Robert Kemp Philp

Robert Kemp Philp (1819–1882) was an English journalist and compiler of popular reference books. Born in Falmouth, Cornwall, he was active in the Chartist movement in Bath in his youth and edited radical newspapers before turning to publishing in London. Enquire Within upon Everything (1856), a household encyclopedia in numbered paragraphs, sold in enormous numbers and continued to be revised and reprinted long after his death; he followed it with The Reason Why series, the Dictionary of Daily Wants, The Family Save-All and other guides to domestic life, most of them published anonymously. He also wrote books on medicine for the home.