The Open University
Yorkshire Region

Cultural Studies Research Forum
Reports and Abstracts 1995 -2000

introduction | contents

A tale of two encyclopaedias: transitions in the presentation of scientific knowledge

John Issitt

The first decades of the nineteenth century witnessed a boom in the production of encyclopaedic dictionaries. Two examples of this are the Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1807) ascribed to George Gregory DD, and The British Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1809) ascribed to William Nicholson and published by a huge conger whose principle organisers were Longmans. The circumstances of production of these two works are intriguing as whilst sources reveal that the texts were 'bitter rivals' and 'framed in opposition' to one another, they also reveal that neither Gregory nor Nicholson were the real editors. In fact both works were compiled, edited and significantly written over the amazingly short period of 30 months by the same man - the dissenting scholar and political radical Jeremiah Joyce (1763 -1816). As the works were publishing speculations produced in consecutive years by the same editor, and as they belong to the same genre of reference books, yet had a mutually adversarial marketing strategy, their points of contrast reflect changes in the processes of book production and reveal transitions in the presentation of scientific knowledge.

Comparison of the two texts shows that approximately fifty percent of the text is exactly the same in both works and that Joyce formulated one, Nicholson's Encyclopedia, from the manuscript of the other, Gregory's Dictionary. For the major sponsors of the Nicholson project Longmans - Joyce would have been a very attractive option. Not only did he have considerable editorial experience and a substantial network of contributory authors, but most importantly he came armed with a lot of readily available text. The project could therefore be sold to the large conger investing in the work, with a large amount of the text already complete and promising a speedy return on investment.