Originally published 1 January 1972 Editor Chris Cook | ||
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Pears' Cyclopaedia is a one-volume encyclopaedia published in the United Kingdom. Pears' Soap launched the original Pears' Shilling Cyclopaedia in December 1897.
Each edition has traditionally featured an atlas, a gazetteer, a chronological list of events, a list of prominent people (past and present), a miniature encyclopaedia of general information and around a dozen or more other sections on various subjects such as cinema, classical mythology, current events, wine, astronomy, ideas and beliefs, gardening, medicine, etc. The selection of subjects has varied slightly over the years, and recently the atlas section has been dropped.
Since 1953 it has been published annually. As of January 2017 the most recent edition (2016-2017) is the 125th, published on 4 August 2016. It was for many years published by Pelham Books but is currently published by Penguin Books. It has been edited by Dr. Chris Cook since 1977.
During the 1950s, the encyclopaedia awarded the Silver Pears' Trophy annually to a prominent person for "outstanding British achievement in any field."