The Cyclopedia of New Zealand
The Cyclopedia of New Zealand: industrial, descriptive, historical, biographical facts, figures, illustrations was an encyclopaedia published in New Zealand between 1897 and 1908 by the Cyclopedia Company Ltd of Christchurch. Six volumes were published on the people, places and organisations of provinces of New Zealand. Despite being vanity press (articles were largely paid for by their subjects) and almost wholly restricted to white male European colonists to the exclusion of Māori, women and other minorities, the Cyclopedia is now a key historical resource because of its breadth of coverage. Many small towns and social institutions were covered which were poorly covered by contemporary news papers.
- Volume 1. Wellington Provincial District. Published 1897
- Volume 2. Auckland Provincial District. Published 1902
- Volume 3. Canterbury Provincial District. Published 1903
- Volume 4. Otago and Southland Provincial Districts. Published 1905
- Volume 5. Nelson, Marlborough and Westland Provincial Districts. Published 1906
- Volume 6. Taranaki, Hawke's Bay and Wellington Provincial Districts. Published 1908
The Cyclopedia of New Zealand was superseded by the three-volume An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand published by the New Zealand Government in 1966 and then later Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand a government-run, born-digital encyclopaedia established in 2002.
The Cyclopedia was digitised by the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre in 2008–2009.