 | The water-witch, or, The skimmer of the seas |  |
Just Published, by Carey & Lea,
Philadelphia, Nov. 1830.
And sold in Philadelphia by E. L. Carey & A. Hart; in New-York
by G. & C. & H. Carvill; in Boston by Carter & Hendee—in Charleston
by W. H. Berrett—in New-Orleans by W. M'Kean; by the principal
booksellers throughout the Union,
AND IN LONDON, BY JOHN MILLER, ST. JAMES'S STREET.
VOLUME IV.
CONTAINING ABOUT 1500 ARTICLES,
(To be continued at intervals of three months,)
OF THE
ENCYCLOPÆDIA AMERICANA:
A
POPULAR DICTIONARY
OF
ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE, HISTORY, AND POLITICS,
BROUGHT DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME AND INCLUDING A COPIOUS
COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL ARTICLES IN
AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY:
On the basis of the Seventh Edition of the German
CONVERSATIONS-LEXICON.
Edited by Dr. FRANCIS LIEBER,
Assisted by EDWARD WIGGLESWORTH, Esq.
To be completed in twelve large volumes, octavo, price to subscribers, bound
in cloth, two dollars and a half each.
EACH VOLUME WILL CONTAIN BETWEEN 600 AND 700 PAGES.
The Conversation Lexicon, of which the seventh edition in
twelve volumes has lately been published in Germany, originated
about fifteen years since. It was intended to supply a want
occasioned by the character of the age, in which the sciences,
arts, trades, and the various forms of knowledge and of active
life, had become so much extended and diversified, that no individual
engaged in business could become well acquainted
with all subjects of general interest; while the wide diffusion
of information rendered such knowledge essential to the character
of an accomplished man. This want, no existing works
were adequate to supply. Books treating of particular branches,
such as gazetteers, &c. were too confined in character;
while voluminous Encyclopædias were too learned, scientific,
study or previous acquaintance with the subject discussed. The
conductors of the Conversation Lexicon endeavored to select
from every branch of knowledge what was necessary to a well-informed
mind, and to give popular views of the more abstruse
branches of learning and science; that their readers might not
be incommoded, and deprived of pleasure or improvement, by
ignorance of facts or expressions used in books or conversation.
Such a work must obviously be of great utility to every class of
readers. It has been found so much so in Germany, that it
is met with everywhere, among the learned, the lawyers, the
military, artists, merchants, mechanics, and men of all stations.
The reader may judge how well it is adapted to its object,
from the circumstance, that though it now consists of twelve
volumes, seven editions, comprising about ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND
COPIES, have been printed in less than fifteen years. It
has been translated into the Swedish, Danish and Dutch languages,
and a French translation is now preparing in Paris.
A great advantage of this work is its liberal and impartial
character; and there can be no doubt that a book like the Encyclopædia
Americana will be found peculiarly useful in this
country, where the wide diffusion of the blessings of education,
and the constant intercourse of all classes, create a great demand
for general information.
In the preparation of the work thus far, the Editors have
been aided by many gentlemen of distinguished ability; and for
the continuation, no efforts shall be spared to secure the aid of
all who can, in any way, contribute to render it worthy of
patronage.
The American Biography, which is very extensive, will be
furnished by Mr. Walsh, who has long paid particular attention
to that branch of our literature, and from materials in the
collection of which he has been engaged for some years. For
obvious reasons, the notices of distinguished Americans will be
confined to deceased individuals; the European biography contains
notices of all distinguished living characters, as well as
those of past times.
The articles on Zoology have been written expressly for the
present edition by Dr. John D. Godman; those on Chemistry
and Mineralogy, by a gentleman deeply versed in those departments
of science.
In relation to the Fine Arts, the work will be exceedingly
rich. Great attention was given to this in the German work,
and the Editors have been anxious to render it, by the necessary
additions, as perfect as possible.
To gentlemen of the Bar, the work will be peculiarly valuable,
as in cases where legal subjects are treated, an account is
Austrian, and Civil Law.
The Publishers believe it will be admitted, that this work is
one of the cheapest ever published in this country. They have
been desirous to render it worthy of a place in the best libraries,
while at the same time they have fixed the price so low as to
put it within the reach of all who read.
Those who can, by any honest modes of economy, reserve the sum of two
dollars and fifty cents quarterly, from their family expenses, may pay for this
work as fast as it is published; and we confidently believe that they will find
at the end that they never purchased so much general, practical, useful information
at so cheap a rate.
—Journal of Education.
If the encouragement to the publishers should correspond with the testimony
in favor of their enterprise, and the beautiful and faithful style of its execution,
the hazard of the undertaking, bold as it was, will be well compensated;
and our libraries will be enriched by the most generally useful encyclopedic
dictionary that has been offered to the readers of the English language. Full
enough for the general scholar, and plain enough for every capacity, it is far
more convenient, in every view and form, than its more expensive and ponderous
predecessors
—American Farmer.
The high reputation of the contributors to this work, will not fail to insure
it a favorable reception, and its own merits will do the rest.
—Silliman's Journ.
The work will be a valuable possession to every family or individual that
can afford to purchase it; and we take pleasure, therefore, in extending the
knowledge of its merits.
—National Intelligencer.
The Encyclopædia Americana is a prodigious improvement upon all that
has gone before it; a thing for our country, as well as the country that gave
it birth, to be proud of; an inexhaustible treasury of useful, pleasant and familiar
learning on every possible subject, so arranged as to be speedily and
safely referred to on emergency, as well as on deliberate inquiry; and better
still, adapted to the understanding, and put within the reach of the multitude.
* * * The Encyclopædia Americana is a work without which no library
worthy of the name can hereafter be made up.
—Yankee.
The copious information which, if a just idea of the whole may be formed
from the first volume, this work affords on American subjects, fully justifies
its title of an American Dictionary; while at the same time the extent, variety,
and felicitous disposition of its topics, make it the most convenient and
satisfactory Encyclopædia that we have ever seen.
—National Journal.
If the succeeding volumes shall equal in merit the one before us, we may
confidently anticipate for the work a reputation and usefulness which ought
to secure for it the most flattering encouragement and patronage.
—Fuieral Gazette.
The variety of topics is of course vast, and they are treated in a manner
which is at once so full of information and so interesting, that the work, in
stead of being merely referred to, might be regularly perused with as much
pleasure as profit.
—Baltimore American.
We view it as a publication worthy of the age and of the country, and cannot
but believe the discrimination of our countrymen will sustain the publishers,
and well reward them for this contribution to American Literature.
—Baltimore Patriot.
We cannot doubt that the succeeding volumes will equal the first, and we
hence warmly recommend the work to the patronage of the public, as being by
far the best work of the kind ever offered for sale in this country.
—U. S. Gaz.
It reflects the greatest credit on those who have been concerned in its production,
and promises, in a variety of respects, to be the best as well as the
most compendious dictionary of the arts, sciences, history, politics, biography,
& c. which has yet been compiled. The style of the portion we have read
is terse and perspicuous; and it is really curious how so much scientific and
other information could have been so satisfactorily communicated in such brief
limits.
—N. Y. Evening Post.
A compendious library, and invaluable book of reference.
—N. Y. American
This cannot but prove a valuable addition to the literature of the age.
—Mer Advertiser.
The appearance of the first volume of this valuable work in this country, is
an event not less creditable to its enterprising publishers, than it is likely to
prove lastingly beneficial to the public. When completed, according to the
model presented by the first volume, it will deserve to be regarded as the spirit
of all the best Encyclopædias, since it comprises whatever is really desirable
and necessary in them, and in addition, a large proportion of articles entirely
original, or expressly written for its pages. This is the condition of all the
articles of American Biography, by Mr. Walsh; those on Zoology, by Dr. Godman;
and those on Mineralogy and Chemistry, by a gentleman of Boston,
distinguished for his successful devotion to those studies. The work abounds
with interesting and useful matter, presented in a condensed and perspicuous
style; nor is it one of its least commendations that it is to be comprised in
twelve octavo volumes, which may be placed on an office table, or occupy a
shelf in the parlor, ever ready for immediate reference, instead of requiring
almost a room to itself, like its ponderous predecessors, the Britannica, Edinburgensis,
&c.
The vast circulation this work has had in Europe, where it has already been
reprinted in four or five languages, not to speak of the numerous German editions,
of which seven have been published, speaks loudly in favor of its intrinsic
merit without which such a celebrity could never have been attained.
To every man engaged in public business, who needs a correct and ample book
of reference on various topics of science and letters, the Encyclopædia Americaná
will be almost invaluable. To individuals obliged to go to situations
where books are neither numerous nor easily procured, the rich contents of
these twelve volumes will prove a mine which will amply repay its purchaser,
and be with difficulty exhausted, and we recommend it to their patronage in
the full conviction of its worth. Indeed it is difficult to say to what class of
readers such a book would not prove useful, nay, almost indispensable, since
it combines a great amount of valuable matter in small compass, and at moderate
expense, and is in every respect well suited to augment the reader's stock
of ideas, and powers of conversation, without severely taxing time or fatiguing
attention. These, at least, are our conclusions after a close and candid examination
of the first volume.
—Am. Daily Advertiser.
We have seen and carefully examined the first volume of the Encyclopædia
Americana, just published by Carey, Lea and Carey, and think our readers may
be congratulated upon the opportunity of making such a valuable accession to
their libraries.
—Aurora.
The department of American Biography, a subject of which it should be
disgraceful to be ignorant, to the degree that many are, is, in this work, a
prominent feature, and has received the attention of one of the most indefatigable
writers in this department of literature, which the present age can furnish.
—Boston Courier.
According to the plan of Dr. Lieber, a desideratum will be supplied; the substance
of contemporary knowledge will be brought within a small compass;—
and the character and uses of a manual will be imparted to a kind of publication
heretofore reserved, on strong shelves, for occasional reference. By those
who understand the German language, the Conversation Lexicon is consulted
ten times for one application to any English Encyclopædia.
—National Gaz.
The volume now published is not only highly honorable to the taste, ability
and industry of its editors and publishers, but furnishes a proud sample of the
accuracy and elegance, with which the most elaborate and important literary
enterprises may now be accomplished in our country. Of the manner in which
the editors have thus far completed their task, it is impossible, in the course of
a brief newspaper article, to speak with adequate justice.
—Boston Bulletin.
We have looked at the contents, generally, of the second volume of this
work, and think it merits the encomiums which have been bestowed on it in
the northern papers. It continues to be particularly rich in the departments
of Biography and Natural History. When we look at the large mass of miscellaneous
knowledge spread before the reader, in a form which has never been
equalled for its condensation, and conveyed in a style that cannot be surpassed
for propriety and perspicuity, we cannot but think that the American Encyclopædia
deserves a place in every collection, in which works of reference form
a portion.”
—Southern Patriot.
| The water-witch, or, The skimmer of the seas | |