# The American Cyclopædia (1879)/A Library of Universal Information

Edition of 1879. See also the disclaimer.
A LIBRARY OF UNIVERSAL INFORMATION.
THE AMERICAN CYCLOPÆDIA.
Entirely revised, and fully illustrated with Maps and Engravings.
COMPLETE IN SIXTEEN VOLUMES.
Edited by GEORGE RIPLEY and CHARLES A. DANA.
The Necessity for a Cyclopædia.
Every one that reads, every one that mingles in society, is constantly meeting with allusions to subjects on which he needs and desires further information. In conversation, in trade, in professional life, on the farm, in the family, questions are continually arising, which no man, well read or not, can always satisfactorily answer. If the facilities for reference are at hand, they are consulted, and not only is the curiosity gratified, and the stock of knowledge increased, but perhaps information is gained and ideas are suggested that will directly contribute to the business success of the party concerned.
But how are these facilities for reference to be had? How are the million to procure a library? How are they to obtain the means of informing themselves on every point in which they may be interested; of satisfying themselves with respect to persons and places, questions of art and science, religion and politics, literature and philosophy, agriculture, commerce, and manufactures? How can the working-man hope to bring within his reach the whole circle of sciences, and every point of human knowledge as developed up to the present moment? We answer, by subscribing to The American Cyclopædia.
A Cyclopædia is preëminently the work for our country and generation. No one has time to grope among a hundred different works for every fact required, without the certainty of finding it at last. With a Cyclopædia, embracing every important subject, and having its topics alphabetically arranged, not a moment is lost. The matter in question is found at once, digested, condensed, stripped of all that is irrelevant and unnecessary, and verified by a comparison of the best authorities. Moreover, while only men of fortune can collect a library complete in all the departments of knowledge, a Cyclopædia, worth in itself, for purposes of reference, at least a thousand volumes, is within the reach of all—the clerk, the merchant, the professional man, the farmer, the mechanic. In a country like ours, where the humblest may be called to responsible positions requiring intelligence and general information, the value of such a work cannot be over-estimated.
Plan of the Cyclopædia.
The American Cyclopædia presents a panoramic view of all human knowledge, as it exists at the present moment. It embraces and popularizes every subject that can be thought of. In its successive volumes is contained an inexhaustible fund of accurate and practical information on Art and Science in all their branches, including Mechanics, Mathematics, Astronomy, Philosophy, Chemistry, and Physiology; on Agriculture, Commerce, and Manufactures; on Law, Medicine, and Theology; on Biography and History, Geography and Ethnology; on Political Economy, the Trades, Inventions, Politics, the Things of Common Life, and General Literature.
The Industrial Arts, and those branches of Practical Science which have a direct bearing on our every-day life, such as Domestic Economy, Ventilation, the Heating of Houses, Diet, etc., are treated with the thoroughness which their great importance demands. Technical terms are here as far as possible avoided, that all the information given may be practically understood and applied.
The department of Biography is full and complete, embracing the lives of all eminent persons, ancient and modern. In American biography, particularly, great pains have been taken to present the most comprehensive and accurate record that has yet been attempted. Special attention is called to an invaluable feature in this department: not only are the lives of the distinguished dead furnished, but also those of the living celebrities of our own and other countries, prepared by writers who, from personal acquaintance or special research, are most competent to do them unbiased justice.
In History, The American Cyclopædia gives no mere catalogue of barren dates, but a copious and spirited narrative, under their appropriate heads, of the principal events in the annals of the world. So in Geography, it not only serves as a general Gazetteer, but it gives interesting descriptions of the principal localities mentioned, derived from books of travel and other fresh and authentic sources.
As far as is consistent with thoroughness of research and exactness of statement, the popular method has been pursued. The wants of the people in a work of this kind have been carefully kept in view throughout. By condensation and brevity, the editors have been enabled to introduce a much greater variety of subjects than is usually found in similar works, and thus to enhance the value of the Cyclopædia as a manual of universal reference.
It is hardly necessary to add that, throughout the whole, perfect fairness to all sections of country, public men, political creeds, and religious denominations, has been a sacred principle and leading aim. Nothing that can be construed into an invidious or offensive allusion has been admitted. The truth, without note or comment, has been our motto.
Distinguishing Excellences.
I. In Accuracy and Freshness of Information.—The value of a work of this kind is exactly proportioned to its correctness. It must preclude the necessity of having other books. Its decision must be final. It must be an ultimatum of reference, or it is good for nothing. In this respect, the publishers invite the most searching examination of the Cyclopædia. It will be found in all its departments to embody the results of the most recent research at home and abroad. The latest authorities on every topic have been consulted, and the information is brought down to the very day of printing.
II. In Impartiality.—The Cyclopædia has undergone the examination of Argus eyes. It is pronounced, by distinguished men and leading reviews in all parts of the Union, strictly fair and national. Eschewing all expressions of opinion on controverted points of science, philosophy, religion, and politics, it aims at an accurate representation of facts and institutions, of the results of physical research, of the prominent events in the history of the world, of the most significant productions of literature and art, and of the celebrated individuals whose names have become associated with the conspicuous phenomena of their age—doing justice to all men, all creeds, all sections.
III. In American Character.—The American Cyclopædia is intended to meet the intellectual wants of the American people. It is not, therefore, modeled after European works of a similar design; but, while it embraces all their excellences, has added to them a peculiar and ​unmistakable American character. It is the production mainly of American mind. It views every subject from an American standpoint, and, in all that relates to biography, history, geography, and the institutions of our country, furnishes a fund of information which can be obtained nowhere else.
IV. In Interest of Style.—Many of the writers are men who hold the foremost rank in general literature, and their articles have been characterized by our best critics as models of elegance, force, and beauty. The Press unite in echoing the sentiment of a leading editor of New York, who says: “We have found the continuous reading of it as entertaining as if, instead of being a book of matter-of-fact, it had been a romance from the pen of a master.”
V. In Convenience of Form.—No ponderous quartos, crowded with fine type that strains the eyes and wearies the brain, are here presented. The volumes are just the right size to handle conveniently; the paper is thick and white, the type is large, the binding elegant and durable.
VI. In Cheapness.—Appletons' American Cyclopædia has been universally pronounced a miracle of cheapness. The publishers determined at the outset to enlarge its sphere of usefulness, and make it emphatically a book for the people, by putting it at the lowest possible price. A reference to the Terms will show that it is within the reach of everybody.
How to get a Library.
THE AMERICAN CYCLOPÆDIA IS IN FACT A LIBRARY IN ITSELF. It is the knowledge of the centuries boiled down; the essence of all books crystallized. It stands on the shelves ready to answer briefly every conceivable question in physics, history, politics, art, philosophy, and what not; to furnish precisely the information wanted on almost every possible subject; to turn your children's wide-eyed wondering into the best of school-masters; to make of every question sprung in the family circle an instructive lesson; to convert your guesses into positive knowledge; to give you in brief paragraphs the result of other men's years of toilsome investigation. It is everything in little, and no skill is necessary to the finding of the particular thing the owner may happen to want. It is far more truly one of the “necessaries of life” than are many of the things which we commonly mean by that phrase.
The work has been entirely rewritten by the ablest writers on every subject, printed from new type, and illustrated with several thousand engravings and colored lithographic maps. It is not obligatory to take all the volumes upon the first delivery; a volume may be delivered once a month, or once in two months, at the option of the subscriber. The question is only, How much can be spared each month? Three dollars a month, which is only ten cents a day, the price of a cigar, will pay for a complete set of the Cyclopædia by bimonthly subscription. Then there will be something substantial saved, and a storehouse of knowledge, indeed a UNIVERSAL LIBRARY in itself, secured, with but little effort or sacrifice.
Price and Style of Binding.
| In Extra Cloth, per volume | $ 5.00 |
| In Library Leather, per vol. | 6.00 |
| In Half Turkey Morocco, per vol. | 7.00 |
| In Half Russia, extra gilt, per vol. | 8.00 |
| In Full Morocco, antique, guilt edges, per vol. | 10.00 |
| In Full Russia, per vol. | 10.00 |
The publishers respectfully give notice to the public that the above-named work is not sold by them or their Agents to any one at less than the prices printed on this circular, and is sold only by subscription through their authorized Agents; nor will it be sold in the book-stores. They would advise those wishing the earliest impressions of the work, to subscribe at once.
Specimen pages will be forwarded on application to the publishers,
D. APPLETON & CO., 549 & 551 Broadway, New York.