The ''Encyclopædia Perthensis'' was a publishing project around the Morison Press in

Perth, Scotland Perth (Scottish English, locally: ; gd, Peairt ) is a city in central Scotland, on the banks of the River Tay. It is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire. It had a population o ...

undertaken in the 1790s, with the involvement of James Morison. Morison went into partnership with Colin Mitchel and Co.

Editions

The ''Encyclopædia'' was issued in weekly instalments from 1796 to 1806, then republished in a 23 volume set in 1806. The first edition had the subtitle "Universal dictionary of knowledge, collected from every source and intended to supersede the use of all other English books of reference." Like the first edition, the second was originally issued in weekly instalments. These were issued from 1807 to 1816. In the last year the encyclopedia was issued as a 24 volume set, with the last volume being a supplement to the original text. The subtitle was changed to "Universal dictionary of the arts, sciences, literature, &c. intended to supersede the use of other books of reference."

Content

Most of the text was taken verbatim from the third edition of ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. The first edition includes a rare early plan of

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

It had twenty-three

8vo Octavo, a Latin word meaning "in eighth" or "for the eighth time", (abbreviated 8vo, 8º, or In-8) is a technical term describing the format of a book, which refers to the size of leaves produced from folding a full sheet of paper on which multip ...

volumes with plates and maps. The main contributor and editor was Alexander Aitchison, member of the

Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh The Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh was a learned society based in Edinburgh, Scotland "for the cultivation of the physical sciences". The society was founded in 1771 as the Physico-Chirurgical Society but soon after changed its name to the ...

. The majority of the 370 plates and maps claimed by the second edition, where credited, are signed T Clerk Sculpt. Edinr. Two other artists, J Stewart and J Frasier, have signed plates. Though 370 plates and maps are claimed on the title pages, there are only directions for the placement of 348 plates, of which only one could be described as a map, a plan of Washington, D.C., in 1800 by Andrew Ellicott.

Notes

External links

*
Encyclopaedia Perthensis; or Universal dictionary of the arts, sciences, literature, &c. intended to supersede the use of other books of reference.
' second edition, 23 volumes; Edinburgh: Printed by J. Brown, 1816 {{DEFAULTSORT:Encyclopaedia Perthensis English-language encyclopedias Scottish encyclopedias Reference works in the public domain History of Perth, Scotland 1790s books 1790s establishments in Scotland 18th-century encyclopedias 19th-century encyclopedias