LONGMANS

longmans, a firm of english publishers. the founder of the firm, thomas longman (1) (1699-1755), born in 1699, was the son of ezekiel longman (d. 1708), a gentleman of bristol. thomas was apprenticed in 1716 to john osborn, a london bookseller. at the expiration of his apprenticeship he married osborn's daughter, and in august 1724 purchased the stock and household goods of william taylor, the first publisher of _robinson crusoe_, for £2282 9s. 6d. taylor's two shops were known respectively as the black swan and the ship, and occupied the ground in paternoster row upon which the present publishing house stands. osborn, who afterwards entered into partnership with his son-in-law, held one-sixth of the shares in ephraim chambers's _cyclopaedia of the arts and sciences_, and thomas longman was one of the six booksellers who undertook the responsibility of samuel johnson's _dictionary_. in 1754 thomas longman took his nephew into partnership, the title of the firm becoming t. and t. longman. upon the death of his uncle in 1755, thomas longman (2) (1730-1797) became sole proprietor. he greatly extended the colonial trade of the firm. he had three sons. of these, thomas norton longman (3) (1771-1842) succeeded to the business. in 1794 owen rees became a partner, and thomas brown, who was for many years after 1811 a partner, entered the house as an apprentice. brown died in 1869 at the age of 92. in 1799 longman purchased the copyright of lindley murray's _english grammar_, which had an annual sale of about 50,000 copies; he also purchased, about 1800, the copyright, from joseph cottle, of bristol, of southey's _joan of arc_ and wordsworth's _lyrical ballads_. he published the works of wordsworth, coleridge, southey and scott, and acted as london agent for the _edinburgh review_, which was started in 1802. in 1804 two more partners were admitted; and in 1824 the title of the firm was changed to longman, hurst, rees, orme, brown & green. in 1814 arrangements were made with thomas moore for the publication of _lalla rookh_, for which he received £3000; and when archibald constable failed in 1826, longmans became the proprietors of the _edinburgh review_. they issued in 1829 lardner's _cabinet encyclopaedia_, and in 1832 m'culloch's _commercial dictionary_. thomas norton longman (3) died on the 29th of august 1842, leaving his two sons, thomas (4) (1804-1879) and william longman (1813-1877), in control of the business in paternoster row. their first success was the publication of macaulay's _lays of ancient rome_, which was followed in 1849 by the issue of the first two volumes of his _history of england_, which in a few years had a sale of 40,000 copies. the two brothers were well known for their literary talent; thomas longman edited a beautifully illustrated edition of the new testament, and william longman was the author of several important books, among them a _history of the three cathedrals dedicated to st paul_ (1869) and a work on the _history of the life and times of edward iii._ (1873). in 1863 the firm took over the business of mr j. w. parker, and with it _fraser's magazine_, and the publication of the works of john stuart mill and j. a. froude; while in 1890 they incorporated with their own all the publications of the old firm of rivington, established in 1711. the family control of the firm (now longmans, green & co.) was continued by thomas norton longman (5), son of thomas longman (4). longomontanus (or longberg), christian severin(1562-1647), danish astronomer, was born at the village of longberg in jutland, denmark, on the 4th of october 1562. the appellation longomontanus was a latinized form of the name of his birthplace. his father, a poor labourer called soren, or severin, died when he was eight years old. an uncle thereupon took charge of him, and procured him instruction at lemvig; but after three years sent him back to his mother, who needed his help in field-work. she agreed, however, to permit him to study during the winter months with the clergyman of the parish; and this arrangement subsisted until 1577, when the illwill of some of his relatives and his own desire for knowledge impelled him to run away to viborg. there he attended the grammar-school, defraying his expenses by manual labour, and carried with him to copenhagen in 1588 a high reputation for learning and ability. engaged by tycho brahe in 1589 as his assistant in his great astronomical observatory of uraniborg, he rendered him invaluable services there during eight years. he quitted the island of hveen with his master, but obtained his discharge at copenhagen on the 1st of june 1597, for the purpose of studying at some german universities. he rejoined tycho at prague in january 1600, and having completed the tychonic lunar theory, turned homeward again in august. he visited frauenburg, where copernicus had made his observations, took a master's degree at rostock, and at copenhagen found a patron in christian friis, chancellor of denmark, who gave him employment in his household. appointed in 1603 rector of the school of viborg, he was elected two years later to a professorship in the university of copenhagen, and his promotion to the chair of mathematics ensued in 1607. this post he held till his death, on the 8th of october 1647. longomontanus, although an excellent astronomer, was not an advanced thinker. he adhered to tycho's erroneous views about refraction, held comets to be messengers of evil and imagined that he had squared the circle. he found that the circle whose diameter is 43 has for its circumference the square root of 18252--which gives 3.14185... for the value of [pi]. john pell and others vainly endeavoured to convince him of his error. he inaugurated, at copenhagen in 1632, the erection of a stately astronomical tower, but did not live to witness its completion. christian iv. of denmark, to whom he dedicated his _astronomia danica_, an exposition of the tychonic system of the world, conferred upon him the canonry of lunden in schleswig. the following is a list of his more important works in mathematics and astronomy: _systematis mathematici_, &c. (1611); _cyclometria e lunulis reciproce demonstrata_, &c. (1612); _disputatio de eclipsibus_ (1616); _astronomia danica_, &c. (1622); _disputationes quatuor astrologicae_ (1622); _pentas problematum philosophiae_ (1623); _de chronolabio historico, seu de tempore disputationes tres_ (1627); _geometriae quaesita xiii. de cyclometria rationali et vera_ (1631); _inventio quadraturae circuli_ (1634); _disputatio de matheseos indole_ (1636); _coronis problematica ex mysteriis trium numerorum_ (1637); _problemata duo geometrica_ (1638); _problema contra paulum guldinum de circuli mensura_ (1638); _introductio in theatrum astronomicum_ (1639); _rotundi in plano_, &c. (1644); _admiranda operatio trium numerorum 6, 7, 8_, &c. (1645); _caput tertium libri primi de absoluta mensura rotundi plani_, &c. (1646). see e. p. f. vindingius, _regia academia havinensis_, p. 212 (1665); r. nyerup and kraft, _almindeligt litteraturlexikon_, p. 350 (1820); ch. g. jocher, _allgemeines gelehrten-lexikon_, ii. 2518, iii. 2111; jens worm, _forsog til et lexikon over danske, norske og islandske laerde maend_, p. 617, 1771, &c.; p. bayle, _hist. and crit. dictionary_, iii. 861 (2nd ed. 1736); j. b. j. delambre, _hist. de l'astr. moderne_, i. 262; j. s. bailly, _hist. de l'astr. moderne_, ii. 141; j. l. e. dreyer, _tycho brahe_, pp. 126, 259, 288, 299; f. hoeffer, _hist. de l'astronomie_, p. 391; j. madler, _geschichte der himmelskunde_, i. 195; j. f. weidler, _hist. astronomiae_, p. 451.