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History

For more than 25 years, the Visual Dictionary has shown and named the world around us better than any other reference book.


  • 1982

    Publisher Jacques Fortin and linguist Jean-Claude Corbeil met and came up with a plan for a thematic visual dictionary.

    • 1986

      Partnership with the American publisher Facts on File, and publication of the first edition of The Visual Dictionary in a unilingual, black-and-white version.

    • 1989

      Publication of The Junior Visual Dictionary, the first color dictionary completely produced on computer, with images of unprecedented accuracy.

    • 1992

      Publication of a second edition of The Visual Dictionary in bilingual and multilingual versions. This color edition, produced on computer, was a huge success, with more than 5 million copies sold in no fewer than 25 languages.

    • 1994

      Publication of a second edition of The Junior Visual Dictionary.

    • 1996

      Launch of The Visual Dictionary CD-ROM, with animation and pronunciation in three languages (English/French/Spanish). Winner of the Möbius International award for best multimedia product.

    • 1997

      Publication of My First Visual Dictionary, a magnificently illustrated visual dictionary for children ages 2 years and up.

    • 2002

      Publication of a third edition of The Visual Dictionary. The volume includes 6,000 illustrations, 800 subjects and 20,000 terms. This richer and more spectacular edition was named one of the “Best Reference Sources 2002” by the U.S. Library Journal.

    • 2003

      Publication of The New Junior Visual Dictionary in a bilingual (English/French) edition and publication of The New Multilingual Visual Dictionary (English, French, Italian, German and Spanish) with 6,000 illustrations and over 32,000 terms words in each language.

    • 2004

      Launch of The New Visual Dictionary CD-ROM and publication of The Visual Dictionary with Definitions, the dictionary that shows, names, defines and explains. Information imparted by the illustrations is complemented by short definitions.

    • 2005

      Launch of The Junior Visual Dictionary CD-ROM, a multimedia dictionary for young people ages 8 years and up. Publication of an abridged edition of The Visual Dictionary and a second edition of My First Visual Dictionary in unilingual and bilingual (French/English) versions.

    • 2006

      Publication of Merriam-Webster’s Visual Dictionary and launch of the Merriam-Webster’s Visual Dictionary CD-ROM, which includes 20,000 terms and their definitions, together with their pronunciation in English and French, as well as 6,000 illustrations and appealing games.

    • 2007

      Launch of an online version of The Visual Dictionary with Definitions, Visualdictionaryonline.com, a website that combines attractive interactive games and high-resolution illustrations, released in partnership with Merriam-Webster.



    • 2008

      Launch of Bildwoerterbuch.com, a German version of the Visual Dictionary Online, released in partnership with PONS, German publisher of high-quality reference books.