THE ENCYCLOPJEDIA BRITANNICA The Encyclopedia Britannica or Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, "by a society of gentlemen in Scotland, printed in Edin burgh for A. Bell and C. Macfarquhar, and sold by Colin Macfar quhar at his printing office in Nicolson street," was completed in 1771 in 3 vol. 4t0, containing 2,67o pages, and 16o copperplates engraved by Andrew Bell. It was published in numbers, of which the first two were issued in Dec. 1768, "price 6d. each, or 8d. on a finer paper," and was to be completed in zoo weekly numbers. It was compiled, as the title-page says, on a new plan. The differ ent sciences and arts were "digested into distinct treatises or sys tems," of which there are 45 with cross headings, i.e., titles printed across the page, and about 30 other articles more than three pages long. The longest are "Anatomy," 166 pages, and "Surgery," 238 pages. "The various technical terms, etc., are explained as they occur in the order of the alphabet." "Instead of dismembering the sciences, by attempting to treat them intelligibly under a mul titude of technical terms, they have digested the principles of every science in the form of systems or distinct treatises, and ex plained the terms as they occur in the order of the alphabet, with references to the sciences to which they belong." This plan, as the compilers say, differs from that of all the previous dictionaries of arts and sciences. Its merit and novelty consist in the combination of De Coetlogon's plan with that in common use—on the one hand keeping important subjects together, and on the other facil itating reference by numerous separate articles. It is doubtful to whom the credit of this plan is due. The editor, William Smellie, a printer (born in 1740, died on June , afterwards secre tary and superintendent of natural history to the Society of Scot tish Antiquaries, is said by his biographer to have devised the plan and written or compiled all the chief articles. Archibald Constable, who was interested in the work from 1788, and was afterwards intimately acquainted with Bell, says Colin Mac farquhar was the actual projector of the Encyclopædia, and the editor of the first two editions, while Smellie was merely "a con tributor for hire." Dr. Gleig, in his preface to the third edition, says: "The idea had been conceived by him (Colin Macfarquhar) and his friend, Mr. Andrew Bell, engraver." Macfarquhar, ac cording to Constable, was a person of excellent taste and very general knowledge, though at starting he had little or no capital, and was obliged to associate Bell, then the principal engraver in Edinburgh, as a partner in his undertaking.
The second edition was begun in 1776, and was published in numbers, of which the first was issued on June 21, and the last, No. 181, on Sept. 18, 1784, forming 10 vols, 4to, dated 1778 to 1783, and containing 8,595 pages and 34o plates. The pagina tion is continuous, ending with page 9,20o, but 295 pages are inserted in various places, and page 7,099 is followed by 8,000. The number and length of the articles were much increased, 72 have cross headings, and more than 15o others may be classed as long articles. At the end is an appendix ("Abatement" to "Wood") of 200 pages, containing, under the heading Botanical Table, a list of the 931 genera included in the 58 natural orders of Lin naeus, and followed by a list of 526 books, said to have been the principal authorities used. All the maps are placed together under the article "Geography" (195 pages). Most of the long articles have numbered marginal titles; "Scotland," 84 pages, has 837. "Medicine," 3o9 pages, and "Pharmacy" have each an index. The plan of the work was enlarged by the addition of history and biography, which encyclopaedias in general had long omitted. Smellie was applied to by Bell to edit the second edition, and to take a share of one-third in the work; but he refused on the ground that the introduction of a system of general biography was inconsistent with the character of a dictionary of arts and sciences. James Tytler, M.A., seems to have been selected as the next most eligible compiler. Tytler (outlawed by the High Court of Jus ticiary in 1793, buried at Salem in Massachusetts in 1804, aged 58) "wrote," says Watt, "many of the scientific treatises and his tories, and almost all the minor articles." The Third Edition.—After about a year's preparation, the third edition was announced in 1787; the first number was pub lished early in 1788, and the first volume in Oct. 1788. There were to be 30o weekly numbers, price is. each, forming 3o parts at Ios. 6d. each, and 15 volumes, with 36o plates. It was com pleted in 1797 in 18 vols. 4to, containing 14,579 Pages and S42 plates. Among the multifarious articles represented in the frontis piece, which was required by the traditional fashion of the period, is a balloon. The maps are, as in subsequent editions, distributed among the articles relating to the respective countries. It was edited by Colin Macfarquhar as far as the article "Mysteries," when he died, in 1793 in his 48th year, "worn out," says Constable, "by fatigue and anxiety of mind." His children's trustees and Andrew Bell requested George Gleig of Stirling (consecrated on Oct. 30, 18o8, assistant and successor to the bishop of Brechin), who had written about 12 articles, to edit the rest of the work. According to Kerr (Smellie's Life, i. 364-365), Io,000 copies were printed, and the profit to the proprietors was £42,000, be sides the payments for their respective work as tradesmen in the conduct of the publication--Bell as engraver of all the plates, and Macfarquhar as sole printer. According to Constable, the impression was begun at 5,000 copies, and concluded with a sale of 13,00o. James Hunter, "an active bookseller of no character," who had a shop in Middle Row, Holborn, sold the book to the trade, and on his failure Thomson Bonar, a wine merchant, who had married Bell's daughter, became the seller of the book. He quarrelled with his father-in-law, who would not see him dur ing the ten years before his death. When the edition was com pleted, the copyright and remaining books were sold in order to wind up the concern, and "the whole was purchased by Bell, who gave f13 a copy, sold all the complete copies to the trade, printed up the odd volumes, and thus kept the work in the market for several years." The supplement of the third edition, printed for Thomson Bonar, and edited by Gleig, was published in 18o1 in 2 vols., con taining 1,624 pages and 5o copperplates engraved by D. Lizars. In the dedication to the king, dated Stirling, Dec. Io, i800, Dr. Gleig says : "The French Encyclopedie had been accused, and justly accused, of having disseminated far and wide the seeds of anarchy and atheism. If the Encyclopedia Britannica shall in any degree counteract the tendency of that pestiferous work, even these two volumes will not be wholly unworthy of your Majesty's attention." Dr. Thomas Thomson wrote "Chemistry," "Miner alogy" and other articles, in which the use of symbols was for the first time introduced into chemistry ; and these articles formed the first outline of his System of Chemistry.
The fourth edition, printed for Andrew Bell, was begun in i800 or 18o1, and finished in 1810 in 20 vols. 4to, containing 16,033 pages, with 581 plates engraved by Bell. No articles were re printed from the supplement, as Bell had not the copyright. Prof. Wallace's articles on mathematics were much valued, and raised the scientific character of the work. Dr. Thomas Thomson de clined the editorship, and recommended Dr. James Millar, after wards editor of the Encyclopaedia Edinensis. He was fond of natural history and a good chemist, but, according to Constable, slow and dilatory and not well qualified. The edition began with 1,25o copies and concluded at 4,000, of which two-thirds passed through the hands of Constable's firm. Early in 1804 Andrew Bell had offered Constable and his partner Hunter the copyright of the work, printing materials, etc., and all that was then printed of the fourth edition, for f 20,000. This offer was in agitation in March 1804, when the two partners were in London. On May 5, 1804, after Lord Jeffrey's arrival in Edinburgh, as he relates to Francis Homer, they entrusted him with a design, on which he found that most of his friends had embarked with great eagerness, "for publishing an entire new encyclopaedia upon an improved plan. . . . W. Scott has embraced it with great affection. . . . The authors are to be paid at least as well as reviewers, and are to retain the copyright of their articles for separate publication if they think proper." It was then, perhaps, that Constable gave to Bonar for the copyright of the supplement.
Andrew Bell died in 1809, and a fifth edition was begun im mediately after the fourth as a mere reprint. Bell's trustees mis managed the new edition so badly that, after the issue of five volumes, both the stock and the copyright were sold to Con stable who paid between f 13,00o and f 14,000. Bonar, who lived next door to the printing office, thought he could conduct the book, and had resolved on the purchase. Having a good deal of money, he seemed to Constable a formidable rival, whose alliance was to be secured. After "sundry interviews" it was agreed that Constable should buy the copyright in his own name, and that Bonar should have one-third, and also one-third of the copyright of the supplement, for which he gave f 200. Dr. James Millar corrected and revised the last 15 volumes. The edition dated was published in 20 vols., 16,017 pages, 582 plates, price L36.
Famous Contributors.—Soon after the purchase of the copy right, Constable began to prepare for the publication of a supple ment, to be of four or, at the very utmost, five volumes. Dugald Stewart, in a letter to Constable, Nov. 15, though he declines to engage to execute any of his own suggestions, recommends that four discourses should "stand in front," forming "a general map of the various departments of human knowledge," similar to "the excellent discourse prefixed by D'Alembert to the French Ency clopedie," together with historical sketches of the progress since Bacon's time of modern discoveries in metaphysical, moral and political philosophy, in mathematics and physics, in chemistry, and in zoology, botany and mineralogy. He would only promise to undertake the general map and the first historical sketch, if his health and other engagements permitted. For the second he recommended Playfair, for chemistry Sir Humphry Davy. He received £I,000 for the first part of his dissertation (166 pages), and f7oo for the second (257 pages), the right of publication being limited to the Supplement and Encyclopedia. Constable next contracted with Prof. Playfair for a dissertation "to be equal in length or not to Stewart's." He at first intended to have two editors, "one for the strictly literary and the other for the scien tific department." He applied to Dr. Thomas Brown, who "pre ferred writing trash of poetry to useful and lucrative employ ment." At last he fixed on Macvey Napier (born 1777), whom he had known from 1798, and who "had been a hard student, and at college laid a good foundation for his future career, though more perhaps in general information than in what would be, strictly speaking, called scholarship." Napier went to London, and obtained the co-operation of many literary men. The supple ment was published in half-volume parts from Dec. 1816 to April 1824. It formed six volumes 4to, containing 4,933 Pages, 125 plates, 9 maps, three dissertations and 669 articles, of which a list is given at the end. The first dissertation, on the "progress of metaphysical, ethical and political philosophy," was by Stewart. who completed his plan only in respect to metaphysics. These historical dissertations were admirable and delightful composi tions, and important and interesting additions to the Encyclope dia; but it is difficult to see why they should form a separate de partment distinct from the general alphabet. Among the distin guished contributors were James Mill, Ricardo, Malthus, Arago, Biot, Hazlitt and Sir Walter Scott, who, to gratify his generous friend Constable, laid aside Waverley, which he was completing for publication, and in April and May 1814 wrote "Chivalry." There were about 16o biographies, chiefly of persons who had died within the preceding 3o years. Signatures, on the plan of the Encyclo pedie, were annexed to each article, the list forming a triple alphabet, A to XXX, with the full names of the 72 contributors arranged apparently in the order of their first occurrence. At the end of vol. vi. are Addenda and Corrigenda.
The sixth edition, "revised, corrected and improved," appeared in half-volume parts, price 16s. in boards, vol. xx. part ii. com pleting the work in May 1823. Constable, thinking it not wise to reprint so large a book year after year without correction, in 182o selected Charles Maclaren (1782-1866), as editor. "His attention was chiefly directed to the historical and geographical articles. He was to keep the press going, and have the whole completed in three years." A new edition in 25 vols. was contem plated, not to be announced till a certain time after the supple ment was finished ; but Constable's house stopped payment on Jan. 19, 1826, and his copyrights were sold by auction. Those of the Encyclopædia were bought by contract, on July 16, 1825, for f 6, I 5o, by Thomas Allan, proprietor of the Caledonian Mer cury, Adam Black, Abram Thomson, bookbinder, and Alexander Wight, banker, who, with the trustee of Constable's estate, had previously begun the seventh edition. Not many years later Black purchased all the shares and became sole proprietor.
The seventh edition, 21 vols. 4to (with an index of 187 pages), containing 17,101 pages and 5o6 plates, edited by Macvey Napier, assisted by James Browne, LL.D., was begun in 1827, and pub lished from March 183o to Jan. 1842. It was reset throughout and stereotyped. Mathematical diagrams were printed in the text from woodcuts. The dissertations of Stewart and others and their index of 3o pages, filled vol. i. As they did not include Greek philosophy, "Aristotle," "Plato" and "Socrates" were supplied by Dr. Hampden, afterwards bishop of Hereford. Among the numer ous contributors of eminence, mention may be made of Sir David Brewster, Thomas De Quincey, Antonio Panizzi and Robert Stephenson. Zoology was divided into II chief articles, "Mam malia," "Ornithology," "Reptilia," "Ichthyology," "Mollusca," "Crustacea," "Arachnides," "Entomology," "Helminthology," "Zoophytes," and "Animalcule"—all by James Wilson.
The eighth edition, 18S3-6o, 21 vols. (and index of 239 pages, 1861 ), containing 17,957 pages and 402 plates, with many wood cuts, was edited by Dr. Thomas Steward Traill, professor of medical jurisprudence in Edinburgh university. The dissertations were reprinted, with one on the "Rise, Progress and Corruptions of Christianity" by Archbishop Whately. Lord Macaulay, Charles Kingsley, Robert Chambers, Rev. Charles Merivale, Dr. Hooker, Henry Austin Layard, Baron Bunsen, Sir John Herschel, Profes sors Owen, William Thomson and Blackie, were some of the many eminent new contributors found among the 344 authors, of whom an alphabetical list is given, with a key to the signatures. This edition was not wholly reset like the seventh, but many long ar ticles were retained almost or entirely intact.
The publication of the ninth edition (A. and C. Black) was commenced in Jan. 1875, under the editorship of Thomas Spencer Baynes until 188o, and subsequently of W. Robertson Smith, and completed in 1889, 24 vols., with index. This great edition re tained a certain amount of the valuable material in the eighth, but was substantially a new work; and it was universally acknowl edged to stand in the forefront of the scholarship of its time. Its contributors included the most distinguished men of letters and of science. In 1898 a reprint, sold at about half the original price, and on the plan of payment by instalments, was issued by The Times of London; and in 1902, under the joint editorship of Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace, President Arthur T. Hadley of Yale university, and Hugh Chisholm, 1 i supplementary volumes were published, forming, with the 24 vols. of the ninth edition, a tenth edition of 35 volumes. These included a volume of maps, and an elaborate index (vol. 35) of some 600,000 entries.
In May 1903 a start was made with the preparation of the 11th edition, under the general editorship of Hugh Chisholm and a staff of editorial assistants, the whole work of organization being con ducted up to Dec. 1909 from The Times office. Arrangements were then made by which the copyright and control of the Encyclopædia Britannica passed to Cambridge university, for the publication at the University Press in 1910-11 of the 29 volumes (one being Index) of the 11th edition, a distinctive feature of this issue being the appearance of the whole series of volumes practically at the same time, though much of the material had been prepared some time in advance. The 12th edition, which appeared in 1922, con sisted of the 11th edition, with three supplementary volumes, and was published in Great Britain by Encyclopaedia Britannica Company Ltd., and in the United States by the Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. This supplement to the 11th edition was rendered necessary by the convulsion of the World War. Hugh Chisholm was again the editor, while the New York branch of the editorial staff was under Franklin H. Hooper as American editor. It was soon realized, however, that while these three supplementary volumes were of great value as showing the state of the world, politically, geographically and intellectually, in the years immedi ately following the war, they were written too close to that gigantic struggle and lacked the cooperation of scholars from many of the Continental countries. Not long afterwards, therefore, under the editorship of J. L. Garvin, with Franklin H. Hooper as American editor, a further three-volume supplement, making the 13th edition (1926) was prepared, which gave a new survey of the march of events, the progress of knowledge and the innumerable changes of the world's aspect, thoughts and activities, in the years from 1910 to 1926. Marshal Foch, Lord Cecil, Albert Einstein, Commissar Trotsky, Mme. Curie, Dr. Stresemann, President Masaryk, Elihu Root and Emile Vandervelde were among the contributors whose names gave an international authority to the new volumes.
The present edition was again edited by J. L. Garvin, with Franklin H. Hooper as American editor. More than 3,00o distin guished men and women of all nationalities contributed articles. Mr. Hooper was also editor of Britannica Junior, The World Today, and the 1938 Britannica Book of the Year. He retired in April 1938, to become editor emeritus and was succeeded by Walter Yust, who had been associate editor since 1932.