# Orr's Circle of the Sciences

Orr's Circle of the Sciences was a scientific encyclopedia of the 1850s, published in London by William Somerville Orr.

## William S. Orr & Co.

William S. Orr & Co. was a publisher in Paternoster Row, London. It put out the British Cyclopædia in ten volumes of the 1830s. It also was in business selling engravings (for example the Kenny Meadows illustrations to Shakespeare), and maps, such as a mid-century Cab Fare and Guide Map of London (c. 1853).
The firm was a general commercial publisher, with a specialist area of natural history, and also published periodicals. It was innovative in its use of wood engraving, in its 1838 edition of Paul et Virginie. In children's literature, it published Christoph von Schmid's Basket of Flowers in an English translation of 1848, in partnership with J. B. Müller of Stuttgart.

## William Somerville Orr

Orr himself was a publishers' agent from the 1830s, and was a close associate of Robert and William Chambers. He printed a London edition of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal by mid-1832. The arrangement used stereotype plates, and brought the circulation up to 50,000. By 1845 the circulation was declining from its peak, and Orr wrote to Chambers explaining that the market was changing. In 1846 Chambers terminated the arrangement with Orr.
Punch magazine, set up in 1841, brought in Orr to help with distribution to booksellers and news agents. Orr died in 1873.

## Orr's Circle of the Sciences

Orr's Circle of the Sciences was announced first as a part publication, a series in weekly parts, price 2d. beginning 5 January 1854. The series editor was John Stevenson Bushnan, who also wrote the introductory section of the first volume.
| Volume | Year | Title | Content |
| 1 | 1854 | Organic Nature, vol. 1/The Principles of Physiology | On the Nature, Connection, and Uses of the Great Departments of Human Knowledge, John Stevenson Bushnan On the Physiology of Animal and Vegetable Life, John Stevenson Bushnan On the Principal Forms of the Skeleton, Richard Owen On the Principal Forms and Structures of the Teeth, Richard Owen On the Varieties of the Human Species, Robert Gordon Latham |
| 2 | 1854 | The Mathematical Sciences | Simple Arithmetic, Algebra and the Elements of Euclid, John Radford Young Planes, Spherical Trigonometry, Series, Logarithms, and Mensuration, John Francis Twisden Practical Geometry, Alexander Jardine |
| 3 | 1855 | A System of Natural History Vol. 1 Botany and Invertebrated Animals | Botany, Edward Smith Zoology, William Sweetland Dallas |
| 4 | 1855 | Elementary Chemistry | John Scoffern. The author explains in the introduction that the work was based on a revision of William Henry's Treatise on Chemistry. |
| 5 | 1855 | Geology, Mineralogy and Crystallography | Science of Physical Geography and Geology, David Thomas Ansted Crystallography and Mineralogy, Walter Mitchell and James Tennant |
| 6 | 1855 | Organic Nature Vol. III/A System of Natural History Vol. 2 Vertebrate Animals | William Sweetland Dallas; Edward Smith's name is on the title page, but for "Botany". |
| 7 | 1856 | Practical Astronomy, Navigation, Nautical Astronomy and Meteorology | Nautical Astronony and Navigation, John Radford Young Practical Astronomy, Hugh Breen Meteorology, John Scoffern and Edward Joseph Lowe Lowe's participation is mentioned in his Royal Society obituary. |
| 8 | 1856 | Practical Chemistry | Electro-deposition, George Gore Photography, Marcus Sparling Chemistry of Food, translation by Edward Bronner from the German of Jacob Moleschott, Lehre des Nahrungsmittel für das Volk Adulterations of Food, John Scoffern |
| 9 | 1856 | Mechanical Philosophy | Mechanical Laws, Theory of Equilibrium, Mechanical Powers, Statics, Dynamics, and Hydrostatics, Walter Mitchell John Radford Young Mechanical Drawing, Strength of Materials, Construction of Machinery, the Steam Engine, and Textile Machines, John Imray |