Allgemeines Lexicon

work compiled by Jablonski

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Last updated

June 18, 2026

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The Allgemeines Lexicon was an illustrated German encyclopedia compiled by Johann Theodor Jablonski in 1721. It followed the style of earlier German encyclopedias designed for the growing middle class, aiming to provide a cultural background for polite society. This work is part of the historical development of encyclopedias, which shifted from systematic organization to alphabetical arrangement and began to include more scientific and technical subjects. While not as monumental as Johann Heinrich Zedler's Grosses vollst\u00e4ndiges Universal-Lexicon (1732-1750), Jablonski's lexicon contributed to the trend of vernacular encyclopedias catering to public interest.12

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encyclopaedia
The development of the modern encyclopaedia (17th–18th centuries)
Johann Theodor Jablonski’s illustrated Allgemeines Lexicon (1721) continued in this same style, and similar works were compiled by the Swiss theologian and philologist Jakob Christoph Iselin and Antonius Moratori (1727). Johann Heinrich Zedler’s huge Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon (“The Great Comprehensive Universal Lexicon”; 1732–50) was in the older tradition but…
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Johann Theodor Jablonski’s illustrated Allgemeines Lexicon (1721) continued in this same style, and similar works were compiled by the Swiss theologian and philologist Jakob Christoph Iselin and Antonius Moratori (1727). Johann Heinrich Zedler’s huge Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon (“The Great Comprehensive Universal Lexicon”; 1732–50) was in the older tradition but…
Read More