Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) dime novels, swift-moving, thrilling novels, mainly about the American Revolution, the frontier period, and the Civil War. The books were first sold in 1860 for 10 cents by the firm of Beadle and Adam...

(Encyclopedia) Camp David accords, popular name for the peace treaty forged in 1978 between Israel and Egypt at the U.S. presidential retreat at Camp David, Md. The official agreement was signed on Mar. 26, 1979, in...

(Encyclopedia) incunabula ĭnˌkyo͝onăbˈyo͝olə [key], plural of incunabulum [Late Lat.,=cradle (books); i.e., books of the cradle days of printing], books printed in the 15th cent. The known incunabula represen...

(Encyclopedia) Field, Cyrus West, 1819–92, American merchant, promoter of the first Atlantic cable, b. Stockbridge, Mass.; brother of David Dudley Field and Stephen J. Field. As head of a paper business, he accumu...

(Encyclopedia) Fort Worth, city (2020 pop. 918,915), seat of Tarrant co., N Tex., on the Trinity River 30 mi (48 km) W of Dallas; settled 1843, inc. 1873. An army post...

(Encyclopedia) Leslie or Lesley, John, 1527–96, Scottish bishop, historian, and statesman. After studying in France, he returned (c.1554) to Scotland, where he opposed the Reformation. He became ecclesiastical adv...

(Encyclopedia) Lovecraft, H. P. (Howard Phillips Lovecraft), 1890–1937, American writer, b. Providence, R.I. A master of Gothic horror, fantasy, and science fiction of a most rococo variety, he is particularly not...

(Encyclopedia) music hall. In England, the Licensing Act of 1737 confined the production of legitimate plays to the two royal theaters—Drury Lane and Covent Garden; the demands for entertainment of the rising lowe...

(Encyclopedia) Navratilova, Martina märtēˈnə năvˌrətĭlōˈvə [key], 1956–, Czech-American tennis player, b. Prague. After holding the Czech singles title (1972–74), she defected (1975) to the United Sta...

(Encyclopedia) O'Neil, Buck (John Jordan O'Neil), 1911–2006, African-American baseball player and coach, b. Carrabelle, Fla. One of the stars of the Negro leagues, he began playing semipro baseball at 12, and his ...