Pentateuch
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Pentateuch. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a term applied exclusively to the first five books of the Old Testament collectively, termed in Hebrew torah the law. The first mention of the five-fold division is made by Josephus. It seems to have been made by the Septuagint translators, who then bestowed on the volume a Greek name expressive of what they had done. Samaritan Pentateuch, the Pentateuch in use among the Samaritans. Words which have in them d and r, and again i and v, letters unlike in the Samaritan, but very similar in Hebrew [(d) and (r), also (i) and (v)], are sometimes interchanged, showing that the work was derived from a Hebrew original. The passages attributed to Ezra are in it. It substitutes Mount Gerizim for Mount Ebal in Deut. xxvii: 4. The text in various places differs from the Hebrew, generally however agreeing with the Septuagint. The chronology also is in places at variance with that of the Hebrew Bible. If Josephus is correct as to PENSIONS, OLD AGE. See OLD the date of the building of the Temple on Mount Gerizim, the Samaritan Pentateuch was made probably about 330 b. C., though the popular belief is that it is much older.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
pen'ta-tuk, a name used to designate the first five books of the Old Testament, namely, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They are also called the Five Books of Moses. Modern criticism is of the opinion, however, that they were not written by a single author, but are a combination of various manuscripts, in part duplicating each other. New interest has been aroused in the authorship of the Pentateuch by the discovery at Susa in 1902 of the code of Hammurabi, king of Babylon, who reigned about 2250 B. C. The code was unearthed by French explorers. It is written in cuneiform characters on tablets of clay. The resemblance between this code and the laws of Moses as embodied in the Pentateuch is remarkable. In substance many laws are identical, the chief difference being that the penalties described by the Mosaic law are milder. The natural inference is that the author of the Pentateuch was familiar with the code of Hammurabi, but that he lived in a milder age. Modern scholars familiar with the subject testify also that the literary style and moral tone of the Pentateuch are superior. See Bible