In 1781 Charles Joseph Panekoeeke (1736-93) published the plan of an Encyclopedic nietbodirync ct par ordre des motieres, which consisted in breaking up the material of Diderot's work into a series of independent dictionaries of particular subjects, to be compiled by special editors. This scheme, very much enlarged in scope, was car ried out (after Panekoucke's death by his son in-law, Henri Agasse, and Madame Agasse) in a series of 167 volumes, with 51 parts, containing over 6000 plates. completed in 18:32. Of these volumes, seven form a dictionary of zoology, 13 one of medicine, etc. The seed sown by Cham bers was also fruitful in England. llis work was reedited by Abraham Ile•s (1743-1825) in 1778, and again, with the incorporation of much new matter, 1781-86, and was finally enlarged by him into the valuable Encycloyedia; or, Uniccr sal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, including biography, geography, history, etc., in forty-five volumes (including six of plates, published 1802 20).
As was remarked above, time tendency toward the dictionary type has been accompanied by a tendency toward the opposite (monographic) type. An illustration of the latter is the Uni rersal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (2 vols., London. 1745) of Dennis de Coetlogon, coin prising 161 special treatises. arranged alpha betically by their subjects. A more important example is the Encycloyrdia Britannicu, first published in numbers in 1768 awl completed (in three volumes) in 1771. It was planned by Wil liam SmeHie (1740-95), a printer, who wrote the principal articles, and an engraver, Andrew Dell. it contained, like Coetlogon's work, dis tinct treatises and long artieles, but also com prised definitions of technical and other terms, in alphabetical order. These general character istics have been retained by each of the succes sive editions. Of these, the second was published 1777-84, and the ninth (twenty-four volumes) 1875-88. A supplement in eleven volinnes is in course of publieation (1900—). The so called Cabinet Cycloycdia (133 vols.. 1829-49), edited by ])ionysius Lardner, is merely an aggregate of essentially independent special works, his torical, scientific, etc. An extreme application of the true monographic method is the Antic meinc Eneyelopudie der Wissensehaften and Kiinste, in alphabctischer Paige, edited by J. S. Erseh and J. G. Gruber, which contains articles several hundred, and even thousand, pages in length. It was begun in 1818, and in 1890 167 volumes had been issued.
Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, to which we are brought by this historical re view. little change has taken place in the theory of eneyelopedia-makilig. The methods by that time established have been variously modified and combined, but not essentially altered. Prog ress has been made chiefly in the adaptation of methods and materials to practical needs, in the subdivision of the work of compilation and of editorial supervision among specialists, and in the consequent increase of accuracy in detail.
There has, however, been a notable growth of the encyclopaedic dictionary and of the special encyclopaedia. The consideration of the former belongs strictly in the history of lexicography (see DICTIONARY) ; but several works of this kind fill in large measure the place of the ency clopaedia. and may he ranked as such. In char acter such a lexicon (which. as has been shown above, is no new invention) is an approxima tion of the true dictionary, or word-book. to the encyclopaedia. just as the modern encyclopaedia is an approximation of the ancient encyclopaedia to the dictionary. These two lines of develop ment have actually met in the Grand diction noire aniverscl du XLIT•me steele (1565-78), in sixteen volumes (two supplementary volumes were added later), of Pierre Larousse. This is a comprehensive dictionary (etymological and defining) of the French language. and at the were time includes proper names and a vast amount of encyclopedic information. Although marred by many imperfections, it is an exceed ingly useful book. Its method has been followed in several other smaller dictionaries, but it can not yet be said to be approved by lexicographers. Such a complete combination of the two classes of material is regarded, properly, as mechanical, and, for other reasons, theoretically objectionable. however useful it may be. It is commonly held, in brief, that the in encroaching upon the dictionary, should stop at the point where the true work of the latter begins—name• ly, the systematic collecting Ji the common words of the language and detailed statement of lin guistic usage and history: Mille the dictionary. in invading the encyclopedic field, should exclude proper flatus and include only the technical and general information which is connected naturally with its definitions, strictly so called. This limitation is observed in the dictionaries of which The Century Dietimiry: An Encyclopedic Lexi con (6 vols.. edited by W. D. Whitney, is the most notable example. The growth of the special encyclopedia has kept pace with the ad vance of knowledge and of industry. history, the varions branches of science and technology, biography, theology, commerce. politics. the fine arts, etc., are all admirably represented in spe cial works of this kind. Among the most im portant are the encyclopa•lias of biography. Sonic excellent examples of this class date from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; but those produced in the nineteenth century are nmell more numerous, and, in several eases, far more comprehensive. The most notable of these later biographical works are: the nal« rst Ile ancienne it modrrne (S5 vols., 1811 62, including, supplement; 2(1 ed., 45 vols., 1842 (15) of Joseph and Louis Gabriel Michaud; the Nouvelle biographic rp'nerale, d•puis les temps les plus recules j(rsga'a nos jours 146 vols., 1852 66), edited by Briefer: and the Dictionary of National Biography (1i6 vols., 3 supplementary, 18$5 1901), edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidne) Lee.