William Smellie (1740-1795) was a Scottish encyclopedist and naturalist and the editor of the first edition of Encyclopædia Britannica (1768-1771).

The Encyclopædia Britannica was first published by three Scotsmen. Its mix of longer treatises interspersed with dictionary-type entries on a wide variety of topics proved popular.

Smellie was a brilliant scholar and a notorious drunk.