A Most Important and Unique Departure in the Publishing World
The publishing house of Thomas Nelson & Sons, established in Edinburgh in 1804, and in New York in 1854, has recently placed on the market an encyclopædia that for its great excellence and its many distinguishing features has been termed “the last word” on encyclopædias. Nelson’s Encyclopædia is an absolutely new work of reference edited by the famous encyclopædic experts—Frank Moore Colby, M. A., New York, and George Sandeman, M. A., of Edinburgh. These men have been assisted by a corps of the most eminent scholars and specialists that have ever engaged in a single educational undertaking. Having an active organization on both sides of the Atlantic, the publishers have united the work of editors in both countries, and the results justify the claim that Nelson’s is the only truly international encyclopædia. The trouble with all previous encyclopædias has been this: The moment a volume was regularly bound, it became a dead issue as far as the world’s life of to-day and to-morrow is concerned. Nelson’s Loose-Leaf Binding Device has solved the problem. It makes it possible to keep each volume up to the very hour of the world’s happenings—day by day, month by month, without increasing the size of the volume, without addition of volumes, without “new editions,” and all the other cumbersome and costly old-fashioned attempts at keeping an encyclopædia abreast of the times. The beauty of this application of the loose-leaf system to an encyclopædia is that the23loose-leaf arrangement has been so perfected that every part of it is within the binding, so that the book, viewed from the outside, looks like any other well-bound book. Another pleasing feature is that the book opens readily at any page, and when open lies easily and naturally, without making it necessary to bring pressure to bear on the two parts of the volume to keep it open. This loose-leaf device would not induce the public to buy the Encyclopædia were they not first convinced that it is the very best encyclopædia in the English language. The editorial policy which has given Nelson’s such an enviable start will be maintained by continuous revision. These editors will be constantly at work rewriting any article in the original work which, because of new events, ceases to be contemporaneous. The new matter to be included will not only be the newest to be had, but it will be as accurate as the best trained minds and the most careful editing can make it. Here is the Publishers’ Guarantee as given with each set sold:— We, Thomas Nelson & Sons (established in Edinburgh in 1804, and in New York in 1854), certify:— In consideration of the purchase price paid in accordance with the terms of the agreement of purchase of one set of ‘Nelson’s Encyclopædia, Perpetual Loose-Leaf Edition,’ with Revision Pages, that we will keep this work up to date by issuing yearly up to and including the year 1912, not less than 500 renewal pages, and deliver same without further cost to each subscriber. After 1912 the renewal pages will be supplied to subscribers at a nominal yearly charge. With each set of Nelson’s Loose-Leaf Encyclopædia is a ‘Certificate Page.’ This certificate guarantees that the encyclopædia will be kept new by the insertion annually of not less than 500 rewritten pages. These 500 or more pages are sent to the subscribers about the first of March of each year, when they take the place of temporary pages which are issued from time to time, as the news of the day demands. Besides this service of “revision pages,” however, which is guaranteed each subscriber to the Encyclopædia until the year 1912, the certificate entitles each subscriber to special information on any subject desired, the latter to be furnished by the permanent editorial board engaged for the work by Thomas Nelson & Sons. In other words, the subscriber to Nelson’s Encyclopædia who is desirous of more information on some particular subject than he can find in the work itself has only to make his needs known to the Editorial Board, whereupon the latter is pledged to bestir itself, dig out the required data, and forward same to the inquisitive subscriber. This Editorial Board is a practical clearing house for general information. There is another advantage offered by the loose-leaf system of reference which will be appreciated by persons who use an encyclopædia to familiarize themselves with a large general subject, or some great historical event, perhaps with a view of preparing an essay or a debate or a lecture. Suppose, for example, one wished to become familiar with the history and general significance of the French Revolution. There is an admirable general article on that subject in Nelson’s, in which, of course, the great leaders and the important institutions involved are specifically mentioned. These topics again are treated separately under their several heads in other parts of the book. To read all of them one would be obliged to refer to almost every volume of the encyclopædia; and if one were attempting to construct an elaborate account of that great struggle, making use of all the biographical, historical, and geographical matter contained in the entire encyclopædia, much time would be lost in handling one volume after another until all the facts were collated. By the means of the loose-leaf system, all of this matter can be removed by pages arranged to suit the scheme of presentation or study decided upon, a plan which will effect an immense saving of time and labor. So, too, any of the longer articles on the countries or the States or the great personages of history, may be removed temporarily and held in the hand while the reader peruses them at his ease, and then replaced securely in the volume. Within a few days the publishers had issued ready for distribution a temporary page giving an account of the assassination of King Carlos and the crown prince of Portugal, and the ascension to the throne of Manuel II. Also a temporary page giving an account of the tornado disaster in the Gulf States that occurred on April 25. They also had pages printed and in the mail to the subscribers within two days, giving an account of the Republican Convention, the text of the platform and sketch of the nominees. Subscribers to Nelson’s Loose-Leaf Encyclopædia had in a condensed and digested form, almost as recent, but absolutely more reliable information on these subjects than could be gleaned from the newspapers or magazines. The method of preparing the permanent revision pages is the same as that employed by encyclopædia publishers for the past fifty years: paragraphs of past importance are condensed, and the space thus gained is given to new topics or to old ones which have grown in interest during the year. Of course, new subjects or additional information will be needed where no space has been provided in this way. In such cases the number of the pages in the volume will be increased by inserting, where needed, pages which will be numbered with the same folio but differentiated by a letter. For instance, if the present government of Russia should be overthrown, and a republic founded, the new pages would be numbered 477 A, 477 B, etc. The launching of Nelson’s Perpetual Loose-Leaf Encyclopædia is a fitting celebration of the century’s existence of the publishing house of Thomas Nelson & Sons. For three generations the publication of Bibles and educational works has made the name of Nelson known the world over wherever the English tongue is spoken. The stability of the house is surety for the success of its new venture. [Adv.]