page_title: Low's Encyclopaedia
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Low's Encyclopaedia / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Low's Encyclopedia first edition 1805-1811
context_page_description: Low's Encyclopædia is an early American encyclopedia, titled The New and Complete American Encyclopædia or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. It was published in New York City, from 1805 to 1811. Consisting of seven volumes quarto, it is noteworthy among America's earliest encyclopedias for having been written in the United States, as opposed to being an American reprint of a British work, as were, for examples, Dobson's Encyclopedia, the Bradford printing of Rees's Cyclopædia, Samuel A. Mitchell's American printing of the British Encyclopedia, or Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, or the Birch and Small printing of the Domestic Encyclopedia.
context_section_description: The first five volumes of the encyclopedia were published by John Low (1763-1809), and the final two by his widow and successor, Esther Prentiss Low (1762-1816). John Low was born in London and immigrated to America with Esther shortly after the birth of their son John (ca. 1790–1829). By 1795, John Low had established himself as a printer and bookseller in New York City. Upon his death, Esther ran their printing establishment, and the younger John Low carried on in the printing business. She continued issuing the encyclopedia and printing maps posthumously until at least 1831.
  Vol. 1 – A (1805)
  Vol. 2 – B-C (1806)
  Vol. 3 – C-G (1807)
  Vol. 4 – G-J (1808)
  Vol. 5 – K-M (1808)
  Vol. 6 – M-P (1810)
  Vol. 7 – P-Z (1811)
caption: Low's Encyclopædia, 1805-1811
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