 | Swallow Barn, or A sojourn in the Old Dominion |  |
ENCYCLOPÆDIA AMERICANA.
More than half of the volumes of this work are now before the public
and the reception they have met with is the best evidence that the publishers
have fulfilled the promises made at its outset. They have now only to
promise, for the editors and themselves, that no exertion shall be spared to
render the remaining volumes equal to those already published, and thus
sustain the reputation it has acquired. The subscription is large, and increasing;
and in those quarters where its circulation is greatest, and where
it is best known, there is a constantly increasing demand. The publishers
invite the attention of those who may not already have possessed themselves
of it, or may not have had an opportunity to become acquainted with its
merits, to the following account of the original work, upon which it is
based, and which is termed by the Edinburgh Review—
THE WORLD-RENOWNED LEIPZIG CONVERSATIONS LEXICON.
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,
and cumbrous, being usually elaborate treatises, requiring much 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 poput
lar views of the more abstruse branches of learning and science; thatheir
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.
In the preparation of the American edition, no expense has been spared
to secure the ablest assistance, and the editors have been aided by many
gentlemen of distinguished ability.
The American Biography, which is very extensive has been 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 and the various branches of Natural Science,
and those on Chemistry and Mineralogy, have been prepared expressly for
this work by gentlemen distinguished in the several departments.
In relation to the Fine Arts, the work is 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 given of English,
French, German and American Law.
“Witnesses from every part of the country concurred in declaring that the
Encyclopædia Americana was in a fair way to degrade the dignity of learning
and especially the learning of Encyclopædias, by making it too—that the
multitudes of all classes were infatuated with it in saying in so many words
from the highest to the lowest, `the more we see of the work the better we like
it.' ”
—N. Y. Courier and Inquirer.
“The articles in the present volume appear to us to evince the same ability
and research which gained so favorable a reception for the work at its commencement.
The Appendix to the volume now before us, containing an accouint
of the Indian Languages of America, must prove highly interesting to the reader
in this country; and it is at once remarkable as a specimen of history and philology.
The work altogether, we may again be permitted to observe, reflects
distinguished credit upon the literary and scientific character, as well as the
scholarship of our country.”
—Charleston Courier.
“The copious information which 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.”
—Federal 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, instead
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
Patriat.
“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.
“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.
“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 Encylopædia American is a prodigious improvement upon all that has
gone before it; a thing for our country, as well as the country that have 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 safety refered to
on emergency, as well as on deliberate inquiry; and better still, adapted to 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.
| Swallow Barn, or A sojourn in the Old Dominion | |