The English seem to have employed themselves entirely in inventing and to have disdained the more inglorious but not less useful labour of arranging and methodizing their discoveries, and of expressing them in the most simple and natural manner. Smith praises the detail and fullness of the articles in the Encyclop die, the renown of the contributors, the methodology of the editors - the integration not only of the sciences, but of these with the arts. One of his few criticisms is of the inclusion of articles which he believes to be superfluous - 'The article of Amour, for example, will tend little to the edification either of the learned or unlearned reader, and might one should think, have been omitted even in an Encyclopaedia of all arts, sciences and trades.' 15. The most famous of all encyclopaedias in the English language was sponsored by 'a Society of Gentlemen in Scotland'. The Encyclopaedia Britannica appeared first in numbers, each priced 6d., or 8d.
Utility ought to be the principal intention of every publication'.