Organized thematically, this book tells the story of the European encyclopedia from 1650 to the present.

First taking shape during the seventeenth century, the European encyclopedia was an alphabetical book of knowledge. For the next three centuries, printed encyclopedias in the European tradition were an element of culture and peoples' lives, initially just among Europe's educated elite but ultimately through much of the literate world. Organized around themes such as genre, economics, illustration, and publishing, The European Encyclopedia is the first comprehensive survey of encyclopedias to be written in English in more than fifty years. Engaging with printed encyclopedias, now largely extinct and the object of nostalgia, as well as the global phenomenon of Wikipedia, Jeff Loveland brings together encyclopedias from multiple languages (notably English, French, and German, amongst others). This book will be of interest to anyone, from academics in the humanities to non-academic readers, with an interest in encyclopedias and their history.