Encyclopedia Britannica Ends Print Edition

Although not really appraisal related, I am sorry to post on the demise of the print edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica.  After printing the encyclopedia for 244 years, the famed reference source will be now exclusively digital. It was first published in Edinburgh Scotland in 1768.  In 1990 the encyclopedia reached its peak numbers of 120,000 print copies, and only six years later the number was down to 40,000.  The first CD Rom version was published in 1989, followed by the online edition in 1994.

A remember using it as a kid, and as a college student.  I still have an old set, along with the great books series in my home bookcase.  Technology again disrupts an old and beloved standard.

Certainly an end of an era.

But in 1895, when the reference book was in its heyday, The Washington Post wrote this enthusiastic review:

“Every one who reads, every one who mingles in society, is constantly meeting with allusions to subjects on which he needs and desires further information in conversation; in trade; in professional life; on the farm; in the family, questions are constantly arising which no man, whether well read or not, can always satisfactorily answer.”

Source: The Washington Post

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