The first book of the new type in English was John Harris' "Lexicon Technicum, or an Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences," 1704. As its title suggests, the distinction between a dictionary and an encyclopædia was not yet clearly grasped, this work being an attempt both to define words and to explain subjects. The same confusion is seen in Ephraim Chambers' "Cyclopædia; or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, Containing an Explication of the Terms and Account of Things Signified Thereby in the Several Arts, Liberal and Mechanical, and the Several Sciences, Human and Divine," 1728. But Chambers attempted to overcome the defect of scattering articles on related subjects, which inheres in the alphabetical arrangement, by a system of cross references.
A new principle appeared in the famous French "Encyclopedié." This work originated in a translation of Chambers' "Cyclopædia," but its revision was finally intrusted to Diderot, who enlisted the co-operation of men like d'Alembert, Rousseau, Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Turgot. It began to appear in 1751, and went on through many difficulties till 1772. It opposed dogmatism in religion and despotism in government, and thus incurred the opposition of both Church and State. No other work of this kind ever attained such importance in political and intellectual history, and it is one of the most influential documents in the history of 18th century thought. Much of it was brilliantly written, and the articles of its more distinguished contributors belong to permanent literature; but as an encyclopædia in the modern sense it lacks proportion, exactness, and impartiality.
These ideals were adopted when a society of gentlemen in Scotland issued in 1771 the first edition of the "Encyclopædia Britannica" in three volumes; and this work, now in its eleventh edition, and expanded to twenty-eight volumes and an index, is the most comprehensive attempt of modern times to include the "whole circle of learning." But its very comprehensiveness has resulted in qualities which unfit it for many purposes. Articles written by eminent authorities are too technical and special for the lay reader, and there is need of a more compact and concise treatment for the uses of these crowded times.
But a more serious limitation attaches not only to the "Encyclopædia Britannica" but to all hitherto existing works of this kind. The Britannica was completed in 1910, and since then the world has gone through the most catastrophic upheaval in historic times.
