The Cyclopaedia; or Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature (40 volume set, lacking plate volumes)

Abraham Rees; Ephraim Chambers

Philadelphia : S.F. Bradford, and Murray, Fairman and Co., 1810.

40 volume set. Bound in contemporary 1/2 leather. Spine heads worn, chipped.  2 volumes have heavier wear to the spines.  Many of the boards are detached. Scattered foxing. See our pictures. Two columns to the page.  Small institutional stamps. *Lacking plate volumes and Volume 41.* BMC. vol 21, p. 287(1). Sabin 68634.  

Abraham Rees (1743-1825) was a British clergyman best known for this, his outstanding encyclopedic work, The Cyclopaedia. (Initially published 1802-1820 in parts in Great Britain.) Rees' work not only featured theological and humanistic issues, but also extensive articles on mathematics and natural sciences. The Cyclopaedia, "is the richest work for technology of the period, with detailed text and handsome, carefully prepared plates." Ferguson, Eugene. "Contributions to Bibliography in the History of Technology (part II)". Technology and Culture 3.2 (1962): 169 p. "Rees was convinced that the important progress made during the last decades of the eighteenth century, especially in the fields of history, geography, geology, natural history, and the physical sciences senu lato, required a new type of encyclopedia with the accent on these fields as well as the still relatively undeveloped domains of biography and the history of sciences. The Cyclopaedia thus became one of the first works of its kind to be compiled with the help of 'persons eminently distinguished in these branches of science to which they had devoted their talents.'" (Taxon Vol. 35, No. 2 (1986) This is an oversized or heavy book, that requires additional postage for international delivery outside the US.