| The Encyclopedia of Fantasy | |
|---|---|
The Encyclopedia of Fantasy first edition cover. |
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| Author(s) | John Clute John Grant |
| Cover artist | Peter Goodfellow |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Subject(s) | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Orbit Books |
| Publication date | 3 April 1997 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 832 pp (first edition) |
| ISBN | 978-1857233681 |
| OCLC Number | 37106061 |
The Encyclopedia of Fantasy is a 1997 reference work on fantasy, edited by John Clute and John Grant. Other contributors include Mike Ashley, Neil Gaiman, Diana Wynne Jones, David Langford, Sam J. Lundwall, Michael Scott Rohan, Brian Stableford and Lisa Tuttle.
The book was well-received upon publication. During 1998, it received the Hugo Award,[1] World Fantasy Award,[2] and Locus Award.[3] The industry publication Library Journal described The Encyclopedia of Fantasy as "the first of its kind".[4]
Contents |
The Encyclopedia was published in a format that matches the 1993 second edition of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. It is slightly smaller, containing 1,049 alphabetical pages, over 4,000 entries and approximately one million words, the bulk of which were written by Clute, Grant and Ashley. A later CD-ROM edition contains numerous revisions.
The Encyclopedia uses a similar system of categorization to The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, but does not include an index of theme entries. A theme index was later included in the on-line addenda: see "External links" below. One of the major differences is that there are no entries related to publishing.
The Encyclopedia often invented new terms for theme entries, rather than using headings that may have previously appeared in critical literature. Examples include:
Characterizing the book as "an excellent and highly readable source for fantasy", the industry publication Library Journal described The Encyclopedia of Fantasy as "the first of its kind".[4]