Bolshaya Entsiklopediya (Great Encyclopedia): A dictionary of publicly accessible information in all branches of knowledge

Edited by S.N. Yuzhakov [et al.]; in 22 volumes. St. Petersburg: Prosveshcheniye Society, 1900-1909. Size: 25x17 cm. All volumes are bound in publisher's half-leather bindings with gold-stamped spines. Very good condition with minor rubbing to the edges of some bindings. The "Bolshaya Entsiklopediya" is prepared based on the fifth edition of Meyer's encyclopedia dictionary but is not a simple translation of the German original. The edition is supplemented with numerous original articles on Russian history, culture, social sciences, and jurisprudence. This is its main value. The second unquestionable value of the edition is the comprehensiveness of translation and material processing under the guidance of a single chief editor, sociologist Sergey Nikolaevich Yuzhakov (1849-1910), unlike the "Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary," which had two chief editors. The "Bolshaya Entsiklopediya" is the only multi-volume complete Russian encyclopedia with a single chief editor. The edition is richly illustrated, featuring numerous color and black-and-white illustrations, drawings, engravings, maps, and appendices. From a technical point of view, it is a masterpiece of printing and book production, containing a large number of lithographic appendices, as well as steel engravings. The authorial team that prepared the materials for the Russian edition included prominent scholars and public figures. Each thematic section was supervised by one of the best specialists in the respective field. The "Bolshaya Entsiklopediya," edited by S.N. Yuzhakov, is one of the largest universal encyclopedias that enjoyed great popularity and authority in Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.