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'''''Compton's Encyclopedia''' and Fact-Index'' is a home and school [[encyclopedia]] first published in 1922 as "Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia". The word "Pictured" was removed from the title with the 1968 edition.<ref name="EB">Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1988.</ref> The encyclopedia is now advertized as ''Compton's by Britannica''.

''Compton's Multimedia Encyclopedia'' CD-ROM (1989) was the first "multimedia" CD-ROM encyclopedia.<ref name="Kister">''[[Kenneth Kister|Kister]]'s Best Encyclopedias'',1994</ref> [[Grolier]]'s earlier CD-ROM encyclopedia was not multimedia.

The encyclopedia was founded by [[F. E. Compton|Frank E. Compton]] in 1922. Publishing rights to the  F.E. Compton & Company products were acquired by [[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.|Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.]] in 1961.<ref name="EB" />

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. initially owned Compton's Encyclopedia from 1961 to 1993, and later reacquired it in 2002. Britannica had sold its Compton's interests to the [[Tribune Company]] in 1993, and for a time ''Compton's Encyclopedia'' was a product of [[The Learning Company]], which purchased [[Brøderbund]] in 1998. In March 2002 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. "acquired an exclusive license to publish and distribute Compton's Encyclopedia in print and CD-ROM from Broderbund LLC and Success Publishing Group".<ref>[http://corporate.britannica.com/press/releases/comptons_release_wlogo.html "Compton's Encyclopedia Returns to Britannica"] , news release, Encyclopaedia Britannica, March 20, 2002</ref>

==Print Editions==
*Compton's Encyclopedia, 8 volumes, 1922
**10 volumes, 1924, 1926, 1929
**16 volumes, 1931
**15 volumes, 1948
* 1937, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1945, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1962
*''Compton's Encyclopedia and Fact-Index'', 24 volumes 1969-1971
**22 volumes, 1972, 1973
**26 volumes, annually 1974-1978 and 1980-1995, 2004
*''Compton's by Britannica''
**26 volumes, 2009

==CD-ROM Editions==
*''Compton's Multimedia Encyclopedia'', CDROM, 1989, the first "multimedia" CD-ROM<ref name="Kister" />
*''Compton's Family Encyclopedia'', CDROM, 1991, a "stripped down" version of ''Compton's Multimedia Encyclopedia''<ref name="Kister" />
*''Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia'', CDROM, 93, 95 - 99 then 2000 and 2001.

The CD-ROM versions of Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia were produced annually from 1995 to 2001.

Britannica's 1989 ''Compton's Multimedia Encyclopedia'' was the first "multimedia" CD-ROM encyclopedia.<ref name="Kister" />

[[Grolier]]'s 1985 ''[[Academic American Encyclopedia]] on CD-ROM'' was text-only. In 1990, when it was called ''The New Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia'' (1988-1991), still pictures were added.<ref name="Kister" />

Variants of Compton's CD-ROM encyclopedias were ''Compton's Concise Encyclopedia'', ''Compton's Family Encyclopedia'', and ''Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia''.<ref name="Kister" />

==See also==
*[[List of encyclopedias]]
* [[List of online encyclopedias]]

== References ==
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[[Category:American encyclopedias]]
[[Category:English-language encyclopedias]]
[[Category:Encyclopædia Britannica]]
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