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 criteria, see List of encyclopedias.

General knowledge

Arabic

The Book of Healing - a thirty volume Arabic-language encyclopedia published by Avicenna in 1027

Chinese

Encyclopedia of China
Gujin tushu jicheng - Chinese language encyclopedia completed in 1725 (10 million Chinese characters)

Czech

Otto's encyclopedia - the largest Czech-language encyclopedia published between 1888–1908 and 1930–1943

Danish

Den Store Danske Encyklopædi

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 1908-1964 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 - a one-volume encyclopedia from Columbia University Press last published in 2000.
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
Microsoft Encarta - discontinued computer-based encyclopedia published by Microsoft, now discontinued
Encyclopedia Americana - both a print work and currently a part of Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia.
Encyclopædia Britannica - one of the best-known encyclopedias in English, online only since 2010
Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite - DVD version of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopædia Metropolitana - 39 volumes in 59 parts published between 1817 and 1845
English Cyclopaedia - 23 volumes, published 1854–1862
English Encyclopaedia - 10 volumes, published in 1802
Everybody's Enquire Within - a 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
Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia - first published in 1912, changed its name to Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Encyclopedia in 1931
Groliers Encyclopedia
Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia - an electronic encyclopedia published by Grolier.
Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia - edited by John Alexander Hammerton and published 1921-1922
Hutchinson Encyclopedia - single volume work first published in 1948
New American Cyclopedia - 16 volumes published between 1857 and 1866
Nupedia - a peer reviewed, open content Internet encyclopedia project, currently inactive.
Open Site - an effort inspired by, but not officially affiliated with, the Open Directory Project.
Oracle Encyclopædia - a five volume encyclopedia published in 1895
An Outline of Modern Knowledge - published in 1931 by Victor Gollancz
Pears Cyclopaedia - a one-volume encyclopaedia published annually in the United Kingdom
Probert Encyclopaedia - an 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, World Book is the world's best selling print encyclopedia

German

Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste - very large 19th-century encyclopaedia by Ersch and Gruber
Brockhaus Enzyklopädie
Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon - huge 18th-century encyclopedia by Johann Heinrich Zedler
Meyers Konversations-Lexikon

Italian

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

Latin

Lexicon Universale - published in 1698

Persian

The Persian Encyclopedia - a three volume encyclopedia edited by Gholamhossein Mosahab, partially based on the early editions of the Columbia Encyclopedia

Polish

Wielka Encyklopedia Powszechna PWN, 13 volumes, 1962–1970, the largest encyclopedia to date in Polish
Wielka Encyklopedia PWN, 2001–2005, the successor to the WEP PWN; larger and more objective, it is currently being finished

Russian

Brockhaus and Efron - imperial encyclopedia in 86 volumes
Great Soviet Encyclopedia (Большая Советская Энциклопедия) - The second largest and most comprehensive encyclopedia in Russian; here were 3 editions, 3rd edition of 1969-1978 contains 30 volumes

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 - the biggest 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. Anyone-can-edit encyclopedia until 2004, shut down in 2009.

Turkish

Anabritannica - published in Turkey and based on the Britannica Micropædia
Ekşi Sözlük - a collaborative hypertext Turkish dictionary and encyclopedia site that shares a similar concept with Everything2 or H2G2.

Multiple languages

Wikipedia - the 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.) Austrian

Bangladesh

Banglapedia in 10 Volumes published in 2003 bilingual of English and Bengali.

Canada

The Canadian Encyclopedia - (1985 and 1988)

Croatia

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

Ethiopia

Encyclopaedia Aethiopica - basic reference work for Ethiopian and Eritrean studies

Iran

Encyclopaedia Islamica
Encyclopaedia of Shia
Encyclopaedia of Imam Ali
Encyclopædia Iranica - on Iranian peoples and Iran (Persia)
Encyclopaedia of Persian Language and Literature published by the Academy of Persian Language and Literature in Persian in Tehran
The Encyclopedia of Iranian Old Music - Published in Tehran, 2000.

Italy

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

Malaysia

The Encyclopedia of Malaysia, published from 1998 to 2007

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.
Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand (2005–) official, incorporating the full text of An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand.

Poland

Encyklopedia Polski (translation: Encyclopedia of Poland).
Encyklopedia Powszechna PWN (translation: PWN Universal Encyclopedia).

Slovenia

Enciklopedija Slovenije, published in 1987-2002

Sweden

Nordisk familjebok - encyclopedia in Swedish

United Kingdom

The London Encyclopaedia 1007 page reference of the city of London, pub. 1983

United States of America

Yugoslavia

Enciklopedija Jugoslavije
Opća enciklopedija JLZ - (1977–1982)

Subject

Art and Architecture

Grove Dictionary of Art in 34-volumes (1996)

Entertainment

Allgame - A comprehensive online guide to computer and video games created by All Media Guide.
Allmovie - A comprehensive online guide to movies created by All Media Guide.
Allmusic - A comprehensive online guide to music created by All Media Guide.

Environmental Science

Encyclopedia of Earth (EoE) (an 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
Ekopedia -- a wiki encyclopedia about environmental sustainability

Fashion and dress

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

Fiction

Not to be confused with List of fictional books.

The Rocklopedia Fakebandica - by T. Mike Childs, published in 2004
The Star Trek Encyclopedia

History and biography

Africana - The Encyclopedia of the African and African-American Experience
African American National Biography
American National Biography
Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography - 19th-century American encyclopedia
An Encyclopedia of World History - single-volume work. First Edition, 1940. Sixth Edition, 2001.
Encyklopedia Polski
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Lexikon des Mittelalters - German encyclopedia of medieval history, published in 1980
Oxford Classical Dictionary - Despite the name, a one-volume encyclopedia for antiquity.
Encyclopedia Rizaliana - a one-volume encyclopedia about the life, works and influence of the Philippine patriot, Jose Protasio Rizal, published by Lulu Press in 2008 and edited by Jose Fadul

Law

International and comparative law

Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law

Literature

Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia
Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature
The Cambridge History of English and American Literature
Soviet Concise Literary Encyclopedia - Soviet-era encyclopedia of literature, 9 volumes published between 1962 and 1978
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction - first published in 1979 by John Clute and Peter Nicholls
Literary Encyclopedia (Литературная энциклопедия) - 11 volumes, 1929-1939 (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

Mathematics

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

Science

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

Religion

Christianity

The Catholic Encyclopedia. 1907–1912 (15 vls.)
New Catholic encyclopedia. 1967–1996 (15 vls. and 4 supplementary vls.). 2. ed. 2003 (15 vls.)
Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche. 1930–1938 (10 vls.)
Theologische Realenzyklopädie (TRE) Hrsg. Gerhard Müller. 38 vls.. Berlin 1977–2007.
Encyclopædia Biblica
Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Encyclopedia of Christianity, John Stephen Bowden, ed., 1 vol., Oxford UP, 2006.

Islam

Judaism

Encyclopaedia Judaica - published 1972-1991, second edition 2006
Jewish Encyclopedia - published 1901-1906. Original full 12 volumes
Talmudic Encyclopedia
Jewish Virtual Library
Shorter Jewish Encyclopedia in Russian - 11 volumes, published 1976-2005 in Jerusalem
The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe - Yale UP, 2008

Social sciences

International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences - edited by David L. Sills, New York, New York [etc.]: Macmillan, 1968
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 William A. Darity, Jr., Detroit [etc.]: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008

Economics

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

Sports

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

Other

Above and Beyond: The Encyclopedia of Aviation and Space Sciences
Christie's World Encyclopedia of Champagne & Sparkling Wine
Encyclopedia of Marxism - an 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
MusicBrainz - a 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 An encyclopedia and history of (Non-Cuban) cigars and their manufacturers (also Perelman's Pocket Cyclopaedia of Havana Cigars)
The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia