Appletons cyclopedia of american biography

Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography o Enciclopedia Appleton de la Biografía Americana es una colección de seis volúmenes de biografías de personajes notables involucrados en la historia del Nuevo Mundo. Publicado entre 1887 y 1889, sus artículos no firmados fueron ampliamente aceptados como autoridad por varias décadas. Más tarde, la enciclopedia se hizo famosa por incluir docenas de biografías de personas que nunca habían existido.

Descripción general

La Cyclopædia incluye los nombres de más de 20 000 ciudadanos nativos y adoptivos de los Estados Unidos, incluidas personas vivas en ese tiempo. También se incluyeron los nombres de varios miles de ciudadanos de todos los demás países de Norteamérica y Sudamérica. El objetivo era abarcar a todas las personas notables del Nuevo Mundo. La obra también contenía los nombres de cerca de 1000 personas de origen extranjero que estaban estrechamente identificados con la historia estadounidense. La Cyclopædia fue ilustrada con cerca de sesenta retratos a página entera complementados por unos 1500 retratos de viñeta más pequeños acompañados de autógrafos facsímiles y también varias cientos de vistas panorámicas de lugares de nacimiento, residencias, monumentos y tumbas famosas de la historia.​

Ninguno de los artículos están firmados ya sea con nombres o con las iniciales. Se obtuvo la clave de la autoría, cuando fue posible obtenerla, a través de una lista de contribuyentes y de sus contribuciones en orden alfabético. Un crítico consideró este método bastante incómodo, quejándose de que el hallazgo del autor de un dibujo en particular con frecuencia implicaba tener que revisar toda la lista. Sin embargo, estas listas se repasaron inútilmente para los autores de muchos bocetos, entre ellos el del presidenteGrover Cleveland.​

Biografías ficticias

La Appletons' Cyclopædia es notoria por incluir aproximadamen

Wilson, James Grant [Editor]; Fiske, John [Editor]

New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1887 - 1889. First Edition.Quartos, Six Volumes; G-; Bound in 3/4-calf and marbled paper boards, with black spine labels and gilt lettering; Boards show moderate wear to edges, some light wear overall, and some faint cracking to leather along joints; Boards of Vol. I. have significant cracking to joint along back cover, significant bumping to tail of spine of Vol. I, and moderate plus wear to boards overall; Textblocks have light age-toning and fading to marbled edges, light age-toning to pages interiorly, and some residual remains of a pasted item to the front pastedown of Vol. I.; Marbled endpapers. RWO-LC. Shelved in Rockville shipping room.

Oversized book(s). Additional postage necessary for expedited/international orders. Economy International shipping unavailable due to size/weight restrictions. For international/expedited customers, please inquire for rates].

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Collection of biographies of notable people involved in the history of the New World

Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography is a six-volume collection of biographies of notable people involved in the history of the New World. Published between 1887 and 1889, its unsigned articles were widely accepted as authoritative for several decades. Later the encyclopedia became notorious for including dozens of biographies of people who had never existed. In nearly all articles about the Cyclopædia various authors have erroneously spelled the title as 'Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography', placing the apostrophe in the wrong place.

Overview

The Cyclopædia included the names of over 20,000 native and adopted citizens of the United States, including living persons. Also included were the names of several thousand citizens of all the other countries of North and South America. The aim was to embrace all noteworthy persons of the New World. The work also contained the names of nearly 1,000 people of foreign birth who were closely identified with American history. The Cyclopædia was illustrated with about sixty full-page portraits supplemented by some 1,500 smaller vignette portraits accompanied by facsimile autographs, and also several hundred views of birthplaces, residences, monuments, and tombs famous in history.

None of the articles are signed either with names or with initials. The clue to authorship is obtained, when obtained at all, through a list of contributors and their contributions arranged alphabetically as to contributors. One reviewer found this a rather inconvenient method, complaining that the finding of the author of a particular sketch often involved a voyage of discovery through the entire list. These lists are searched in vain, however, for the authors of many sketches, including the one of President Grover Cleveland.

Fictitious biographies

presents serial archive listings for

The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography was a multi-decade series of volumes of biographies of Americans in every state, published by James T. White and Company. It contains more than 60,000 entries, mostly compiled from information provided by the subjects or their families, though sources are not usually credited. There is no overall order to the biographies, but indexes exist. (There is a Wikipedia article about this serial.)

Publication History

The first numbered volume was copyrighted in 1891. The lettered "current" volumes, specializing in living persons, began in the 1920s. (The letters denote the sequence of the "current" volumes, not the initials of the subjects.) Some volumes have revised editions or supplements. No volume copyright renewals are known. The last volume (combining regular volume 63 and current volume N) was published in 1984. Listings below are roughly in chronological order, with series volume order overriding in some cases.

Persistent Archives of Complete Issues

This is a record of a major serial archive. This page is maintained for The Online Books Page. (See our criteria for listing serial archives.) This page has no affiliation with the serial or its publisher.

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