First published in 1858 and reissued here in its enlarged 1867 edition, this dictionary, produced by journalist and editor Peter Lund Simmonds (1814-97), contains more than 22,000 entries. Of enduring interest in the history of trade and technology, it testifies to the proliferation of manufactured goods in the nineteenth century.
An industrious journalist and editor of periodicals, Peter Lund Simmonds (1814-97) wrote across a range of subjects, including natural history and applied science. An active member of the Royal Society of Arts, he first published this dictionary in 1858. Reissued here in its revised and enlarged edition of 1867, it contains more than 22,000 entries. The curious can discover within that a calcar is a furnace in a glassworks, or that the best kind of Cuban tobacco is known as calidad. Readers will also learn that the hautboy can be either eaten or played, being the name for both a wild strawberry and a form of oboe. Testifying to the proliferation of manufactured goods in the nineteenth century, and the contemporary desire to diffuse 'sound and useful knowledge among the masses', this work will appeal to readers interested in the history and lexicon of trade and technology.
