Volume Library
The Volume Library was a one volume general reference work that was published from 1911 to 1985. It remained as a two or three volume reference work until at least 2004.
The publication began in 1911 by W. E. Richardson of Chicago. It was edited by Henry Woldmar Ruoff who also edited the New Century Book of Facts and the Standard Dictionary of Facts and others. New editions were published in 1912 and 1913, the latter under the imprint of R. P. Trosper.[1] Beginning with the 1917 edition it was published by the Education Associates, Inc. and remained with that company until 1963 when the encyclopedia was purchased by Cowles Communications Inc.[2]
From 1963 the set was titled Cowles Comprehensive Encyclopedia - the Volume Library. Under Cowles the work was said to be "extensively revised and vastly improved".[3] In 1968 the title was changed again to Cowles Volume Library and was changed back to Volume Library in 1970, after having been acquired by the Southwestern Company of Nashville, Tennessee. It expanded to 2 volumes in 1985.[4]
The 1985 edition had 2,650 pages, 8,500 articles and 3.5 million words. The set included 2,000 illustrations, mostly in black and white, and 200 maps, included a 64 page world atlas at the end of Vol. 2. The articles were of the broad entry type, each about 400 pages or one third of a page. 300 contributors were listed at the beginning of Vol. 1 and 75 percent of the articles were signed. The encyclopedia was topically arranged and contained 500 cross references, with an index of 50,000 entries[5]
References
- ^ S. Padraig Walsh Anglo-American General Encyclopedias 1704-1967 New York: R. R. Baker and Company, 1968 pp.175-6
- ^ Walsh p.176; Volume library : a modern authoritative reference for home and school use Nashville, Tenn. : Southwestern 2004 inside flap
- ^ Walsh p.36
- ^ Kennth F. Kister Best Encyclopedias Phoenix, AZ; Orynx Press, 1986 p.197
- ^ Kister p.196
External links
- The volume library: a concise, graded repository of practical and cultural knowledge designed for both instruction and reference Chicago, The W. E. Richardson company, 1911.
- The Volume library; a concise, graded repository of practical and cultural knowledge designed for both instruction and reference Chicago, The W.E. Richardson company 1912
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