The Enciclopedia universal ilustrada europeo-americana (also called Enciclopedia Espasa, or Enciclopedia Espasa-Calpe, after its publisher) is a Spanish encyclopedia comprising 72 volumes (numbered from 1 to 70, with parts 18 and 28 consisting of two volumes each) published from 1908 to 1930 plus a ten-volume appendix published 1930-1933. Between 1935 and 2003, 33 supplemental volumes were published plus an index, another A-Z appendix, and an atlas, for a total of 118 volumes. Each of the volumes vary in length.It is currently the longest printed encyclopedia with 105,000 pages and 165,200,000 words .

Encyclopaedias: Their History Throughout The Ages regards the Espasa as one of the greatest encyclopedias, along with the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition and the Enciclopedia Italiana (p. 147). "This work is remarkable for its detail: maps and plans of even remote and obscure places; reproductions and descriptions of works of art entered under their titles; lengthy bibliographies, international in scope; full dictionary treatment of individual words with, in many cases, foreign equivalents; and usually affording full scope to lengthy treatment of important subjects." (201) The authors of the work, as an example of its scope, mentioned in the preface (vii) that all biological genera known at the time were covered in the work.Common words (not proper names) are translated into English, French, German, Esperanto and other languages.

The aim of the publishers was to produce an encyclopedia reference book in Spanish that covered scientific and technological knowledge as well as history, biographies, geography, arts, and the literature of Spain and Latin America.

According to calculations made by its publishers, the encyclopaedia has more than 165,000 pages and 200 million words. The 82-volume version is also estimated to have over 1,000,000 articles (Kister 450).

Only minor revisions have been made to the original volumes, such as the rewrite of a part of the 1910 "bicicleta" article which had enumerated a "pistol or revolver" as one of the things to be taken on a bicycle tour.

In 2003 a repackaged version was published in 90 volumes, consisting of the original 82 volumes plus a new 8-volume "Complemento Enciclopédico 1934-2002" providing up-to-date information in alphabetical order. The old supplements will no longer be republished.

Volumes

1. A-ACD
2. ACE-ADZ
3. AE-ALAK
4. ALAL-ALLY
5. AM-ARCH
6. ARD-AZZ
7. B-BELL
8. BEM-BONF
9. BONG-BZ
10. C-CANAJ
11. CANAL-CARZ
12. CAS-CG
13. CI-COLD
14. COLE-CONST
15. CONST-CRAZ
16. CRE-CHARG
17. CHARI-DELLW
18. PT.1 DEM-DIR / PT.2 DIS-ECZ
19. ECH-ENRE
20. ENRI-ESPAN
21. ESPANA
22. ESPANA-EZZ
23. F-FLAMEZ
24. FLAMI-FUH
25. FUI-GIBZ
26. GIC-GUAZ
27. GUB-HN
28. PT.1 HO-INSUS / PT.2 INT-KZ
29. L-LEON
30. LEONA-LOMZ
31. LON-MADZ
32. MAE-MARH
33. MARI-MECH
34. MED-MICZ
35. MICH-MOMZ
36. MON-MTZ
37. MU-NEBY
38. NEC-NULLY
39. NUM-OQU
40. OR-PAKU
41. PAL-PAROZ
42. PARE-PEKZ
43. PEL-PESZ
44. PET-PIRZ
45. PIS-POLN
46. POLO-PREDZ
47. PREE-PTZ
48. PU-QW
49. R-REEZ
50. REF-REUZ
51. REV-ROM
52. ROMA-SAINT
53. SAINTE-StaCRUZ
54. StaCUBICIA-SELH
55. SELI-SIEZ
56. SIF-SOL
57. SOLA-SUBN
58. SUBO-TALASZ
59. TALAT-TELD
60. TELE-TERZ
61. TES-TIRN
62. TIRO-TOUM
63. TOUN-TRAZ
64. TRE-TUMZ
65. TUN-URZ
66. U.S.-VAREZ
67. VARF-VERQ
68. VERR-VINIE
69. VINIF-WEF
70. WEG-ZZ

Appendices

1. A-BECH
2. BED-CEO
3. CER-DEM
4. DEN-EZT
5. F-HOK
6. HOL-MARCH
7. MARD-OZ
8. P-REE
9. REF-SZ
10. T-ZYX

Supplements

1. 1934
2. 1935
3. 1936-39 PRIMERA PARTE / 1936-39 SEGUNDA PARTE
4. 1940-41
5. 1942-44
6. 1945-48
7. 1949-52
8. 1953-54
9. 1955-56
10. 1957-58
11. 1959-60
12. 1961-62
13. 1963-64
14. 1965-66
15. 1967-68
16. 1969-70
17. 1971-72
18. 1973-74
19. 1975-76
20. 1977-78
21. 1979-80
22. 1981-82
23. 1983-84
24. 1985-86
25. 1987-88
26. 1989-90
27. 1991-92
28. 1993-94
29. 1995-96
30. 1997-98
31. 1999-2000
32. 2001-02
33. 2003-2004
34. El siglo de la Espasa

Indexes

1. Index 1934-1996
2. Index 1934-1980

External links

• Homepage for the Enciclopedia Espasa
• Racismo enciclopédico, Xavier Lacosta. Criticism of the articles about Equatorial Guinea.
• Scans of pages from the Enciclopedia Espasa

References

• http://www.filosofia.org/enc/eui/eui.htm
• Robert Collison, Encyclopaedias: Their History Throughout The Ages, London, Hafner Publishing, 1966 (second edition).

1. Libro de los récords Guinness, page 110, 1986 Spanish edition, Ediciones Maeva, ISBN 84-86478-00-6. The Chinese Great General Encyclopedia of Yung-lo ta tien (1403-1408) conserves only 370 of its 22,937 chapters and the 15th edition Britannica is listed as "the most ample current encyclopedia" with 43,000,000 words.