University of Virginia Library

“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.”

“This work appears to improve as it issues from
the press. The number of able writers who contribute
original matter in all the departments of literature and
science is amply sufficient to give it celebrity and high
character. To men engaged in the active pursuits of
life, whose time is precious, this popular dictionary is
a most valuable and ready mode of reference. It embraces
brief views and sketches of all the late discoveries
in science, and the present condition of literature,
politics, &c. &c. Every merchant's counting-room,
every lawyer's library, every mechanic, every
farmer, ought to possess a copy of this useful and
valuable work.”

“From the specimen which has already been given,
we have no hesitation in saying, that in regard to intelligence,
skill, and faithful diligence, it is a work of
the highest order. We know of no similar publication
that can bear any comparison with it for the rich
variety of valuable information which it condenses
within so small a compass. It is free from all the
narrowness of English prejudice; it contains many
important and interesting details which can be found
in no English production, and is a work which could
be written by none but German scholars, more than
two hundred of whom were employed in the original
compilation.”

“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 favour 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 Americana
will be almost invaluable. To individuals obliged
to go to situations where books are neither numerous
nor easily procured, the rich contents of these 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.”

“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 inparted
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.”

“The editors and publishers should receive the
thanks of the present generation, and the gratitude of
posterity, for being the first to prepare in this language
what deserves to be entitled not the Encyclopædia
Americana, but the PEOPLE'S LIBRARY.”

“To supersede cumbrous Encyclopædias, and put
within the reach of the poorest man a complete library
equal to about forty or fifty good-sized octavos,
embracing every possible subject of interest to the
number of 20,000 in all—provided he can spare either
from his earnings or his extravagancies twenty-five
cents a week, a library so contrived, as to be equally
suited to the learned and unlearned, the mechanic,
the merchant, and the professional man.”

“The high reputation of the contributors to this
work, will not fail to insure it a favourable reception,
and its own morits will do the rest.”