An exceptional and increasingly scarce complete three-volume folio edition of George Selby Howard's New Royal Cyclopaedia, one of the great encyclopaedic works produced during Britain's Age of Enlightenment.
Published by the renowned London bookseller Alex Hogg at No. 16 Paternoster Row, this monumental work sought to gather the entirety of contemporary human knowledge into one comprehensive reference. More than simply a dictionary, it represents one of the most ambitious educational projects of eighteenth-century England.
The encyclopaedia encompasses virtually every known discipline of its day, including:
- Astronomy
- Mathematics
- Natural Philosophy
- Medicine
- Chemistry
- Engineering
- Navigation
- Military Science
- Geography
- Architecture
- Agriculture
- Fine Arts
- Theology
- History
- Botany
- Zoology
- Classical Literature
Issued originally in weekly numbers before being bound into three substantial folio volumes, complete surviving sets are becoming increasingly difficult to locate.
Highlights
- Complete three-volume set
- Published in London by Alex Hogg
- Circa 1788–1796
- Massive folio format
- Original engraved title pages
- Beautiful engraved frontispieces
- Numerous original copperplate engraved illustrations
- Folding scientific and mathematical plates
- Decorative full calf leather bindings with raised bands
- Original gilt spine labels
Historical Background
These volumes were printed during one of history's most extraordinary periods of intellectual discovery.
The late eighteenth century was the height of the Age of Enlightenment, an era when scholars believed that reason, observation, and scientific inquiry could improve society. Rather than relying solely on tradition, philosophers, scientists, and inventors sought to catalogue and explain the natural world through careful study and experimentation.
When this encyclopaedia was first issued:
- The United States Constitution had only recently been ratified.
- The French Revolution was on the horizon.
- James Watt's improvements to the steam engine were accelerating the Industrial Revolution.
- Captain James Cook's voyages had dramatically expanded European knowledge of the Pacific.
- Benjamin Franklin's discoveries in electricity were transforming science.
- Advances in chemistry by Antoine Lavoisier were laying the foundations of modern chemistry.
Reference works such as Howard's New Royal Cyclopaedia were intended to preserve and distribute this expanding body of knowledge. They became indispensable resources for universities, physicians, engineers, architects, merchants, clergymen, and educated households throughout Britain.
Long before the internet, or even electricity, works like this represented humanity's attempt to gather all known knowledge into one place.
Condition
Bindings
- Full calf leather
- Raised spine bands
- Original gilt leather spine labels
- Decorative blind tooling
- Honest age-related wear
- Leather loss at head caps and corners
- Scattered rubbing and scuffing
- Structurally sound
Interior
- Pages remain remarkably bright
- Strong, dark printing throughout
- Beautiful engraved title pages
- Folding engraved plates present
- Light expected foxing and age toning
- Wide untrimmed margins
Please review all photographs carefully, as they form an important part of the description.
Dimensions (Of all 3 volumes together):
- Weight - 12.57KG
- Height - 44cm
- Width - 28cm
- Thickness - 19cm
