A Solution to the Multitude of Books: Ephraim Chambers's Cyclopaedia (1728) as "the Best Book in the Universe"

Journal of the History of Ideas

Volumn 64, Issue 1, 2003, Pages 61-72

  Yeo, Richard ^a  

^a GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; BOOK; HISTORY; INFORMATION SYSTEM; UNITED KINGDOM;

BOOKS; ENCYCLOPEDIAS; ENGLAND; HISTORY, 18TH CENTURY; HISTORY, 19TH CENTURY; INFORMATION MANAGEMENT;

EID: 0038157262     PISSN: 00225037     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/3654296     Document Type: Review

References (57)

1. J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner (eds.), The Oxford English Dictionary (20 vols.; Oxford, 1989), VII, 945 records the first uses of this term in the 1960s. Alvin Toffler used the term "information overload" in Future Shock (London, 1970), 311.
2. For recent work relevant to this theme, see Peter Burke, A Social History of Knowledge: From Gutenberg to Diderot (Cambridge, 2000) and Richard Yeo, Encyclopaedic Visions: Scientific Dictionaries and Enlightenment Culture (Cambridge, 2001); see also my review-essay of Burke's book, "Managing Knowledge in Early Modern Europe," Minerva, 40 (2002), 304-14.
3. For recent work relevant to this theme, see Peter Burke, A Social History of Knowledge: From Gutenberg to Diderot (Cambridge, 2000) and Richard Yeo, Encyclopaedic Visions: Scientific Dictionaries and Enlightenment Culture (Cambridge, 2001); see also my review-essay of Burke's book, "Managing Knowledge in Early Modern Europe," Minerva, 40 (2002), 304-14.
4. For recent work relevant to this theme, see Peter Burke, A Social History of Knowledge: From Gutenberg to Diderot (Cambridge, 2000) and Richard Yeo, Encyclopaedic Visions: Scientific Dictionaries and Enlightenment Culture (Cambridge, 2001); see also my review-essay of Burke's book, "Managing Knowledge in Early Modern Europe," Minerva, 40 (2002), 304-14.
5. Hugh Trevor-Roper, "Three Foreigners: The Philosophers of the Puritan Revolution," in his The Crisis of the Seventeenth Century: Religion, the Reformation and Social Change (New York, 1968), 237-96, at 268. Comenius's remark in 1642 is cited in Adrian Johns, "History, Science and the History of the Book: The Making of Natural Philosophy in Early Modern England," Publishing History, 30 (1991), 5-30, at 14.
6. Hugh Trevor-Roper, "Three Foreigners: The Philosophers of the Puritan Revolution," in his The Crisis of the Seventeenth Century: Religion, the Reformation and Social Change (New York, 1968), 237-96, at 268. Comenius's remark in 1642 is cited in Adrian Johns, "History, Science and the History of the Book: The Making of Natural Philosophy in Early Modern England," Publishing History, 30 (1991), 5-30, at 14.
7. Jan Amos Comenius, Patterne of Universall Knowledge, tr. Jeremy Collier (London, 1651).
8. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, "Precepts for Advancing the Sciences and Arts," in Philip Wiener (ed.), Leibniz Selections (New York, 1951), 29-46, at 32.
9. Pierre Bayle, "Preface to the First French Edition," in The Dictionary Historical and Critical of Mr Peter Bayle, the Second Edition, tr. P. Des Maizeaux (5 vols.; London, 1734-38), I, 3-6. On Bayle's role, see Anne Goldgar, Impolite Learning: Conduct and Community in the Republic of Letters, 1680-1750 (New Haven, Conn., 1995).
10. Pierre Bayle, "Preface to the First French Edition," in The Dictionary Historical and Critical of Mr Peter Bayle, the Second Edition, tr. P. Des Maizeaux (5 vols.; London, 1734-38), I, 3-6. On Bayle's role, see Anne Goldgar, Impolite Learning: Conduct and Community in the Republic of Letters, 1680-1750 (New Haven, Conn., 1995).
11. 2), 145, 147, 286.
12. Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ed. J. B. Bury (7 vols.; London, 1909-14), V, 484.
13. 3), 165. The first of these works, Enquiries, was first published in 1748.
14. 3), 165. The first of these works, Enquiries, was first published in 1748.
15. See G. B. Hill (ed.), Boswell's Life of Johnson (6 vols.; Oxford, 1934), IV, 409, cited in Lawrence Lipking, "Inventing the Common Reader: Samuel Johnson and the Canon," in Joan H. Pittock and Andrew Wear (eds.), Interpretation and Cultural History (New York, 1991), 153-74, at 163. For more on early Enlightenment responses to the burgeoning number of books, see Yeo, Encyclopaedic Visions, ch. 3.
16. See G. B. Hill (ed.), Boswell's Life of Johnson (6 vols.; Oxford, 1934), IV, 409, cited in Lawrence Lipking, "Inventing the Common Reader: Samuel Johnson and the Canon," in Joan H. Pittock and Andrew Wear (eds.), Interpretation and Cultural History (New York, 1991), 153-74, at 163. For more on early Enlightenment responses to the burgeoning number of books, see Yeo, Encyclopaedic Visions, ch. 3.
17. See G. B. Hill (ed.), Boswell's Life of Johnson (6 vols.; Oxford, 1934), IV, 409, cited in Lawrence Lipking, "Inventing the Common Reader: Samuel Johnson and the Canon," in Joan H. Pittock and Andrew Wear (eds.), Interpretation and Cultural History (New York, 1991), 153-74, at 163. For more on early Enlightenment responses to the burgeoning number of books, see Yeo, Encyclopaedic Visions, ch. 3.
18. For example, Harris mentioned Stephen Chauvin's Lexicon Rationale (1692), and the "Chymical and Physical Dictionaries of Johnson, Catellus and Blanchard [ie Blankaart]." John Harris, Lexicon Technicum: or, an Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (London, 1704, 1710), I, "Preface." No pagination in the "Preface."
19. For example, Harris mentioned Stephen Chauvin's Lexicon Rationale (1692), and the "Chymical and Physical Dictionaries of Johnson, Catellus and Blanchard [ie Blankaart]." John Harris, Lexicon Technicum: or, an Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (London, 1704, 1710), I, "Preface." No pagination in the "Preface."
20. Harris, Lexicon Technicum, I, "Preface"; emphasis in the original.
21. Ephraim Chambers, Cyclopaedia; or, an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (2 vols.; London, 1728), I, i.
22. Chambers made this claim prior to the second edition in Some Considerations offered to the Publick, preparatory to a second edition of Cyclopaedia: or, an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (no date or place of publication [1738]), 4. There is a copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford
23. 2), I, "Advertisement."
24. Chambers, Cyclopaedia, 1728, "Preface," I, ii.
25. Chambers, Cyclopaedia, 1738, I, "Book."
26. Chambers, Cyclopaedia, 1738, I, xxiii.
27. See J. M. Lechner, Renaissance Concepts of the Commonplaces (Westport, Conn., 1962); Ann Blair, The Theater of Nature: Jean Bodin and Renaissance Science (Princeton, 1997); Ann Moss, Printed Commonplace-Books and the Structuring of Renaissance Thought (Oxford, 1996); Earle Havens, Commonplace Books: A History of Manuscript and Printed Books from Antiquity to the Twentieth Century (New Haven, Conn., 2001). In the early modern period, the usual form was "Common-Place book." When not quoting, I use the modern convention: commonplace book.
28. See J. M. Lechner, Renaissance Concepts of the Commonplaces (Westport, Conn., 1962); Ann Blair, The Theater of Nature: Jean Bodin and Renaissance Science (Princeton, 1997); Ann Moss, Printed Commonplace-Books and the Structuring of Renaissance Thought (Oxford, 1996); Earle Havens, Commonplace Books: A History of Manuscript and Printed Books from Antiquity to the Twentieth Century (New Haven, Conn., 2001). In the early modern period, the usual form was "Common-Place book." When not quoting, I use the modern convention: commonplace book.
29. See J. M. Lechner, Renaissance Concepts of the Commonplaces (Westport, Conn., 1962); Ann Blair, The Theater of Nature: Jean Bodin and Renaissance Science (Princeton, 1997); Ann Moss, Printed Commonplace-Books and the Structuring of Renaissance Thought (Oxford, 1996); Earle Havens, Commonplace Books: A History of Manuscript and Printed Books from Antiquity to the Twentieth Century (New Haven, Conn., 2001). In the early modern period, the usual form was "Common-Place book." When not quoting, I use the modern convention: commonplace book.
30. See J. M. Lechner, Renaissance Concepts of the Commonplaces (Westport, Conn., 1962); Ann Blair, The Theater of Nature: Jean Bodin and Renaissance Science (Princeton, 1997); Ann Moss, Printed Commonplace-Books and the Structuring of Renaissance Thought (Oxford, 1996); Earle Havens, Commonplace Books: A History of Manuscript and Printed Books from Antiquity to the Twentieth Century (New Haven, Conn., 2001). In the early modern period, the usual form was "Common-Place book." When not quoting, I use the modern convention: commonplace book.
31. Cited in Lechner, Renaissance Concepts, 141. See Desiderius Erasmus, On Copia of Words and Ideas (De utraque verborum ac rerum copia), tr. and annotated by Betty I. Knott, Collected Works (71 vols.; 1974-), XXIV, 279-659. For the bee and flower metaphors, see Mary Carruthers, The Book of Memory: a Study of Memory in Medieval Culture (New York, 1990), 38-39; Moss, Printed Commonplace-Books, 12-20, 39-41, 51-52.
32. Cited in Lechner, Renaissance Concepts, 141. See Desiderius Erasmus, On Copia of Words and Ideas (De utraque verborum ac rerum copia), tr. and annotated by Betty I. Knott, Collected Works (71 vols.; 1974-), XXIV, 279-659. For the bee and flower metaphors, see Mary Carruthers, The Book of Memory: a Study of Memory in Medieval Culture (New York, 1990), 38-39; Moss, Printed Commonplace-Books, 12-20, 39-41, 51-52.
33. Cited in Lechner, Renaissance Concepts, 141. See Desiderius Erasmus, On Copia of Words and Ideas (De utraque verborum ac rerum copia), tr. and annotated by Betty I. Knott, Collected Works (71 vols.; 1974-), XXIV, 279-659. For the bee and flower metaphors, see Mary Carruthers, The Book of Memory: a Study of Memory in Medieval Culture (New York, 1990), 38-39; Moss, Printed Commonplace-Books, 12-20, 39-41, 51-52.
34. Cited in Lechner, Renaissance Concepts, 141. See Desiderius Erasmus, On Copia of Words and Ideas (De utraque verborum ac rerum copia), tr. and annotated by Betty I. Knott, Collected Works (71 vols.; 1974-), XXIV, 279-659. For the bee and flower metaphors, see Mary Carruthers, The Book of Memory: a Study of Memory in Medieval Culture (New York, 1990), 38-39; Moss, Printed Commonplace-Books, 12-20, 39-41, 51-52.
35. Neal Gilbert, Renaissance Concepts of Method (New York, 1960); Charles Schmitt, Aristotle and the Renaissance (Cambridge, Mass., 1983); J. S. Freedman, "Diffusion of the writings of Petrus Ramus in Central Europe, c. 1570-c. 1630," Renaissance Quarterly, 46 (1993), 98-152.
36. Neal Gilbert, Renaissance Concepts of Method (New York, 1960); Charles Schmitt, Aristotle and the Renaissance (Cambridge, Mass., 1983); J. S. Freedman, "Diffusion of the writings of Petrus Ramus in Central Europe, c. 1570-c. 1630," Renaissance Quarterly, 46 (1993), 98-152.
37. Neal Gilbert, Renaissance Concepts of Method (New York, 1960); Charles Schmitt, Aristotle and the Renaissance (Cambridge, Mass., 1983); J. S. Freedman, "Diffusion of the writings of Petrus Ramus in Central Europe, c. 1570-c. 1630," Renaissance Quarterly, 46 (1993), 98-152.
38. Harris did add an "Alphabetical Index" at the end of II (1710) listing the terms treated under twenty Heads; but this did not show relations between subjects. See Richard Yeo, "Classifying the Sciences," in Roy Porter (ed.), The Cambridge History of Sciences, IV: Eighteenth Century Science (Cambridge, 2003), 273-302.
39. Chambers, Cyclopaedia, 1738, "Preface," I, ii.
40. For a close analysis of Chambers's classification, see Maurizio Mamiani, La Mappa del Sapere. La classificazione delle scienze nella Cyclopaedia di E. Chambers (Milan, 1983), chs. 2-4.
41. Chambers, Cyclopaedia, 1728, I, "Common-Places."
42. The French version appeared as "Methode Nouvelle de dresser des Recueuils. Communiquée par l'Auteur," Bibliothèque Universelle et Historique, 2 (1686), 315-40. Locke's name is not given, but the contribution is headed "Lettre de Monsieur J. L. à Monsieur N. T...." It had been solicited by Locke's friend, Nicolas Toinard.
43. I have discussed this in "Ephraim Chambers's Cyclopaedia (1728) and the Tradition of Commonplaces," JHI, 57 (1996), 157-75 and "Encyclopaedic Knowledge," in Marina Frasca-Spada and Nicholas Jardine (eds.), Books and the Sciences in History (Cambridge, 2000), 207-24; and at more length in Encyclopaedic Visions, chs. 4 and 5.
44. I have discussed this in "Ephraim Chambers's Cyclopaedia (1728) and the Tradition of Commonplaces," JHI, 57 (1996), 157-75 and "Encyclopaedic Knowledge," in Marina Frasca-Spada and Nicholas Jardine (eds.), Books and the Sciences in History (Cambridge, 2000), 207-24; and at more length in Encyclopaedic Visions, chs. 4 and 5.
45. Chambers, "Considerations," 2.
46. Ephraim Chambers, Cyclopaedia ... With the Supplement and modern improvements incorporated in one alphabet. By Abraham Rees (4 vols.; London, 1786-88), I, new "Preface," i.
47. Chambers, Cyclopaedia, "Preface," 1738, I, xxiv.
48. Daniel Waterland, the master of Magdalene College, had recommended the commonplace method in his Advice to a Young Student. With a Method of study for the four first years of 1706. This reached a third edition in 1760.
49. 2), 15-16. On Johnson, see Marina Frasca-Spada, "Compendious Footnotes" in Frasca-Spada and Jardine (eds.), Books and the Sciences in History, 171-89.
50. 2), 15-16. On Johnson, see Marina Frasca-Spada, "Compendious Footnotes" in Frasca-Spada and Jardine (eds.), Books and the Sciences in History, 171-89.
51. Chambers, Cyclopaedia, 1728, II, "Plagiary."
52. Chambers, Cyclopaedia, 1738, I, xxiv.
53. These dictionaries were composed by "authors" who registered their work, or assigned it to a bookseller, as one deserving the legal protection described in the Statute. On the crucial role of the Stationers' Company in this connection, see Adrian Johns, The Nature of the Book. Print and Knowledge in the Making (Chicago, 1998), ch. 3.
54. Harris, Lexicon, I, "Preface." Blankaart's Lexicon Medicum was published in Amsterdam in 1679 and translated into English in 1684.
55. On the role of dedications to monarchs, see Yeo, Encyclopaedic Visions, ch. 9.
56. For more extended discussion, see Yeo, Encyclopaedic Visions, ch. 8.
57. Chambers, Considerations, 3.