Gibbon
Gibbon names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Gibbon a genus of tailless anthropoid apes
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a genus of tailless anthropoid apes, natives of the East Indies. They are nearly allied to the orangs and chimpanzees, but are of more slender form, and their arms so long as almost to reach the ground when they are placed in an erect posture; there are also naked callosities on the buttocks. In this respect they differ from the other anthropoid apes and are allied to some of the catarrhini; in other respects also the gibbons are the lowest among the anthropoid apes, and connect them with the catarrhini. The gibbons are inhabitants of forests, their long arms enabling them to swing themselves from bough to bough. They cannot, however, move with ease or rapidity on the ground. The conformation of the hinder extremities adds to their difficulty in this, while it increases their adaptation to a life among the branches of trees, the soles of the feet being much turned inward. None of the gibbons are of large size. There are some 8 or 10 species. The common gibbon, or lar gibbon, is found in some parts of India, and in more E. regions. The active gibbon, found in Sumatra, is particularly remarkable for the power which it displays of flinging itself from one tree to another.
Gibbon EDWARD, an English historian
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
EDWARD, an English historian; born in Putney, April 27, 1737; studied at Westminster School, Magdalen College, Oxford, and Lausanne. On returning to England he prepared himself for authorship. In 1763 he went to Italy; and while sitting amid the ruins of the Capitol at Rome, he conceived the idea of writing the history of the decline and fall of that city. In the meantime he joined M. Deyvurdun, a Swiss scholar, in publishing a journal called "Literary Memoirs of Great Britain," which met with no success. In 1772 he began his celebrated history of the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." Previous to this undertaking Gibbon was chosen member of Parliament for Liskeard; and when hostilities commenced between England and France, in 1778, he was employed to draw up the manifesto on that occasion, after which he was made Commissioner of the Board of Trade, but lost his place on the change of administration in 1783. He then went to reside at Lausanne, where he remained till the French Revolution obliged him to return to England. He died in London, Jan. 16, 1794.
Gibbon PERCEVAL, an English novelist
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
PERCEVAL, an English novelist. He was born at Trelech, Wales, in 1879, and was educated at the Moravian School, Königsfeld, Baden. After leaving school he joined the merchant marine and served on British, French, and American ships. As journalist and war correspondent he traveled in south, central, and east Africa, America, and Europe. His works include: verse, "African Items"; novels, "Souls in Bondage," "Adventures of Miss Gregory," "The Second-Class Passenger," with many contributions to English and American magazines.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's counted "some 8 or 10 species" of gibbon in 1921; today biologists recognise roughly twenty, split among four genera (Hylobates, Hoolock, Nomascus and the siamang, Symphalangus), grouped as the "lesser apes" of the family Hylobatidae. Nearly all of them are now threatened or endangered by logging, palm-oil clearance and the pet trade, a danger the 1921 account had no reason to foresee. Edward Gibbon's entry stands almost unaltered, except that his own memoirs date the moment of inspiration among the ruins of Rome to 15 October 1764, not 1763, and the "Decline and Fall" remains continuously in print. Perceval Gibbon, then a living novelist and war correspondent, died in 1926 and is now largely forgotten outside collectors of sea fiction.
Written for this edition, 2026.