The Cyclopedia of Universal History was an encyclopedia of world history (universal history) authored by John Clark Ridpath. The book was produced, initially in 3 volumes, from 1880 to 1884 and was copiously illustrated in black and white, and then expanded to four volumes in 1890 to include a comprehensive account of the events of the nineteenth century up to that time.^[1] It also became the prototype for his later History of the World (8 volumes, 1894) and Universal History (16 volumes, 1895).^[2] The latter comprises his four-volume work, Great Races of Mankind (1894), which was dedicated to his wife, and was his last major work, having devoted ten years researching and four years writing.^[3]