THE PEOFLE^S lilBI&ARr. 



" The editors and publishers should receive the thanks of the present generation, and the gratitude of 

 posterity, for being the first to prepare in this language what deserves to be entitled not the ENCYCLO- 

 PEDIA AMERICANA, but the people's library."— iV. Y. Courier and Enquirer. 



Just Published, hy Caret/, Lea, <Sf Blanchard, 

 And sold in Philadelphia by E. L. Carey ^ A. Hart ; in- New York by G. 4" C. ^ H. Carvill ; in Boston 

 by Carter ^ Hendee ; in Baltimore by E. J. Coale, <^ W. ^ J. Neal ; in Washington by Thompson &r Ramans ; 

 in Richmond by J. U. Nash ; in Savannah by W. T. Williams ; in Charleston by W. H. Berrett ; m N e w-Orleans 

 by W. M Kean; in Mobile by Odiorne ^ Smith ; and by the principal booksellers throughout the Union, 



ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA: 



A 



POPULAR DICTIONARY 



OF 



ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE, HISTORY, AND POLITICS, 



BROPGHT DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME, AND INCLUDING A COPIOUS COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL ARTICLES IK 



AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY: 

 On the basis of the Seventh Edition of the German 



CONVERSATIONS-LEXICON. 



Edited by FRANCIS LIEBER, 



ASSISTED BY 



EDWARD WIGGLESWORTH and T. G. BRADFORD, Esqrs. 



IN THIRTEEN LARGE VOLUMES, OCTAVO, PRICE TO SUBSCRIBERS, BOUND IN CLOTH, 

 TWO DOLLARS AND A HALF EACH. 

 EACH VOLUME CONTAINS BETWEEN 600 AND 700 PAGES. 



"THE WORLD-RENOWNED CONVERSATIONS- 

 LEXICON."— £<ii7i*Jtr^A Review. 



" To supersede cumbrous EncyciopEedias, and puit within 

 the reach of the poorest man, a complete library, equal to 

 about forty or fifty good-sized octavos, embracing every 

 possible subject of interest to the number of 20,000 in all- 

 provided he can spare either from his earnings or his ex- 

 travagancies, twenty cents a week, for three years, a library 

 so contrived, as to be equally suited to the learned and 

 the unlearned,— the mechanic— the merchant, and the pro- 

 fessional man." — JV". Y. Courier and Inquirer. 



" The reputation of this valuable work has augmented 

 with each volume ; and if the unanimous opinion of the 

 press, uttered from all quarters, be true, which in this 

 instance happens to be the case, it is indeed one of the 

 best of publications. It should be in the possession of 

 every intelligent man, as it is a library in itself, compris- 

 ing an immense mass of lore upon almost every possible 

 subject, and in the cheapest possible form."— JV. Y. Mirror. 



"Witnesses from every part of the country concurred 

 in declaring that the Encycloptedia Americana was in a 

 fair way to degrade the dignity of learning, and especially 

 the learning of Encyclopfedias, by making it too cheap — 

 that the multitudes of all classes were infatuated with it 

 in saying in so many words from the highest fro the low- 

 est ' the more we see of the work the better we like it.' " 



JV*. Y. Courie-^ and Inquirer. 



" The articles in the present volume appear to us to 

 evince the same ability and research which gained so 

 favorable a reception for the work at its commencement. 

 The Appendix to the volume now before us, containing an 

 account of the Indian Languages of America, must prove 

 highly interesting to the reader in this country; and it is 

 at once remarkable as a specimen of history and philology. 

 The work altogether, we may again be permitted to ob- 

 serve, reflects distinguished credit upon the literary and 

 scientific character, as well as the scholarship of ^our 

 country." — Charleston Courier. 



" The copious information which this work afFords on 

 American subjects, fully justifies its title of an American 

 Dictionary; while at the same time the extent, variety, 

 and felicitous disposition of its topics, make it the most 

 convenient and satisfactory Encyclopagdia that we have 

 ever seen." — JVntional Journal. 



" If the succeeding volumes shall equal in merit the 

 one before us, we may confidently anticipate for the work 

 a reputation and usefulness which ought to secure for it 

 the most flattering encouragement and patronage."— Fed- 

 eral Oazette. 



" A compendious library, and invaluable book of refer- 

 ence."— JV. Y. American. 



"The variety of topics is of course vast, and they are 

 treated in a manner which is at once^so full of informa- 

 tion and so interesting, that thcv/ork, iastead of being 

 merely referred to, might be regularly perus&d with as 

 much pleasure as profit." — Baltimore Americaft. 



" We view it as a publication worthy of the age and of 

 the country, and cannot but believe the discrimination of 

 our countrynaen will sustain the publishers, and well re- 

 ward them for this contribution to American Literature." 

 — Baltimore Patriot. 



" It reflects the greatest credit on those who have been 

 concerned in its production, and promises, in a variety of 

 respects, to be the best as well as the most compendious 

 dictionary of tiie arts, sciences, history, politics, biogra- 

 phy, &.C. which has yet been compiled. The style of the 

 portion we have read is terse and perspicuous; and it is 

 really curious how so much scientific and other informa- 

 tion could have been so satisfactorily communicated in 

 such brief limits."— JV. Y. Evening Post. 



"Those who can, by any honest modes of economy, 

 reserve the sum of two dollars and fifty cents quarterly, 

 from their family expenses, may pay for this work as fast 

 as it is published; and we confidently believe that they 

 will find at the end that they never purchased so much 

 general, practical, useful information at so cheap a rate." 

 — Journal of Education. 



" If the encouragement to the publishers should corres- 

 pond with the testimony in favor of their enterprise, and 

 the beautiful and faithful style of its execution, the hazard 

 of the undertaking, bold as it was, will be well compen- 

 sated ; and our libraries will be enriched by the most gene- 

 rally useful encyclop^jdic dictionary that has been ofiered 

 to the readers of the English language. Full enough for 

 the general scholar, and plain enough for every capacity, 

 it is far more convenient, in every view and form, than 

 its more expensive and ponderous predecessors." — Ameri- 

 can Farmer. 



"The high reputation of the contributors to this work, 

 will not fail to insure it a favorable reception, and its 

 own merits will do the rest." — Silliman's Journ. 



" The Encylopsedia Americana is a prodigious improve- 

 ment upon all that has gone before it ; a thing for our 

 country, as well as the country that gave it birth, to be 

 proud of ; an inexhaustible treasury of useful, pleasant, 

 and familiar learning on every possible subject, so arranged 

 as to be speedily and safely referred to -on emergency, as 

 well as on deliberate inquiry; and better still, adapted to 

 the understanding, and put within the reach of the mul- 

 titude. * * * The Encyclopaidia Americana is a work 

 without which no library worthy of the name can here- 

 after be made up." — Yankee. 



