Edinburgh Encyclopædia

The Edinburgh Encyclopædia is an encyclopaedia in 18 volumes, printed and published by William Blackwood and edited by David Brewster between 1808 and 1830. In competition with the Edinburgh-published Encyclopædia Britannica,[1] the Edinburgh Encyclopædia is generally considered to be strongest on scientific topics, where many of the articles were written by the editor.[2]

American reprint 1832

The Edinburgh Encyclopædia was originally planned to encompassed 12 volumes, but by the time the final volume was published, in 1830, it counted 18 volumes. Some subjects, such as the polarization of light and electromagnetism, had not even been heard of when the project began, and yet the Encyclopedia had articles on them. The electromagnetism article was even contributed by Hans Christian Ørsted, the founder of modern electromagnetic studies. It also included information on contemporary events such as Christopher Hansteen's 1829 expedition to Siberia.[3]

In 1815 William Elford Leach published the first bibliography of entomology in Brewster's Edinburgh Encyclopædia (see Timeline of entomology – 1800–1850).

Joseph Parker of Philadelphia and Whiting & Watson of New York City printed American editions, both in 1832.

Contributors

A list of major contributors, with indications of their articles, was published in 1830.[4]

Other contributors – "Gentlemen Eminent in Science and Literature" – included Adam Anderson, Charles Babbage, Thomas Carlyle,[5] Robert Gordon, Robert Edmond Grant,[6] John Leslie,[7] Henry Liston, John Gibson Lockhart[5] and Thomas Telford.

References
  1. Brewster, David (1832). David Brewster (ed.). The Edinburgh encyclopædia conducted by David Brewster, with the assistance of gentlemen eminent in science and literature, Volume 18. J. and E. Parker. ISBN 978-0-415-18026-9.
  2. Encyclopædia Britannica (10 ed.). 1902.
  3. Robert Collison Encyclopedias: their history throughout the ages 2nd ed. New York and London; Haffner Publishing Company 1966 pp.175–6
  4. Sir David Brewster (1830). The Edinburgh Encyclopædia. Printed for W. Blackwood. pp. ix–xiv. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  5. The Literary gazette: A weekly journal of literature, science, and the fine arts. Vol. 17. H. Colburn. 1833.
  6. Desmond, Adrian; Parker, Sarah E. (October 2006). The bibliography of Robert Edmond Grant (1793–1874). Archives of Natural History. Vol. 33.
  7. O'Connor, J J; Robertson, E F. "John Leslie". School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
  8. Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1885). "Annesley, Alexander" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 2. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  9. Martha McMackin Garland (1980). Cambridge Before Darwin: The Idéal of Alihsral Education, 1800-1860. Cambridge University Press. p. 191. ISBN 978-0-521-23319-4. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
  10. Georg Lehner (2011), China in European Encyclopaedias, 1700-1850, Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, ISBN 9789004201507
  11. "Letters, TC to Alexander Galloway; 25 December 1821; DOI: 10.1215/lt-18211225-TC-AGA-01; CL 1: 419". Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  12. John Bulloch, John Alexander Henderson (editors), Scottish Notes and Queries (1888), p. 40; archive.org.
  13. "Stevenson, William (1772-1829)" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  14. Chapple, John A. V. "Stevenson, William". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/26443. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  15. Lee, Sidney, ed. (1898). "Thomson, Andrew Mitchell" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 56. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

Further reading

The following full set of the Scottish printing may be read online here. It does not include any plates.

  • v.1 A to Anatomy – 4 parts, 1808, 851pp + list of plates.
  • v.2 Comparative Anatomy to Astronomy – 3 parts, 1810, 836pp + list of plates.
  • v.3 Astrophanometer to Bosworth – 3 parts, 1810 & 1811, 776pp + list of plates.
  • v.4 Botany to Browne – 2 parts, 1811 & 1812, 760 pp + list of plates.
  • v.5 Brown to Cheltenham – 2 parts, 1812, 764 + list of plates.
  • v.6 Chemistry to Columbo – 2 parts, 1813, pp + list of plates.
  • v.7 Columbus to Dividing of Instruments – 2 parts, 1813 & 1814, 761 pp + list of plates.
  • v.8 Divination to England – 2 parts, 1814 & 1815, 761 pp + list of plates.
  • v.9 England to Fruit – 2 parts, 1815, 764 pp + list of plates.
  • v.10 Fuci to Herodotus – 2 parts, 1816, 757 pp + list of plates.
  • v.11 Herpetology to Ilay – 2 parts, 1817, pp + list of plates.
  • v.12 Ilchester to Light – 2 parts, 1817 & 1818, 746 pp + list of plates.
  • v.13 Lighthouse to Medicine – 2 parts, 1818 & 1819, 739 pp + list of plates.
  • v.14 Medicine to Muscat – 2 parts, 1820, pp 743 + list of plates.
  • v 15 Musci to Organic Remains – 2 parts, 1821 & 1822, 756 pp + list of plates.
  • v 16 Orissa to Poland – 2 parts, 1823, 738 pp + list of plates.
  • v.17 Polar Regions to Scotland – 2 parts, 1825 & 1826, 679 pp + list of plates.
  • v.18 Sculpture to Zurich Machine – 2 parts, 1828 & 1830 847 pp + list of plates.
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