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.