Knowledge for All
Chambers's Encyclopaedia. New Edition. 15 vols., (Newnes. los.)
AN encyclopaedia is one of the pleasantest works to fall (meta- phorically speaking, of course) into the lap of a reviewer. Con- fronted with fifteen volumes running into fifteen million words, he is free of the nagging conscience which usually tells" him that he ought to read the whole thing carefully from cover to cover before putting pen to paper. His job, on this occasion, is more or less that of a wine-taster—to take samples from the various barrels and pronounce judgement. He can do this sample-tasting in a- number of ways, either looking up the subjects on which he fancies
himself to be well-informed and combing them for mistakes,. -or looking up subjects about which he knows nothing and seeing whether the scope of his knowledge is easily enlarged, or simply by opening a volume at random and reading a succession of entries.
Herewith a specimen of the type three sampling. Volume XII, ROSKILDE-SPAHI (Rotkilde being, so it seems, a town in Denmark), page 54: RUMANIAN LITERATURE (two columns) ; RUMELIA (one inch) ; RUMELIHISARI (" a straggling picturesque Turkish village," 4wo inches) ; RUMFORD, BENJAMIN THOMAS (scientist, seven inches) ; RUMINATION (over a column, with a line drawing of a ruminant's stomach) ; RUMMY (including a mention of the ginny variety, 31 inches) ; RUNCIMAN (Alexander, the eighteenth-century Scottish painter ; rather oddly, neither the Cabinet Minister nor his father find a place, though the former was included in the fourteenth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica); RUNCORN (the Cheshire town, two inches) ; RuNDsrEDT (the German general, two-thirds of a column). This last entry suggests a diversion into the relative assessment of generals. Montgomery gets a column, Haig rather more, and, going back a century, Sir John Moore also gets a column and Sherman the best.part of two columns. It is when we penetrate into remoter history that generalship seems to grow of less account. Here is Marius with seven inches, Simon de Montfort with four and Sennacherib with three.
Assessing the merits of an encyclopaedia with only a ruler as guide is no doubt unfair, but it may give certain indications of the principles on which the compilers have acted. It is, for example, clear that great efforts have been made to produce a new Chambers' which is up to the minute with its information, even if this means a certain foreshortening of the past. Only topicality could explain the fact that, to take another ruler-judgement at random, Andre Gide is considered worthy of more space than George I and George II together._ It is arguable that in a few years' time this topicality may prove to be a handicap ; nothing is so out-of-date as yesterday's news values.
Discarding the ruler, the impression left by this encyclopaedia is imposing and encouraging. An enormous amount of planning must have gone into its preparation, and great praise is due to those responsible for its conception and accomplishment in the exception- ally difficult conditions of post-war publishing. The length and eminence of the contributors' names show that a search has been made not simply for scholars, but for scholars who have an estab- lished reputation for the graceful and lucid presentation of their knowledge. It would clearly be difficult (particularly for a non- scientist) to single out individual articles for praise, but some of the biographical sketches by Mr. G. M. Young and Mr. John Hay- ward are models of their kind. The fact that almost all the contri- butors are British should be regarded as more than an administrative convenience or a patriotic gesture ; it gives the work a unity of outlook which more internationally minded compilations usually lack.
Apart from the matter of the encyclopaedia, there are two aspects
of its manner which are particularly meritorious. The first is the arrangement of the subjects, which is as., straightforward as is possible, consistent with alphabetical presentation—there is not the multiplicity of sub-headings and cross-references which can be so irritating. The second is an excellent comprehensive index. From the reference point of view this work seems more or less foolproof. In addition, the size and make-up of the volumes are convenient, the typography and lay-out admirable: it is a pity that the binding is tasteless. Altogether a remarkable achievement ; we may quite soon be wondering how we managed to get along without it.
EDWARD HODGKIN.
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