Serial publications, reference books and compendia of knowledge illustrate the diverse range of material that employed description as a tool during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. While often seen in literature as the lesser sibling of narration, fleshing out the novel with occasionally superfluous detail, or as a useful device in natural history, the theoretical and practical use of description has often gone unnoticed. The two books under review offer new insights into description during the Enlightenment and make attempts to redress this. They examine the relationships between the objects and concepts Enlightenment scholars wanted to describe and the ways in which words and techniques were used to convey meaning.

The Unfinished Enlightenment: Description in the Age of the Encyclopedia is Joanna Stalnaker's first book and builds on many years of scholarship in literary criticism. She reminds the reader of the debt that historical epistemology owes to Michel Foucault, noting that it is his work that has enabled current scholarship on techniques of scientific description and observation. She too is interested in the fragmentary and partial nature of description as used by writers of the Enlightenment. Nevertheless, she suggests that, as a literary study, her work marks a departure from the Foucauldian tradition.

The book is organized into three parts focusing on ‘Natural histories’, ‘Encyclopedias’ and ‘Moral and political topographies’. Each part is subsequently divided into two chapters that each examine a particular concept linked to description. Supporting these sections is an interesting introduction that gives sufficient background to the genre for those unfamiliar with it. Despite the focus on France, Stalnaker points out that the epistemological and literary changes connected to description were also a part of cross-European culture. The concentration on French works enables Stalnaker to address the epistemological context and literary form in detail, with reference to a limited number of texts whose choice is not fully explained.

Stalnaker suggests that in modern society we tend to see description as an accomplice of narration, serving only to augment commentary. This association was a key trend in late nineteenth-century French literature, in which description was almost used profligately in the novel. Stalnaker seeks to redress the balance by examining description in works from the previous century. The book focuses on the theory of description, looking at how it was used and the problems it caused. Emphasis is given to the practical problems encompassed when describing articles, particularly when teaching natural history. The use of description and the relationship between teacher and pupil are clearly explained through relevant examples. The chapter ‘Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's strawberry plant’ draws comparisons between Saint-Pierre and Buffon while highlighting the methods by which description was employed in the teaching of botany. Stalnaker cites the procedure Rousseau used to create a referential base for description, circumventing the problem of abstraction and misidentification that could befall his pupils. This study points the reader towards the symbolic encoding Rousseau employed as botanical shorthand, with the aid of a reproduction of the manuscript of ‘Caractères de botanique’. The use of symbols to represent or express meaning is an important tool for description, and one that supported the pedagogy of the day.

Stalnaker uses figures sparingly, choosing those most pertinent to the narrative. The engravings of anatomical studies of horses (Figures 1 and 2) demonstrate how labels and diagrams were a useful tool and provide evidence that description was not merely textual. The inclusion of such illustrations by Stalnaker reminds the reader of the importance of arrangement when considering the intentionality of the author, crucial for those studying historical publications.

Jeff Loveland's book An Alternative Encyclopedia? Dennis de Coetlogon's Universal History (1745) contrasts nicely with the focus of Stalnaker's volume, as it examines a contemporary British encyclopedia. Unlike Stalnaker's work, which examines a number of reference books, Loveland concentrates on Dennis de Coetlogon's Universal history of arts and sciences. This appears to be the first major work to focus on Coetlogon's publication and is a welcome addition to the available literature. An Alternative encyclopedia is presented in six chapters plus an introduction and a conclusion. The first chapter helps to ground the Universal history, as it details Coetlogon's life before and after he moved to England in 1727. Coetlogon was a French emigrant so it could be postulated that the autobiographical content owed much to the literary and political life he left behind. It is important to note that little evidence about Coetlogon is known, and the majority of information is gained from his autobiographical notes.

Coetlogon's Universal history of arts and sciences was originally published in 209 weekly parts between 1741 and 1745, culminating in two volumes of over one thousand pages. It was essentially the first serial publication of a dictionary of the arts and sciences, and is considered a model for the modern encyclopedia. However, Loveland suggests it is possibly a misnomer to call it an encyclopedia when comparing it to stereotypical contemporary works. The importance of order in encyclopedic compendia is addressed in Chapter 4. This is one of the most valuable chapters for those studying reference works and primers, as it highlights the fact that they were often written in response to pedagogical needs. Understanding the organization of such texts, be it alphabetical, chronological, logical or taxonomical, helps the reader to comprehend the contents and intentionality of the work. Loveland uses the chapter to show that non-alphabetical order remained critical within the framework of alphabetical order. The Universal history was unusual in that its 169 treatises were arranged in alphabetical order supported by indexes, a little-used organizational tool in similar publications.

Alongside personal anecdotes, the Universal history was a forum for advertising, often marketing Coetlogon's own pharmaceutical products. Loveland examines advertising associated with encyclopedias, using advertising as a broad term that includes dedications and sponsorship, something that continues to the present day. The book includes figures that illustrate the layout of the treatises in the Universal history, demonstrating the use of typographic tools such as capitalization and crossheads. In concluding, Loveland suggests that the exploration of less-well-known works aids the study of more common volumes. Overall, this is a thoughtful and detailed examination of a relatively ignored yet significant publication.