Ephraim Chambers

From Freepedia

Ephraim Chambers (c1680 - 15 May 1740), was an English encyclopedist.

He was born in Kendal, Westmorland, in the latter part of the 17th century. He was apprenticed to a globe-maker in London, but having conceived the plan of his Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, he devoted himself entirely to it. The first edition. appeared by subscription in 1728, in two folio volumes, and dedicated to The King .

The landmark Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert owed its inception to a French translation of Chambers' work begun in 1743 and finished in 1745 by John Mills, assisted by Gottfried Sellius.

In addition to the Cyclopaedia, Chambers wrote for the Literary Magazine (1735-1736), and translated the History and Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris (1742), and the Practice of Perspective from the French of Jean Dubreuil.

Resources
Cyclopaedia Cyclopaedia, or, An universal dictionary of arts and science...by Chambers, Ephraim. Ephraim Chambers' acclaimed eighteenth century classic, “Cyclopaedia, or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences,” in two volumes, appeared in 1728. The Supplement, also in two volumes, followed in 1753. Noteworthy features of this distinguished work, the first edition, include the use of cross-references; the Dedication to the King, George II, and the compiler's "Plan of the Work," within the prefatory section, volume one. The Cyclopaedia was digitized and made available online by the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center.

This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain.