His Majesty the King expressed his sentiment on the project of the Thai Junior Encyclopedia in 1963. A publication of this kind is beneficial not only to the youth but would serve the general public who aspire to further education. It would augment the existing knowledge they already acquired as well. His Majesty, therefore, instructed Lieutenant General Praya Sulvithanides (พระยาศัลวิธานนิเทศ) to inaugurate the Thai Junior Encyclopedia Project.
In 1968, Lieutenant General Praya Sulvithanides (พระยาศัลวิธานนิเทศ) and the founding committee had been granted permission for an audience with His Majesty the King to receive His Majesty's advice regarding the project. His Majesty gave to valuable guiding principles. First, the major topics of the encyclopedia should be organized according to the broad subjects not by alphabetical order, and secondly, each article should be written in the style that children of all ages, adolescents and adults should all benefit from the same publication.
The task of assembling the first volume of the encyclopedia was quite complicated and trying. But being a Royally-initiated project, we were given overwhelming cooperation from contributors, professionals and specialists in various fields in the form of articles and write-ups.
The Lions Club of Thailand had collected funding and presented the proceeds to His Majesty and continue to do so to this day.
In 1973, five years after the inception of the founding committee, the Royally initiated Thai Junior Encyclopedia was completed. The 10,000 copies of the first volume were divided into two portions, half was distributed to school and libraries around the country according to His Majesty's intention. The other half was sold to the general public.
Since that period, the project has continuously produced more publications. The subjects are General Science, Technology, Social Science, Medical Science, Agriculture, humanities and Arithmetics. In 1983, His Majesty graciously granted the Royal permission for Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn to be the advisor to the Thai Junior Encyclopedia Project.
1999 marked the 30th Anniversary of the Thai Junior Encyclopedia Project. The compilations have reached 24 volumes and the 25th is underway. The price is 250 baht each except volume 12 is 400 baht. A CD-ROM version is currently being developed.
In addition, the Project has published a special volume of the encyclopedia to celebrate His Majesty the King's Golden Jubilee. The price is 500 baht for this volume.
At present, the operation of the project is under the management of the Executive Committee, under the Presidency of Privy Councillor Air Vice Marshal Kamthon Sindhvanonda (กำธน สินธวานนท์)