Macropædia
Encyclopedia
The 17-volume Macropædia is the third part of the Encyclopædia Britannica
; the other two parts are the 12-volume Micropædia
and the 1-volume Propædia
. The name Macropædia is a neologism coined by Mortimer J. Adler from the ancient Greek
words for "large" and "instruction"; the best English translation is perhaps "Full instruction". This translation is consistent with Dr. Adler's intention that the Macropædia serve students who wish to learn a field in depth; for comparison, the short articles of the Micropædia are intended for quick fact-checking.
The Macropædia was introduced in the 15th edition (1974) with 19 volumes having 4,207 articles. In the drastic reorganization of that edition in 1985, these articles were combined and condensed into 17 volumes with roughly 700 articles, ranging in length from 2-310 pages. The longest article, on the United States
, resulted from the merging of the 50 articles on each state
. The articles of the Macropædia are generally written by named contributors and have references, in contrast to the roughly 65,000 articles of the Micropædia that have no named contributor and no references. However, some parts of the Macropædia were written by the editorial staff of the Britannica
; such editorial articles are identified by the initials "Ed."
Since its reorganization, the Macropædia has not remained constant. New articles are constantly being added, whereas older articles are sometimes split, absorbed into other articles or drastically shortened, even deleted. An example of the latter is the 1989 article on Adhesives, which had its own article of 7 pages in the 1989 Macropædia but was merely a page in a different article of the 1991 edition.
Encyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
; the other two parts are the 12-volume Micropædia
Micropædia
The 12-volume Micropædia is one of the three parts of the 15th edition of Encyclopædia Britannica, the other two being the one-volume Propædia and the 17-volume Macropædia. The name Micropædia is a neologism coined by Mortimer J...
and the 1-volume Propædia
Propædia
The one-volume Propædia is the first of three parts of the 15th edition of Encyclopædia Britannica, the other two being the 12-volume Micropædia and the 17-volume Macropædia. The Propædia is intended as a topical organization of the Britannica's contents, complementary to the alphabetical...
. The name Macropædia is a neologism coined by Mortimer J. Adler from the ancient Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
words for "large" and "instruction"; the best English translation is perhaps "Full instruction". This translation is consistent with Dr. Adler's intention that the Macropædia serve students who wish to learn a field in depth; for comparison, the short articles of the Micropædia are intended for quick fact-checking.
The Macropædia was introduced in the 15th edition (1974) with 19 volumes having 4,207 articles. In the drastic reorganization of that edition in 1985, these articles were combined and condensed into 17 volumes with roughly 700 articles, ranging in length from 2-310 pages. The longest article, on the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, resulted from the merging of the 50 articles on each state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
. The articles of the Macropædia are generally written by named contributors and have references, in contrast to the roughly 65,000 articles of the Micropædia that have no named contributor and no references. However, some parts of the Macropædia were written by the editorial staff of the Britannica
Staff of the Encyclopædia Britannica
The preparation and publication of the Encyclopædia Britannica requires trained staff. According to the final page of the 2007 Propædia, the staff are organized into ten departments:# Editorial staff...
; such editorial articles are identified by the initials "Ed."
Since its reorganization, the Macropædia has not remained constant. New articles are constantly being added, whereas older articles are sometimes split, absorbed into other articles or drastically shortened, even deleted. An example of the latter is the 1989 article on Adhesives, which had its own article of 7 pages in the 1989 Macropædia but was merely a page in a different article of the 1991 edition.