Rise and Fall of Encyclopedias
Patented: History of Inventions
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The History of the Encyclopedia
The first encyclopedia was compiled by Pliny the Elder in 79 AD, just before the eruption of Vesuvius. A man called Ephraim Chambers thought that there were already too many books in the world. The word comes from two Greek words and Kiklios Padia, or Padia perhaps, which means learning within the circle or knowledge in the round.
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