CYCLOPÆDIA: OR, AN UNIVERSAL DICTIONARY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES [Two Volumes]

Chambers, Ephraim

Published by James and John Knapton, John Darby, Daniel Midwinter., London, 1728

About this Item

Folios, 2 volumes. In Fair condition. Bound in later Cambridge style calf with a gilt paneled spine. Severe rubbing and wear to boards. Both volumes with front boards detached, rear board partially detached. With 18 of 19 folded copper plates, lacking plate 2. Plate three with a closed tear. Plate 8 bound out of order in volume 2, between plates 12 and 14. As always, without plate 19, but plate 14 in two parts. Volume one with double page frontispiece. PB consignment. ESTC: 1372825. PMM: 171 (b). "[Chamber's] introduced a novel device that has proved indispensable to every subsequent lexicographer and encyclopaedist, namely, cross-references; so that 'a chain my be carried on from one end of an art to the other'. Thanks to his editorial accomplishments the Cyclopedia was revised, translated, and imitated throughout the eighteenth century." [PMM] It is considered the first English-language encyclopedia and was the inspiration for Diderot's Encyclopédie, which was originally intended as a translation of Chambers. From the collection of Silvio Bedini. Bedini spent twenty five years at the Smithsonian Institution, serving as curator in the Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering in the new Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History) before serving as first Assistant Director then Deputy Director of the National Museum of History and Technology. He then served as Keeper of Rare Books at the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology, a branch of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, before becoming a Historian Emeritus. He specialized in early scientific instruments. 1378828. Shelved Dupont Bookstore. Seller Inventory # 1378828

Bibliographic Details

Title: CYCLOPÆDIA: OR, AN UNIVERSAL DICTIONARY OF ...

Publisher: James and John Knapton, John Darby, Daniel Midwinter., London

Publication Date: 1728

Binding: Hardcover

Edition: First Edition.