THE " ENCYCLOP2EDIA BRITANN1CA. " [To THE EtIrroa OF THE " SPECTATOR:]
Sin,—If the new "Encycloptedia Britannica„" which I have not seen, has been " got-up " as to type, paper, and above all binding, as well as the old one, its "ponderous tomes" need not "frighten" your readers or yourself. The 1815 edition, in twenty volumes, is within reach of my hand as I write ; the copy has been in constant use, for reference, during seventy years. I first remember it in a back-parlour of Church Row, Hampstead ; and it never knew the "houses of rich men who have special rooms." Another copy of the same date is known to me, with a like history.
I think that the proposal for an edition in a more portable form overlooks the plates, which are quarto. But "a hundred volumes" does "frighten" me. I never knew the volume- numbers of my twenty, but I can say the " lettering " as fast as I can say the alphabet, and I do not recollect the time when [It is the weight of the volumes, not their durability, of which we complain.—En. Spectator.]
Previous page
