“RIGA” at the end of the 1800'sThe National Encyclopedia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge

RIGA, the capital of the Russian government of Livonia, is situated on the right bank of the Düna, about 7 miles above its entrance into the Gulf of Riga, and had 282,943 inhabitants in 1897. The width of the river and the distance of the town from the sea make the port very spacious and secure, and the merchantmen come up to the quays. In summer a bridge of pontoons, 40 feet wide and 2600 feet long, loosely attached to piles, and rising and falling with the tide, is laid across the river, which is also crossed by a railway bridge. The town has a strong citadel, and is otherwise well fortified. There are three suburbs rapidly increasing in size. The principal public buildings of the town are—a Lutheran cathedral, St. Peter's (the steeple of which is said to be the highest in the empire), and a great number of other churches; the castle, built in 1204; an imperial palace, with an observatory; the residence of the civil governor; an ancient palace, partly used as the residence of the military governor, partly serving for barracks; the town house, containing the exchange; the assembly house of the estates of Livonia; the arsenal; the hospital of St. George; the Catherinenhof, a bomb-proof warehouse 445 feet in length; and a theatre. There is also a column with a colossal bronze statue of Victory; and numerous literary and useful institutions, including several colleges, a school of navigation, a public library with many rare manuscripts, a cabinet of natural history, and a society of Lithuanian literature. The old part of the town is dark and gloomy, but the modern one is handsome.

Riga is the third city of the empire in commercial importance; the numerous ships in the river, the bustle in the streets, and the well-stocked warehouses and shops are indications of the extensive trade of which it is the centre. Out of the large number of vessels which annually enter the port by far the greater part are British. The chief exports are flax, hemp, linseed, corn, wood, Russian leather, tallow, hides, &c. Much of the wood exported consists of ships' masts. These are procured chiefly from districts which border on the Dnieper, and are sent up that river to a landing-place, whence they are transported 30 versts to the Düna, and there being formed into rafts of from 50 to 200 pieces, they descend the stream to Riga. Riga has very considerable manufactories of woollens, rope, tobacco, starch, soap and candles, glass and iron works, and sugar refineries.

The bay of Riga is free from rocks; the inner harbour of the town admits vessels drawing from 18 to 20 feet of water, and ships of larger burden load and unload at Bolder-Aa, a small port outside of the bar, at the mouth of the Düna, where the custom-house is placed; but the harbour of Riga has been much improved. Riga is a large corn depot. The harbour is open to navigation from three weeks to a month earlier in the spring than St. Petersburg, and is free from ice as much longer in autumn.

Riga was founded about the year 1200, by Albert, the third bishop of Livonia, who established a German colony there. The city grew in importance, and in the thirteenth century joined the Hanseatic League. In 1621 it was besieged and taken by Gustavus Adolphus. In 1710, after a vigorous defence and a fearful slaughter, it was taken by Peter the Great, and annexed to the Russian Empire.

We're always somewhat sad to see old books cut up for pictures. Admittedly, that makes individual pages affordable (and more saleable), such as our page from the 1550's of the Riga skyline. Unfortunately, in our case as in most others, one loses the accompanying information since the pages of text before and after the picture get thrown away.

When we obtained this engraving of Riga from a supposedly latter half of the 19th century (1869) encyclopedia—seemingly less desirable because of "printing" on the back—we were quite happy to discover that the "printing" was the rest of the encyclopedia's article about Riga!

Since the article mentions the population of Riga in 1897, we realized the encyclopedia was actually published around the turn of the century. The source mentioned was The National Encyclopedia. Unfortunately, at least three different encyclopedias (!) have been published with that title. But judging by the pot shot taken at Rousseau:

RIGAUDON, the old French dance equivalent to the English rigadoon. It is a matter of dispute whether the French took their name from the English (the woord being assumed to be connected with rig, merry, as we might say a "merry go down"), or the English from the French. The latter seems to be the the fact, because the rigadoon was the court dance under Louis XIII, but was not familiar in England till James II. or William III., half a century later. Rousseau's remark that the name came from Rigaud, a dancing master, is quite unsupported. The dance is almost certainly of Provençal origin. It has a peculiar jump or spring in it. The music is in 2—2 or 4—4 time. The best type of music to this dance is the famous and very fine rigaudon in "Dardanus," by Rameau.

our best guess was British origin. That would make it a later edition of The National Encyclopedia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge published by William Mackenzie, London, first edition published in 1881. We've since confirmed that with the seller (to whom the original publishing date was misrepresented).

a picture of The National Encyclopedia we found at www.prettygoodbritain.com/encyclopedia.html»

And so, the small mystery regarding the exact origin of this encyclopedic entry for "RIGA"—with accompanying illustration—has been solved.