Volume 1

Universal pronouncing dictionary of biography and mythology / by Joseph Thomas.

  • Joseph Thomas
Date:
1911,
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Universal pronouncing dictionary of biography and mythology / by Joseph Thomas. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    critics will admit that on the whole the space allotted to each notice has been apportioned with a fair measure of justice and impartiality. Those who are familiar with works of this kind cannot fail to have remarked that certain principles of perspective, so to speak, prevail in history and biography as well as in the arts of design. No French historian or biographer would treat the events or the actors of English history w ith the same fulness or minuteness that an English writer would naturally employ in describing the same occurrences or per¬ sons. The same general remark, mutatis mutandis, will apply with equal truth to English, German, or Italian writers of history and biography. As events are magnified in importance by nearness of place, they are in like manner modified by nearness of time. Although the author of the present work has felt himself justified in following principles so universally Tecognized, and has accordingly given a greater prominence to the distinguished men of his own country, and to those of recent times, than to individuals equally eminent among other nations or living in a remote age, it has been his earnest aim not to allow this liberty degenerate into license. In regard to this and all similar questions respecting which ther# are no clearly defined rules or authoritative precedents by which his course could be surely guided, he feels that he may safely rely on the candour and intelligence of his critics, since those whose opinion is most to be valued or feared will be most capable of appreciating the inherent difficulties as well as the extraordinary labour involved in the preparation of such a work. i To the following works on general biography we have been under especial obligations in the preparation of this Dictionary : 1. Michaud’s “Biographie Universelle,” of which the first edition, (the publication of which was begun in Paris in 1S10,) with the supplement, has extended to nearly ninety vol¬ umes 8vo, and has included among its contributors many of the most distinguished names in French literature and science; e.g., those of Biot, Cuvier, De Sacy, Guizot, Sismondi, Madame de Stael, Villemain, etc. 2. The “ Nouvelle Biographie G£n6rale,” edited by Dr. J. C. F. Hobfer, and published at Parts by Messrs. F. Didot Freres in forty-six volumes 8vo, (1857-1866.) This is one of the most valuable works on general biography to be found in any language. That portion embracing the first twelve letters of the alphabet (z.e., from A to M, inclusive) exceeds in completeness every other publication of the kind of which we have any knowledge. If inferior to the “ Biographie Universelle” in the length and fulness of many of the memoirs, it greatly surpasses that work in the number of its biographical notices; and it possesses two important additional recommendations—first, of including the living as well as the dead, and, secondly, of giving the reader valuable bibliographic information under almost every article. 3. Brockhaus’s “ Conversations-Lexikon,” in 16 volumes large 8vo, (Leipsic, 1851-1855,) which is especially full in regard to the distinguished men of the present century, and par ticularly those of Germany ; also the annual continuation of that work, entitled “ Jahrbuch sum Conversations-Lexikon.” 4. Pierer’s “ Universal-Lexikon,” in 19 volumes, fourth (last) edition, greatly enlarged, (Altenburg, 1857-1865.) 5. Vaeerbau’s “ Dictionnaire des Conterpporains,” (1858 et seq.,) important for the information it gives respecting living persons. 6. Ersch und Gruber, “Allgemeine Encyclopadie der Wissenschaften und Kiinste,” 145 vols. 4to, (Leipsic, 1818-1869.) This great work has numbered among its contributor# several of the most eminent literary and scientific men of Germany. Nor must we omit to notice, among the important works of general reference, the “ Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors,” by S. Austin Allibone, to be completed in three volumes imperial Svo, of which two volumes (1858-1870, pp. 2326) have already appeared ; and the “ Dictionary of the United States Con¬ gress and the General Government, compiled as a Book of Reference for the Americap
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