The ''Popular Encyclopedia or Conversations Lexicon'' was a British encyclopedia that was published from 1837 to 1893 by

Blackie and Son Blackie & Son was a publishing house in Glasgow, Scotland, and London, England, from 1809 to 1991. History The firm was founded as a bookseller in 1809 by John Blackie (1782–1874) as a partnership with two others and was known as 'Black ...

, of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. It was originally a reprint of

Francis Lieber Francis Lieber (March 18, 1798 or 1800 – October 2, 1872), known as Franz Lieber in Germany, was a German-American jurist, gymnast and political philosopher. He edited an ''Encyclopaedia Americana''. He was the author of the Lieber Code during ...

's ''

Encyclopedia Americana ''Encyclopedia Americana'' is a general encyclopedia written in American English. It was the first major multivolume encyclopedia that was published in the United States. With ''Collier's Encyclopedia'' and ''Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclo ...

'', itself based on the

Brockhaus Enzyklopädie The ''Brockhaus Enzyklopädie'' (German for ''Brockhaus Encyclopedia'') is a German-language encyclopedia which until 2009 was published by the F. A. Brockhaus printing house. The first edition originated in the '' Conversations-Lexikon'' p ...

. A new edition was published in 1841, this time omitting the reference to the ''Americana'' in the subtitle. Further seven volume editions were published in 1862 and 1877 under the editorship of

Alexander Whitelaw Alexander Whitelaw (1823–1879) was a Scottish ironmaster, philanthropist and Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow from 1874 until his death. Life Whitelaw was born in 1823 in Drumpark in Monklands and was educated at Grange ...

. In 1882 the set was taken over by

Charles Annandale Charles Annandale (1843–1915) was a Scottish editor, primarily of reference books. Life He was born at Fordoun on 26 August 1843, the son of James Annandale. He graduated M.A. from the University of Aberdeen in 1867, and later received an honor ...

whose edition of 1890-93 was expanded to 14 volumes. Blackie and Son was bought out by

Gresham Publishing Company Gresham may refer to: Places Australia *Gresham County, New South Wales United Kingdom *Gresham, Norfolk United States *Gresham, Chicago, Illinois *Gresham, Missouri *Gresham, Nebraska *Gresham, Oregon *Gresham, Texas *Gresham, Wisconsin Bui ...

in 1901 and republished as the ''New Popular Encyclopedia'', and in 1906 as the ''Modern Encyclopedia of Universal Knowledge''. In 1889-1890 Blackie and Son also published ''Blackies Modern Cyclopaedia of Universal Information'', also edited by Annandale. The relationship between this work and the above encyclopedias is unclear, but it though that they are closely related.

American editions

Meanwhile, in the United States,

Gebbie and Company Gebbie is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bert Gebbie (born 1934), Scottish former professional footballer *Edene Gebbie (born 1995), Papua New Guinean rugby league footballer *Frederick Gebbie (1871–1939), British civil eng ...

published a version of Blackies with the title ''New Cabinet Encyclopedia and Treasury of Knowledge'' with the American-related articles revised and edited by

Ainsworth Rand Spofford Ainsworth Rand Spofford (September 12, 1825 – August 11, 1908) was an American journalist, prolific writer and the sixth Librarian of Congress. He served as librarian from 1864 to 1897 under the administration of ten presidents. A great admir ...

. It then was republished under different titles and various imprints as the ''New National Encyclopedia and Treasury'' ( Brown, Edgar and Hull, 1899), ''XX Century Cyclopedia'' (Gebbie 1901), ''New Twentieth Century Encyclopedia and Dictionary'' ( E. R. Dumont 1903) which included two volumes of a biographical dictionary "living Americans" and two volumes of an English dictionary, bringing the total number of volumes to 12, ''New and Complete Universal Self Pronouncing Encyclopedia'', in the original 8 volume format, (

International Press International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

, 1905), ''New Cosmopolitan Encyclopedia'' (Thompson, 1906) and ''New Encyclopedia of Reference'' (

Standard Bookbinnding Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

1912) Walsh p.12, 112

American editions

References

External links