Household Cyclopedia

The Household Cyclopedia is a book of general knowledge published in 1881. It was scanned and reproduced as a website by Matthew Spong in 1998, and then converted to a printable file in 2005.

We should become familiar with the knowledge of that era, so that we don't have to reinvent the wheel for everything. That said, we need to be careful as we sort through this material. We may have forgotten a lot of knowledge, but we have also gained a tremendous amount of other knowledge. Some chapters (e.g. photography, enamelly) are probably of minor importance.

Relevant Stuff Elsewhere on the OSE Wiki

• Internal copy as .pdf file (can be inserted here if needed - file is 14 Mb and will have to be split)
• Household Cyclopedia on Metallurgy
• related: Victorian Farm and Edwardian Farm (videos from the BBC)

List of Chapters

1. AGRICULTURE
2. HORTICULTURE
3. RURAL AND DOMESTIC ECONOMY
4. FARRIERY
5. MEDICINE
6. CULINARY ARTS
7. BREWING
8. DISTILLATION
9. PERFUMERY
10. BLEACHING AND SCOURING
11. DYING
12. PAINTS AND COLORS
13. VARNISHES
14. INKS
15. METALLURGY
16. PYROTECHNY
17. TANNING
18. ENAMELLING
19. POTTERY
20. GLASS
21. PHOTOGRAPHY
22. ENGRAVING
23. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
24. CHEMICAL RECEIPTS
25. WEATHER PROGNOSTICS
26. ANGLING
27. MISCELLANEOUS
28. IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

Discussion

Please share your thoughts here: what of this old knowledge and technology to dismiss, to reconsider, to redesign for the 21st century.

External links

• Copy of Household Cyclopedia in .pdf format at Archive.org
• Wikipedia: Household Cyclopedia
• Matthew Spong website