ENCYCLOPÆDIA; OR, A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, AND MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE...

Philadelphia: Thomas Dobson, 1798.. Eighteen volumes. With 542 copperplate engravings, some folding. Large quarto. Contemporary red calf, spines gilt, leather labels. Some shelf wear, minor chipping to some spine ends, short splits to a handful of joints, front joint of volume nine holding by cords. Minor toning and foxing. 19th-century armorial bookplate on front pastedowns belonging to Charles Burrall Hoffman. Overall very good; a handsome and striking set. An excellent set of the "greatly improved" first American edition of the first encyclopedia printed in America, in a fantastic contemporary American binding. Dobson's ENCYCLOPÆDIA was profusely illustrated with over 500 copperplate engravings, constituting "the finest group of American engravings of the century" signifying the "coming of age of American book illustration," according to Wroth. The massive work is illustrated with 542 copperplates engraved by noted artists such as Robert Scott, James Thackara, E. Trenchard, the Smithers, John Vallance, James Akin, William Barker, Joseph Bowles, Francis Shallus, Henry W. Weston, Joseph Seymour, and others. The text comes from the third edition of the ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, with some revisions, namely the section on America, which was written by Jedidiah Morse. Interestingly, the entirety of the work is printed on paper manufactured in Pennsylvania. While the text largely follows the third edition of the ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, there is considerable added material, mainly related to the Americas and the United States.

Subscribers included Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Aaron Burr, and Alexander Hamilton. This copy includes the armorial bookplate of Charles Burrall Hoffman on each front pastedown. Hoffman was an 1846 Columbia University graduate and a descendant of a prominent New York family.

A landmark publication, not just the largest printing project undertaken in America at the time, but one that marked "the end of printing in America as a household craft and the beginning of its factory stage of development" - Wroth. Richard D. Arner has written an excellent and thorough description of the history and production of the work. EVANS 22486. WROTH COLONIAL PRINTER, pp.291- 95. SILVER AMERICAN PRINTER, pp.153-54. LEHMANN-HAUPT 95. RINK 116. SABIN 22555. Richard D. Arner, DOBSON'S ENCYCLOPÆDIA: THE PUBLISHER, TEXT, AND PUBLICATION... (Philadelphia, 1991).