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The jump from a mofussil college to a University at the age of 14 was steep to me. I was put up in my M.D. Uncle's place and the first thing I noticed there was a huge bookshelf. With trepidation. When no one was looking, I pulled out the fattest book and it was titled The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes. I didn't know who that chap was and what he did for a living. And I opened it at random and met with The Redheaded League. I sat down with it and started reading. By the time I finished it, the only thing I could make out was that it was beautiful but tough.
It was there that I read about Encyclopedia Britannica. I could only guess what it was from excerpts like:
'And the work?'
'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and blotting paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be ready to-morrow?'
...."Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about Abbots, and Archery, and Armor, and Architecture, and Attica, and hoped with diligence that I might get on to the Bs before very long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole business came to an end."
Here is the movie:
I was dying to have a look at that Encyclopedia Britannica, a name that sounded royally lyrical. But I had to wait seven long years to meet its couple of dozen lovely volumes in the Central Library at IIT KGP the day I first visited it in 1965. The entire set was open to access and it was a revelation.
During my first year of teaching Physics, a first year student asked me how exactly a tube light works, how come it continues to glow once it starts even if the starter is pulled out from its socket, what does that heavy thing called choke do and so on. I didn't know and I promised him I would find out and tell him tomorrow. And I scoured half a dozen physics and electrical engineering books but wasn't happy. It then occurred to me why not open the Encyclopedia Britannica. That settled it...there was this lucid article on the topic clearing all doubts with diagrams.
Since then I must have looked it up a dozen times for articles on physics. And I read up all about Cherenkov Radiation and Crystal Optics, my thesis topic.
There was also a complete set of Encyclopedia Americana, among many others, but none could beat Britannica.
It was funny that the British physics text books were obscure and laconic while their encyclopedia was elaborate and vivid. It was the other way round with their American cousins.
And there was the entire set of about 50 fat volumes called Encyclopedia Britannica Great Books of the Western World. One of its titles was William James's Principles of Psychology, a 1400-page marvel I browsed occasionally. It finds mention in Maugham's Razor's Edge whose hero, Larry, a young disillusioned fighter pilot, was found sitting absorbed in it by Maugham.
I see that the Encyclopedia Britannica has now gone out of print...Wikipedia must have killed it. I find that Wiki means Quick in Hawaiian.
Aloha Oe!!!
Here is a mention of New American Cyclopedia in the Autocrat of the Breakfast Table:
—Yes, a man sometimes makes a grand appearance on a particular occasion;
but these men knew something about almost everything, and never made
mistakes.—He? _Veneers_ in first-rate style. The mahogany scales off
now and then in spots, and then you see the cheap light stuff—I
found—very fine in conversational information, the other day when we were
in company. The talk ran upon mountains. He was wonderfully well
acquainted with the leading facts about the Andes, the Apennines, and the
Appalachians; he had nothing in particular to say about Ararat, Ben
Nevis, and various other mountains that were mentioned. By and by some
Revolutionary anecdote came up, and he showed singular familiarity with
the lives of the Adamses, and gave many details relating to Major André.
A point of Natural History being suggested, he gave an excellent account
of the air-bladder of fishes. He was very full upon the subject of
agriculture, but retired from the conversation when horticulture was
introduced in the discussion. So he seemed well acquainted with the
geology of anthracite, but did not pretend to know anything of other
kinds of coal. There was something so odd about the extent and
limitations of his knowledge, that I suspected all at once what might be
the meaning of it, and waited till I got an opportunity.—Have you seen
the “New American Cyclopædia?” said I.—I have, he replied; I received an
early copy.—How far does it go?—He turned red, and answered,—To
Araguay.—Oh, said I to myself,—not quite so far as Ararat;—that is the
reason he knew nothing about it; but he must have read all the rest
straight through, and, if he can remember what is in this volume until he
has read all those that are to come, he will know more than I ever
thought he would.
...Posted by Ishani
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So proud of you, such a lovely blogger.
ReplyDeleteI know I can call you a true genis writer, as I read a lot and u sure are of a rare kind!