CABINET CYCLOPÆDIA,
CONDUCTED BY THE
REV. DIONYSIUS LARDNER, LL. D. F. R. S. L. & E.
M. R. I. A. F. L. S. F. Z. S. Hon. F. C. P. S. M. Ast. S. &c. &c.
ASSISTED BY
EMINENT LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN.
Now publishing by Carey, Lea, & Blanchard, and for sale by all Booksellers.
Is work will form a popular compendium of what-
useful instructive, and interesting, in the circle of
an knowledge. A novel plan of publication and argement
has been adopted, which presents peculiar
advantages Without fully detailing the method, a few of
advantages may be mentioned.
Each volume will contain one or more subjects unintered
and unbroken, and will be accompanied by the
desponding plates or other appropriate illustrations.
hty of reference will be obtained without fettering
work by a continued alphabetical arrangement. A
nber may omit particular volumes or sets of volumes
without disintegrating his series. Thus each purr
may form from the "Cabinet" a Cyclopædia, more
comprehensive, as may suit his means, taste, or
omission. If a subscriber desire to discontinue the work
my stage of its publication, the volumes which he
have received will not lose their value by separation
the rest of the work, since they will always either
complete in themselves, or may be made so at a trifing
se.
He purchasers will never find their property in this
destroyed by the publication of a second edition.
arrangement is such that particular volumes may
edited or re-written without disturbing the others.
"Cabinet Cyclopædia" will thus be in a state of
manual renovation, keeping pace with the never-ceas-
improvements in knowledge, drawing within its
be from year to year whatever is new, and casting off
whatever is obsolete, so as to form a constantly modern-
Cyclopædia. Such are a few of the advantages which
proprietors have to offer to the public, and which they
e themselves to realize.
Treatises on subjects which are technical and professional
will be adapted, not so much to those who desire
attain a practical proficiency, as to those who seek
portion of information respecting such matters which
generally expected from well-educated persons. An
rest will be imparted to what is abstract by copious
trations, and the sciences will be rendered attractive,
treating them with reference to the most familiar ob-
and occurrences.
The unwieldly bulk of Encyclopædias, not less than
abst use discussions which they contain, has hitherto
gned them to the library, as works of only occasional
rence. The present work, from its portable form and
lat style, will claim a place in the drawing-room and
boudoir. Forming in itself a Complete Library, afng
an extensive and infinitely varied store of instruction
and amusement, presenting just so much on
ry subject as those not professionally engaged in it
ure, convenient in size, attractive in form, elegant in
trations and most moderate in expense, the "Cabinet
Cyclopædia will, it is hoped, be found an object of paramount
interest in every family.
To the heads of schools and all places of public education
the proprietors trust that this work will particularly
Commend itself.
I seems scarcely necessary to add, that nothing will
admitted into the pages of the "Cabinet Cyclopædia"
each can have the most remote tendency to offend public
vate morals. To enforce the cultivation of religion
the practice of virtue should be a principal object
th all who undertake to inform the public mind; but
th the views just explained, the conductor of this work
these considerations more especially pressed upon
attention. Parents and guardians may, therefore,
assured that they will never find it necessary to place
volume of the "Cabinet" beyond the reach of their children
or pupils.
Considerable progress having been made in this
k, the publishers wish to direct the attention of
public to the advantages by which it is distinguished
from other similar monthly publications.
It is not intended that the Cabinet Cyclopædia shall
in an interminable series, in which any work of
interest which may present itself from time to time
can claim a place. Its subjects are classified according
to the usual divisions of literature, science, and
art. Each division is distinctly traced out, and will
consist of a determinate number of volumes. Although
the precise extent of the work cannot be fixed
with certainty, yet there is a limit which will not be
exceeded; and the subscribers may look forward to
the possession, within a reasonable time, of a complete
library of instruction, amusement, and general reference,
in the regular form of a popular Cyclopædia.
The several classes of the work are—1, NATURAL
PHILOSOPHY; 2, The USEFUL and FINE ARTS;
3, NATURAL HISTORY; 4, GEOGRAPHY; 5,
POLITICS and MORALS; 6, GENERAL LITERATURE
and CRITICISM; 7, HISTORY; 8, BIOGRAPHY.
In the above abstruse and technical departments
of knowledge, an attempt has been made to convey
to the reader a general acquaintance with these subjects,
by the use of plain and familiar language, appropriate
and well-executed engravings, and copious
examples and illustrations, taken from objects and
events with which every one is acquainted.
The proprietors formerly pledged themselves that
no exertion should be spared to obtain the support of
the most distinguished talent of the age. They trust
that they have redeemed that pledge. Among the
volumes already published in the literary department,
no less than four have been the production of men
who stand in the first rank of literary talent,—Sir
James Mackintosh and Sir Walter Scott. In the scientific
department, a work has been produced from
the pen of Mr. Herschel, which has been pronounced
by the highest living authority on subjects of general
philosophy, to contain "the noblest observations on
the value of knowledge which have been made since
Bacon," and to be "the finest work of philosophical
genius which this age has seen."
The following is a selection from the list of Contributors
The Right Honorable Sir JAMES MACKINTOSH,
M. P.
The Right Rev. The Lord Bishop of Cloyne.
Sir WALTER SCOTT, Bart.
JOHN FREDERICK WILLIAM HERSCHEL,
Esq.
THOMAS MOORE, Esq.
J. B. BIOT, Member of the French Institute.
ROBERT SOUTHEY, Esq. Poet Laureate.
The Baron CHARLES DUPIN, Member of the
Royal Institute and Chamber of Deputies.
THOMAS CAMPBELL, Esq.
T. B. MACAULEY, Esq. M. P.
DAVID BREWSTER, LL. D.
J. C. L. SISMONDI, of Geneva.
Capt. HENRY KATER, Vice President of the
Royal Society.
The ASTRONOMER ROYAL.
DAVIES GILBERT, Esq. M. P.
S. T. COLERIDGE, Esq.
JAMES MONTGOMERY, Esq.
The Right Hon T. P. COURTENAY, M. P.
J. J. BERZELIUS, of Stockholm, F. R. S., &c.
The Rev. G. R. GLEIG.
T. PHILLIPS, Esq. Prof. of Painting, R. A.
Rev. C. THIRLWALL, Fellow of Trinity College,
Cambridge.
ANDREW URE, M. D. F. R. S., &c. &c. &c.
