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Title page.

The Historians' History of the World, subtitled A Comprehensive Narrative of the Rise and Development of Nations as Recorded by over two thousand of the Great Writers of all Ages, is a 25-volume encyclopedia of world history originally published in English near the beginning of the 20th century. It is quite extensive but its perspective is entirely Eurocentric. It was compiled by Henry Smith Williams, a medical doctor and author of many books on medicine, science, and history, as well as other authorities on history, and published in New York in 1904 by Encyclopædia Britannica, it was also published in London printed by Morrison & Gibb Limited, of Edinburgh.

Others involved were historian Walter Lynwood Fleming, and Rupert Hughes[1] as editor.

Digital reproductions of the volumes are available via the Google Books project (links below). Most have been converted to the DjVu file format and made available [2] on archive.org.

List of Volumes

Volume I: Prolegomena, Egypt, Mesopotamia

Illustration of an Assyrian infantry spearman from Volume I.

The prolegomena discuss various topics relating to the practice of historical study.

Volume II: Israel, India, Persia, Phoenicia, minor nations of Western Asia

Royal palace in the Kingdom of Israel from Volume II.

Volume III: Greece to the Peloponnesian war

Ancient Greek dancer from Volume III.

Row of Hoplites - headpiece ornament for Chapter XV: The First Foreign Invasion.

Volume IV: Greece to the Roman conquest

Satyr sitting in a tree and playing pipes - tailpiece ornament for Chapter LV: The Conquest of India.

Volume V: The Roman Republic

Portrait of Mark Antony - headpiece ornament for Chapter XXVII: The Last Days of the Republic.

Volume VI: The early Roman empire

Portrait of Drusus, brother of Roman Emperor Tiberius I and father of Emperor Claudius I, from Volume VI.

Volume VII: The later Roman Empire

"Early coats of mail" Illustration from Volume VII.

Volume VIII: Parthians, Sassanids, and Arabs, the Crusades and the Papacy

Desert scene; an Arab family and a camel at an oasis - headpiece ornament for Introductory Essay: The Scope and Influence of Arabic History.

Volume IX: Italy

Illustration of the birthplace of Amerigo Vespucci from Volume IX.

Volume X: Spain and Portugal

Portrait of historian William Hickling Prescott from Volume X.

Illustration of a medieval Spanish Christian flagellant from Volume X.

Portrait of Spanish knight and folk hero El Cid from Volume X.

Volume XI: France, 843-1715

Portrait of King Philip I of France from Volume XI.

Volume XII: France, 1715-1815

Volume XIII: France, 1815-1904; Netherlands

Volume XIV: The Netherlands (concluded), the Germanic empires

Volume XV: Germanic empires (concluded)

Volume XVI: Scandinavia, Switzerland to 1715

Volume XVII: Switzerland (concluded), Russia and Poland

Volume XVIII: England to 1485

Volume XIX England, 1485-1642

Volume XX: England, 1642-1791

Volume XXI: Scotland, Ireland, England since 1792

Volume XXII: The British colonies, the United States (early colonial period)

Volume XXII supplement: Australia and New Zealand

Published 1908, and containing two additional chapters on Australia and four on New Zealand.

Volume XXIII: The United States (concluded), Spanish America

Volume XXIV: Poland, the Balkans, Turkey, minor Eastern states, China, Japan

Volume XXV: Index

External links

• Worldcat library entry