The set combines in a single alphabet words, places, people and concepts. It contains many illustrations, mostly in black and white, although some in color. For words like prepositions the dictionary it discusses their usage and provides examples for proper grammatical constructions, making it as sort of "grammar included" dictionary, very rich in explanation and a valuable part of the set. For each of the word entries, the definitions and usages are far more complete than in any single-volume work. Encyclopedia entries, identified by field, as historical, literary and so forth, follow the word entries. Some entries contain considerable discussion, as under "Arabe;" some provide schematic presentations which identify, compare and contrast schools of thought ("Academies"). In many cases the illustrations contain the specialized vocabularies of an item, with the constituent parts clearly marked. The dictionary does well in the sciences, which it treats in some detail, with scientific tables and examples to illustrate the text. An annex, a kind of shortened almanac, gives a time line of world economic, political and social events from 1969 and lists French communes and population figures.

JG, 3/96