The Universal History (complete title: A Universal history, from the earliest account of time. Compiled from original authors; and illustrated with maps, cuts, notes, &c. With a general index to the whole. ) was a 65-volume universal history of the world published in London between 1747 and 1768. Contributors included George Sale, George Psalmanazar, Archibald Bower, George Shelvocke, John Campbell and John Swinton.
It was one of the first works to attempt to unify the history of Western Europe with the stories of the world's other known cultures. As a major historical synthesis on, among other subjects, European colonial activities during the modern era, the Modern Part of a Universal History (1754-1765) can be considered, according to one specialist, Guido Abbattista, as a precursor of the famous abbé Guillaume Raynal's Histoire des Deux Indes (1770-1780), of which it was one of the most important, even if not acknowledged, sources.
Famous quotes containing the words universal and/or history:
“I have been maintaining that the meaning of the word ‘ought’ and other moral words is such that a person who uses them commits himself thereby to a universal rule. This is the thesis of universalizability.”
—Richard M. Hare (b. 1919)
“The principle office of history I take to be this: to prevent virtuous actions from being forgotten, and that evil words and deeds should fear an infamous reputation with posterity.”
—Tacitus (c. 55–117)