This Dictionary contains almost 3000 most important words arranged in 68 divisions.

Enlarged by some 50 percent and equipped with more comprehensive name and subject indexes, the second edition of this unique guide contains bibliographic and descriptive annotations for 8,000 dictionaries. It features 1,500 additional bilingual works, 400 new subject categories, and all the major electronic dictionaries produced in English. While the primary emphasis is on language dictionaries, subject dictionaries on topics as varied as ceramics, bookbinding, and theatre as well as dictionaries issued by international bodies and agencies are included. Covering all the world's languages, works may be bilingual, monolingual, or multilingual as long as there is an English element.

The second most populous country of the world, India is a country of enormous diversity, yet its civilization and people have a remarkable unity. It endured centuries of control by, first, Islamic and later European peoples. Most recently, independent India has been faced with resource and urban overcrowding pressures.

This is a shortened version of the three volume Walford's Guide to Reference Material, 5th edition: Volume 1, Science and Technology (1989), Volume 2, Social and historical sciences, philosophy and religion (1990), and Volume 3, Generalia, language and literature, the arts (1991). There are more than 3,000 entries, forming an updated compilation of what are considered to be the basic items in the main volumes, plus some more recent material up to April 1992.