into the Form of Distinct Treatises or Systems, comprehending The History, Theory, and Practice, of each, According to the
Latest Discoveries and Improvements; And Full Explanations given of the various detached parts of Knowledge, whether relating
to Natural and Artificial Objects, or to Matters Ecclesiastical, Civil, Military, Commercial, &c. Including Elucidations of
the most important Topics relative to Religion, Morals, Manners, and the Oeconomy of Life: Together with A Description of
all the Countries, Cities, principal Mountains, Seas, Rivers, &c. throughout the World; A General History, Ancient and Modern,
of the different Empires, Kingdoms, and States; and An Account of the Lives of the most Eminent Persons in every Nation, from
the earliest ages down to the present times. Compiled from the writings of the best Authors, in several languages; the most
approved Dictionaries, as well of general science as of its particular branches; the Transactions, Journals, and Memoirs,
of various Learned Societies, the MS. Lectures of Eminent Professors on different sciences; and a variety of Original Materials,
furnished by an Extensive Correspondence. The
First American Edition, in
Eighteen Volumes, Greatly Improved. Illustrated with Five Hundred and Forty-two Copperplates. Vol. I. A--ANG [-XVIII. STR--ZYM] . . .
Philadelphia: Printed by
Thomas Dobson, at the Stone House, N
o 41, South Second Street.
m.dcc.xcviii
. [Copy-Right secured according to law.] [1798]
AE5 .E46
18 vol. 4to. Text printed in double columns, engraved plates, including maps, throughout, 542 in all, frontispiece in Vol.
I by J. Vallance, representing Knowledge, Science, etc., with a balloon in the sky.
Sabin 22555.
Evans 33676-33693
The article
America occupies pages 538 to 618, and contains references to a number of the works to be found in Chapter XXIX of this Catalogue (Pauw, Dumont, and others). It also contains references to and extracts from the
Notes on the State of Virginia:
Page 553: “Every nation has its customs. ‘I have seen an Indian beau, with a looking-glass in his hand (says Mr Jefferson),
examining his face, for hours together, and plucking out, by the roots, every hair he could discover, with a kind of tweezer
made of a piece of fine brass wire, that had been twisted round a stick, and which he used with great dexterity.’”
Page 557: “As ranging on the same side with the Abbé Clavigero, our countryman Mr Jefferson deserves particular attention.
This gentleman, in his
Notes on the State of Virginia, &c. has taken occasion to combat the opinions of Buffon; and seems, in many instances, to have fully refuted them, both by argument
and by facts . . .” The next few columns, as far as page 563, contain a discussion of Jefferson’s statements in his
Notes, with a reprint of his table of a Comparative View of the Quadrupeds of Europe and of America.
The article
Mammoth (Vol. X. Les-Mec, page 506) contains a number of quotations from the
Notes on the State of Virginia.
Jefferson mentioned this work in a letter to Samuel R. Demaree, written on October 4, 1809; see no. 4892 below.
This encyclopedia is founded on the third edition of the
Encyclopaedia Britannica
, begun in 1788 under the editorship of Colin Macfarquhar, and continued after his death by George Gleig of Stirling. The
American edition is dedicated by Thomas Dobson “to the Patrons of the Arts and Sciences; the promoters of useful and ornamental
Literature in the United States of America, whose communications have enriched this extensive and important work; and by whose
generous encouragement this arduous enterprise has been brought to its completion”; dated from Philadeolphia, 1798.
[4891]
