This is the first of three volumes that form the Encyclopedia of Special Functions, an extensive update of the Bateman Manuscript Project. Volume 1 contains most of the material on orthogonal polynomials, from the classical orthogonal polynomials of Hermite, Laguerre and Jacobi to the Askey–Wilson polynomials, which are the most general basic hypergeometric orthogonal polynomials. Separate chapters cover orthogonal polynomials on the unit circle, zeros of orthogonal polynomials and matrix orthogonal polynomials, with detailed results about matrix-valued Jacobi polynomials. A chapter on moment problems provides many examples of indeterminate moment problems. A thorough bibliography rounds off what will be an essential reference.