''An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand'' is an official

encyclopaedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

about

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

, published in three volumes by the New Zealand Government in 1966. Edited by

Alexander Hare McLintock Alexander Hare McLintock (14 April 1903 – 29 May 1968) was a New Zealand teacher, university lecturer, historian and artist. He edited and authored the three-volume ''Encyclopaedia of New Zealand'', published in 1966, his final and perhaps ...

, the parliamentary historian, assisted by two others, the encyclopaedia included over 1,800 articles and 900 biographies, written by 359 contributing authors. The encyclopaedia is more comprehensive, and more representative of minorities, than previous New Zealand reference works, such as the vanity press ''

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand ''The Cyclopedia of New Zealand: industrial, descriptive, historical, biographical facts, figures, illustrations'' was an encyclopaedia published in New Zealand between 1897 and 1908 by the Cyclopedia Company Ltd. Arthur McKee was one of the origi ...

'' published around sixty years earlier, but not as representative as the later ''

Dictionary of New Zealand Biography The ''Dictionary of New Zealand Biography'' (DNZB) is an encyclopedia or biographical dictionary containing biographies of over 3,000 deceased New Zealanders. It was first published as a series of print volumes from 1990 to 2000, went onlin ...

''. A number of women were included as representing firsts, including

Kate Edger Kate Milligan Evans (née Edger, 6 January 1857 – 6 May 1935) was the first woman in New Zealand to gain a university degree, and possibly the second in the British Empire to do so. Early life Edger was born in 1857 at Abingdon, Berkshire, En ...

. Its publication met with an enthusiastic response; within two months almost all of its initial print run of 34,000 copies had sold. After the last 3,000 copies sold, it was never reprinted, more due to the non-commercial priorities of the government-run printing office than any lack of demand or interest from the general public. The encyclopaedia was well received by scholars and teachers, and is still regarded as an important New Zealand reference work, even considering its errors and omissions, and the biases of its time.

Jock Phillips John Oliver Crompton Phillips (born 1947) is a New Zealand historian, author and encyclopedist. He was the general editor of '' Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand'', the official encyclopedia of New Zealand. Career Born and raised in Chr ...

, writing in 2003 about his editorship of its successor '' Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand'', considers it an "illustrious predecessor" and describes it as The work's importance, both as a reference and as an historical snapshot of mid-20th century New Zealand, motivated the

Ministry for Culture and Heritage The Ministry for Culture and Heritage (MCH; ) is the department of the New Zealand Government responsible for supporting the arts, culture, built heritage, sport and recreation, and broadcasting sectors in New Zealand and advising government ...

to digitise and republish the work online. The text and images have been made available, without corrections or updates, as a separate resource within ''Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand''.

References

External links

''An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand''
– digitised version at ''Te Ara'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Encyclopaedia of New Zealand

1966 in New Zealand 1966 non-fiction books New Zealand encyclopedias 20th-century encyclopedias