Encyclopaedia Britannica: Or, A Dictionary of Arts and Sciences: , Preceded by the Prospectus for the First Edition

Reading through Reference Reviews one appreciates just how much reference works are products of their own times, just as much as any other literary or cultural productions. Perhaps one day somebody will look at our reviews and the works they cover as historical examples of the late twentieth century information and publishing culture in an age of transition. We claim unprecedented change for our own times, but every age is an era of transition, a stage on which all cultural activity is played out. The eighteenth century in Europe and the Age of Enlightenment, particularly for a time in Scotland...