Page 181 - Encyclopedia Of World History

dictionaries and encyclopedias 531

Samuel Johnson as depicted in Bos-
well’s The Life of Samuel Johnson.

and the more influential T’ung tien byTuYu (801 CE).The
T’ung tien was the first of three works that formed the San
Tung, which in turn was the foundation of a larger group
of nine works published as the Chiu Tung in 1747 (Colli-
son 1964). These encyclopedias collectively covered the
prior twelve centuries and show the tendency of the Chi-
nese encyclopedias to grow and be augmented, rather
than be replaced.Another example is the significant work
Yü-Hai. Originally composed in 1267, it had evolved into
a 240-volume collection by 1738.Throughout the 1600s
there was a series of encyclopedias published under the
auspices of the emperor with the highly illustrated San
ts’ai t’hu being published in 1607–1609.The Hsiao chih
lu finished by Lu Feng-tso in 1804 was unique for its cov-
erage of practical and technical matters. A number of
other encyclopedias appeared later in the century with
particular strengths in history,biography,and civil service.
However, the first truly modern Chinese encyclopedia
was the Tz’u-yüan published in 1915 and supplemented
in 1931. In progress since 1982, the Chung-kuo ta pai ko
chuan shu, well illustrated with lengthy articles, carries on
the tradition.
Arabic encyclopedias also served the purpose of
instructing civil servants, but in addition, they sought to
inform the typical educated person.The first recognized
˘
work, the Kital ‘Uyun al Akhbar by Ibn Qutayba (828– Beirut has gone through three editions, the first published
˘
889) was written with this audience in mind.Another sig- from 1875 to 1900 and the last finished in 1956.Today,
nificant Arabic contribution was the Mafa¯t¯ıh al-‘Ulum there are initiatives underway to publish major encyclo-
(975–997) by the Persian scholar and statesman, al- pedias from the Islamic standpoint. A special scholarly
Khwarizmi. Besides Arab influences, his work reflected an institute has been established in Iran and is at work com-
awareness of the more important Greek writings.Around piling a multivolume encyclopedia to reflect the Shiite
the same time a religious and political party called the perspective.
¯
¯
¯
¯
Ikhwan as-Safa published the Rasa’il Ikhwan as-Safa ¯
consisting of fifty-two pamphlets by five authors. (An edi- Western Encyclopedias
tion of this work was published as late as 1889.) Later and the Church
encyclopedias were published in Egypt, including the The Western encyclopedia tradition felt Christianity’s
well-known Nihayat al-‘arab fì funun al-adab by an- influence by the sixth century. Cassiodorus’s two volume
¯
¯
Nuwairi (1272–1332), and the important and well Institutiones divinarum et humanarum lectionum (560
¸
organized Subh al-a’sha (1412), aimed at civil servants. CE) begins with chapters on scripture and commentary,
The tradition of Arabic encyclopedias has continued into as well as chapters on the historians and the Fathers of
modern times with the works of Butrus al-Bustani and his the Church. But Cassiodorus was also responsible for
family. Their Da’irat al-Maarif originally published in preserving the ancient Latin authors, pointing out “how