A GREAT ENTERPRISE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 948, 15 October 1910, Page 9

A GREAT ENTERPRISE.

y ; An announcement .of great'.'importance ; is liiade by the Cambridge* .University ■; /Press. tTMs' is'thb .issue: of :iv ; ■ tiou (tho _ eleventh) of the "'Ehcyclo-.' '' paedia':Britannica form, that will .. .make..all':the previous ;out-of-;dateo There'will b.e : 28 ;quarto , volumes. . .(26,000'pages) J printed • : on India paper and bound.. in limp ;leather or' /Tlieyiwill .occupy: £ only, two! feet of. shelf ; spaco;;as iagainst " the. six'feet .taken up bv the tenth ' : edition, ', and.' 601b'., ; as;against-'SOOlbVA:The;bindihg\will ;bo » | 'such' that'.'the:iHobk.B^Jmay-"',b<j)';V'beii£;back ; ■ icover, and held. i 'conVenientl/':in,.onq;.han ; d: .V 1 ;'; ; ;v ;TJio great rfe^'tufG^of''this edition ; itill V : be' the . publication of /ill. the volumes !' , : . -lication'sby'■•instalments':jsiiread'jjvetf 4 | . iserieS;;' of\ : years"compelled ~ tlio., editors I to deal with each successive volume as ;■ practically a-separates unit, and a con- \ ■ sidorable-aniount of ?;repetrtion"w&s' ; jiiJ separablC'ifrom^^hisf f since:,'a cbn- ' : tributor : ; writing ;,ior. ' an, fearlj', volume ■; ; • could" not possibly !tell—anyi'inbre than • the editors;.themselves could:tell—what- • ■■ exactly would 1 be'the' boundary lino between-his; article" and' thatlof another , contributorvin <a-.ilater volume on an- \ other branch ;of<'th6- same: subject-Fur-ther, when the production .of. a\ great 1 i " encyclopaedia ; • is '; spread oyer, Jmaily ■ years,there .are bound t<j :bp many, in- ... Consistencies: between', early;; and; later : ■: • articles; ; due. t6'tlie;.'cHa'iigel which ;.comes ; : 'over* liot' only.';>tne :;subject-matter,. but , ; itlie; theoriesl'of';almost: : eyory;l)ranch;jof;: ; 'knowledge,',in -.the course :of-la ■: ~ • In. tho case' of the, Eleventh Edition,; ; however, the decision to issue the work , f .iis a whole made it not only possible • i;. but .necessary 'to : plan, ! it.; as.!awhole,' ; and to'deal with the contributors' as , f the constituent '.parts'.. in'' one• i great : ;'. .simultaneous, enterprise. : ': The whole'iof '■ the:' 'MSf'rhd s , ; 1 ainV : uxi'der|:'tlx©■ editorial ' "survey ati one; time—as'Mf it were all : ; spread out; on one . vast'tableland the '■; editors were;,'thus able.to:'avoid repeti-'' ;■ tions,";.to:. investigate iand ;inV ■ cbri'sistencies'-^-often■: thus l; ,'eliminating ' orror—and to see' that the scale 'of the ; ;.whole>wprk ar- \ > tide, during the actual progress of the i i : work,:.and .before '.a single line had been' . , 'sent to the :printer;. , - The-- current in- < dex, .which was a ; novel ar.d invaluable . "■ feature of this.editorial work, was speci- !' ally helpful 'to the articles \ were indexed';as^they.came in, while the;. r \ work..was. in I ?progress,sand the duplica- ' J tions' and inconsistencies' which are'apt , I to creep ; into.;a. 'great:,wprk'.of: reference, : II ..were thus .She'ckecl'at/theifoimtaih-head.; ): The editors 'believe . tliat,'. as; one cbnse- , quence 'of ;,this>; novel but- scientific ' ' imethod' of i simultaneous .construction,', '■ . they .have :been . at,le.to present twice as ?•, much really independent information as ?•. ,the'Ninth-Edition contained, : .:r f■' 'i Publication is set' dPwn,for : the end of r , this, year, or early in . 1911. ./