''The Complete Compendium of Universal Knowledge, Containing All You Want to Know of Language, History, Government, Business and Social Forms, and a Thousand and One Other Useful Subjects'' is an 1891
encyclopedia
An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article (publishing), articles or entries that are arranged Alp ...
by
William Ralston Balch
William Ralston Balch (pseudonym C. C. C.; December 9, 1852 – March 7, 1923) was an American journalist and author who wrote ''The Complete Compendium of Universal Knowledge'', among other reference works. A supplemented edition of James Sanks Br ...
. As its title suggests, it "sought to compile all knowledge of the universe into one digestible read".
[ Topics covered were a
smorgasbord of subjects including "how to cure stammering, how to clean and brighten our Brussels carpets, how to change our name and, of course, how to get rich... recipes ... and the fate of the apostles, how many Union Army troops died in the Civil War, and the cost of constructing a mile of railroad".It was republished in 1895 () and in the 20th century by Irv Teibel (, Simulacrum Press),][ and in the 21st century (, Palala Press and others).
Balch wrote other encyclopedias around the same time including ''The People's Dictionary and Every-day Encyclopedia'' in 1883 and ''Ready Reference: The Universal Cyclopaedia Containing Everything that Everybody Wants to Know'' in 1901.
]
References
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External links
* {{Internet Archive, TheCompleteCompendiumOfUniversalKnowledge, The Complete Compendium of Universal Knowledge (full text of 1891 edition, public domain)
1891 non-fiction books
19th-century encyclopedias
American encyclopedias