Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste

The Universal Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts is an encyclopedia of Johann Samuel Ersch (1766-1828) and Johann Gottfried Gruber ( 1774-1851 ).

Scope

The publication of the unfinished General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts, in alphabetical order, was started in 1818 by Ersch and Gruber; to 1889 published 167 volumes of text and one volume of plates. It is a scientific encyclopedia that has been developed by more than 400 employees and nearly 79,000 pages long in three sections.

Were Published three parts:

• "A- G" (1st Section) in 99 volumes and one volume of plates, 1818-1882,
• "H - ligature " (2nd Section) in 43 volumes, from 1827 to 1889, and
• " O Phyxius " ( Section 3 ) in 25 volumes, from 1830 to 1850.

The work was taken over by the Brockhaus publishing house in 1831 and 1889 set unfinished.

For example, this includes only the keyword Greece, the eight volumes 80-87; the Greek volumes were published separately and will be completed at the end of the eighth sub-band with a detailed systematic table of contents. The volumes consist almost exclusively of two-column text, only from Section 2 each band some illustrations ( engravings ) were added.

Assessment

The " Ersch - Gruber " was regarded as the most comprehensive encyclopedia of the West, as the prototypical document of German idealism and " giant and honor working Teutonic thoroughness and diligence teutschen ".

In the " Preview " of the Universal Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts in alphabetical order described Ersch and Gruber 1818, the objective of their work:

"Our company aims [ ... ] nothing less than a comprehensive treatment of all arts and sciences, according to their separate parts and objects, according to the for about three decades tremendously altered state of literature and art, by writers whose names the respect and confidence have long since acquired the literary world, as much as possible for the whole educated public, in alphabetical order. Similar works were the French by Diderot and D'Alembert, the Englishman by Chambers, Rees, and others, under the title of an encyclopedia. Our encyclopedia should include all subjects of human knowledge and skills fully, explain the technical terms just to handle all the important items thoroughly and satisfactorily, nöthigenfalls with reference to the sources for farther instruction. "

The monumental encyclopaedia also enjoyed international prestige. The Enzyklopädiker Richard Collison called it " the greatest Western encyclopaedia ever attempted ."

See also: History and development of the Encyclopedia

Content

Band division and total stock of Article (PDF)

Digitizing

The Universal Encyclopedia of Science and Arts was digitized by the Göttingen Digitisation Centre of Lower Saxony State and University Library Göttingen ( see links).