Bird, Robert Montgomery, 1806-1854 [1834], Calavar, or, The knight of the conquest: a romance of Mexico, volume 2 (Carey, Lea, & Blanchard, Philadelphia) [word count] [eaf013v2].
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should be employed in it; for it is a truth that the profound and practised writer
alone is capable of furnishing a `popular compendium.'
“What parent or guardian that throws his eye over the list of its contributors
but must be rejoiced by meeting the names of those who are in themselves a
guarantee of intellectual and moral excellence?”
—Literary Gazette.
“The plan of the work appears well adapted to the purpose it is proposed to
fulfil—that of supplying a series of publications, embracing the whole range of
literature and science, in a popular and portable form; while the excellence of
the execution is guarantied by the judgment displayed in the selection of writers.
The list of authors employed in this ambitious undertaking comprises some of
the most eminent men of the present age.”
—Atlas.
“The Cyclopædia, when complete, will form a valuable work of reference, as
well as a most entertaining and instructive library. It is an essential principle
in every part of it, that it should be clear and easily understood, and that an
attempt should everywhere be made to unite accurate information with an
agreeable manner of conveying it. It is an experiment to try how much science
may be taught with little crabbed or technical language, and how far the philosophical
and poetical qualities of history may be preserved in its more condensed
state. It possesses also the most indispensable of all the qualities of a work
intended for general instruction—that of cheapness. Whatever the plan might
be, it was evident that the grand difficulty of Dr. Lardner was to unite a body
of writers in its execution, whose character or works afforded the most probable
hope that they were fitted for a task of which the peculiarity, the novelty, and
even the prevalent relish for such writings greatly enhance the difficulty. We
do not believe, that in the list of contributors, there is one name of which the
enlightened part of the public would desire the exclusion.
“In science, the list is not less promising. The names of the President, VicePresidents,
and most distinguished Fellows of the Royal Society, are contained
in it. A treatise on astronomy, by Herschel; on optics, by Brewster; and on
mechanics, by Lardner; need by only recommended by the subjects and the writers.
An eminent Prelate, of the first rank in science, has undertaken a noble
subject which happily combines philosophy with religion. Twelve of the most
distinguished naturalists of the age. Fellows of the Linnæan and Zoological
Societies, are preparing a course of natural history. Others not less eminent in
literature and science, whose names it is not needful yet to mention, have shown
symptoms of an ambition to take a place among such fellow-laborers.”
—Times.
“The topics, as may be supposed, are both judiciously selected and treated
with ability. To general readers, and as part of a family library, the volumes
already published possess great recommendations. For the external beauties of
good printing and paper they merit equal commendation.”
—Balt. American.
“The uniform neatness of these volumes, their very moderate price, and the
quantity of information which they contain, drawn from the best and most
attractive sources, have given them deserved celebrity, and no one who desires
to possess such information, should hesitate a moment to add them to his
library.”
—Fed. Gazette.
“This excellent work continues to increase in public favor, and to receive
fresh accessions of force to its corps of contributors”
—Lit. Gazette.
“Its plan and arrangement are entitled to our best commendations.”
—Gent.
Mag.
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HISTORY OF THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND PRESENT
STATE OF THE SILK MANUFACTURE; with numerous
engravings.
“It contains abundant information in every department of this interesting
branch of human industry—in the history, culture, and manufacture of silk.”
—Monthly Magazine.
“There is a great deal of curious information in this little volume.”
—Lit. Gaz.
HISTORY OF THE ITALIAN REPUBLICS; being a View of
the Rise, Progress, and Fall of Italian Freedom. By J. C. L.
De Sismondi.
“The excellencies, defects, and fortunes of the governments of the Italian
commonwealths, form a body of the most valuable materials for political philosophy.
It is time that they should be accessible to the American people, as
they are about to be rendered in Sismondi's masterly abridgment. He has done
for his large work, what Irving accomplished so well for his Life of Columbus.”
—National Gazette.
HISTORY OF THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND PRESENT
STATE OF THE MANUFACTURES OF PORCELAIN AND
GLASS. With numerous Wood Cuts.
“In the design and execution of the work, the author has displayed considerable
judgment and skill, and has so disposed of his valuable materials as to render
the book attractive and instructive to the general class of readers.”
—Sat. Evening Post.
“The author has, by a popular treatment, made it one of the most interesting
books that has been issued of this series. There are, we believe, few of the
useful arts less generally understood than those of porcelain and glass making.
These are completely illustrated by Dr. Lardner, and the various processes of
forming differently fashioned utensils, are fully described.”
BIOGRAPHY OF BRITISH STATESMEN; containing the
Lives of Sir Thomas More, by Sir James Mackintosh;
Cardinal Wolsey, Archbishop Cranmer, and Lord Burleigh.
“A very delightful volume, and on a subject likely to increase in interest
as it proceeds. * * * We cordially commend the work both for its design and
execution.”
—London Lit. Gazette.
The HISTORY OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. In 5 vols.
“A general History of the Spanish and Portuguese Peninsula, is a great desideratum
in our language, and we are glad to see it begun under such favorable
auspices. We have seldom met with a narrative which fixes attention more
steadily, and bears the reader's mind along more pleasantly.”
“In the volumes before us, there is unquestionable evidence of capacity for
the task, and research in the execution.”
—U. S. Journal.
“Of course this work can be but an abridgment; but we know not where so
much ability has been shown in condensation. It is unequalled, and likely
long to remain so. * * We were convinced, on the publication of the first volume,
that it was no common compilation, manufactured to order; we were prepared
to announce it as a very valuable addition to our literature. * * * Our
last words must be, heartily to recommend it to our readers.”
—Athenæum.
HISTORY OF SWITZERLAND.
“Like the preceding historical numbers of this valuable publication, it
abounds with interesting details, illustrative of the habits, character, and political
complexion of the people and country it describes; and affords, in the small
space of one volume, a digest of all the important facts which, in more elaborate
histories, occupy five times the space.”
—Evening Post.
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“IT IS NOT EASY TO DEVISE A CURE FOR SUCH A STATE OF THINGS (THE DECLINING
TASTE FOR SCIENCE;) BUT THE MOST OBVIOUS REMEDY IS TO PROVIDE
THE EDUCATED CLASSES WITH A SERIES OF WORKS ON POPULAR AND PRACTICAL
SCIENCE, FREED FROM MATHEMATICAL SYMBOLS AND TECHNICAL TERMS,
WRITTEN IN SIMPLE AND PERSPICUOUS LANGUAGE, AND ILLUSTRATED BY FACTS
AND EXPERIMENTS, WHICH ARE LEVEL TO THE CAPACITY OF ORDINARY MINDS.”
—Quarterly Review.
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE ON THE OBJECTS, ADVANTAGES,
AND PLEASURES OF THE STUDY OF NATURAL
PHILOSOPHY. By J. T. W. Herschel, A. M. late Fellow
of St. John's College, Cambridge.
“Without disparaging any other of the many interesting and instructive volumes
issued in the form of cabinet and family libraries, it is, perhaps, not too
much to place at the head of the list, for extent and variety of condensed information,
Mr. Herchel's discourse of Natural Philosophy in Dr. Lardner's Cyclop
ædia.”
—Christian Observer.
“The finest work of philosophical genius which this age has seen.”
—Mackintosh's
England.
“By far the most delightful book to which the existing competition between
literary rivals of great talent and enterprise has given rise.”
—Monthly Review.
“Mr. Herschel's delightful volume. * * * We find scattered through the
work instances of vivid and happy illustration, where the fancy is usefully called
into action, so as sometimes to remind us of the splendid pictures which crowd
upon us in the style of Bacon.”
—Quarterly Review.
“It is the most exciting volume of the kind we ever met with.”
—Monthly
Magazine.
“One of the most instructive and delightful books we have ever perused.”
—U. S. Journal.
A TREATISE ON MECHANICS. By Capt. Kater, and the
Rev. Dionysius Lardner. With numerous engravings.
“A work which contains an uncommon amount of useful information, exhibited
in a plain and very intelligible form.”
—Olmsted's Nat. Philosophy.
“This volume has been lately published in England, as a part of Dr. Lardner's
Cabinet Cyclopædia, and has received the unsolicited approbation of the most
eminent men of science, and the most discriminating journals and reviews, in
the British metropolis.—It is written in a popular and intelligible style, entirely
free from mathematical symbols, and disencumbered as far as possible of technical
phrases.”
—Boston Traveller.
“Admirable in development and clear in principles, and especially felicitous in
illustration from familiar subjects.”
—Monthly Mag.
“Though replete with philosophical information of the highest order in mechanics,
adapted to ordinary capacities in a way to render it at once intelligible
and popular.”
—Lit. Gazette.
“A work of great merit, full of valuable information, not only to the practical
mechanic, but to the man of science.”
—N. Y. Courier and Enquirer.
A TREATISE ON HYDROSTATICS AND PNEUMATICS.
By the Rev. D. Lardner. With numerous engravings.
“It fully sustairs the favorable opinion we have already expressed as to this
valuable compendium of modern science.”
—Lit. Gazette.
“Dr. Lardner has made a good use of his acquaintance with the familiar facts
which illustrate the principles of science.”
—Monthly Magazine.
“It is written with a full knowledge of the subject, and in a popular style,
abounding in practical illustrations of the abstruse operations of these important
sciences.”
—U. S. Journal.
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HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By Sir James Mackintosh. In
8 Vols. Vols. 1, 2 and 3 published.
“In the first volume of Sir James Mackintosh's History of England, we
find enough to warrant the anticipations of the public, that a calm and luminous
philosophy will diffuse itself over the long narrative of our British History.”
—Edinburgh Review.
“In this volume Sir James Mackintosh fully developes those great powers,
for the possession of which the public have long given him credit. The result
is the ablest commentary that has yet appeared in our language upon some
of the most important circumstances of English History.”
—Atlas.
“Worthy in the method, style, and reflections, of the author's high reputation.
We were particularly pleased with his high vein of philosophical sentiment,
and his occasional survey of contemporary annals.”
—Nat. Gazette.
“If talents of the highest order, long experience in politics, and years of
application to the study of history and the collection of information, can command
superiority in a historian, Sir James Machintosh may, without reading
this work, be said to have produced the best history of this country. A perusal
of the work will prove that those who anticipated a superior production,
have not reckoned in vain on the high qualifications of the author.”
—Courier.
THE HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, to the Battle of
Waterloo. By T. C. Grattan.
“It is but justice to Mr. Grattan to say that he has executed his laborious
task with much industry and proportionate effect. Undisfigured by pompous
nothingness, and without any of the affectation of philosophical profundity,
his style is simple, light, and fresh—perspicuous, smooth, and harmonious.”
—La Belle Assemblee.
“Never did work appear at a more fortunate period. The volume before us
is a compressed but clear and impartial narrative.”
—Lit. Gaz.
HISTORY OF FRANCE. By Eyre Evans Crowe. In 3 vols.
“His history of France is worthy to figure with the works of his associates,
the best of their day, Scott and Mackintosh.”
—Monthly Mag.
“For such a task Mr. Crowe is eminently qualified. At a glance, as it were,
his eye takes in the theatre of centuries. His style is neat, clear, and pithy;
and his power of condensation enables him to say much, and effectively, in a
few words, to present a distinct and perfect picture in a narrowly circumscribed
space.”
—La Belle Assemblee.
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. By Sir Walter Scott. In 2 Vols.
“The History of Scotland, by Sir Walter Scott, we do not hesitate to declare,
will be, if possible, more extensively read, than the most popular work
of fiction, by the same prolific author, and for this obvious reason: it combines
much of the brilliant coloring of the Ivanhoe pictures of by-gone manners,
and all the graceful facility of style and picturesqueness of description
of his other charming romances, with a minute fidelity to the facts of history,
and a searching scrutiny into their authenticity and relative value, which
might put to the blush Mr. Hume and other professed historians. Such is the
magic charm of Sir Walter Scott's pen, it has only to touch the simplest incident
of every-day life, and it starts up invested with all the interest of a scene
of romance; and yet such is his fidelity to the text of nature, that the knights
and serfs, and collared fools with whom his inventive genius has peopled so
many volumes, are regarded by us as not mere creations of fancy, but as real
flesh and blood existences, with all the virtues, feelings and errors of common-place
humanity.”
—Lit. Gazette.
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Bird, Robert Montgomery, 1806-1854 [1834], Calavar, or, The knight of the conquest: a romance of Mexico, volume 2 (Carey, Lea, & Blanchard, Philadelphia) [word count] [eaf013v2].
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