New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-04-01
THE NEW BRITANNICA
How a Great Work Of Reference
Is Made.

tho eleventh. may represent only the
forty thousand articles II contains spread
over about thirty thousand pages o'l
which arc printed so many millions VI
words To one given to looking peio"
the mere physical surface OF things now
over is revealed the working or an III
tricato though exceedingly smooth run
ming piece Of editorial machinery WIN
It's fifteen hundred component parts tiid'
Fcauses one to pause and admire AZ l.
difficult TO grasp in one concrete iue'
what has been accomplished by the
builders OF this monumental storehouse
of knowledge. The scientific accuracy
Of investigation and mathematical pre-
c;sion of statement, Of the best equipped
brains of SO many specialists on all SUD-
iects and of nearly every country oi
the wide world. are here made accessible
in twenty mine volumes that can De
stored in as many inches OF booksheh
space.
In a project Of this magnitude the hu-
man interest that so often escapes us
lies in the interval between the formula
tion Of the scheme and organized plan
If the work and the finished result. by
what process did the rough sketch gro"
into the finished masterpiece? How were
the plans. carefully plotted out on paper
iovocutodq Some "reminiscences OF the
daily life of those who were engaged IN
The work of making the "Encyciopfedia
britannica" are gathered here in an
ATTEMPT to convey an IDEA Of its birth'
tic Growth and its coming to full ma
turty.
The first edition Of the "Encyclop@dia
britannica" in three volumes, published
from 17GS to 1111. we are told was
MANNED by a society Of gentlemen
and edited by one William Smellie. who
was maid 200 for the book of which ne
wrote nearly all the principal articies'
The second edition, in ten volumes, came
ont in parts from III to 1IS4 and was
in mart written by an even humber per-
son one James Tyler who, so the story
COOS wrote his articles in poor lodging,
and sent them as they were completed
TO the publishers by one of his children
whose return with the money was
awaited TO enable the next meal for the
family to be bought.
Five subsequent editions appeared al
intervals of five to siXjyears, the seventh
being completed In 1912. To the sixth edl-
tion. 10o3-'oi. Sir Walter Scott contrib
uted. LAYING aside "Waverley" to write
the article on Chivalry. The eighth
edition. in twenty-five volumes, TO "hlch
Lord Macaulay was a contributor was
begun in 1853 and finished in lSGo The
ninth edition was to take much longer
TO make. The first volume was published
in 1919. and the last, the twenty-hlth,
did not appear until 1889. Recognized
throughout the world as the standard
work of reference in the English Ian
guaee. il was felt that supplementary
volumes were urgently needed to bring
it I'D to date. Such supplements had
been a feature Of the early editions, such
as the third, fourth and fifth. The nine
volumes of the supplementary, tenth
edition were produced in 1892 and 1913;
the twcntv-four volumes of the ninth
and the nine volumes Of the tenth. to-
gether with q comprehensive index TO
the whole thirty-three volumes and an
additional map volume thus formed IN
an edition of thirty-flve volumes an
extraordinarily volumnous work Of ref
crence. This brings us 10 the time when
/ Of
this work was being felt and expressed
throughout the English speaking world
Supplements are Of course valuable In
bringing q work Of this character up to
date. but they are never entirely salts
factory at best; for instance, the mere
rhvsical inconvenience Of having to turn
from volume twenty, which appeared in
1886. to volume thirty. Of 1902, to gather
q complete survey Of the history OF
railways. was arduous; and to correct in
detail statements in the earlier volume
in the light of recent knowledge provided
in The later. was a task which might
easily daunt the most interchangeable seek
or for information. a fresh start had
/
lions Of the great edifice. based on mod
ern methods and requirements and tho
latest Improvements in book making, haC
% be truly laid-for the new edition was
TO be a new and complete work from
cover 10 cover.
The original staff was small and select
consisting Of an editor in chief. an as
sistant editor and less than a dozen Of
editorial assistants. An editorial staff
to deal with American subjects was Gre
atcd I'm New York City at an early stage
Of the undertaking. Under competent
direction this supplementary staff
worked co-ordinately with the headquar-
tiers force in England. The first task was
to lay out the ground plan Of the new
edition. to decide what were To be III,
article headings For this purpose Their,
were the titles of the articles I'm the ninth
edition and It's supplementary volumes
containing eighteen thousand headings
of various lengths, from treatises cX-
tending over hundred pages or more
down To bare titles or headings with q
cross reference 10 tHc aIilcic III Nniti u
the subject was treated. The first step
was TO take two complete sets Of the
thirty-three volumes OF the ninth and
tenth editions and have each separate
article or article-heading cut out and
TASTED up on broad, stout sheets OF
paper. allowing an ample margin on
which to write notes, oinments, instruc-
tons and the like. The editorial staff,