of Imam Ali
• The Encyclopedia of Iranian Old Music – published in Tehran, 2000
• Encyclopaedia of Persian Language and Literature – published by the Academy of Persian Language and Literature in Persian in Tehran
• Encyclopaedia of Shia

Italy

• Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (Biographical dictionary of Italians) – Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Malaysia

• The Encyclopedia of Malaysia – published from 1998 to 2007

Morocco

• Maelimat al-maghrib () – published between 1989 and 2006 totaling 27 volumes.

New Zealand

• The Cyclopedia of New Zealand (1897–1908) – unofficial; most subjects paid to have their articles appear; online at the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre
• An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand (1966–) – official
• ' (2005–) – official, incorporating the full text of An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand

Poland

• Encyklopedia Polski (Encyclopedia of Poland) – 2005, 10 volumes

Portugal

• ' (Grand Encyclopædic Dictionary of Madeira) – since 2016
• ' (Azorean Encyclopædia) – since 2008
• ' (Madeiran Glossary) – 1921–1940

Slovakia

• Encyklopédia Slovenska. (Encyclopedia of Slovakia) 6 volumes, 1977–1982.

Slovenia

• Enciklopedija Slovenije – published in 1987–2002

Sweden

• Nordisk familjebok – encyclopedia in Swedish

Ukraine

• Encyclopedia of Ukraine – English five-volume version of the Encyclopedia of Ukrainian Studies
• Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine – online version of the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
• Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine – multi-volume comprehensive encyclopedia about Ukraine from the 20th and 21st centuries

United Kingdom

• The London Encyclopaedia – 1007-page reference of the city of London; pub. 1983

United States

• Encyclopedia of Chicago
• Encyclopedia of New Jersey
• The Encyclopedia of New York City
• Handbook of Texas

Yugoslavia

• Enciklopedija Jugoslavije
• Opća enciklopedija JLZ (1977–82)

Field

Art and architecture

• Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World – in 3 volumes (1997)
• Grove Dictionary of Art – in 34 volumes (1996)

Entertainment

• Allgame – comprehensive online guide to computer and video games created by All Media Guide
• Allmovie – comprehensive online guide to movies created by All Media Guide
• Allmusic – comprehensive online guide to music created by All Media Guide
• The Aurum Film Encyclopedia
• The Motion Picture Guide

Environmental science

• Encyclopedia of Earth (EoE) – electronic reference about the Earth, its natural environments, and their interaction with society
• Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS) – sponsored by UNESCO—an interdisciplinary encyclopedia, inspired by the sustainable development movement

Fashion and dress

• Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion – edited by Joanne B. Eicher, 10 volumes

Fiction

• The Rocklopedia Fakebandica – by T. Mike Childs, published in 2004
• The Star Trek Encyclopedia
• TV Tropes

History and biography

• African American National Biography
• Africana – The Encyclopedia of the African and African-American Experience
• American National Biography
• Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography – 19th-century American encyclopedia
• Conspiracy Encyclopedia
• An Encyclopedia of World History – single-volume work; First Edition, 1940; Sixth Edition, 2001
• Encyklopedia Polski
• Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
• ' (Great Figures of our History) – Brazilian encyclopædia published in 1969
• ' (Great Figures of World History) – Brazilian encyclopædia published in 1970
• Lexikon des Mittelalters – German encyclopedia of medieval history, published in 1980
• Oxford Classical Dictionary – despite the name, a one-volume encyclopedia for antiquity

Law

• American Jurisprudence
• Corpus Juris Secundum
• Halsbury's Laws of Australia
• Halsbury's Laws of England
• Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia
• Encyclopedia of Law

International and comparative law

• Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law

Library and Information Science

Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences

Literature

• Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia
• Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature
• The Cambridge History of English and American Literature
• The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction – first published in 1979 by John Clute and Peter Nicholls
• Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature
• Literary Encyclopedia (Литературная энциклопедия) – 11 volumes, 1929–39 (incomplete; 12th volume draft later published)
• The Literary Encyclopedia – online encyclopedia started in 2000
• The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural – published in 1986; edited by Jack Sullivan
• The Poets' Encyclopedia – edited by Michael Andre
• Soviet Concise Literary Encyclopedia – Soviet-era encyclopedia of literature; 9 volumes published between 1962 and 1978
• Cyrillo-Methodian Encyclopedia of the Institute of Literature at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences from 1985 to 2003.
• Kindlers Literature Encyclopedia – German encyclopedia about world literature. Online-only since 2009.
• Killy Literaturlexikon – German encyclopedia of German authors. Second edition in 12 volumes from 2008 to 2011.

Mathematics

• CRC Concise Encyclopedia of Mathematics – second edition 2002, based on Mathworld
• Encyclopaedia of Mathematics – published by Springer Verlag in 2002
• Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security – published by Springer-Verlag in 2005
• Encyclopedia of Statistical Sciences - second edition published by John Wiley & Sons in 2006
• Encyclopedic Dictionary of Mathematics (EDM2) – second edition published in 1993 by The Mathematical Society of Japan
• Klein's encyclopedia – published 1898–1935
• Mathworld – online encyclopedia by Eric Weisstein
• On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS)
• planetmath

Medicine

• Kitab al-Tasrif (The Method of Medicine) – by Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis)
• The Canon of Medicine – by Avicenna
• Encyclopedia of Public Health
• Medical Compendium in Seven Books – by Paul of Aegina in the 7th century CE; it was the most complete medical encyclopedia in its day
• Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary

Music

• Eerste Nederlandse Pop Encyclopedie
• Encyclopedia of Popular Music
• The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
• International Encyclopedia of Women Composers
• Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart
• The New Grove Dictionary of Opera
• ' (Musicians of Brazil: an Instrumental Encyclopædia)

Nautical

• Bibliography of encyclopedias#Nautical dictionaries and encyclopædias

Philosophy

• Encyclopedia of Philosophy – edited by Paul Edwards
• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy – online encyclopedia
• Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy – online encyclopedia

Religion

Christianity

• ' – 17th-century (1652–1744) Portuguese encyclopædia on hagiography and ecclesiastical matters
• The Catholic Encyclopedia – 1907–1912 (15 vls.)
• Encyclopædia Biblica
• Encyclopedia of Christianity – John Stephen Bowden, ed., 1 vol., Oxford UP, 2006
• Encyclopedia of Mormonism
• Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche – 1930–38 (10 vls.)
• New Catholic encyclopedia – 1967–96 (15 vls. and 4 supplementary vls.); 2. ed. 2003 (15 vls.)
• Theologische Realenzyklopädie (TRE) – ed. Gerhard Müller. 38 vls.; Berlin 1977–2007
• Twentieth Century Encyclopedia of Catholicism – Hawthorn Books. 150 vls.; New York City 1958–1971

Islam

• Encyclopaedia Islamica
• Encyclopaedia of Imam Ali
• Encyclopaedia of Islam
• Encyclopaedia of Shia
• The Hussaini Encyclopedia
• Urdu Encyclopaedia of Islam or Urdu Daira Maarif Islamiya (Urdu: اردو دائرہ معارف اسلامیہ) is the largest Islamic encyclopedia published in Urdu by University of the Punjab.
• Islami Bishwakosh

Judaism

• Encyclopaedia Judaica – published 1972–91, second edition 2006
• Jewish Encyclopedia – published 1901–06; original full 12 volumes
• Shorter Jewish Encyclopedia in Russian – 11 volumes, published 1976–2005 in Jerusalem
• Talmudic Encyclopedia
• The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe – Yale University Press, 2008

Hinduism

• Encyclopedia of Hinduism – published 2012

Science

• Encyclopedia Astronautica – reference website maintained by space-travel enthusiast Mark Wade
• Encyclopedia of Analytical Chemistry – Wiley, 2000, 15 volumes
• Encyclopedia of Flora and Fauna of Bangladesh
• Encyclopedia of Genetics
• Encyclopedia of Life Sciences (ELS) – owned by John Wiley & Sons; both a 20-volume print edition and an online edition
• The Illustrated Science and Invention Encyclopedia
• McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology – also available in a one-volume edition
• The New Encyclopedia of Snakes
• '

Engineering

Chemical Engineering

• Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry – currently in its 7th edition; first edition in German available in the public domain.

Social sciences

• International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences – edited by Neil Smelser and Paul Baltes, 26 vls., Elsevier, 2001
• International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences – edited by David L. Sills, New York, New York (etc.); Macmillan, 1968
• International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences – edited by William A. Darity, Jr., Detroit (etc.); Macmillan Reference USA, 2008

Economics

• The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics – 2nd Edition (2008)

Sports

• The Baseball Encyclopedia
• Total Baseball, The Ultimate Baseball Encyclopedia – 2004, by John Thorn et al.
• World Sports Encyclopedia – 2003, Atena/MBI

Other

• Atlas of the Prehistoric World
• '
• Christie's World Encyclopedia of Champagne & Sparkling Wine
• Encyclopedia of Cybernetics
• Encyclopedia of Marxism – online encyclopedia released under the GNU Free Documentation License, part of the Marxist Internet Archive.
• The Grocer's Encyclopedia
• Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft
• Larousse Gastronomique – encyclopedia of food and cooking
• A Military Encyclopedia
• Mining Encyclopedia
• MusicBrainz – project to create a free music encyclopedia, released under the Open Content License; the first goal is to create a database similar to CDDB
• The Oxford Companion to Wine
• Perelman's Pocket Cyclopedia of Cigars – encyclopedia and history of (Non-Cuban) cigars and their manufacturers (also Perelman's Pocket Cyclopaedia of Havana Cigars)
• The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia
• ' (Little Encyclopædia of Morality and Civism) – Brazilian state-sponsored school encyclopædia during the military dictatorship
• Encyclopedia Recipica – Encyclopedia of Recipe

See also

• List of encyclopedias by language
• List of encyclopedias by date
• List of online encyclopedias
• Lists of encyclopedias

References