Adam Black

Statue of Adam Black in Princes Street Gardens , Edinburgh

Adam Black (born February 20, 1784 in Edinburgh , † January 24, 1874 in Edinburgh) was a Scottish bookseller and politician. He was the publisher of the 7th to 9th editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica and a central figure in the politics of Scotland in the 19th century.

Black attended high school in Edinburgh from 1791 and in 1798/99 took the subjects of Greek and Latin at the University of Edinburgh . In 1799 he began training with the bookseller John Fairbairn. In 1804 he moved to Lackington, Allen & Co. in London , where he worked for two years. Back in Edinburgh he married Isabella Tait in 1817, the daughter of a building contractor. The couple had 4 sons and 5 daughters.

In 1807 he bought his own bookshop in Edinburgh. In 1817 he founded the publishing house " A & C Black " with his nephew Charles Black . Black had earned a reputation as one of Edinburgh's most important booksellers by 1823. After the death of Archibald Constables, the previous editor, Adam and Charles Black acquired the rights to the Encyclopædia Britannica . From the 7th edition onwards, they introduced an index of the subject areas it contained, which could last up to the 14th edition. Although they expanded the content, the stock of articles had only been slightly revised and updated up to the 8th edition. This revision took place as part of the 9th edition, known as the Scholar's Edition, the most famous edition of the Britannica , with the participation of the most famous scientists. A & C Black got into financial difficulties during the preparation of this edition, which was published between 1875 and 1889, and therefore had to end its further participation in Britannica ; Black died in 1874 before the edition was published. The so-called "Britannica", in English, was sold as far as the USA and Australia .

In 1847 Adam Black founded the Who's Who , which he registered as a trademark with an apostrophe ('s) in the same year . In 1848 the first 250-page personal encyclopedia was dedicated to the British royal family, the nobility, politicians, judges and officers. Who's Who was also published in the USA from 1899 onwards. The Who's Who followed in Australia in 1906 , and in Europe from 1945. Today the "Encyclopædia Britannica Incorporated Inc." holds the trademark rights to the Encyclopædia Britannica . With over 75,000 articles (2004), the lexicon is one of the most renowned reference works in the world.

A&C Black was also the Edinburgh sales agency for Whigs- affiliated political and literary magazine The Edinburgh Review . In 1851 Black bought the remaining rights to Walter Scott's works. After Charles Black died in 1854, two sons of Adam Black joined the company. Although he traveled often in his final years, he was an active participant in the business until 1870.

Adam Black died in Edinburgh on January 24, 1874 and was buried there in Warriston Cemetery.

Web links

Commons : Adam Black  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Adam Black in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography .
2. ^ Maren Runte, Julia C. Steube: Encyclopædia Britannica. In: Ulrike von Haß (ed.): Large encyclopedias and dictionaries in Europe: European encyclopedias and dictionaries in historical portraits. De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2011, ISBN 978-3-11-024111-2 , pp. 82-83, (accessed online from de Gruyter ).
3. ^ Entry in the biographical index of former members of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1783–2002). (PDF)