Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/211

Rh ENCYCLOPAEDIA 201 had a shop in Middle Row, Holburn, sold the book to the trade, and on his failure Thomson Bonar, a wine merchant, who had married Bell s daughter, became the seller of the book. He quarrelled with his father-in-law, who would not see him for ten years before his death iu 1809. When the edition was completed, the copyright and remaining books were sold in order to wind up the concern, and &quot; the whole was purchased by Bell, who gave 13 a copy, sold all the complete copies to the trade, printed up the odd volumes, and thus kept the work in the market for several years &quot; (Constable, ii. 3 1 2). The supplement of the third edition, printed for Thomson Bonar, and edited by Gleig, was published in 1801 in 2 vols. 4to, containing 1624 pages and 50 copperplates engraved by D. Lizars. In the dedication to the king, dated Stirling, 10th December 1800, Dr Gleig says: &quot;The French Encyclopedic had been accused, and justly accused, of having disseminated far and wide the seeds of anarchy and atheism. If the Encyclopaedia Britannica shall in any degree counteract the tendency of that pestiferous work, even these two volumes will not be wholly unworthy of your Majesty s attention.&quot; Professor Robison added 19 articles to the series he had begun when the third edition was so far advanced. Professor Playfair assisted in &quot; Mathematics.&quot; Dr Thomas Thomson wrote &quot; Chemistry,&quot; &quot; Mineralogy,&quot; and other articles, in which the use of symbols was for the first time introduced into chemistry; and these articles formed the first outline of his System of Chemistry, published at Edinburgh in 1802, 8vo, 4 vols. ; the sixth edition, 1821. The fourth edition, printed for Andrew Bell, was begun in 1800 or 1801, and finished in 1810 in 20 vols. 4 to, con taining 16,033 pages, with 581 plates engraved by Bell. The dedication to the king, signed Andrew Bell, is dated Lauristoun, Edinburgh, 1809. The preface is that of the third edition with the necessary alterations and additions in the latter part. No articles were reprinted from the supplement, as Bell had not the copyright. Professor Wallace s articles on mathematics were much valued, and raised the scientific character of the work. Dr Thomas Thomson declined the editorship, and recommended Dr James Millar, afterwards editor of the Encyclopaedia EJitiensis (died 13th July 1827). He was fond of natural history and a good chemist, but, according to Constable, slow and dilatory and not well qualified. Andrew Bell died 10th June 1809, aged eighty-three, &quot;leaving,&quot; says Constable, &quot; two sets of trustees, one literary to make the money, the other legal to lay it out after it was made.&quot; The edition began with 1250 copies and concluded at 4000, of which two-thirds passed through the hands of Constable s firm. Early in 1804 Andrew Bell had offered Constable and his partner Hunter the copyright of the work, printing materials, &amp;lt;fec., and all that was then printed of the fourth edition, for 20,000. This offer was in agitation in March 1804, when the two partners were in London. On 5th May 1804, after Lord Jeffrey s arrival in Edinburgh, as he relates to Francis Horner, they intrusted him with a design, on which he found that most of his friends had embarked with great eagerness, &quot;for publishing an entire new ency clopaedia upon an improved plan. Stewart, I understand, is to lend his name, and to write the preliminary discourse, besides other articles. Playfair is to superintend the mathematical department, and Robison the natural philo sophy. Thomas Thomson is extremely zealous in the cause. W. Scott has embraced it with great affection. . . The authors are to be paid at least as vell as reviewers, and are to retain the copyright of their articles for separate publi cation if they think proper,&quot; (Cockburn, Life of Lord Jeffrey, 1852, ii. 90.) It was then, perhaps, that Constable gave 100 to Bonar for the copyright of the supplement. The fifth edition was begun immediately after the fourth as a mere reprint. &quot; The management of the edition, or rather misman agement, went on under the lawyer trustees for several years, and at last the whole property was again brought to the market by public sale. There were about 1800 copies printed of the live first volumes, which formed one lot, the copyright formed another lot, and so on. The whole was purchased by myself and in my name for between 13,000 and 14,000, and it was said by the wise book sellers of Edinburgh and others that I had completely ruined my self and all connected with me by a purchase to such an enormous amount; this was early in 1812&quot; (Constable, ii. 314). Bonar, who lived next door to the printing office, thought he could con duct the book, and had resolved on the purchase. Having a good deal of money, he seemed to Constable a formidable rival, whose alliance was to be secured. After &quot; sundry interviews &quot; it was agreed that Constable should buy the copyright in his own name, and that Bonar should have one-third, and also one-third of the copyright of the supplement, for which he gave 200. Dr James Millar cor rected and revised the last 15 volumes. The preface is dated 1st December 1814. The printing was superintended by Bonar, who died 26th July 1814. His trustees were repaid his advances on the work, about 6000, and the copyright was valued at 11,000, of which they received one-third, Constable adding 500, as the book had been so extremely successful. It was published in 20 vols., 16.017 pages, 582 plates, price 36, and dated 1817. Soon after the purchase of the copyright, Constable began to prepare for the publication of a supplement, to be of four or, at the very utmost, five volumes. &quot;The first article arranged for was one on Chemistry by Sir Humphrey Davy, but he went abroad [in October, 1813] and I released him from his engagement, and employed Mr Brande ; the second article was Mr Stewart s Disserta tion, for which I agreed to pay him 1000, leaving the extent of it to himself, but with this understanding, that it was not to be under ten sheets, and might extend to twenty &quot; (Constable, ii. 318). Dugald Stewart, in a letter to Constable, 15th. November 1812, though he declines to engage to execute any of his own sug gestions, recommends that four discourses should &quot;stand in front,&quot; forming &quot;a general map of the various departments of human knowledge,&quot; similar to &quot;the excellent discourse prefixed by D Alembert to the French Encyclopedic,&quot; together with historical sketches of the progress since Bacon s time of modern discoveries in metaphysical, moral, and political philosophy, iu mathematics and physics, in chemistry, and in zoology, botany, and miner alogy. He would only promise to undertake the general map and the first historical sketch, if his health and other engagements permitted, after the second volume of his Philosophy of the Human Mind (published in 1813) had gone to press. For the second he recommended Playfair, for chemistry Sir Humphrey Davy. He received 1000 for the first part of his dissertation (166 pages), and 700 for the second (257 pages), the right of publication being limited to the Supplement and Encyclopaedia. Constable next contracted with Professor Playfair for a dissertation &quot;to be equal in length or not to Mr Stewart s, for 250 ; but a short time after wards I felt that to pay one eminent individual 1000 because he would not take less would be quite unfair, and I wrote to the worthy Professor that I had fixed his payment at 500.&quot; Constable gave him 500 for the first part (127 pages), and would have given as much for the second (90 pages) if it had been as long. His next object was to find out the greatest defects in the book, and he ga^ e Professor Leslie 200 and Graham Dalyell 100 for looking over it. He then wrote out a prospectus and submitted it in print to Stewart, &quot;but the cautious philosopher referred&quot; him to Playf air, who &quot;returned it next day very greatly improved.&quot; For this Constable sent him six dozen of very fine old sherry, only feeling regret that he had nothing better to offer. He at first intended to have two editors, &quot; one for the strictly literary and the other for the scientific department.&quot; He applied to Dr Thomas Brown, who &quot;preferred writing trash of poetry to useful and lucrative employment.&quot; At last he fixed on Mr Macvey Napier (born 1777), whom he had known from 1798, and who &quot;had been a hard student, and at college laid a good foundation for his future career, though more perhaps in general information than in what would be, strictly speakiiig, called scholarship ; this, however, does not fit him the less for his present task.&quot; Constable, in a letter dated llth June 1813, offered him 300 before the first part went to press, 150 on the completion at press of each of the eight half volumes, 500 if the work was reprinted or extended beyond 7000 copies, and 200 for incidental expenses. &quot; In this way the composition of the four volumes, including the introductory dis sertations, will amount to considerably more than 9000.&quot; In a postscript the certain payment is characteristically increased to 1575, the contingent to 735, and the allowance for incidental expenses to 300 (Constable, ii. 326). Napier went to London, and obtained the co-operation of many literary men. The sup plement was published in half- volume parts from December 1816 to April 1824. It formed six volumes 4to, containing 4933 pages, 15 plates, 9 ma]. 8, three dissertations, and 6(19 articles, of which a VIII. 26