Category Bufton’s Universal Cyclopædia – 1924

Bufton's Universal Cyclopædia

Bran

Update 12/7/2020 - Sold my copy of this encyclopedia set.

General Details

Title: Bufton's Universal Cyclopædia
Volumes: 4
Language: English
Publisher: Mutual Publishing Company
Year: 1924
Pages: Not numbered.

Bufton's Universal Cyclopædia (slogan: "Multum in Parvo") is, according to its title page, "a comprehensive, accurate and dependable storehouse of universal knowledge, treating history, geography, biography, literature, economics, civics, art, science, discovery and invention, embracing over 16,000 subjects" . The 4-volume set was originally published in 1919; my edition is from 1924 and was published in Kansas City, MO. James Bufton, the managing editor and publisher, states in the preface that he wanted to "eliminate much useless and cumbersome material that serves only to pad and give bulk to the average encyclopaedia", but this small encyclopedia lacks some standard features, like an index and page numbers, while ironically padding itself with random long treatises, stories, and other supplements.

Following the preface, the first volume contains a page of quotes extolling the virtues of having books (including one by Horace Greeley, lifted straight from the prefatory material in Johnson's Universal Cyclopaedia: "I want at my elbow while writing three books: a dictionary, an atlas, and a cyclopaedia of not more than four volumes".). This is followed by the standard encyclopedic/dictionary layout, in three columns, beginning with the letter A. Little black-and-white illustrations pepper the pages; these tend to well-selected and add useful visual information to the very concise entries. There are even occasional full-page illustrations and a few color plates in each volume.

It would be, basically, a standard encyclopedia other than the fact that there are random special sections scattered throughout. Lacking page numbers, there is no index or guide to help the user know about their existence, beyond a chance encounter while flipping through the pages. For example, following the entry on "Arithmetic" is a 22-page guide to "The Teaching of Arithmetic," broken up into chaptered sections with exercises, including a chapter on using math to build and decorate a house. The encyclopedia then resumes right where it left off with a full page illustration of a naval ship and the article on "Arizona." Here is, as best as I can document, a list of the special sections:

Volume 1

  • The Teaching of Arithmetic [follows "Arithmetic"]
  • Bible Index [interrupts "Biblical Criticism"]

Volume 2

  • Marley's Ghost [interrupts "Dickens"]
  • In Flanders Fields [interrupts "Flax"]
  • Legal Forms and Terms [follows "Forrest, Edwin"]
  • English Style Book [follows "Grand Pre"]

Volume 3

  • Benefits Forgot: A Thanksgiving Story of Abraham Lincoln [interrupts "Lincoln, Abraham"]
  • The Boy's Workshop [interrupts "Manual Training" and, just so you are clear, "This is a chapter for boys."]
  • The Great Guest Comes [follows "Marmose"]
  • Physical Training [follows "Physiology"]

Volume 4

  • Hamlet's Instructions to the Players [interrupts "Shanghai"]
  • The Court of Boyville; The March of Miles Standish; The Kid has Gone to the Colors; Ma'moiselle; Dirge for a Soldier; The Duel; William's Psychic Disturbances; One, Two, Three; A Cutting from Enoch Arden; The Third Ingredient; Cutting from Julius Caesar - Quarrel of Brutus and Cassius; Itching Heels; Almost Beyond Endurance; Character and Success; The American Boy; His Compensation; Walkin' the Young-'Uns; A Christmas Dinner On The Wing; The Deserter; The House by the Side of the Road; Where Cross the Crowded Way; Two Bills; The Fads of Miss Philury; "I Wonder" [all of this follows "Story, William"]
  • Classified Literary Gems [follows "Zyrians"]
  • Atlas [follows "Classified Literary Gems"] with Index of Cities and Towns
  • Question Department [follows "Atlas"]

Yearly supplements were issued for this set, which could be stored in a special binder designed to match the covers of the regular four volumes.

Sample Entries

I look up the same two entries, when available, in every reference work featured on this site in order to provide a fair basis of comparison between them. There are no page numbers, but both "umbrella" and "Saint Louis" appear in volume 4 of this set:

UMBRELLA, a portable shade, screen, or canopy which opens and folds, carried in the hand for sheltering the person. The umbrella had its origin in the East in very remote times, where it was (and still is) regarded as an emblem of royalty or a mark of distinction; but as a defense from rain it was not used in England till early in the 18th century.

SAINT LOUIS (lṳ'i or lu'is), the chief city of the lower Mississippi valley, the commercial metropolis of the State of Missouri, is situated on the west bank of the Mississippi, less than 20 miles from its confluence with the Missouri, and 185 miles north of the influx of the Ohio. It is distant by river about 1,200 miles from New Orleans, and 729 miles from St. Paul, the head of navigation upon the upper Mississippi. It is situated in the center of the great valley, through which the waters of the Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Illinois and other smaller but navigable streams find their way to the Gulf of Mexico. St. Louis is built upon a series of undulating hills or terraces that rise one above the other from the river for miles to the west.

The plan of the city is rectilinear. In the old portion of the city, laid out by the early French inhabitants, the streets are narrow, and the blocks average 300 feet square. In the newer portion of the city the streets are wide and lined with shade trees. The east and west streets run from the river at right angles. One of these, Market street, is the dividing center line. The sewer system is most extensive, surface drainage being unknown in the city. The largest sewer, known as the Mill Creek, following the line of a natural drain, is twenty feet wide and fifteen feet high. The city is lighted every night of the year by electricity. The alleys are brightly illuminated with incandescent electric lights, and the streets proper with arc-lights swung over the streets at an elevation of forty-five feet.

The twenty-three public parks, places, and gardens of the city have a total area of 2183 acres, including the part of Forest park temporarily used as part of the grounds of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Forest park, the largest of these, dates from 1874. It is almost directly west of the business center. Its area of 1371 acres represents a cost of $2,304,669 for ground and improvements. The school system of Saint Louis is notable in several particulars, chiefly in its application of theory of manual training in connection with the work of Washington university, and in its pioneer work in illustrating the practical workings of the theories of Froebel. The city has begun supplying free books, and supports the free public library as an essential part of the system of public education. Among the private institutions are Washington university, with the Manual Training school and School of Fine Arts, University of Saint Louis, Forest Park University for Women, the Christian Brothers' college, the Saint Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Homeopathic Medical College of Missouri, the Missouri School for the Blind, the Kenrick Theological seminary, and the Saint Louis Law school, now a department of Washington university. The principal libraries are the Public and the Mercantile. Among minor libraries, that of the Missouri Historical society is most important. The principal theatres are the Olympic, the Century, the Garrick, the Grand Opera House, the Imperial, Havlin's, the Odéon (Grand Avenue), and the Columbia. The Grand Opera House has a seating capacity of 2200, and the Olympic 2400.

The railroad systems of which Saint Louis is a center converge here from all parts of the United States and also from Mexico and Canada, though the country in which the city has fostered railroad development most in marketing its output lies south of Nebraska and west of the Mississippi. The twenty-four railroads of which it is a terminus have dwarfed the influence of the Mississippi as the determining factor of its trade without lessening the great advantage of direct river communication with tide water. Though Saint Louis is important as a manufacturing city and markets its own industrial output, it is still more important commercially as a distributing center for products representing the entire country. Its location makes it a point of clearing between manufactured products and the products of the soil for which they are exchanged. East Saint Louis, the principal industrial suburb on the Illinois side of the river, is connected by the magnificent Eads Bridge for railroads, wagons, and foot passengers. (See Bridge.) The Merchants' Bridge connecting the Illinois terminals of Saint Louis railroads with the Union Station system of terminals is for railroads only. The Union Station covers about eleven acres of ground with its main building and adjacent sheds. Saint Louis is a port of entry. Its exports are chiefly to Mexico, South America, and the West Indies. Its direct trade with the Philippines, mainly in malt liquors, has assumed some importance. The principal export shipments of flour and grain are to Central and South America, Cuba, England, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, and Germany. Exports to Europe consist largely of provisions. The principal items are dry-salt and sweet pickled meats, oleo, lard and hides. Exports of agricultural supplies, hardware, electrical supplies, machinery, glass, etc., are mostly to Spanish America. The city is "the largest tobacco market in the world."