Online Reference Toolkit: Encyclopedias & Handbooks

By Thomas Bulfinch. On Bartleby.com. Written to “teach mythology not as a study but as a relaxation from study,” these ageless volumes span the ages: from the Olympus of Zeus and the Valhalla of Thor, to the Round Table of King Arthur and the escapades of Robin Hood.

By Henry Gray. On Bartleby.com. The Bartleby.com edition of Gray’s Anatomy of the Human Body features 1,247 vibrant engravings—many in color—from the classic 1918 publication, as well as a subject index with 13,000 entries ranging from the Antrum of Highmore to the Zonule of Zinn.

The Artcyclopedia is an index of online museums and image archives: find where the works of over 8,000 different fine artists can be viewed online.

From Bartleby.com. Considered the most important work of literary history and criticism ever published, the Cambridge History contains over 303 chapters and 11,000 pages, with essay topics ranging from poetry, fiction, drama and essays to history, theology and political writing. The set encompasses a wide selection of writing on orators, humorists, poets, newspaper columnists, religious leaders, economists, Native Americans, song writers, and even non-English writing, such as Yiddish and Creole.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, as its name implies, proposes to give its readers full and authoritative information on the entire cycle of Catholic interests, action and doctrine.

The Cook's Thesaurus is a cooking encyclopedia that covers thousands of ingredients and kitchen tools. Entries include pictures, descriptions, synonyms, pronunciations, and suggested substitutions

As the Internet's premier collection of online encyclopedias, Encyclopedia.com provides you reference entries from credible, published sources like Oxford University Press and Columbia Encyclopedia.

Mark Wade's Space Program Encyclopedia

The Britannica Group serves students, families, scholars, community members, and educators around the world.

Encyclopedia Mythica is an internet encyclopedia on mythology, folklore, and religion.

Third Edition of the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. All the more than 18,000 entries are free to read online.

From Refdesk.com. Since 1995, Refdesk is a free and family-friendly web site that indexes and reviews quality, credible, and current web-based resources.

An encyclopedia composed of information available on the internet.

The Merck Manuals are a comprehensive medical information source covering thousands of topics in all fields of medicine. They are offered as a free public service to health care professionals and the general public.

NatureServe is the definitive source for information on rare and endangered species and ecosystems in the Americas. This online guide provides information on the 100,000 species and ecosystems that we track.

The main table in the OEIS is a collection of over a quarter-million number sequences.

From Bibliomania. Free online literature with more than 2,000 classic texts.

The Spartacus Educational website provides a series of free history encyclopedias. Entries usually include a narrative, illustrations and primary sources. Primarily focused on England and the U.S.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy organizes scholars from around the world in philosophy and related disciplines to create and maintain an up-to-date reference work.