Columbia Encyclopedia

Columbia Encyclopedia, highly regarded one-volume encyclopaedia, international in scope and useful for quick location of accurate information.

The encyclopaedia was first published in 1935 and underwent major revisions in 1950 and 1963. The fourth edition, published in 1975 under the title The New Columbia Encyclopedia, continued its indirect but important relationship with Columbia University and met a crucial need for full revision. Alphabetically arranged and elaborately cross-referenced, that edition covered 7,000 subjects and included 50,000 entries, with maps and line drawings interspersed throughout. A fifth edition was published in 1993; it ran to 6.5 million words, according to its preface, and filled more than 3,000 pages. Its 50,000 articles were based on research “conducted in libraries, on the telephone, and by facsimile communication with institutions and persons around the world,” its editors wrote. A sixth edition was released in 2000 and later distributed in digital form as The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia.