Robert Chambers (publisher, 1802)
Robert Chambers (born July 10, 1802 in Peebles , † March 17, 1871 in St Andrews ) was a Scottish author , geologist , man of letters and in his day one of the most successful publishers in Great Britain .
Life
Robert and his older brother William Chambers (1800-1883) were born in the Scottish town of Peebles on the Tweed . Her father, James Chambers, a cotton manufacturer, occasionally bought books for his home library. One day young Robert discovered the Encyclopædia Britannica at home and read it with great curiosity for years. Further books from the local lending library encouraged his interest in literature. At school he learned among other things Latin and Greek.
Robert and William both suffered from polydactyly . From birth they had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. Her parents tried to have the malformation corrected by surgery. While these went without complications with William, Robert showed permanent signs of paralysis. That is why he often withdrew with his books as a child.
The development of the mechanical loom threatened his father's business and forced him to become a cloth merchant. When he went bankrupt with it, the family moved to Edinburgh in 1813 . Robert continued his education at the local college, while William began an apprenticeship as a bookseller. In 1818 Robert sold his father's books as a street vendor, opening a modest bookseller's business.
William bought a simple printing press and started a publishing company. Finally the brothers got together: Robert tried his hand at writing, William printed his works. By 1832, the two had established a well-functioning printing and publishing house that produced, among other things, the weekly Chambers's Edinburgh Journal .
In 1829 Robert Chambers married Anne Kirkwood, who was raised as an only child. They had 14 children. Three died in childhood, three sons and eight girls survived.
In the 1830s, Chambers began to be particularly interested in geology , which was then experiencing a powerful boom. In 1840 he was admitted to the Royal Society of Edinburgh , and in 1844 to the Geological Society of London .
His most important work appeared anonymously in 1844: Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation . In the popular science formulated work he represented - 15 years before Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species - the idea of a comprehensive natural evolution and spanned the range from astronomy to geology to biology. The 12th edition of his authorship was not announced until 13 years after his death. There is a German translation of the sixth edition under the title Natural history of the creation of the universe, the earth and the organisms on it, based on facts obtained through science , translated by Carl Vogt and translated by Friedrich Vieweg and Son in the year 1851 was relocated in Braunschweig. A second, improved edition of the translation followed in 1858.
Fonts
- The Kaleidoscope, or Edinburgh Literary Amusement . 1821-1822.
- Illustrations of the Author of Waverley . 1822.
- Traditions of Edinburgh . 1824.
- Notices of the Most Remarkable Fires with have Occurred in Edinburgh . 1825.
- Walks in Edinburgh . 1825.
- Popular Rhymes of Scotland . 1826.
- Picture of Scotland . 1827.
- History of the Rebellion of 1745 . 1828.
- Scottish Ballads . 1829.
- Scottish songs . 1829.
- The Picture of Stirling . 1830.
- Life of King James I . 1830.
- Gazetteer of Scotland (with William Chambers) . 1832.
- Scottish Jests and Anecdotes . 1832.
- Life of Sir Walter Scott . 1832.
- History of Scotland . 1832.
- Reekiana, or Minor Antiquities of Edinburgh . 1833.
- Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen . 1833-1835.
- Life and Works of Burns . 1834.
- Jacobite Memoirs of the Rebellion . 1834.
- History of the English Language and Literature . 1835.
- Poems . 1835.
- The Land of Burns (with John Wilson). 1840.
- Cyclopaedia of English Literature (with Robert Carruthers). 1840.
- History of the Rebellion of 1745 . 1840.
- Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (published anonymously). 1844.
- Twelve Romantic Scottish Ballads . 1844.
- The Chambers Book of Days. 1864. Historical, biographical and anecdotal texts in calendar division. Lippincott, Philadelphia 1879. ( online )
- The Chambers Dictionary. 9th edition. Chambers, 2003, ISBN 0-550-10013-X .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Milton Millhauser: Just before Darwin: Robert Chambers and Vestiges . Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, Connecticut, 1959, p. 14
- ↑ Milton Millhauser: Just before Darwin: Robert Chambers and Vestiges . Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, Connecticut, 1959, p. 18
- ^ William Chambers: Memoir of Robert Chambers, With Autobiographical Reminisces of William Chambers. Scribner, Armstrong & Co, New York 1872, p. 175
- ↑ Natural history of the creation of the universe, the earth and the organisms on it, based on the facts obtained through science . From the English based on the sixth edition by Carl Vogt. Friedrich Vieweg and son, Braunschweig 1851, (online at Google Books) .
- ↑ Natural history of the creation of the universe, the earth and the organisms on it, based on the facts obtained through science . From the English based on the sixth edition by Carl Vogt. Second improved edition, Friedrich Vieweg and Son, Braunschweig 1858, (online at Google Books) .
literature
- John M. Lynch (Ed.): Vestiges and the Debate before Darwin . 7 volumes, Thoemmes Press, 2000, ISBN 1-85506-862-1 .
- Milton Millhauser: Just before Darwin: Robert Chambers and Vestiges . Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, Connecticut, 1959.
- James A. Secord: Victorian Sensation: The Extraordinary Publication, Reception and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation . Chicago University Press, Chicago / London 2000, ISBN 0-226-74410-8 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Robert Chambers in the catalog of the German National Library
- Biography (English)
- Chambers at Project Gutenberg (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Chambers, Robert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British geologist, man of letters and publisher |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 10, 1802 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Peebles |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 17, 1871 |
| Place of death | St Andrews |