General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAfter 244 Years, Encyclopaedia Britannica Stops the Presses
Source: New York Times
After 244 years, the Encyclopaedia Britannica is going out of print.
Those coolly authoritative, gold-lettered sets of reference books that were once sold door to door by a fleet of traveling salesmen and displayed as proud fixtures in American homes will be discontinued, the company is expected to announce on Wednesday.
... The oldest continuously published encyclopedia in the English language, the Encyclopaedia Britannica has become a luxury item with a $1,395 price tag; it is typically purchased by embassies and well-educated, upscale consumers who feel an attachment to the set of bound volumes. Only 8,000 sets of the 2010 edition have been sold, and the remaining 4,000 have been stored in a warehouse until they can be purchased.
The 2010 edition had more than 4,000 contributors, including Arnold Palmer, the professional golfer (who wrote the entry on the Masters tournament), Jack J. Lissauer, a space scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center (who wrote about extrasolar planets), the professional skateboarder Tony Hawk (skateboarding) and Panthea Reid, professor emeritus at Louisiana State University and author of the biography Art and Affection (Virginia Woolf).
Read more: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/after-244-years-encyclopaedia-britannica-stops-the-presses/
MadHound
(34,179 posts)As disgusting as using Wiki is. Me, I'd rather stick with the EB. At least it is factual.
liberal N proud
(60,339 posts)They looked good on the book shelf all uniform with gold print.
I can only recall opening them a few times. By the time I was old enough to need them foe school, so much changed and was not in the books.
No idea what happened them.
WCGreen
(45,558 posts)I use to love to just pick them up and page through a letter. Also used it for a lot of Jr. High reports.
We weren't allowed to cite Ency for High School reports.
angstlessk
(11,862 posts)was to ensure you got updates every year...we did..till?? maybe 5 years? maybe 2..I don't remember
RebelOne
(30,947 posts)This was in the '50s. But I did make good use of them. In fact, I probably read most of the volumes cover to cover.
Politicalboi
(15,189 posts)Why not kindle them?
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)Sometimes a topic will come up, and I'll say to my kids: "Why don't you look that up in the encyclopedia?" They look at me as if I've got a screw loose.