New American Cyclopaedia 1858 vol 4 title page

The ''New American Cyclopædia'' was an

encyclopedia An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article (publishing), articles or entries that are arranged Alp ...

created and published by D. Appleton & Company of New York in 16 volumes, which initially appeared between 1858 and 1863. Its primary editors were George Ripley and

Charles Anderson Dana Charles Anderson Dana (August 8, 1819 – October 17, 1897) was an American journalist, author, and senior government official. He was a top aide to Horace Greeley as the managing editor of the powerful Republican newspaper '' New-York Tribune ...

. The ''New American Cyclopædia'' was revised and republished as the ''American Cyclopædia'' in 1873. Includes photograph of title page.

Overview

The ''New American Cyclopædia'' was a general encyclopedia with a special focus on subjects related to the United States. As it was created over the years spanning the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, the focus and tone of articles could change drastically; for example,

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...

, the future president of the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United State ...

, was treated at length as a United States Army soldier and US government politician in pre-war editions. As was traditional, the entire set was re-issued with the publication in 1863 of the 16th volume. The whole ''Cyclopædia'' was again re-issued in 1864.

Contributors

A notable contributor was

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

, then a European correspondent for the ''

New York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' (from 1914: ''New York Tribune'') was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s ...

'', who, appeared as the writer, while most of those articles were written by

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. which belonged in Engels' domain in the division of labor between the two friends. Because of his deep knowledge of all things military, Engels had earned the nickname "General". Marx wrote a highly unsympathetic biographical article on Simon Bolivar. Other prominent contributors to the first edition included * Charles Allen * Samuel G. Arnold *

Alexander Dallas Bache Alexander Dallas Bache (July 19, 1806 – February 17, 1867) was an American physicist, scientist, and surveyor who erected coastal fortifications and conducted a detailed survey to map the mideastern United States coastline. Originally an army ...

* William Bross *

George Bancroft George Bancroft (October 3, 1800 – January 17, 1891) was an American historian, statesman and Democratic Party (United States), Democratic politician who was prominent in promoting secondary education both in his home state of Massachusetts ...

* Benjamin Fordyce Barker * John R. Bartlett * Gunning S. Bedford * Jeremiah S. Black * George S. Blake * Lorin Blodget * Edmund Blunt *

Dion Boucicault Dionysius Lardner "Dion" Boucicault (né Boursiquot; 26 December 1820 – 18 September 1890) was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the ...

* Orestes Brownson * B. Gratz Brown *Rev. George Bush * Charles P. Daly *

* James D. Dana *

Richard Henry Dana Jr. Richard Henry Dana Jr. (August 1, 1815 – January 6, 1882) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts, a descendant of a colonial family, who gained renown as the author of the classic American memoir ''Two Years Before the Mast'' a ...

* Charles H. Davis * Adolph Douai *

John William Draper John William Draper (May 5, 1811 – January 4, 1882) was an English polymath: a scientist, philosopher, physician, chemist, historian and photographer. He is credited with pioneering portrait photography (1839–40) and producing the first deta ...

* Lyman C. Draper *

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...

Edward Everett Edward Everett (April 11, 1794 – January 15, 1865) was an American politician, Unitarian pastor, educator, diplomat, and orator from Massachusetts. Everett, as a Whig, served as U.S. representative, U.S. senator, the 15th governor of Mas ...

Horace Greeley Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 – November 29, 1872) was an American newspaper editor and publisher who was the founder and newspaper editor, editor of the ''New-York Tribune''. Long active in politics, he served briefly as a congres ...

* George Washington Greene *

Joseph Henry Joseph Henry (December 17, 1797– May 13, 1878) was an American physicist and inventor who served as the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He was the secretary for the National Institute for the Promotion of Science, a precursor ...

* Henry W. Herbert *Rev. Thomas Hill * Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. *

James Russell Lowell James Russell Lowell (; February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the fireside poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets to r ...

Charles Nordhoff Charles Bernard Nordhoff (February 1, 1887 – April 10, 1947) was an American novelist and traveler, born in England. Nordhoff is perhaps best known for '' The Bounty Trilogy'', three historical novels he wrote with James Norman Hall: '' Mutin ...

* Henry Steel Olcott *

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822 – August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, Social criticism, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the U ...

* Theophilus Parsons * Rafael Pombo * Hermann Raster * William H. Seward * Charles Sprague * Henry B. Stanton *Miss Rose Terry *Rev. Thomas Thayer * Alexander Thayer * William Sydney Thayer * John Reuben Thompson * Richard Grant White *

Sidney Willard Sidney Willard (September 19, 1780 – December 6, 1856) was an American academic and politician who served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, on the Massachusetts Governor's Council and as the second Mayor of Cambridge, Massachuset ...

* E. L. Youmans

Annual yearbook

An associated yearbook, '' Appletons' Annual cyclopaedia and register of important events of the year'', was published from 1861 to 1875 and on to 1902.

Publication history

The cyclopaedia was revived under the title ''American Cyclopædia'' in 1873–6. A final edition was issued in 1883–4, which added supplements to each volume of the 1873 edition. Two analytical indexes were published separately in 1878 and 1884.Walsh, S. Padraig, 1922- ''Anglo-American general encyclopedias: a historical bibliography, 1703-1967'' New York : Bowker, pp.2-3, 110

References

External links

*Links t
digitized volumes
of the ''American Cyclopædia'' American cyclopaedia frontispiece

* {{Authority control English-language encyclopedias American encyclopedias D. Appleton & Company books 19th-century encyclopedias 1857 books