✦The Meta Encyclopedia

Obscure and forgotten knowledge, brought back into the light.

Our mission is to discover, augment, and publish obscure and forgotten information for the modern world to access. Often this comes from rare, out-of-print books, and even unpublished manuscripts. We offer it all here, as it was written, but with the addition of our commentary clearly marked.

Here that means the great reference works of another era — five-volume household encyclopedias, nautical dictionaries, quotation books and who's-whos — each restored complete: browsable, searchable, and playable. We think these references are useful, and a window into a different era.

13 books live · 33 more coming soon

Did you know?

Abracadabra began as a prescription: written out in a shrinking triangle, it was worn around the neck to cure asthma.

— An Encyclopaedia of Occultism, 1920

In 1910, the encyclopedia's complete entry for 'Aeroplane' read: 'See Airship.'

— Aiton's Encyclopedia, 1910

A 1910 encyclopedia describes radium as 'not unlike table salt in appearance' — discovered by 'Professor Curie and wife.'

— Aiton's Encyclopedia, 1910

Aiton's 1910 entry credits the automobile to a prophecy by a medieval monk: 'carriages with incredible speed without the assistance of any animal.'

— Aiton's Encyclopedia, 1910

The 1910 encyclopedia defines your appendix as 'a small and apparently useless projection' that 'has long been disused.'

— Aiton's Encyclopedia, 1910

Patterson's 1891 nautical dictionary lists 'Davy Jones' Locker' as an official Sea Term — filed right before Dead Calm and Dead Reckoning.

— The Nautical Encyclopedia, 1891

An 1892 dictionary files Shakespeare's lines by human feeling, from Ambition to Woe — including a section for 'Strange Occurrence.'

— A Dictionary of Shakespearian Quotations, 1880

The 1891 Nautical Encyclopedia lists a planet that does not exist: “Near the sun is a small planet named Vulcan.”

— The Nautical Encyclopedia, 1891

Open on the desk

The Busy Man’s Hand-Book

The Busy Man’s Hand-Book 1892

Everything a man of 1892 might need in a hurry — interest tables, legal forms, postal rates and the distance to anywhere, in one pocket volume.

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Coming soon

Coming soon100 Best Books
Coming soon100 Best Novels
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Coming soonA Treasury of Wisdom
Coming soonAncient And Modern Familiar Quotations
Coming soonBest 50 Books Of The Greatest Authors
Coming soonBurning Words
Coming soonChandler's Encyclopedia of Universal Knowledge · 3 vols
Coming soonCircle of the Sciences · 4 vols
Coming soonDictionary of Painters
Coming soonEncyclopaedia Americana (1830s Carey & Lea edition) · 8 vols
Coming soonEncyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics · 14 vols
Coming soonEncyclopaedia of Sport and Games · 4 vols
Coming soonHarmsworth's Universal Encyclopedia · 12 vols
Coming soonHill's Practical Encyclopedia · 4 vols
Coming soonIn The Literary World or What To Read
Coming soonLibrary of the World's Best Literature · 2 vols
Coming soonLincoln Library of Essential Information
Coming soonMachinery's Encyclopedia · 8 vols
Coming soonMilton Cross Encyclopedia of the Great Composers and Their Music Vol I
Coming soonNelson's Encyclopaedia · 12 vols
Coming soonOne Hundred Great Texts And Their Treatment
Coming soonPronouncing Dictionary Or Musical Terms
Coming soonQuotations for Occasions
Coming soonThe Americana / Encyclopaedia Americana (Ency Americana - S) · 23 vols
Coming soonThe Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia · 10 vols
Coming soonThe International Standard Bible Encyclopedia · 5 vols
Coming soonThe New International Year Book
Coming soonThe New Practical Reference Library · 2 vols
Coming soonThe Standard Encyclopedia
Coming soonThe University Encyclopedia of 20th Century Knowledge · 10 vols
Coming soonWinston's Cumulative Encyclopedia · 10 vols
Coming soonWorld's Best Books