Page "Encyclopedia" Paragraph 35

The beginnings of the modern idea of the general-purpose, widely distributed printed encyclopedia precede the 18th century encyclopedists.

However, Chambers ' Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences ( 1728 ), and the Encyclopédie of Diderot and D ' Alembert ( 1751 onwards ), as well as Encyclopædia Britannica and the Conversations-Lexikon, were the first to realize the form we would recognize today, with a comprehensive scope of topics, discussed in depth and organized in an accessible, systematic method.

Chambers, in 1728, followed the earlier lead of John Harris's Lexicon Technicum of 1704 and later editions ( see also below ); this work was by its title and content " A Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences: Explaining not only the Terms of Art, but the Arts Themselves ".