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James Tytler

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James Tytler (17 December 1745,[1] Fearn, Angus - 11 January 1804, Salem, Massachusetts) was a Scottish apothecary and the editor of the second edition of Encyclopædia Britannica. Tytler became the first person in Britain to fly by steering a hot air balloon (1784).

A group of historiographers wrote about him:

A social outcast, Tytler did much hack work for low pay and rarely if ever emerged from poverty. But [...] he deserves to be remembered as a man of many talents - as a political and religious controversialist, scholar, journalist, poet, song writer, musician, balloonist, pharmacist, surgeon and printer. In addition [...] he was an outstanding encyclopedist whose editorship of the second edition earns him a notable place in the history of encyclopedias.

— Hardesty Doig, Kafker, Loveland, Trinkle, 2009[2]

Life

Tytler was the son of a Presbyterian minister in Forfarshire, Scotland. His father taught him Greek, Latin and theology. He probably studied for the ministry but was not interested in (Orthodox) Calvinism. He became a preacher in the Church of Scotland and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh,[3] after which he apprenticed as a ship's surgeon for one year.[4] He may not have received a degree,[5] or he may have, as the 11th edition of Britannica refers to him as James Tytler, M.A.[6] He declined to practice medicine but instead opened a pharmacy in Leith, near Edinburgh, which was a financial failure, leaving him in debt.[7] The two longest articles in the second edition of Britannica are Surgery and Pharmacy,[8] reflecting his fields of expertise.

In 1765, Tytler married Elizabeth Rattray, the orphaned daughter of a solicitor. Soon after, he fled Scotland to escape his creditors. His financial problems may have come from his alcoholism. He went to northern England, where he again tried to make a living as an apothecary. After he became father of several children, he returned to Edinburgh in 1772 or 1773. In 1774 or 1775 Tytler separated from his wife; at the time the couple had five children.[9]

The years when Tytler worked as editor of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1777–1784 for the second edition, and 1788-1793 for the third) were his financially luckiest. He had income also from some other editing works and translations. But in March 1785 he went bankrupt again, possibly due to the costs of his engagement in hot air ballooning. He moved to several places in Scotland and northern England. Elizabeth Rattray sued him for divorce in 1788, because he had lived with Jean Aitkenhead since about 1779 and had twin daughters with her.[10]

He returned to Edinburgh in 1791. Because of political trouble, he was outlawed in absence by the Scottish High Court in 1793. So he moved to Belfast and in 1795 to the United States. In Salem, Massachusetts, he edited the Salem Register, published some works and sold medicines. On 9 January 1804, Tytler left his house drunk; two days later the sea returned his body.[11]

James and Elizabeth Rattley had joined the Glasites, a radical Protestant sect. In the 70s, Tytler left the sect and denounced it together with all churches. He remained a fervent Christian without denomination. In Salem he never went to church.[12]

Encyclopædia Britannica

Tytler had done some writing; for example, in 1774 he authored two religious pamphlets which earned him no money or little. He came late to the Encyclopædia Britannica, to become the editor of the second edition (1777–1784). He was cheaper to the publishers than the previous editor, William Smellie. Maybe the publishers trusted Tytler because one of them, Andrew Bell, was content with Tytler's assistance with another work. As a group of historiographers wrote, 'Tytler displayed an uncharacteristic steadiness of purpose while working on the second edition.' [13] Reviewers were lukewarm to the Tytler edition, but the sales showed an appreciation by the reading public.[14]

Tytler contributed some long treatises to the third edition (1788–1797), and possibly was even its first editor before he left Edinburgh in March 1788, the month before the first number was published.[15] This left the editor's chair to Britannica's co-owner and Bell's partner, Colin Macfarquhar. Tytler continued to contribute heavily to the third edition when he came back to Edinburgh, as far as the letter M, which was produced in 1792 or '93.[16]

Politics

With regard to politics, the second edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica is moderate because the publishers Bell and Macfarquhar curbed Tytler's reformism.[17] Tytler expressed sympathy for the French Revolution of 1789 and called up the British not to pay taxes. He also denounced public officials. One of his pamphlets, in 1792, called the House of Commons 'vile junto of aristocracts' usurping the rights of king and people. Not money but his honest and upright behaviour should qualify a man for being an elector. As a consequence he was convicted in January 1793.[18]

On the ship to America in 1795 Tytler wrote a pamphlet Rising the sun in the west, or the Origin and progress of liberty in which he decounces the elites of the old World. Disappointed with the Scottish and Irish, he praised the Americans and French for fighting against superstition and tyranny. This in spite of the religious politics of revolutional France.[19]

Aviation

The inventive Tytler, familiar with chemistry, rivalled the French pioneers of hot air ballooning and became the first person in Britain to fly such a novelty air-craft. His venture was expensive, but succeeded after some attempts on 25 August 1784, in Edinburgh. His manned balloon rose a few feet from the ground. Two days later he managed to reach a height of some 350 feet, travelling for half a mile. Later trials, again, were less fortunate. In October his balloon rose significantly only after Tytler left the attached basket, to the disappointment of the crowd. Consequently Tytler, having been 'the toast of Edinburgh', was ridiculed and called a coward. His last flight was on 26 July 1785.[20]

Tytler was overshadowed by Vincenzo Lunardi—the self-styled "Daredevil Aeronaut"—who carried out five sensational launches in Scotland that created a ballooning fad and inspired ladies' fashions in skirts and hats. The "Lunardi bonnet" is mentioned in the poem To a Louse by Robert Burns.

See also

References

  1. ^ Hew Scott, Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae, vol. 5, (1925, p. 397); biography, Balloon Tytler by Sir James Fergusson of Kilkerran (1972, p. 18). Kathleen Hardesty Doig, Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland and Dennis A. Trinkle: James Tytler's edition (1777-1784): a vast expansion and improvement. In: Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland (ed.): The Early Britannica (1768-1803): the growth of an outstanding encyclopedia. Voltaire Foundation, Oxford 2009, pp. 69-155, here 71. The book "The Great EB, the story of Encyclopædia Britannica," by Herman Kogan, states that he was 29 when he began work for Britannica, which puts his year of birth at or around 1748
  2. ^ Kathleen Hardesty Doig, Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland and Dennis A. Trinkle: James Tytler's edition (1777-1784): a vast expansion and improvement. In: Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland (ed.): The Early Britannica (1768-1803): the growth of an outstanding encyclopedia. Voltaire Foundation, Oxford 2009, pp. 69-155, here p. 155.
  3. ^ The Great EB, the story of Encyclopædia Britannica, Herman Kogan,
  4. ^ The Great EB, the story of Encyclopædia Britannica, Herman Kogan, p. 16.
  5. ^ Kathleen Hardesty Doig, Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland and Dennis A. Trinkle: James Tytler's edition (1777-1784): a vast expansion and improvement. In: Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland (ed.): The Early Britannica (1768-1803): the growth of an outstanding encyclopedia. Voltaire Foundation, Oxford 2009, pp. 69-155, here 71/73.
  6. ^ 11th edition, 1911, vol 9, p. 378.
  7. ^ The Great EB, the story of Encyclopædia Britannica, Herman Kogan
  8. ^ The second edition of Britannica.
  9. ^ Kathleen Hardesty Doig, Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland and Dennis A. Trinkle: James Tytler's edition (1777-1784): a vast expansion and improvement. In: Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland (ed.): The Early Britannica (1768-1803): the growth of an outstanding encyclopedia. Voltaire Foundation, Oxford 2009, pp. 69-155, here 73/74.
  10. ^ Kathleen Hardesty Doig, Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland and Dennis A. Trinkle: James Tytler's edition (1777-1784): a vast expansion and improvement. In: Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland (ed.): The Early Britannica (1768-1803): the growth of an outstanding encyclopedia. Voltaire Foundation, Oxford 2009, pp. 69–155, here p. 151–152.
  11. ^ Kathleen Hardesty Doig, Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland and Dennis A. Trinkle: James Tytler's edition (1777-1784): a vast expansion and improvement. In: Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland (ed.): The Early Britannica (1768-1803): the growth of an outstanding encyclopedia. Voltaire Foundation, Oxford 2009, pp. 69-155, here p. 154/155.
  12. ^ Kathleen Hardesty Doig, Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland and Dennis A. Trinkle: James Tytler's edition (1777-1784): a vast expansion and improvement. In: Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland (ed.): The Early Britannica (1768-1803): the growth of an outstanding encyclopedia. Voltaire Foundation, Oxford 2009, pp. 69-155, here 73/74, 155.
  13. ^ Kathleen Hardesty Doig, Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland and Dennis A. Trinkle: James Tytler's edition (1777-1784): a vast expansion and improvement. In: Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland (ed.): The Early Britannica (1768-1803): the growth of an outstanding encyclopedia. Voltaire Foundation, Oxford 2009, pp. 69-155, here 71, 74/75.
  14. ^ Kathleen Hardesty Doig, Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland and Dennis A. Trinkle: James Tytler's edition (1777-1784): a vast expansion and improvement. In: Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland (ed.): The Early Britannica (1768-1803): the growth of an outstanding encyclopedia. Voltaire Foundation, Oxford 2009, pp. 69-155, here p. 146.
  15. ^ Kathleen Hardesty Doig, Frank A. Kafker, William E. Morris: Colin Macfarquhar, George Gleig and possibly James Tytler's edition (1788-1797): the attainment of recognition and eminence. In: Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland (ed.): The Early Britannica (1768-1803): the growth of an outstanding encyclopedia. Voltaire Foundation, Oxford 2009, pp. 157-251, here p. 158.
  16. ^ George Gleig in the forward to the 1797 printing of the Encyclopædia Britannica Third Edition, 1797, Vol.1, p. preface, Gleig lists authors of the 3rd edition
  17. ^ Kathleen Hardesty Doig, Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland and Dennis A. Trinkle: James Tytler's edition (1777-1784): a vast expansion and improvement. In: Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland (ed.): The Early Britannica (1768-1803): the growth of an outstanding encyclopedia. Voltaire Foundation, Oxford 2009, pp. 69-155, here p. 139.
  18. ^ Kathleen Hardesty Doig, Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland and Dennis A. Trinkle: James Tytler's edition (1777-1784): a vast expansion and improvement. In: Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland (ed.): The Early Britannica (1768-1803): the growth of an outstanding encyclopedia. Voltaire Foundation, Oxford 2009, pp. 69-155, here p. 153.
  19. ^ Kathleen Hardesty Doig, Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland and Dennis A. Trinkle: James Tytler's edition (1777-1784): a vast expansion and improvement. In: Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland (ed.): The Early Britannica (1768-1803): the growth of an outstanding encyclopedia. Voltaire Foundation, Oxford 2009, pp. 69-155, here p. 154.
  20. ^ Kathleen Hardesty Doig, Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland and Dennis A. Trinkle: James Tytler's edition (1777-1784): a vast expansion and improvement. In: Frank A. Kafker, Jeff Loveland (ed.): The Early Britannica (1768-1803): the growth of an outstanding encyclopedia. Voltaire Foundation, Oxford 2009, pp. 69-155, here p. 151.

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