Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Ts'ao Hsüeh-ch'in tsouˈ shyĕˈchĭnˈ [key], 1715–63, Chinese novelist. He is the author of Story of the Stone (or A Dream of Red Mansions), which is considered China's greatest novel. After his ...

(Encyclopedia) Rosset, Barney Lee, Jr., 1922–2012, American publisher, b. Chicago. As head (1951–85) of Grove Press, he published literary works previously deemed too obscene or unconventional for the reading pu...

(Encyclopedia) Evans, Oliver, 1755–1819, American inventor, b. near Newport, Del. He joined his brothers in a flour-milling business in Wilmington, and after studying similar earlier devices, he developed, install...

(Encyclopedia) fair-trade laws, in the United States, a former group of statutes that permitted manufacturers to specify the minimum retail price of a commodity. The first fair-trade law was adopted (1931) by Califo...

(Encyclopedia) Tappan, Lewis, 1788–1873, American abolitionist, b. Northampton, Mass. He became a partner in his brother Arthur's New York mercantile house in 1828 and in 1841 founded the first agency for rating c...

(Encyclopedia) Pomponius Mela mēˈlə [key], fl. c.a.d. 50, Roman geographer, b. Spain. His De situ orbis, a description of the then known world, was published in Latin in 1471 and translated into English by Arthur...

(Encyclopedia) Amadas or Amidas, Philip both: ămˈədăs [key], 1550–1618, English navigator. With Arthur Barlowe he was sent by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584 to explore the North American coast. Their favorable rep...

(Encyclopedia) Grenfell, Bernard Pyne grĕnˈfĕl [key], 1869–1926, English classical scholar and Egyptologist. With Arthur Surridge Hunt he discovered at Oxyrhynchus the Logia of Jesus (see Agrapha of Jesus). He ...

(Encyclopedia) Nielsen, Carl nēlˈsən, Dan. nĭlˈsən [key], 1865–1931, Danish composer. Nielsen was a pupil of Niels Gade at the Royal Conservatory in Copenhagen. Considered Denmark's foremost composer, he is ...

(Encyclopedia) Houston Symphony. Founded in 1913 with 33 players, the orchestra reorganized in 1930 and presented its first full season of concerts in 1931. Among its important conductors have been Ernst Hoffmann (1...