This is a list of encyclopedias as well as encyclopedic and biographical dictionaries published on the subject of literature in any language.
Entries are in the English language unless specifically stated as otherwise.
General
Benét, William Rose. Benét's Reader's Encyclopedia. 3rd ed., HarperCollins, 1987. Boynton, Victoria, Jo Malin, Emmanuel S. Nelson. Encyclopedia of women's autobiography. Greenwood Press, 2005. .
Brewer's Dictionary of 20th-Century Phrase and Fable. Houghton Mifflin, 1992. Cassell's Encyclopedia of World Literature. Morrow, 1953.
Horn, Maurice. World Encyclopedia of Comics. Chelsea House, 1976.
Kohn, George Childs, Leonard Latkovski. Dictionary of historic documents. Facts on File, 2003. . Kurian, George Thomas. World Press Encyclopedia. Facts on File, 1982. Magill, Frank Northen, Tracy Irons-Georges. Cyclopedia of world authors. Salem Press, 2004. . Martin, Edward A., Peter Froggatt. A biographical encyclopedia of medical travel authors. Edwin Mellen Press, 2010–. . Miller, Jane Eldridge. Who's who in contemporary women's writing. Routledge, 2002. . Poggendorff, Johann Christian. J.C. Poggendorffs biographisch-literarisches handwörterbuch zur geschichte der exacten wissenschaften. J.A. Barth, 1863–1995. Polking, Kirk. Writing A to Z: The Terms, Procedures and Facts of the Writing Business Defined, Explained, and Put Within Reach. Writer's Digest, 1990.
Pribić, Rado. Nobel laureates in literature: A biographical dictionary. Garland, 1990. .
Sabin, Joseph, Wilberforce Eames, R. W. G. Vail Bibliographical Society of America. A dictionary of books relating to America, from its discovery to the present time. Joseph Sabin, 1868–1936.
Sebeok, Thomas A. Encyclopedic Dictionary of Semiotics. Walter de Gruyter, 1986. Seigneuet, Jean-Charles. Dictionary of Literary Themes and Motifs. Greenwood, 1988. Sherman, Joseph. Writers in Yiddish. Thomson Gale, 2007. . Who was who among English and European authors, 1931–1949: Based on entries which first appeared in The author's and writer's who's who and reference guide originally compiled by Edward Martell and L.G. Pine and in Who's who among living authors of older nations, originally compiled by Alberta Lawrence. Gale Research, 1978. .
Religious literature
Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. Encyclopedia of world scriptures. McFarland, 2001. .
Bible
Achtemeier, Paul J. Harper's Bible Dictionary. HarperCollins, 1985.
Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible. Baker Book House, 1988.
Freedman, Davie Noel. The Anchor Bible Dictionary. Doubleday, 1992.
Genz, William. Dictionary of Bible and Religion. Abingdon, 1986.
Holman Bible Dictionary. Holman, 1991. Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Tyndale House, 1980. Jeffrey, David Lyle. A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature. Eerdmans, 1992.
Metzger, Bruce and Michael D. Coogan. Oxford Companion to the Bible. Oxford University Press, 1993. Meyers, Allen. Eerdman's Bible Dictionary. Eerdmans, 1987.
Mills, Watson. Mercer Dictionary of the Bible. Mercer University Press, 1990.
New Unger's Bible Dictionary. rev. ed., Moody, 1988.
Richards, Lawrence. Revell's Bible Dictionary. Revell, 1990.
Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Zondervan, 1974.
Biblical archaeology
Stern, Ephraim. The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. rev. ed., Simon & Schuster, 1993.
Quotations
Ayer, A. J., Jane O'Grady. A dictionary of philosophical quotations. Blackwell Publishers, 1992. .
Gaither, Carl C., Alma E. Cavazos-Gaither, Andrew Slocombe. Naturally speaking: A dictionary of quotations on biology, botany, nature and zoology. Institute of Physics, 2001. . Gaither, Carl C., Alma E. Cavazos-Gaither, Andrew Slocombe. Practically speaking: A dictionary of quotations on engineering, technology, and architecture. Institute of Physics, 1999. .
Ratcliffe, Susan. People on people: The Oxford dictionary of biographical quotations. Oxford University Press, 2001. . Wagman, Morton.Historical dictionary of quotations in cognitive science: A treasury of quotations in psychology, philosophy, and artificial intelligence. Greenwood Press, 2000. .
Arabic and Persian
Chinese
French
German
Italian
Harbottle, Thomas Benfield. Dictionary of quotations, Italian. Sonnenschein; Macmillan.
Latin and Greek
Harbottle, Thomas Benfield. Dictionary of quotations: Latin. Sonnenschein; Macmillan. 1909.