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Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences
Cyclopaedia: or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (two volumes in folio) was an encyclopedia published by Ephraim Chambers in London in 1728, and reprinted in numerous editions in the eighteenth century. The Cyclopaedia was one of the first general encyclopedias to be produced in English. The 1728 subtitle gives a summary of the aims of the author:
Cyclopaedia, or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences: Containing the Definitions of the Terms, and Accounts of the Things Signify'd Thereby, in the Several Arts, both Liberal and Mechanical, and the Several Sciences, Human and Divine: the Figures, Kinds, Properties, Productions, Preparations, and Uses, of Things Natural and Artificial; the Rise, Progress, and State of Things Ecclesiastical, Civil, Military, and Commercial: with the Several Systems, Sects, Opinions, etc; among Philosophers, Divines, Mathematicians, Physicians, Antiquaries, Criticks, etc.: The Whole Intended as a Course of Ancient and Modern Learning.
Noteworthy features
The first edition included numerous cross-references, meant to connect articles scattered by the use of alphabetical order; a dedication to the King, George II; and an insightful, philosophical preface at the beginning of volume 1. Among other things, the preface gives an analysis of forty-seven divisions of knowledge with classed lists of the articles belonging to each, intended to serve as a table of contents and also as a directory indicating the order in which the articles should be read.Printing history
A second edition appeared in 1738 in two volumes in folio, with 2,466 pages. This edition was supposedly retouched and amended in a thousand places, with a few added articles and some enlarged articles. Chambers was prevented from doing more because the booksellers were alarmed by a bill in Parliament containing a clause to oblige the publishers of all improved editions of books to print their improvements separately. The bill, after passing the House of Commons, was unexpectedly thrown out by the House of Lords; but fearing that it might be revived, the booksellers thought it best to retreat though more than twenty sheets had been printed. Five other editions were published in London from 1739 to 1751 - 1752. An edition was also published in Dublin in 1742; this and the London editions were all 2 volumes in folio. An Italian translation appearing in Venice, 1748-1749, 4to, 9 vols., was the first complete Italian encyclopaedia. When Chambers was in France in 1739 he rejected very favorable proposals to publish an edition there dedicated to Louis XV. Chambers' work was judiciously, honestly and carefully done, and long maintained its popularity. However, it had many defects and omissions, as he was well aware; at his death, on 15 May 1740, he had collected and arranged materials for seven new volumes. George Lewis Scott was employed by the booksellers to select such articles as were fit for the press and to supply others, but he left before the job was finished. The job was given to Dr. (afterwards called Sir John) Hill. The Supplement was published in London in 1753 in two folio volumes with 3307 pages and 12 plates. As Hill was a botanist, the botanical part, which had been very defective in the Cyclopaedia, was the best.Precursors and the Encyclopédie
Among precursors of Chambers's Cyclopaedia, perhaps the most notable was John Harris's popular Lexicon Technicum, of 1704 (with later editions from 1708 through 1744). This was also by its title and content "An Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences: Explaining not only the Terms of Art, but the Arts Themselves." While Harris's work is often classified as an technical dictionary, it also had considerable depth of coverage, with material taken from Newton and Halley among other notables. Chambers's Cyclopaedia in turn became the inspiration for the landmark Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert, which owed its inception to a proposed French translation of Chambers' work begun in 1743 by John Mills, assisted by Gottfried Sellius.This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Cyclopaedia,_or_an_Universal_Dictionary_of_Arts_and_Sciences". The list of authors you can find on this page.