Encyclopaedia Metropolitana
Encyclopedia
The Encyclopædia Metropolitana was an encyclopedic work published in London, from 1817 to 1845, by part publication. In all it came to quarto
, 30 vols., having been issued in 59 parts (22,426 pages, 565 plates).
moved publisher, from John Mathew Gutch
to Rest Fenner, working with the Rev. Thomas Curtis. Coleridge was offered the role of editor; he wrote the Introduction, which appeared in January 1818, brought out to compete with the fifth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica which had appeared in 1817 in 20 volumes. Fenner, however, dropped the publication after five part-volumes.
The Encyclopædia Metropolitana was revived in 1820 by the intervention of Bishop William Howley
, concerned also to compete with the Britannica, in this case to counter its secular tendency. Howley brought in William Rowe Lyall
to take charge. Lyall in turn appointed Edward Smedley
as editor. Smedley was succeeded in 1836 by Hugh James Rose
.
A rival production was the London Encyclopædia (22 volumes beginning in 1825 and completed within a few years) of the publisher Thomas Tegg
. Tegg used Thomas Curtis from the original Coleridge project as editor, and proclaimed the fact on the title page. As he explained in the 1829 preface to his work, Tegg had been obstructed by legal moves from the side of the Metropolitana, but went ahead anyway, pleading that compilations such as encyclopedias needed different rules of copyright.
Later critics said of the actual plan that, being the proposal of Coleridge, it had at least enough of a poetical character to be eminently unpractical (Quarterly Review
, cxiii, 379); but the treatises by Archbishop Richard Whately
, Sir John Herschel
, Professors Peter Barlow, George Peacock
, Augustus de Morgan
, and others, were considered excellent.
The plates were issued in three volumes. An index volume, 364 pages, contained about 9,000 articles.
A re-issue in 38 vols. quarto, was announced in 1849. Of a second edition 42 vols. 8vo, 14,744 pages, belonging to divisions i. to iii., were published in 1849-1858.
Quarto
Quarto could refer to:* Quarto, a size or format of a book in which four leaves of a book are created from a standard size sheet of paper* For specific information about quarto texts of William Shakespeare's works, see:...
, 30 vols., having been issued in 59 parts (22,426 pages, 565 plates).
Origins
Initially the project was part of transitional arrangements in 1817 under which Samuel Taylor ColeridgeSamuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
moved publisher, from John Mathew Gutch
John Mathew Gutch
-Life:John Mathew, eldest son of John Gutch, was born in 1776, probably at Oxford, and was educated at Christ's Hospital, where he was the schoolfellow of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Charles Lamb. He first entered business as a law stationer in Southampton Buildings, where Lamb for a time lodged...
to Rest Fenner, working with the Rev. Thomas Curtis. Coleridge was offered the role of editor; he wrote the Introduction, which appeared in January 1818, brought out to compete with the fifth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica which had appeared in 1817 in 20 volumes. Fenner, however, dropped the publication after five part-volumes.
The Encyclopædia Metropolitana was revived in 1820 by the intervention of Bishop William Howley
William Howley
William Howley was a clergyman in the Church of England. He served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1828 to 1848.-Early Life, education, and interests:...
, concerned also to compete with the Britannica, in this case to counter its secular tendency. Howley brought in William Rowe Lyall
William Rowe Lyall
William Rowe Lyall was an English churchman, Dean of Canterbury from 1845 to 1857.-Life:He was born in Stepney, Middlesex, the fifth son of John Lyall and Jane Comyns. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge . In 1817 he married Catherine Brandreth , daughter of Dr. Brandreth of Liverpool...
to take charge. Lyall in turn appointed Edward Smedley
Edward Smedley
-Life:The second son of the Rev. Edward Smedley by his wife Hannah, fourth daughter of George Bellas of Willey, Surrey, was born in the Sanctuary, Westminster, on 12 September 1788. His father held the post of usher of Westminster School from 1774 to 1820, and was a reader of the Rolls Chapel. In...
as editor. Smedley was succeeded in 1836 by Hugh James Rose
Hugh James Rose
Hugh James Rose was an English churchman and theologian who served as the second Principal of King's College London....
.
A rival production was the London Encyclopædia (22 volumes beginning in 1825 and completed within a few years) of the publisher Thomas Tegg
Thomas Tegg
-Early life:He was the son of a grocer, born at Wimbledon, Surrey, on 4 March 1776, and was left an orphan at the age of five. He was sent to a boarding school at Galashiels in Selkirkshire. In 1785 he was bound apprentice to Alexander Meggett, a book-seller at Dalkeith. He ran away, sold chapbook...
. Tegg used Thomas Curtis from the original Coleridge project as editor, and proclaimed the fact on the title page. As he explained in the 1829 preface to his work, Tegg had been obstructed by legal moves from the side of the Metropolitana, but went ahead anyway, pleading that compilations such as encyclopedias needed different rules of copyright.
Plan of the work
It professed to give sciences and systematic arts entire and in their natural sequence. Coleridge's Introduction was a treatise on method, with fundamental approach to emphasize the relations of ideas:Method, therefore, becomes natural to the mind which has been accustomed to contemplate not things only, or for their own sake alone, but likewise and chiefly the relations of things, either their relations to each other, or to the observer, or to the state and apprehension of the hearers. To enumerate and analyze these relations, with the conditions under which alone they are discoverable, is to teach the science of method.
Later critics said of the actual plan that, being the proposal of Coleridge, it had at least enough of a poetical character to be eminently unpractical (Quarterly Review
Quarterly Review
The Quarterly Review was a literary and political periodical founded in March 1809 by the well known London publishing house John Murray. It ceased publication in 1967.-Early years:...
, cxiii, 379); but the treatises by Archbishop Richard Whately
Richard Whately
Richard Whately was an English rhetorician, logician, economist, and theologian who also served as the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin.-Life and times:...
, Sir John Herschel
John Herschel
Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet KH, FRS ,was an English mathematician, astronomer, chemist, and experimental photographer/inventor, who in some years also did valuable botanical work...
, Professors Peter Barlow, George Peacock
George Peacock
George Peacock was an English mathematician.-Life:Peacock was born on 9 April 1791 at Thornton Hall, Denton, near Darlington, County Durham. His father, the Rev. Thomas Peacock, was a clergyman of the Church of England, incumbent and for 50 years curate of the parish of Denton, where he also kept...
, Augustus de Morgan
Augustus De Morgan
Augustus De Morgan was a British mathematician and logician. He formulated De Morgan's laws and introduced the term mathematical induction, making its idea rigorous. The crater De Morgan on the Moon is named after him....
, and others, were considered excellent.
Divisions
It is in four divisions, the last only being alphabetical:- I. Pure Sciences, 2 vols., 1,813 pages, 16 plates, 28 treatises, includes grammar, law and theology;
- II. Mixed and Applied Sciences, 6 vols., 5,391 pages, 437 plates, 42 treatises, including fine arts, useful arts, natural history and its application, the medical sciences;
- III. History and Biography, 5 vols., 4,458 pages, 7 maps, containing biography (135 essays) chronologically arranged (to Thomas Aquinas in vol. 3), and interspersed with (210) chapters on history (to 1815), as the most philosophical, interesting and natural form (but modern lives were so many that the plan broke down, and a division of biography, to be in 2 vols., was announced but not published);
- IV. Miscellaneous and lexicographical, 13 vols., 10,338 pages, 105 plates, including geography, a dictionary of English and descriptive natural history. An English lexicon, in parts, was supplied by Charles RichardsonCharles Richardson (lexicographer)-Life:He was born at Tulse Hill in July 1775 and started a legal career, but left it early for scholarly and literary pursuits. He kept a school on Clapham Common, and among his pupils there were Charles James Mathews, who assisted Richardson as a copyist, John Mitchell Kemble, and John Maddison...
, from 1818.
The plates were issued in three volumes. An index volume, 364 pages, contained about 9,000 articles.
A re-issue in 38 vols. quarto, was announced in 1849. Of a second edition 42 vols. 8vo, 14,744 pages, belonging to divisions i. to iii., were published in 1849-1858.