Encyclopedias

thumb|357x357px|A laptop shows a Wikipedia page on "Encyclopedia", beside stacked volumes and an open page of the Encyclopædia Britannica. An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by article name or by thematic categories, or, in the case of online encyclopedias, they are hyperlinked and searchable. Encyclopedia entries are longer and more detailed than those in most dictionaries. Generally speaking, ency

thumb|Ordnance Gazetteer for Scotland – title page

type of encyclopedic dictionary limited to biographical information

dictionary that collects short articles on a wide range of topics both of an encyclopaedic and a lexicographic kind, arranged in alphabetical order

80-volume book by historian Ibn Asakir

book in 24 volumes by al-Khatib al-Baghdadi

book by Aḥmad Ibn-ʿAbdallāh Abū-Nuʿaim al-Iṣfahānī

Book in the biography of the people

aspect of history

Encyclopaedistics or encyclopaedics as a discipline, is the academic scholarship of encyclopedias as sources of encyclopedic knowledge and cultural objects as well; in this sense, this discipline is also known as "encyclopaedia studies" and can be termed as "theoretical encyclopaediography" by analogy with theoretical lexicography. Encyclopaedistics as a practical activity (profession or business) also called "encyclopaedic practice" or "encyclopedism" is the process of assembling encyclopaedias available to the public for sale or for free (encyclopaedia publishing or practical encyclopediogra