Introduction to encyclopedia
Encyclopedias surpass other types of reference books in scale and content. The main function of an encyclopedia is to provide people with necessary knowledge and factual information. Its completeness lies in that it contains almost all kinds of reference books, including all aspects of knowledge. Known as? A university without walls? .
Encyclopedia is a collection of knowledge and an overview of all kinds of knowledge. Whether there is an excellent comprehensive encyclopedia has become one of the symbols to measure the level of scientific and cultural development of a country.
Types of encyclopedias
Comprehensive books
The comprehensive encyclopedia selects and collects all kinds of knowledge that has existed in different times. Classification methods are often used in the early stage, and the classification system varies according to editors. 16-17th century, influenced by lexicography, encyclopedias arranged alphabetically appeared. Brockhouse Encyclopedia in Germany and Encyclopedia Britannica are the representatives of two comprehensive encyclopedias. The former has always been Yan Shouyi's system, which decomposes the whole knowledge into very narrow items. The latter's new edition of Convenient Reference Index (Compendium) also contains some brockhaus-style factors, but the book focuses on the "detailed compilation" of major events.
Professional books
Professional encyclopedias appeared in18th century. Famous professional encyclopedias in chemistry include ullman Encyclopedia of Applied Chemistry (19 14~ 1923) and kyrk? Kirk-Ossmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology (1947 ~1956); In terms of music, there are large-scale music encyclopedias or music school dictionaries compiled by Lionel Della Laurenci (1913 ~1931), and an encyclopedia of chamber music compiled by Cobbett (1929). In philosophy, there is the Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1967); In architectural art, there is the Encyclopedia of World Art (1959 ~1968); Religious aspects include Encyclopedia of Church Knowledge (1907), Encyclopedia of Islam (1960) and Encyclopedia of Judaism (1971~1972); In literature, there is Kassel's Encyclopedia of Literature (1953); In physics, there is the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Physics edited by James Thewlis (196 1~ 1964). In medicine, there is the British Encyclopedia of Medicine (1936~ 1939).
Regional books
At the end of 19, there are encyclopedias of countries and regions, the contents of which are limited to the situation of one country or region, such as Encyclopedia of South Africa (196 1), Encyclopedia of Australia (1958) and Encyclopedia of New Zealand (/kloc-0 Encyclopedia of Argentina (1956~ 1964), encyclopedia of Romania (1938~ 1943), encyclopedia of Poland (19 16 ~ 65438+)
Encyclopedia for children
Children's encyclopedias appeared from 65438 to 2009 in the 20th century, and Lalus published the Little Encyclopedia of Youth from 65438 to 0853. 1957 was adapted into the children's encyclopedia of lalus. The most popular is the children's encyclopedia edited by British writer Arthur Rice, and the American version is called the book of knowledge. The World Book Encyclopedia is another successful encyclopedia for teenagers, whose aim is to "contain knowledge in stories and pictures". The Encyclopedia of British Teenagers was published in 1963, and its readers are children under 12 years old. Unlike previous youth encyclopedias, Oxford Youth Encyclopedia is divided into 12 volumes.
encyclopaedic dictionary
Encyclopedia dictionaries became popular in17 ~18th century. It is a reference book between traditional encyclopedias and dictionaries, and its early masterpiece is the Technical Dictionary (1704) written by British Harris.
In addition, some encyclopedias, such as Encyclopedia Britannica, are published in both print and electronic versions, and the electronic version appears in the form of CD-ROM products or network services.
Many items in an encyclopedia must be easily accessible to readers who want to find information on specific topics. In printed encyclopedias, it is common to arrange the titles of items in alphabetical order. Although some encyclopedias subdivide items according to a wide range of topics, it is also helpful to find the information you want through auxiliary methods such as alphabetical index or references between items. Search and retrieval programs in electronic encyclopedias can generate table entries, which contain information that meets readers' specific requirements.
The Origin of Encyclopedia Form
Encyclopedia of the west
Originated in ancient Greece? Plato and his student Aristotle are considered to be the ancestors of western encyclopedias, and they recorded the comprehensive knowledge at that time through lectures. The books written by Marcus Trentius Varo in ancient Rome, such as Discipline of the Library and Antiquities Sacred and Human, are encyclopedias. The most important encyclopedia in Rome is Pliny Sr's Natural History. This book is an anthology of classified knowledge, which influenced the compilation of encyclopedias in the next 500 years.
Imago mundi, a famous encyclopedia in the early Middle Ages compiled by Honorius Inclusus, is widely quoted and well-arranged, which is beyond the reach of predecessors. The most important encyclopedia in the Middle Ages was The Spectacle compiled by Vincent of Beauvais. Nearly 10000 chapters, 80 volumes, is1the largest encyclopedia in the early 8th century. 1559, German editor Paul Scarici published an encyclopedia in Basel, and used this word as the title for the first time.
17th century and18th century, Francis Bacon's The Great Renaissance (Unfinished) had a great influence on the compilation of encyclopedias, and its contribution was to provide a new and reasonable knowledge classification system for encyclopedias. The Technical Dictionary (1704) compiled by jon harris, England, has the elements of a modern encyclopedia. The reference system founded by Ephraim Chambers is regarded as a pioneer in adopting modern encyclopedia editing technology. Diderot (Denis Diderot) and D'Alembert (D'Alembert) edited the encyclopedia (encyclopedia; 175 1- 1765) is of great historical significance and more influential than other reference books of the same period. After the first volume of this book was published, it was criticized by the church and the government, but it was supported by the people. Diderot's contribution lies in adapting to the rising revolutionary spirit in France and igniting people's ideological sparks. The Encyclopaedia Britannica was first published in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1768 and 177 1. Later, the edition was gradually improved and has now been published in 15. The first social dictionary (Konversations-Lexikon, 1796 ~ 18 1) compiled by brockhaus to meet the needs of the Germans became a model for at least half of the encyclopedias published in the western world. It is characterized by a wide range of materials, short items and sufficient facts, and is good at fine and new materials.
French Lalus is quite innovative in encyclopedia compilation. The Encyclopedia of Lalus has a high reputation and is characterized by fluent writing. Noah webster's American English Dictionary is essentially an encyclopedia, which is as epoch-making as Brockhouse Encyclopedia and Lalus Encyclopedia. Bolshaya Sovetskaya Entsiklopedya was first published in 1926 ~ 1947, with 65 volumes in total. The second edition is 5 1, and now the third edition has 30 volumes. The Encyclopedia of Great Beauty was compiled on the basis of the 7th edition of Brockhouse Encyclopedia, which adopted a constantly revised system and achieved great success. The illustrated Spanish Encyclopedia of Europe and America (ESPASA, 1905 ~ 1970) is the largest encyclopedia in the world, with 80 volumes. The Italian Encyclopedia (1929- 1936) is famous for its exquisite illustrations and scholarship. Since the 20th century, other countries that have published encyclopedias include Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Turkey, Yugoslavia and Lithuania.
Oriental encyclopedia
China has compiled encyclopedias for nearly 2000 years. Different from modern western encyclopedias, encyclopedias are basically selections of important documents, mainly compiled for career reference, and some also contain some dictionary elements. China's first famous kind of book, Huang Lan, compiled by Wei Wendi in 220 AD, has been lost. Later, other famous books were Annotations edited by Du Gongzhan, Lei Ju of Literature and Art 100 by Ou Yangxun, Beitang Shuchao edited by Yu Shinan and Notes for Beginners edited by Xu Jian and others. In the Song Dynasty, Liu Yun was ordered by Song Taizong to organize the compilation and revision of Magnolia Taiping, which was later rebuilt and printed in movable type. Yuan Gui (10 13) is mainly based on historical biography, and its length is almost the same as that of Magnolia Taiping.
Wang Yinglin (1223~ 1292), a scholar of the Southern Song Dynasty, compiled Yu Hai in 1267, which is an important encyclopedia and reprinted in 1738, with a total of 240 volumes. The Yongle Dadian compiled in the early Ming Dynasty may be the largest encyclopedia in the world, with 22,937 volumes. Unfortunately, most of them have been lost, and the remaining 730 volumes were photocopied at 1963. In the Ming Dynasty, Wang Qi and his son compiled Three Stories 106 with rich illustrations. Pei Fu compiled by Feng Yi during the Kangxi period of Qing Dynasty and its supplement, Notes on Rhyme Fu, are an encyclopedia of China literature. Other similar books are Bian Lei Zi and Zi Shi Jing Ji. 1726, Chen Menglei and others compiled a grand book "Collection of Ancient and Modern Books" with a volume of 10000, which included all the cultural heritage of China. Other books in the Qing Dynasty include: The Story of the Original Materials by Wang Ji (1796), Little Lu Zhi by Lu Fengzao (1804), The Story of the Classics by Alice Chan (1804) and Uncle Qi Ming Ji by Wang Chenglie (. The first modern encyclopedia dictionary in China was Ci Yuan edited by Lu Erkui in the early years of the Republic of China (19 15).
Japanese books influenced by China began to appear in the Tokugawa era. Modern encyclopedias appeared after 1926, mainly including encyclopedia chronicle (28 volumes, 193 1~ 1935) and national encyclopedia dictionary (15 volumes, 1934 ~). From 65438 to 0972, Encyclopedia Britannica (28 volumes) was published.
The first encyclopedia in the Arab world was Kitab Dark Cloud Al-akbar compiled by Ibn Kutaiba (828-889). He quoted traditional aphorisms, historical facts and ancient poems to explain what he said. Ibn Abd Rabbih of Có rdoba improved Ibn Gutaibai's works and compiled the Pearl Essence (Iqd). The key to science compiled by Persian scholar al-Khwarizmi from 1975 to 1997 is divided into two parts: domestic knowledge and foreign knowledge. An-Nuwairi, an Egyptian historian, compiled Nihayat al-arab fi funun al-adab, the most famous encyclopedia in the Mamluk era, with nearly 9,000 pages and volume 1923. From1876 to1900, Boustaany and his son compiled an encyclopedia (Dairat al-maarif), and the second edition was published from 1923 to 1925, 1956. 1955 Abbott? Albert Rihani published a single-volume Arabic encyclopedia.
reference book
Now it also refers to a large-scale reference book that comprehensively and systematically introduces cultural and scientific knowledge, including various specialized terms and nouns, arranged according to the criminal provisions of the dictionary, and explained in detail.
? An encyclopedia? Usually refers to a large set of books. This word originated from western Greek. ) (Latin alphabet: enkyklios) and (paideia). ? Encrios? Meaning? Cyclic, periodic, normal? And then what? Padia? What does it mean? Education? . What's the point? Literally, general education is the artistic and scientific knowledge that a person who wants to receive general education should learn? . In the process of transcription, it was misrepresented as a new Latin word? An encyclopedia? , and then enter English, first recorded in 153 1. In the new Latin, this word was chosen as the title of a reference book covering all subjects. It first appeared in Britain in 1644.
According to the introduction of Encyclopedia Britannica, the largest encyclopedia in the world is Yongle Dadian. There are 60 volumes in the catalogue and 22,877 volumes in the text, which are packaged into 1 1095 volumes, with about 370 million words. This ancient cultural treasure house is China's encyclopedic literature collection.
Encyclopedia of China? Press and publication volume is defined as:? A reference book that briefly introduces all kinds of human knowledge or a certain kind of knowledge. Used to check the required knowledge and factual information. But it also has the function of expanding readers' knowledge horizons and helping the system to seek knowledge. It is a symbol of the scientific and cultural development of a country and an era. ?
What is the definition of a concise dictionary of social sciences? Large reference books arranged in the form of dictionaries systematically summarize all aspects or a certain aspect of human knowledge. It is divided into two categories: comprehensive category and professional category. A comprehensive encyclopedia, collecting nouns, idioms, place names, events, people, works, etc. In all fields of knowledge, it is a treasure house of knowledge. But it doesn't include words, so it is different from Chinese dictionaries. ?
Encyclopedia can be comprehensive, including related contents in various fields (for example, Encyclopedia Britannica is a famous comprehensive encyclopedia). It can also be a special encyclopedia (such as an encyclopedia of medicine or philosophy). There are also some encyclopedias that discuss a wide range of topics from the perspective of a specific culture or country, such as the Soviet Union Encyclopedia.