''Tomlinson's Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts'' is a multi-volume encyclopedia focusing on

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

, and

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

. It was edited by Charles Tomlinson, a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

, and a lecturer at

King's College School King's College School, also known as Wimbledon, KCS, King's and KCS Wimbledon, is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, southwest London, England. The s ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The original was published between 1852 and 1854 in two volumes (Vol. 1, 832 pages; Vol. 2, 1,052 pages) with 40 steel engravings and 2,477 woodcuts. A supplement was published in 1862 by James S. Virtue, London and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. A new edition was published no earlier than 1866 with the intent of "keeping pace with the varied subjects of the Useful Arts and Manufactures, which are always enlarging their boundaries." Internally the new edition is organized into three volumes of 935, 956, and 740 pages (making it 38% larger than the original edition), but it was sold in various formats, including an eight-volume set. It has 63 full-page steel engravings and 3063 wood engravings (a few of which are a half page), for which the publishing companies of James Sprent Virtue were noted. It was printed by Virtue & Company, of London, and then also of New York. Authors and illustrators are not credited, but Tomlinson appears to have been strongly involved in writing and editing, stating in the introduction that he "did not attempt to make his descriptions appear easy" and that "most of the processes described in the work the Editor himself witnessed." ''Tomlinson’s'' has no articles specifically on people, places, or historical events. Its emphasis can be gauged by comparing articles on "

Anemometer In meteorology, an anemometer () is a device that measures wind speed and direction. It is a common instrument used in weather stations. The earliest known description of an anemometer was by Italian architect and author Leon Battista Alberti ...

." * ''Tomlinson’s New Cyclopaedia'' (1866): About 4,300 words, six figures * ''Encyclopædia Britannica,'' 11th Edition (1911): About 1,800 words, two figure

* ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' 15th Edition (1986): About 500 words, one figure The work is a valuable source of information about the 'how', of handicraft, industry and manufacturing, since it contains numerous illustrated articles describing the techniques. It was devised to celebrate the

Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition that took ...

, and the monograph-length introduction (160 pp) is a valuable illustrated account of the antecedents of the Exhibition with material on earlier ones, on the construction of the building, the arrangement of the displays and accounts of the highlights of the exhibits. The articles in ''Tomlinson'' cover a range of topics from a British perspective, and the woodcuts portray people in a workshop context. As this was published before the days of photography, this is a useful source for images not otherwise available. Neither the original or the newer edition of ''Tomlinson’s'' is restricted by copyright.

References

Tomlinson, Charles, ed., ''A New Edition of Tomlinson’s Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts,'' (London & New York: circa 1866).

External links

''Tomlinson’s Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts'' (Vol. I)
at the Internet Archive
''Tomlinson’s Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts'' (Vol. II)
at the Internet Archive. Accessed December 2011
mirror
{{Authority control British encyclopedias English-language encyclopedias 1852 non-fiction books 1866 non-fiction books 19th-century encyclopedias