p.f. collier & son company first published "chandler's encyclopedia: an epitome of human knowledge" with chemist william henry chandler as editor-in-chief as early as 1898. the edition of this encyclopedia was published in only three volumes. chandler notes in the preface that the purpose of this encyclopedia was to be manageable in size and sold for an affordable price. the goal for the encyclopedia was to be brief and provide one paragraph per subject. an example given by the author was if one was looking for an english or italian poet, you would find them under their name and not a large article on english or italian literature.