Dobson's Encyclopædia

Dobson's Encyclopædia was the first encyclopedia published in the newly independent United States of America, by Thomas Dobson from 1789–1798. Although based on the 3rd edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (published 1788–1797), Dobson's Encyclopædia was a somewhat longer work in which many articles were re-written for a patriotic American audience; for example, the term Britannica was dropped from the title, the dedication to King George III was omitted, and sundry facts about American history, geography and peoples were added. It also cost only one-third of the Britannica, and had many illustrious owners such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton.

Dobson did not approve of door-to-door sales, which had been used by his contemporary, Parson Weems, to sell William Guthrie's New System of Modern Geography and Oliver Goldsmith's History of the earth and Animated Nature. Moreover, that approach seemed impractical, given the Encyclopædia's price and the long printing time (nine years). Instead, Dobson conducted an all-out advertising blitz, unlike any before seen in North America; he appealed for subscriptions in newspaper advertisements, in magazine wrappers, in spare book leaves, and in pamphlets distributed to all the major book-sellers of his day. Dobson also appealed strongly to the patriotic pride of the newly independent Americans; he used only American materials and craftspeople and his announcement of the first "American" encyclopedia was timed to agree with George Washington's selection as the first President under the new Constitution. His first advertisements appeared on 31 March 1789 in three newspapers: the Pennsylvania Mercury, the Pennsylvania Packet, and the Federal Gazette.

Like the Britannica, Dobson's Encyclopædia was published in weekly numbers, which could be then bound into volumes or half-volumes parts. The price of each number was "one quarter of a dollar". The first weekly number was published on 2 January 1790, followed the next week by the second number. Dobson continued his regular printings until a fire destroyed his business and stock on an early Sunday morning, 8 September 1793. The heat of the fire was sufficient to melt much of his metal print parts. Undaunted, Dobson returned to printing his Encyclopædia within a month.

Dobson encountered some editorial difficulties as well, most notably on the essay concerning Quakers in Volume 15, which roused some indignation in Philadelphia, the home of many Quakers. Dobson merely reprinted an offensive article from the Britannica, which had been written by George Gleig (soon to be Bishop of Brechin), without checking it for accuracy. A devout Anglican, Gleig allowed himself to be contemptuously biased against George Fox, the founder of the Quakers. Dobson met this challenge by meeting with the Quakers and printing a rebuttal essay in defense of George Fox's character. The Quaker's enlightened approach to race relations and other social issues are often noted and praised throughout the Encyclopædia.

Most of Dobson's Encyclopædia is a copy of the 3rd edition of the Britannica. The chief exceptions can be found in the articles dealing with American geography, most notably Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, and American history, such as the surrender of the British in the American Revolution. In addition to Dobson himself, Jedidiah Morse, the father of American geography, made significant contributions; for example, he defended the status of women among the Native American peoples, which had been called "slavish" by the Britannica's editors, most likely James Tytler.

We may confidently and safely assert that the condition of women among many of the American tribes is as respectable and important as it was among the Germans, in the day of Tacitus, or as it is among many other nations with whom we are acquainted, in a similar stage of improvement.

Morse also rebutted the racist view of the Britannica that the skins and skulls of Indians are "thicker than the skins and skulls of many other nations of mankind". It is likely that there were other contributors to Dobson's Encyclopædia, but their names are unknown.

In 1803, Dobson published a three-volume supplement to match and surpass the two-volume supplement published by the Britannica in 1801. The Supplement was more independent and more accurate than the main encyclopedia had been, but sales were relatively poor. One notable article is "Pneumatics", which correctly defends Count Rumford's conclusion that water is a relatively poor conductor of heat, which had been criticized by the Britannica's contributor, Dr. Thomas Thomason of Edinburgh.

Dobson's Encyclopædia encountered significant competition from his rival printer, Samuel F. Bradford of Philadelphia, who proposed in 1805 to reprint Abraham Rees' New Cyclopaedia with American amendments. The 44-volume British original first began to appear in London in January 1803, but was not completed until 1820; the 47-volume American reprint was not completed until 1822. Not only did the project drive Bradford bankrupt, it also drove his successor bankrupt, the firm of Murray, Draper, Fairman and Company. Dobson was vulnerable to competition due to three factors: his encyclopedia was beginning to be outdated, it had relatively few biographies of Americans, and his engravings were of mediocre quality. Dobson and his son Judah eventually went out of business in 1822; Dobson himself died on 9 March 1823.

A more successful encyclopedia following Dobson's Encyclopædia was the 13-volume Encyclopedia Americana, which was published 1829-1833 by Francis Lieber and is still in print. The Encyclopedia Americana was based on Brockhaus' Conversations-Lexikon but added significant new material.

Encyclopedic Reference

• Arner, Robert D. (1991). Dobson's Encyclopaedia: The Publisher, Text, and Publication of America's First Britannica, 1789-1803. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.