33-482: The Chambers Dictionary ( TCD ) was first published by William and Robert Chambers as Chambers's English Dictionary in 1872. It was an expanded version of Chambers's Etymological Dictionary of 1867, compiled by James Donald. A second edition came out in 1898, and was followed in 1901 by a new compact edition called Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary . TCD is widely used by British crossword solvers and setters, and by Scrabble players (though it
66-485: A lexicon of all words and inflections playable in tournament Scrabble within the UK and other countries such as New Zealand and Australia. In 2005, Mattel changed the source dictionary to Collins English Dictionary . William Chambers (publisher) William Chambers of Glenormiston FRSE ( / ˈ tʃ eɪ m b ər z / ; 16 April 1800 – 20 May 1883) was a Scottish publisher and politician,
99-464: A statue of Chambers, by local sculptor John Rhind was placed in the centre of Chambers Street. This has low-relief copper panels on the base by William Shirreffs . The statue was relocated in 2020 as part of a relancaping exercise on Chambers Street, increasing paved area outside the National Museum of Scotland . In the beginning of 1832 William Chambers started a weekly publication under
132-611: A succession of publishers including J. B. Lippincott . The 1848 edition is stated to be the first American edition, while the 1856 ed. is claimed to be the 15th. Further American editions were published up to 1867. The first edition, entitled Chambers's Encyclopaedia A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge for the People , was partly based on a translation into English of the 10th edition of the German-language Konversations-Lexikon , which would become
165-472: A supplement of 409 pages at the back for new and revised content. A revised edition appeared in 1874. The index of matters not having special articles contained about 1,500 headings. The articles were generally considered excellent, especially on Jewish literature , folk-lore , and practical science . As in Brockhaus, however, the scope of the work did not allow extended treatment. An entirely new edition
198-443: Is no longer the official Scrabble dictionary). It contains many more dialectal , archaic, unconventional and eccentric words than its rivals, and is noted for its occasional wryly humorous definitions. Examples of such definitions include those for éclair ("a cake, long in shape but short in duration") and middle-aged ("between youth and old age, variously reckoned to suit the reckoner"). These jocular definitions were removed by
231-557: Is the smaller 21st Century Dictionary of 1664 pages, where "the focus is on the English that people use today, and definitions are given in straightforward, accessible language". This dictionary can be accessed for free online . In an agreement with Mattel 's predecessor, J. W. Spear & Sons , the Chambers Dictionary was, for several decades, the official source of words for the book Official Scrabble Words (OSW),
264-641: The Brockhaus Enzyklopädie . The publishers found it necessary, however, to supplement the core text with a significant amount of additional material, including more than 4000 illustrations not present in Brockhaus. Andrew Findlater was the acting editor and spent ten years on the project. The work appeared between 1859 and 1868 in 520 weekly parts at three-halfpence each and totalled ten octavo volumes, with 8,320 pages, and over 27,000 articles from over 100 authors. Over 250 authors were traced by Professor Cooney in 1999. Volume 10 included
297-545: The Domestic Annals of Scotland (1859–1861) and the Book of Days (2 vols., 1862–1864) were the most important. He was played by Christopher Lee in the 2005 feature film The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby . In 1833 he was married to Harriet Seddon Clark (b.1801). [REDACTED] Media related to William Chambers (publisher) at Wikimedia Commons Chambers%27s Encyclopaedia Chambers's Encyclopaedia
330-713: The 1930s by the City Chambers to build an extension to the chambers. The firm would eventually become part of Chambers Harrap Publishers in the late 20th century. Among the other numerous works of which Robert was in whole or in part the author, the Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen (4 vols., Glasgow, 1832–1835), the Cyclopædia of English Literature (1844), the Life and Works of Robert Burns (4 vols., 1851), Ancient Sea Margins (1848),
363-562: The 1930s). In 1872 Edinburgh University awarded Chambers an honorary doctorate (LLD). Chambers died at home at 13 Chester Street in Edinburgh's West End on 20 May 1883 and was buried in the family plot in Peebles Cemetery. His memorial is placed on the eastern flank of the central tower. His house at Glenormiston was demolished in the 1950s. In 1867, in his capacity as Lord Provost of Edinburgh, William Chambers (who
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#1732765105979396-689: The Earth, Physical and Political." Improved two volume editions were published in 1842 and 1848. A third improved edition appeared in 1857., shortly before the Chambers Brothers publication of the first edition of their major encyclopedia in 1860. Further new, two volume editions were published in 1875 and 1884, both of which are denominated the Fifth edition . Congruently with this a second series of editions were published in Philadelphia by
429-615: The United States a version of Chambers was published in 1880 as the Library of Universal Knowledge . This began the process of creating the New International Encyclopedia family of encyclopedias. In 1944 the licence to Chambers's Encyclopaedia was acquired by George Newnes, Ltd. , which had been publishing one-volume reference works for about a decade. In 1950, Chambers's Encyclopaedia. New Edition
462-625: The book-selling trade. William was apprenticed to a John Sutherland, a bookseller with a circulating library based a 9 Calton Street at the base of Calton Hill . William was paid 4/- per week from which he paid 1/6 per week for lodgings at Boak's Land off the West Port at the west end of the Grassmarket . William opened his own bookshop in 1819 on Broughton Street, an ancient sloping and winding street absorbed by Edinburgh's New Town . In 1820 he began printing his own works. In 1832 he founded
495-536: The brother (and business partner) of Robert Chambers . The brothers were influential in the mid-19th century, in both scientific and political circles. Chambers was born in Peebles the son of James Chambers a cotton mill owner, said to have 100 looms in his factory, and his wife, Jean Gibson. William was educated locally, but well, being trained in the Classics. The family moved to Edinburgh in 1814 to work in
528-513: The first edition, although other visual features, such as tables and fold-out maps increased. Further new editions followed in the 1890s, 1901, 1908, the 1920s and 1935. This last edition was also issued as a special British Universities Encyclopedia . Each of these kept the 10 volume format. Patrick wrote the preface for the 1901 and 1908 editions and was listed as the editor in the 1920s and 1935 editions, despite having died in 1914. These were actually edited by William Geddie (1877–1967). In
561-555: The first two editions of the encyclopaedia can be seen on a digital resource hosted on the National Museums Scotland website . Before publishing an encyclopedia, Chambers produced a smaller publication, Chambers's Information for the People . This began as a serial publication in 1835. Like the Penny Cyclopaedia , and others of the time it was meant to be a cheap reference work that was targeted at
594-410: The intellectual atmosphere of post-war Britain. This implies belief in international co-operation rather than nationalistic isolationism , and in freedom of speech , and worship , information and association rather than in any totalitarian conception". The publication was celebrated at a luncheon at Grocers' Hall attended by over one hundred contributors and chaired by Sir Frank Newnes . It
627-496: The middle and working classes. Hence, it focused only on subjects that would be of interest to the common man and pertinent to his self education. It also eschewed the bulky format that and "found it necessary to disregard all common idea as to what constitutes dignity in the externals of books". The undertaking was a success, selling seventy thousand issues in its first year. The original edition consisted of 48 numbered "treatises", plus an unnumbered introductory treatise "An Account of
660-634: The modern world emerged from prior modes of thinking in such periodicals as the Edinburgh Journal . Their publishing business prospered, and in 1846 William purchased the Glemormiston estate (near Peebles) from William Steuart. This house had beeb built by William Hunter in 1805. Chambers remodelled it in 1849, also adding many murals to the interior. In 1859 Chambers founded a museum and art gallery in Peebles. The brothers collaborated on
693-536: The publication of Chambers Encyclopaedia between 1860 and 1868. The Chambers Dictionary in 1872 was one of the first generally affordable dictionaries, allowing its use as a standard school text book. William was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1860, his proposer was John Shank More . His address was then given as 13 Chester Street, a large townhouse in Edinburgh's west end. As Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1865 to 1869, Chambers
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#1732765105979726-505: The publisher in the 1970s, but many of them were reinstated in 1983 because of the affection in which they were held by readers. The twelfth edition of The Chambers Dictionary was published in August 2011 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd and runs to 1936 pages with 62,500 main entries. This edition is available for mobile use as an iPhone, iPad, or Android app. That has been followed by the thirteenth edition published in 2014. Also on sale
759-476: The publishers, Newnes, confirmed that the work was a great success, with sales requiring regular reprinting; this allowed for considerable revision of the work. By the 1961 revised edition, several million words had been revised or replaced and over half the total pages had been reset or changed in some way. The encyclopaedia was regarded as such a scholarly achievement that Mrs Law was made an OBE for her efforts. She retired in 1963. Unlike other encyclopedias of
792-428: The publishing firm of W. & R. Chambers Publishers with his younger brother Robert . They were keen advocates of popular education and his firm pioneered the use of industrial technologies within publishing to make books and newspapers available cheaply. They produced books and periodicals of Scottish interest, such as Gazetteer of Scotland . They also made money in promulgating the many new science discoveries as
825-519: The success of the Journal . From September 1832 the two brothers formed the book publishing firm of W. & R. Chambers Publishers . This was originally located at 19 Waterloo Place at the east end of Princes Street . In the mid-19th century they moved to a large premises at 339 High Street on the Royal Mile . It lay between Warriston Close and Roxburgh Close. Their premises was acquired in
858-432: The time, Chambers's Encyclopaedia forwent annual revision and attempted to publish new editions at roughly five-year intervals. A new edition was published in 1955 and another at the turn of the next decade. The Encyclopaedia was acquired by Pergamon Press in 1966, the same year as the next edition was published. Despite its publication date, information within the set was not up to date beyond 1963. A revised printing
891-426: The title of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal , (known since 1854 as Chambers's Journal of Literature, Science and Arts ), which speedily attained a large circulation (84,000), and to which his younger brother Robert Chambers was at first only a contributor. After fourteen issues had appeared, Robert became associated with his brother as joint editor, and his collaboration may have contributed more than anything else to
924-598: Was also a director of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ), granted a dog licence to Greyfriars Bobby , paying for the licence and for a customised dog collar, now in the Museum of Edinburgh , himself. A memorial stained glass window was erected in the centre of the north aisle of St Giles Cathedral in his memory. A smaller window to his brother Robert stands to its side. In 1891
957-626: Was announced that the encyclopaedia, which had taken six years to prepare, had cost £500,000 and included the work of over 2,300 authors. Lord Jowitt , the Lord Chancellor , gave the toast and described the endeavour as "outstanding proof" of British scholarship, while Mrs Law commented that she believed the work to be the first major encyclopaedia to be published in Britain since before the First World War . Subsequent reports from
990-464: Was founded in 1859 by William and Robert Chambers of Edinburgh and became one of the most important English language encyclopaedias of the 19th and 20th centuries, developing a reputation for accuracy and scholarliness that was reflected in other works produced by the Chambers publishing company. The encyclopaedia is no longer produced. A selection of illustrations and woodblocks used to produce
1023-425: Was published 1888–1892 in ten volumes edited by David Patrick . In this edition, the majority of the articles were rewritten and the articles on American matters were written mainly by Americans and an edition published there by Messrs. Lippincott of Philadelphia so that Lippincott and Chambers could claim relevant copyright in their respective countries. This second edition had about 800 fewer illustrations than
Chambers Dictionary - Misplaced Pages Continue
1056-452: Was published in fifteen volumes with great fanfare. While being international in scope, it has been described by Encyclopædia Britannica as British in orientation and conservative in approach with largely British contributors. Managing editor Margret D. Law called it a completely new work with an historic name and noted in the preface that the encyclopaedia "...is primarily a British production and therefore no doubt reflects to some extent
1089-482: Was responsible for instructing the restoration of St Giles Cathedral and other major town planning exercises, including the creation of Jeffrey Street, St Marys Street and Blackfriars Street. These streets were all created under the City Improvement Act of 1866, including one named in his memory: ( Chambers Street ). In 1868 he built a new printworks immediately west of the City Chambers (demolished in
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