A New and Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences

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A New and Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences: Comprehending All the Branches of Useful Knowledge ... Illustrated with Above Three Hundred Copper-Plates, Curiously Engraved by Mr. Jefferys ... by a Society of Gentlemen

A New and Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences
NewAndCompleteDictionary1754-55.jpg

Title page from A New and Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, volume two, George Wythe Collection, Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary.

Author
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Published London: Printed for W. Owen
Date 1754-55
Edition {{{edition}}}
Language English
Volumes 8 volume set
Pages {{{pages}}}
Desc. {{{desc}}}
Location [[Shelf {{{shelf}}}]]
  [[Shelf {{{shelf2}}}]]
Figure 1, Arteries of the Human Body, volume I facing page 196.
A New and Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences is a general dictionary compiled by a group known as the Society of Gentlemen and published in the eighteenth century. The dictionary covers a large range of topics from various levels of mathematics to medicine and even agriculture. The editors utilized a variety of sources including memoirs, essays, transactions, and other dictionaries to compose the entries. In fact, some of the passages may refer to other books and sources of information to provide the reader with greater depth on a topic.[1]


Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library

Listed in the Jefferson Inventory of Wythe's Library as "Dictionary of Arts & sciences. 4.v. 8vo." and given by Thomas Jefferson to his son-in-law, Thomas Mann Randolph. We do not have enough information to conclusively identify which edition Wythe owned. George Wythe's Library[2] on LibraryThing indicates this, adding "Better known as the Encyclopedia Britannica ... Possible editions were published at London in 1754-55 and 1763-64." The Brown Bibliography[3] lists the 1763-64 edition based on the copy Jefferson sold to the Library of Congress.[4] The Wolf Law Library purchased the 1754-55, first edition.

Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy

Bound in green half leather with green buckram and spines with title labels, raised bands and gilt decoration. Purchased from ecbooks.

View this book in William & Mary's online catalog.

The Moon, volume III, facing page 2115.
Fig. 1: Linnet, Cock, Hen, and Egg; Fig 2: The Lion & LIones; Fig 3: Hare-Lip; Fig. 4: Locus Geometricus, volume III, facing page 1917.

References

  1. ↑ A New and Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences: Comprehending All the Branches of Useful Knowledge, with Accurate Descriptions as well of the Various Machines, Instruments, Tools, Figures, and Schemes Necessary for Illustrating Them, as of the classes, kinds, Preparations, and Uses of Natural Productions, Whether Animals, Vegetables, Minerals, Fossils, or Fluids: Together with the Kingdoms, Provinces, Cities, Towns, and Other Remarkable Places Throughout the World: Illustrated with Above Three Hundred Copper-Plates, Engraved by Mr. Jefferys, Geographer to His Majesty: the Whole Extracted from the Best Authors in All Languages (London: Society of Gentlemen, 1763), iii-xvi.
  2. ↑ LibraryThing, s. v. "Member: George Wythe", accessed on November 13, 2013,
  3. ↑ Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433
  4. ↑ E. Millicent Sowerby, ""Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 5:152-153 [no. 4893].
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