Encyclopaedia Britannica

[HarryT]

I don't know why, but I've always had a secret lust for a good printed encyclopaedia, so I've just shelled out £50 for an "as new" 1998 edition of the 30-volume "Encyclopaedia Britannica" on eBay . A pretty good price, I think, considering that it sold for several thousand pounds when it was originally published. Even in these days of "Wikipedia" I think there's a great deal to be said for an "authoritative" encyclopaedia which is written by people who actually know what they're talking about? And for me, at least, there's something about a printed volume that a web site doesn't match.

I go to pick it up from the seller on Saturday - it would cost a fortune to post. Now all I have to do is clear some space on my bookshelves to actually store it. It's lucky that I've got rid of almost all my paperbacks over the last few years, so I do have some shelf-space now.

I don't know if anyone's read the very funny book "The Know-It-All" by A.J. Jacobs, in which he sets himself the goal of reading the whole of the EB? I don't know if I want to try to emulate him, but it's certainly a thought! (I highly recommend the book, BTW, if anyone hasn't read it!)

Anyone share my secret passion for encyclopaedias?

[crich70]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I don't know why, but I've always had a secret lust for a good printed encyclopaedia, so I've just shelled out £50 for an "as new" 1998 edition of the 30-volume "Encyclopaedia Britannica" on eBay . A pretty good price, I think, considering that it sold for several thousand pounds when it was originally published. Even in these days of "Wikipedia" I think there's a great deal to be said for an "authoritative" encyclopaedia which is written by people who actually know what they're talking about? And for me, at least, there's something about a printed volume that a web site doesn't match.

I go to pick it up from the seller on Saturday - it would cost a fortune to post. Now all I have to do is clear some space on my bookshelves to actually store it. It's lucky that I've got rid of almost all my paperbacks over the last few years, so I do have some shelf-space now.

I don't know if anyone's read the very funny book "The Know-It-All" by A.J. Jacobs, in which he sets himself the goal of reading the whole of the EB? I don't know if I want to try to emulate him, but it's certainly a thought! (I highly recommend the book, BTW, if anyone hasn't read it!)

Anyone share my secret passion for encyclopaedias?

I used to have a copy of a set of Britannica from the 50's that I bought cheap from a used book store. Of course I also had a copy of EB on CD-Rom (they stopped supporting it so I can't access it any more). I understand George Washington had a complete set. Of course back then a complete set was just 2 volumes.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by crich70

I understand George Washington had a complete set. Of course back then a complete set was just 2 volumes.

It was initially released between 1768 and 1771 in three volumes. The first edition is, as a matter of interest, available as a facsimile edition, which is fascinating to read - it you see a cheap version of it, it's worth getting. My local library has it.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It was initially released between 1768 and 1771 in three volumes. The first edition is, as a matter of interest, available as a facsimile edition, which is fascinating to read - it you see a cheap version of it, it's worth getting. My local library has it.

Thanks for the correction and the tip Harry. I got a similar bargain once. Will and Ariel Durant's "The Story of Civilization." Brand new each vol. ran about $25-$30 and I got the whole 11 Vol. set for just $45.00 and it is in very good (almost pristine) condition.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by crich70

Thanks for the correction and the tip Harry. I got a similar bargain once. Will and Ariel Durant's "The Story of Civilization." Brand new each vol. ran about $25-$30 and I got the whole 11 Vol. set for just $45.00 and it is in very good (almost pristine) condition.

I'm a sucker for that kind of thing myself. I have a beautiful "Folio Society" six-volume edition of Gibbons' "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", bound in white leather, that I picked up for next to nothing many years ago.

[wodin]

I remember when I was a child, by father succumbed to a very persuasive door to door encyclopedia salesman and bought a set on a payment plan. It was bit over twenty volumes with most letters of the alphabet dedicated to one volume, but with some letters doubling or tripling up. I recall X Y and Z being a single volume.

I used to love to randomly select a letter, and just read through the articles. I wonder if that was the beginning of my love for reading.

[kindlekitten]

I have an 85 edition as well as an edition from sometime in the 50s. I also have the 10 volume set of "The Book of a Thousand Nights and a Night" by Sir Richard Francis Burton

[crich70]

I have a copy of the Oxford Shakespeare that I bought new back in 1989. I'd always wanted a copy of my own and I used part of my wages from working at a boy scout camp that summer to purchase it.

[issybird]

I've long had a hankering to own the eleventh edition of the EB. I've never pursued it, but one almost fell into my lap once. A friend was organizing the donations for her church book table and they included the eleventh edition that I craved. She thought it worthless and asked my opinion and on hearing I had always wanted it, offered it to me on the spot for a trifling sum; $20 I think. I felt honor-bound to tell her it had some value and she ended up getting a few hundred for it.

I have no idea how much it goes for now, nor am I looking, as I'm trying to get rid of stuff. It still seems to come in faster than I eliminate it.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Anyone share my secret passion for encyclopaedias?

I do. When I was a pre-school kid visiting my grandparents, my grandpa used to read a very old encyclopedia with me. They did have books for kids in house, but none of them were as fascinating as some articles in encyclopedia - I most vividly remember a dinosaurs article complete with an illustration. So when they re-published our national encyclopedia in eighties I got a volume for each birthday and Christmas for a few years from my grandparents.
I haven't opened it in ages. Yet, I find myself browsing interesting Wikipedia articles every single day.

... And I did inherit the old set when my grandpa passed away a few years ago.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by issybird

I've long had a hankering to own the eleventh edition of the EB. I've never pursued it, but one almost fell into my lap once. A friend was organizing the donations for her church book table and they included the eleventh edition that I craved. She thought it worthless and asked my opinion and on hearing I had always wanted it, offered it to me on the spot for a trifling sum; $20 I think. I felt honor-bound to tell her it had some value and she ended up getting a few hundred for it.

I have no idea how much it goes for now, nor am I looking, as I'm trying to get rid of stuff. It still seems to come in faster than I eliminate it.

I don't know how much a pristine set would sell for, but it's a very common edition and you can certainly pick one up in a reasonable condition in the UK for around £30 or so ($50). I just don't think many people are interested in these things any more, which is a real shame. eBay has innumerable copies selling for peanuts.

Originally Posted by wodin

I remember when I was a child, by father succumbed to a very persuasive door to door encyclopedia salesman and bought a set on a payment plan. It was bit over twenty volumes with most letters of the alphabet dedicated to one volume, but with some letters doubling or tripling up. I recall X Y and Z being a single volume.

I used to love to randomly select a letter, and just read through the articles. I wonder if that was the beginning of my love for reading.

I can recall when my parents succumbed to just such a door-to-door salesman and purchased the Encyclopedia Britannica. It was just prior to my oldest sister, their oldest child, starting high school. I also recall the day it arrived. I thought that it was the most impressive set of books I had ever seen. Red [faux] leather binding with gold lettering. That and thinking how amazing that every bit of knowledge known to man was to be found therein. I at the time was still to young to read with entire comprehension, but still loved grabbing one off the shelf and flipping through until I found an entry that interested me. I think that you are correct and X,Y&Z may have been in one volume, or maybe just X&Y were combined. I do recall that at the end, after the last entry for Z, there was a very abbreviated multilingual dictionary; English to __________ where the blank included what one might have expected—French, German, Spanish and Italian—and some that seemed odd—Hebrew and Greek. The set was still there to consult when I had to write my first 'term paper' probably five years later on the subject of Genghis Khan and the Mongolian Empire.

I don't think I'd want a set now. I'm not that nostalgic and personal computers and the Internet killed the need for paper encyclopedias.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

I don't think I'd want a set now. I'm not that nostalgic and personal computers and the Internet killed the need for paper encyclopedias.

Plus it gets harder and harder all the time to fit all of human knowledge into a set of paper books I wager.

[cromag]

I have very fond memories of browsing through my Dad's EB set when I was young. It's not unusual to find sets in good condition at my local used book store. Prices around me, though, seem to be a bit higher than in HarryT's neighborhood.

I wish I had room for a set, but there's just no way.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by cromag

I have very fond memories of browsing through my Dad's EB set when I was young. It's not unusual to find sets in good condition at my local used book store. Prices around me, though, seem to be a bit higher than in HarryT's neighborhood.

I wish I had room for a set, but there's just no way.

Sorry, to clarify, I'm talking about eBay UK prices. You'd pay considerably more in a bookstore.