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A Solution to the Multitude of Books: Ephraim Chambers's Cyclopaedia (1728) as "the Best Book in the Universe "

A Solution to the Multitude of Books: Ephraim Chambers's Cyclopaedia (1728) as "the Best Book in... This article considers Ephraim Chambers's Cyclopaedia (2 Vols., 1728) as a work that responded to anxieties about information overload. Chambers drew on Renaissance ideas about summarizing and organizing knowledge—in particular, the humanist practice of keeping a commonplace book. By completing an alphabetical dictionary with due deference to categories, or Heads, he not only offered a convenient summary of knowledge but retained the notion of an encyclopedic circle of arts and sciences. The article also relates this concept of authorial design to debates surrounding the 1710 copyright Statute in England. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of the History of Ideas University of Pennsylvania Press

A Solution to the Multitude of Books: Ephraim Chambers's Cyclopaedia (1728) as "the Best Book in the Universe "

Journal of the History of Ideas , Volume 64 (1) – Dec 5, 2003

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Publisher
University of Pennsylvania Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 The Journal of the History of Ideas, Inc.
ISSN
1086-3222
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This article considers Ephraim Chambers's Cyclopaedia (2 Vols., 1728) as a work that responded to anxieties about information overload. Chambers drew on Renaissance ideas about summarizing and organizing knowledge—in particular, the humanist practice of keeping a commonplace book. By completing an alphabetical dictionary with due deference to categories, or Heads, he not only offered a convenient summary of knowledge but retained the notion of an encyclopedic circle of arts and sciences. The article also relates this concept of authorial design to debates surrounding the 1710 copyright Statute in England.

Journal

Journal of the History of IdeasUniversity of Pennsylvania Press

Published: Dec 5, 2003

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