I>ROSPECTUS 



OF THE 



ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, 



NINTH EDITION. 



Edited by THOMAS SPENCER BA YNES, LL.D., Professor of 

 Logic, Rhetoric, and Metaphysics, in the University of St. Aftdrews. 



IN submitting to the Public the Prospectus of a New Edition of the 

 , Encyclop.*;dia Britannica, it is almost needless to explain that during the 

 interval which has elapsed since the publication of the Eighth Edition, great 

 advances have been made in every department of knowledge, and particiilarly 

 in the Arts and Sciences. It has accordingly been found necessary to adopt a 

 scheme of very extensive alteration in the preparation of the Ninth Edition, 

 amounting virtually to a reconstruction of the entire work. Thus, while the 

 general character of the Encyclop/EDIA will remain substantially unchanged, 

 the whole of the matter retained from the last Edition will be subjected to 

 thorough revision, and the necessary additions (estimated at considerably 

 more than half the whole work) provided for from the best sources. The 

 utmost care will be taken in selecting headings aad deciding on methods of 

 treatment, so as to embody tlie greatest amount of general information in the 

 most accessiljle form. The more important topics will be dealt with systema- 

 tically and at length, and particular attention will be given to all subjects of 

 general and popular interest. Tlie object aimed at is the production of a work 

 which shall possess the highest character and value as a Book of Reference 

 adapted in all respects to the circumstances and requirements of the time. 



One of the distinctive features of the Encyclopaedia Britannioa has always 

 been the large number of original articles contributed by specialists in their 

 respective departments. 



It is now upwards of a century since the Encyclopaedia BRiTANNicA.made 

 its first appearance. The First Edition, in Three volumes quarto, i)ublished 

 in 1771, was little more than a Dictionary of Arts and Sciences ; the Second 

 (1778-1783), in Ten volumes, introduced the branches of Biograjjhy and 

 History. The Third Edition (1797) extended to Eighteen volumes, to which 

 a, supplement of Two volumes was added. Tlie Fourth (1810), in Twenty 

 volumes, was reproduced in a Fifth and Sixth with little alteration ; and a 

 very important addition was made, betAveen the years 1815 and 1824, in a 

 Supplement of Six volumes. The two subsequent Editions, the Seventh 

 (1830-1842) and the Eighth (1852-1860), each in Twenty-one volumes, were 

 in every respect greatly superior to their predecessors, and adequately supplied 

 the demand for general information at the time of their publication. 



It is proposed that the Ninth Edition shall be on the same scale as the 

 Eighth, namely, in Twenty-one Volumes quarto, of about 800 pages each. 

 Numerous engravings on wood and steel will illustrate the text. The work is to 

 be issued at the rate, as far as practicable, of three Volumes per annum. 



VoJameti I. to VI. are now ready. 



COPR CLARK & CO. 



AGENTS FOR ONTARIO TORONTO. 



