Thomas Dobson’s Encyclopedia

The Library is fortunate to have a nearly complete set of Thomas Dobson’s   Encyclopædia. The eighteen volume Encyclopædia ; or, A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature was the first encyclopedia to be printed in the United States, and was based on the popular third edition of Dobson’s Encyclopædia Britannica (1788). For the American edition, the Scottish born printer dropped Britannica from the title and took out the dedication to King George III, while also adding new information about American geography, history, etc. to make this edition more appealing to his new market. Dobson, who migrated to Philadelphia in the 1780s, smartly marketed his new edition in other ways as well. He used only American craftsmen and materials and, instead of selling door-to-door, he advertised in newspapers, periodicals and pamphlets at the same time as the announcement of the election of George Washington’s first term in 1789 to capitalize on the patriotism of citizens.[1]

 

The Encyclopædia must have been popular among the German speaking population in Pennsylvania, or at least it was among the Schwenkfelder’s. Some Schwenkfelders actually formed an Encyclopedia Company in 1793 in order to purchase and share the volumes. The company’s contract (written in English) stated that the members of the company would share the volumes (referred to interchangeably as “Encyclopedia” or “Dictionary”) for a set amount of time and then be given to David Schultz to “keep and preserve.” Eventually the volumes must have wound up at various Schwenkfelder homes because our accession numbers are from various sources – perhaps some members of the company did not honor the terms of the contract.

 

These volumes must have been the greatest source of knowledge, at least in the English language, for the Schwenkfelders in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. This is important because it shows that the Schwenkfelders were learning the most sophisticated and recent scholarship of the world at the same time as the most educated and important men in the country.

 

---

[1] http://viswiki.com/en/Dobson’s_Encyclop%C3%A6dia

Grant Project Nearly Complete

Stacked folios

Vault shelves showing boxed folios

 

I have recently completed a book-boxing, inventory project for our oldest folios and other books. The project was funded by the William Penn Foundation through the Advanced Stewardship Program with The Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) in Philadelphia. It took approximately nine months to complete. We used a company called Custom Manufacturing Inc. which provided us with software and a book measuring device in order to make customized book boxes. The boxes are made out of acid free paper and come in various styles, based on size. The software is set up to measure the spine height, page width, and spine depth as well as to create labels.  We also created a condition inventory for the books. The inventory allows us to know the condition of the books when boxed since they will not be seen for a long time. We are stacking the folios two to four high in order to save the page blocks from pulling on the spines and weakening the binding. Stacking flat does not apparently cause as much stress as standing on end, plus the boxes add a little support. A small number of the books (mostly vellum bound) are being conserved at the CCAHA. They are being cleaned, and the boards are being flattened where they have bowed and warped.

Discovery from the Vault

Merkwürdige Geschichte, von einem Menschen, der mit dem Teufel in einem Bund getreten auf achtzehen Jahr, und wieder durch Christum erlöset worden ist. Nebst einer Schutzschrift über die Lästerung dieses Werks, und kurze Anmerkungen, durch Sprüche der H. Schrift, is the story of Thomas Salvon who testified that he had sold his soul to the Devil in 1771. The account was written by Pastor Johann Georg Schroeder of St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Gemeine in Washington County, Maryland. Schroeder, who claims to have saved Salvon in 1789, had the story printed in 1790 by the Ephrata press (Typis Societatis).  I “discovered” a copy of this pamphlet in our collection recently. The imprint is rare and, if Google is any indication of popularity, not well known: there was one hit for the title. The only printed references that I can find are in bibliographies. It is bound in a wrapper cover and has forty eight pages (page 18 is mis-numbered as 81).  The Ephrata press ran from 1745 until 1794.

 

translation: The strange history of a man who entered into a covenant with the Devil for eighteen years, and then was saved by Christ. Including a protective letter against the blasphemy of this book, and brief notes using proverbs from the Bible.