Editing Encyclopedia (section)

== Pre-modern encyclopedias ==
{{Main|History of encyclopedias}}
[[File:Plinio il vecchio, naturalis historia, 1446, manoscritto S. XI.1, 02.JPG|alt=Two pages from medieval manuscript of Pliny's Natural History|thumb|[[Pliny the Elder]]'s [[Natural History (Pliny)|''Natural History'']] is one of the oldest extant encyclopedias.]]

The earliest encyclopedic work to have survived to modern times is the [[Natural History (Pliny)|''Natural History'']] of [[Pliny the Elder]], a [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] statesman living in the 1st century AD,<ref name="humanities" /><ref name="chicago" /><ref name="history">{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/encyclopaedia/History-of-encyclopaedias |title=History of Encyclopaedias |website=Britannica |access-date=December 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006151548/https://www.britannica.com/topic/encyclopaedia/History-of-encyclopaedias |archive-date=October 6, 2022}}</ref><ref name="capsules">{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/12/encyclopedias-are-time-capsules/419619/ |title=Encyclopedias Are Time Capsules |last=Nobel |first=Justin |date=December 9, 2015 |website=The Atlantic |access-date=December 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205195631/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/12/encyclopedias-are-time-capsules/419619/ |archive-date=December 5, 2022}}</ref> a work indebted to [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]] (1st century BCE).<ref>{{cite book|title=Histoire du livre et de l'édition |last=Sordet |first=Yann |publisher=Albin Michel |location=Paris |year=2021 |isbn=978-2-226-45767-7 |lang=fr |page=36}}</ref> He compiled a work of 37 chapters covering [[natural history]], architecture, medicine, [[geography]], geology, and all aspects of the world around him.<ref name="capsules" /> This work became very popular in [[Classical antiquity|antiquity]], was one of the first classical manuscripts to be printed in 1470, and has remained popular ever since as a source of information on the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] world, and especially [[Roman art]], [[Roman technology]] and [[Roman engineering]].

The Spanish scholar [[Isidore of Seville]] was the first Christian writer to try to compile a ''[[summa]]'' of universal knowledge, the ''[[Etymologiae]]'' ({{Circa|600–625}}), also known by classicists as the ''Origines'' (abbreviated ''Orig''.). This encyclopedia—the first such Christian [[epitome]]—formed a huge compilation of 448 chapters in 20 books<ref>MacFarlane 1980:4; MacFarlane translates ''Etymologiae'' viii.</ref> based on hundreds of classical sources, including the {{Lang|la|Naturalis Historia}}. Of the ''Etymologiae'' in its time it was said ''quaecunque fere sciri debentur'', "practically everything that it is necessary to know".<ref>Braulio, ''Elogium'' of Isidore appended to Isidore's ''[[De viris illustribus]]'', heavily indebted itself to [[Jerome]].</ref><ref name="history" /> Among the areas covered were: [[grammar]], [[rhetoric]], [[mathematics]], [[geometry]], [[music]], [[astronomy]], [[medicine]], [[law]], the [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic Church]] and [[heretical]] sects, [[pagan]] [[philosopher]]s, [[language]]s, [[cities]], [[animal]]s and [[bird]]s, the [[Earth|physical world]], [[geography]], [[architecture|public buildings]], [[road]]s, [[metals]], [[rock (geology)|rock]]s, [[agriculture]], [[ship]]s, [[clothes]], [[food]], and [[tool]]s.

Another Christian encyclopedia was the ''Institutiones divinarum et saecularium litterarum'' of [[Cassiodorus]] (543–560) dedicated to the Christian divinity and the seven liberal arts.<ref name="history" /><ref name="humanities" /> The encyclopedia of [[Suda]], a massive 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia, had 30,000 entries (broadly alphabetically arranged), many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often derived from medieval [[Christianity|Christian]] compilers.<ref name="history" />
[[File:Yongle Encyclopedia.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Yongle Encyclopedia]]'' is the largest paper encyclopedia of world history]]
From India, the [[Siribhoovalaya]] (Kannada: ಸಿರಿಭೂವಲಯ), variously dated to c. 800 AD, the 15th century, or an even more recent time, is a work of [[Kannada]] literature written by [[Kumudendu Muni]], a Jain monk. It is unique because rather than employing alphabets, it is composed entirely in [[Kannada numerals]]. Many philosophies which existed in the Jain classics are eloquently and skillfully interpreted in the work.

The 2nd century BC reference work ''[[Shiben]]'' has been described as a Chinese encyclopedia of genealogies, while the ''[[Huanglan]]'', completed in the 220s, was an early ''[[leishu]]'' encyclopedia. The ''[[Yiwen Leiju]]'', completed in 624, was a landmark literature encyclopedia of the early [[Tang dynasty]]. The enormous encyclopedic works of the ''[[Four Great Books of Song]]'', compiled by the 11th century during the early [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279), was a massive literary undertaking for the time. The last encyclopedia of the four, the ''[[Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau]]'', amounted to 9.4&nbsp;million [[Chinese characters]] in 1,000 written volumes. The ''[[Yongle Encyclopedia]]'' (completed 1408) comprised 11,095 volumes, making it the largest paper encyclopedia in world history.{{Sfn|Fu|Cao|2019|p=297}}{{Sfn|Ditmanson|2018|p=255}}

There were many great encyclopedists throughout Chinese history, including the scientist and statesman [[Shen Kuo]] (1031–1095) with his ''[[Dream Pool Essays]]'' of 1088; the statesman, inventor, and agronomist [[Wang Zhen (official)|Wang Zhen]] (active 1290–1333) with his ''Nong Shu'' of 1313; and [[Song Yingxing]] (1587–1666) with his ''Tiangong Kaiwu''. Song Yingxing was termed the "[[Denis Diderot|Diderot]] of China" by British historian [[Joseph Needham]].<ref>Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 102.</ref>