Editing Encyclopedia:Size comparisons (section)

== Paper encyclopedias ==

The largest paper encyclopedia ever produced is possibly the ''[[Yongle Encyclopedia]],'' completed in 1407 in 11,095 books, 370 million Chinese characters and commissioned by the [[Yongle Emperor]].<ref name="ebyongle">[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9078157/Yongle-dadian "Yongle dadian"]. ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''.</ref> The individual books that made up the encyclopedia were small by modern standards; the work was twelve times the size of the 20 million word French ''[[Encyclopédie]],''<ref>[http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:1QPVV0ySmOAJ:english.people.com.cn/200204/18/eng20020418_94330.shtml+China+to+Digitalize+World%27s+Earliest+Encyclopedia+Chinese+people%27s+daily&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1 Yongle Encyclopedia]</ref> giving 240 million words, or 21,600 words per book, although it is unclear if that is how it differs from the ''Encyclopédie'' in size. It is also unclear if it is twelve times larger than the original 28-volume version of the ''Encyclopédie'' completed in 1772 or the 35-volume version completed in 1780. The ''Yung-lo ta-tien'' was a collection of excerpts and entire existing works, rather than an original work. Only two copies were made and all that survives is a small fraction of one copy.