 Cover of the first edition | |
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Peter Goodfellow |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Orbit Books UK; St. Martin's Press US |
| Publication date | 3 April 1997 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardback and paperback), Online |
| Pages | 832 pp (first edition) |
| ISBN | 978-1-85723-368-1 |
| OCLC | 37106061 |
The Encyclopedia of Fantasy is a 1997 reference work covering fantasy fiction, edited by John Clute and John Grant. As of November 2012, the full text of The Encyclopedia of Fantasy is available online, as a companion to the online edition of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Other than adding death dates, there are no plans to update the encyclopedia.
The book was well-received on publication, receiving the Hugo Award, World Fantasy Award, and Locus Award in 1998.
Format and content
The Encyclopedia was published in a format that matches the 1993 second edition of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. It is slightly smaller in terms of content, containing 1,049 alphabetical pages, over 4,000 entries and approximately one million words, the bulk of which were written by Clute, Grant and Ashley. A later CD-ROM edition contains numerous revisions.
The Encyclopedia uses a similar system of categorization to The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, but does not include an index of theme entries. A theme index was later included in the online addenda: see "External links" below. One of the major differences is that there are no entries related to publishing.
Reception
Characterizing the book as "an excellent and highly readable source for fantasy", the industry publication Library Journal described The Encyclopedia of Fantasy as "the first of its kind".
Rob Latham writing for Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts called it "a sprawling map of the field's major authors and texts and an extraordinary cohesive argument", "an indispensable work of reference" and "perhaps the most substantial critical analysis ever to focus on fantasy literature and art".
Awards
- 1998 – Hugo Award for Best Non-Fiction Book.
- 1998 – World Fantasy Special Award: Professional.
- 1998 – Locus Award for Nonfiction.
Editions
- Clute, John and Grant, John. The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1st UK edition). London: Orbit Books, 1997. ISBN 978-1-85723-368-1. (Hardcover)
- Clute, John and Grant, John. The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. New York: St Martin's Press, 1997. ISBN 0-312-15897-1. (Hardcover)
- Clute, John and Grant, John. The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (2nd US edition). New York: St Martin's Griffin, 1999. ISBN 0-312-19869-8. (Paperback)
See also
- The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
- The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy
- The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy
References
- "At last the Encyclopedia of Fantasy is free and searchable online!". i09. 27 November 2012. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
- "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy". 1 December 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
- ^ "Hugo Awards: 1998 Hugo Awards". 26 July 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2008.
- ^ "World Fantasy Convention: 1998 World Fantasy Award Winners and Nominees". Archived from the original on 22 September 2008. Retrieved 10 July 2008.
- ^ "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 1998 Locus Awards". Archived from the original on 8 October 2010. Retrieved 10 July 2008.
- Dollard, Peter A. (1997). "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy". Library Journal (1 October 1997). Retrieved 10 July 2008.
- Latham, Rob (1998). Clute, John; Grant, John (eds.). ""The Encyclopedia of Fantasy" as a "critical tour de force"". Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. 9 (1 (33)): 69–76. ISSN 0897-0521.
External links
- On-line text of The Encyclopedia of Fantasy
- Addenda to The Encyclopedia of Fantasy—includes list of themes
- Review by Wayne G. Hammond
- Review by Steven H. Silver
