Volume 1

Cyclopaedia: or, an universal dictionary of arts and sciences / With the supplement, and modern improvements ... by Abraham Rees.

  • Chambers, Ephraim, approximately 1680-1740
Date:
1781 [i.e. 1786?]-1789
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cyclopaedia: or, an universal dictionary of arts and sciences / With the supplement, and modern improvements ... by Abraham Rees. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    A S to the plan, it was admirably adapted to the nature and neceffary limits of a popular Work; defigned not merely for public libraries and for the ufe of thofe who fpare no expence in obtaining the belt means of information, but for diffeminating literature and fcience through the fubordinate claffes of mankind. With this view Mr. Chambers feems to have adopted the happy medium between a work confiding merely of definitions, etymologies, and refe¬ rences, and a voluminous collection of diffufe and elaborate treatifes on various fubje&s, the price of which muft reftriCt it to a few purchafers, and the perufal of which would be thought tedious by many, who had occalion for coniulting it. I N judging of the execution of the Cyclopedia, there are many circumftances which ought to be confidered, before we fhall be able to form a candid or even a juft opinion. The limits of two volumes in folio, to which the author, probably doubtful of the fuccefs of his undertaking, thought proper to confine himfelf, would prevent his admitting, or allow only his curforily mentioning, many articles, which he might think of inferior im¬ portance, or the omilfion of which, at the time of the firft publication of the Dictionary, the purchafers would not much regret. This feems to be one reafon why Natural Hiftory makes fo inconfiderable a part of this work, in its original ftate. The fuccefs of the firfl edition, which appeared in 1728, enlarged the views of the author; and, previoufiy to the pub¬ lication of the fecond edition in 1738, he had formed a defign of publifhing a new work on a more extenfive fcale, and had actually prepared a coniiderable part of the copy with this view. This defign, however, was fruftratedby a bill agitated in parliament (which indeed palled the houfe of commons, but was rejected in the houfe of lords), containing a claufe, that obliged the publifhers of all improved editions of books to print the improvements feparately. Accordingly the fecond edition was publifhed with corrections and additions, and with an apology to the public for difappointing their expectations of a larger work. Mr. Chambers was, therefore, far from imagining, that two volumes would allow fufficient fcope for the execution of the comprehenfive plan which he had formed for a Dictionary of univer- lal literature and fcience ; and he was prevented, merely by collateral circumftances, from purfuing his own ideas of its perfection to their utmoft extent. IT deferves alfo to be confidered, that, in a work of fuch variety and magnitude, adapted to readers of every defcription, the fame articles will be thought needlelsly diffufe or concife, ac¬ cording to the particular views and tafte of the reader ; and the only juft ftandard is that of their real importance, of which, perhaps, the author himfelf is not, in all cafes, a proper judge'. Befides, fubjeCts that engage the public attention, at the time when a work of this kind is com¬ piled, will naturally be extended beyond the limits, which thofe who do not confider the cir¬ cumftances that might firfl attend them, may be difpofed to allow; and a writer, who ftu- dies to gratify the curiofity of his contemporaries, as well as that of pofterity, will be in dan¬ ger of erringmn the fide of excefs. This obfervation will probably furnifh an apology for fome prolonged articles that occur in the original Cyclopedia. AFTER all,1 when we confider that this was the work of a fingle perfon, who had the la¬ bour of collecting, as well as of arranging its principal materials, it will be thought the moft won¬ derful production, both of judgment and application, which this or any other country can boaft. And, therefore, inftead of complaining of the defeCts and imperfections to which it is unavoidably fubjeCt, the judicious and candid will make every reafonable allowance for the numberlefs difficulties attending its execution. SUCH, indeed, has been the opinion of the public, with regard to the merit of the Cyclopedia, that the fale of it has exceeded that of any other publication of equal price. The fecond edition in 1738 was fo favourably received, as to require the publica¬ tion of a third in 1739, of a fourth in 1741, and of a fifth in 1746. Thefe repeated teftimonies of the public approbation amply juftify the character given of it by one, who well knew its value, and who calls it “ the pride of bookfellers, and the honour of the “ Engliffi nation. The proprietors, therefore, were induced, by motives of refpeCt and gra¬ titude to the public, as well as by their own intereft in fo valuable a work, to correct the errors, and to fupply the defeCts of the original Dictionary : errors and defeCts which time had difco- vered and which fubfequent inveftigations and improvements had occafioned. Accordingly, in the profpeCt of a demand for the fixth edition, they engaged the late George Lewis Scott, efq. to prepare a Supplement in two additional folio volumes. This gentleman had not proceeded far in the execution of this defign, when he was diverted from it by other avocations ; fo that the completion of the bufinefs was entrufted with Dr. Hill, whofe voluminous publica¬ tions in natural hiftory are well known. The Supplement undoubtedly contained many im¬ portant and valuable articles, relating to fubjeCts that had been either wholly omitted or flightly mentioned by Mr. Chambers. But the rapidity with which Dr. Hill executed the province affigned him, and the freedom with which he tranfcribed from his own writings and thofe of others, were not favourable either to the reputation of the work, or to the intereft of the pro¬ prietors. THE Original Work and the Supplement remained in this feparate ftate for many years. However, the inconvenience of a double alphabet continued to be the fubjed of re¬ newed complaints; and it was thought that the Supplement, when properly abridged and corrected, might be incorporated, to the fatisfaCtion of the public, with the Original Work, But