The word encyclopedia began as a Greek word and means

"instruction in the whole circle." It was the first used in __1__

English by sir Thomas Eloyt in 1538. Encyclopedias today

are usually arranged in alphabetical order, but in early times

they were arranged in any way the author liked. One writer

in the Middle Ages began with a discussion of God and

angels and end with descriptions of scents and colors and__2__

a list of 36 different kinds of eggs. The first

alphabetically arranged encyclopedia was published in 1704

by an English clergyman named after John Harris. __3__

The oldest encyclopedia in reality was written during the __4__

first century A.D. by Plainy, a Roman. Its 37 volumes

list over 20 thousand items. It is valued highly for hundreds __5__

of years. Up to 1536 43 editions had been published.

The largest encyclopedia, the third Chinese encyclopedia

containing over 5020 volumes and was compiled during the __6__

eighteenth century. Between 1751 and 1765 the French

Encyclopedia appeared. This collecton was usual because __7__

contemporary famous men, imcluded Voltarie, Rousseau, and __8__

Diderot, wrote aticles for it.

The Encyclopedia Britannica is probably the best known

work for English-speaking people. It first appeared in Scotland __9__

in 1771. In 1961 the world Book Company published a braille

edition of its encyclopedia for blind readers. __10__