About the Book :

Encyclopaedic Dictionary of The Bible, running into 10 volumes, intends to elucidate the antiquities, biography, geography and natural history of the Old Testament, New Testament, Apocrypha, without going to explain systems of theology, or discuss points of controversial divinity. Also, it gives a full account of the Book, with special emphasis on Genesis, Isaiah, Job, Nehemiah, Pentateuch, Proverbs and the Books of Samuel. In the alphabetical arrangement, the orthography of the authorized version has been invariably followed. In each article devoted to a proper name, the corresponding forms in the Hebrew, Greek and Vulgate are given, together with the variations in the two great manuscripts of the Septuagint. Supported by numerous illustrations, the Dictionary explains every name, even the names of comparatively obscure persons and places; besides scientific accounts of the plants and animals that are referred to in the Scriptures. It is a reprint of the meticulously revised, greatly enlarged edition, published in 1893 precisely after three decades of its first appearance.

About Author :

Smith, Sir Willam (1813-1893), an English lexicographer, was born at Enfield in . He was originally destined for a theological career. Later, he turned his attention to lexicography. His first attempt was the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, which appeared in 1842. In 1849, followed the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, and the Greek and Roman Geography in 1857. In 1850, he published the first of the school dictionaries; and in 1853, he began the Principia series, which marked a distinct step in the school teaching of Greek and Latin. Then came the Students Manuals of History and Literature, in which the Greek history was the editor own work. The most important, perhaps, of the books edited by William Smith were those that dealt with ecclesiastical subjects. These were the Dictionary of the Bible (1860-1865); the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities (1875-1880), undertaken in collaboration with Archdeacon Cheetham; and the Dictionary of Christian Biography (1877-1887), jointly with Dr. Henry Wace. The Atlas, on which Sir George Grove collaborated, appeared in 1875. From 1853 to 1869, Smith was classical examiner to the University of London, and on his retirement he became a member of the Senate. He sat on the Committee to inquire into questions of copyright, and was for several years registrar of the Royal Literary Fund. He edited Gibbon, with Guizots and Milmans notes, in 1854-1855. In 1867, he became editor of the Quarterly Review, which he directed with marked success until his death on the 7th of October 1893. He was D.C.L. of Oxford and Dublin, and the honour of knighthood was conferred on him the year before his death.