The ''Cyclopedia of Universal History'' was an

encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

of then known world history (

universal history A universal history is a work aiming at the presentation of a history of all of mankind as a whole, coherent unit. A universal chronicle or world chronicle typically traces history from the beginning of written information about the past up to t ...

) authored by

John Clark Ridpath John Clark Ridpath (April 26, 1840 – July 31, 1900) was an American educator, historian, and editor. His mother was a descendant of Samuel Matthews, a colonial governor of Virginia. Among his most notable works is a series of volumes on a his ...

. The book was produced, initially in 3 volumes, from 1880 to 1884 and was copiously illustrated in black and white, and then expanded to four volumes in 1890 to include a comprehensive account of the events of the nineteenth century up to that time. It also became the prototype for his later ''History of the World'' (8 volumes, 1894) and ''Universal History'' (16 volumes, 1895). The latter comprises his four-volume work, ''Great Races of Mankind'' (1894), which was dedicated to his wife, and was his last major work, having devoted ten years researching and four years writing.Biography of John Clark Ridpath
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External links

The following volumes are from Ridpath's later edition of ''Cyclopedia of Universal History'' with missing volumes made up from the closely related ''Universal History'': 1880 non-fiction books English-language encyclopedias American encyclopedias Reference works in the public domain {{encyclopedia-stub