Sales of final Encyclopaedia Britannica print edition soar

[Meetzos]

Another icon bites the dust.


http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/06/11054956-sales-of-final-encyclopaedia-britannica-print-edition-soar?lite

Sales of final Encyclopaedia Britannica print edition soar

By Martha C. White

It seems that old chestnut about absence making the heart grow fonder is true — at least when it comes to reference books. After announcing in mid-March that it would no longer publish the print edition of its eponymous series, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., was overwhelmed with orders for the final edition and is down to fewer than 800 copies of the $1,395 set.

Spokesman Tom Panelas said the company expected orders to increase after the announcement, but didn't anticipate that the typical 60 orders a week would balloon to over 1,000. "The size and duration of the spike has been a little bit stronger than we expected," he said. "The first couple of days, our phone lines were overloaded. The people who take the orders were here one night past 10 o'clock... the senior executive in that area was answering phones."

First printed in Scotland in 1768, the 32-volume encyclopedia has been available online since 1994. The company published its first encyclopedia on CD-ROM in 1989, but that was a different, shorter encyclopedia, because the entire Britannica couldn't fit on a single disk at the time.

"The print set has, for a long time, been a marginal part of our business," Panelas said. He said the company plans to focus on expanding its electronic offerings, which include numerous educational reference publications, an iOS app and its flagship Britannica Online, which costs around $70 for an annual subscription and is updated "many times every single day."

Panelas attributed the surge of interest in the print edition to "a lot of nostalgia... People have so much affection for the set."

Besides keeping copies of the final print edition for the company's own archives and for its editors to use as a reference, Panelas said the company is exploring donating sets to various museums.

[ralleia]

I've still got one dusty set from about two decades ago. I refuse to get rid of it.

They're really quite handy to be able to just look up a subject and get a reasonably unbiased discussion without having to try to collect metadata by analyzing the motives of the author, as one has to do with virtually every single source on the web. Plus, they work even when the power goes out.

I wish my parents had kept our Encyclopaedia Britannica Children's Edition from when my brothers and I were growing up, so that my daughter could use them...

[Argentium]

I too find this rather sad, but inevitable of course. I was fortunate as a child, we always had a set of encylopedias in the house. First, it was a used set of Encyclopaedia Britannica and when I was in Jr. High, my folks bought a new set of the World Book Encyclopaedia, which I remember was larger than Britannica. I know they were expensive and my folks were just barely upper-middle class. We also had complete sets of the Time/Life series on nature and science. I enjoyed these tremendously!

I spent many hours with these, just browsing through them, I suppose an early form of web surfing! Books were always important to my parents, something I shall be eternally grateful for!

[Meetzos]

What I really find disturbing is the ability for whom ever wants to change something can do it with a keystroke and no one is the wiser. I remember a few months back they were talking about editing out certain words in Mark Twains Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. Does anyone realize that with these kindels and e books they could do it and who ever next down loads hasn't a clue that these classics have been altered. I prefer hard copies and older editions. I guess my age is showing.:bear_blink:

[Argentium]

What I really find disturbing is the ability for whom ever wants to change something can do it with a keystroke and no one is the wiser. I remember a few months back they were talking about editing out certain words in Mark Twains Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. Does anyone realize that with these kindels and e books they could do it and who ever next down loads hasn't a clue that these classics have been altered. I prefer hard copies and older editions. I guess my age is showing.:bear_blink:
Mine too! I called my Mom today to wish her a happy Easter and I told her about this and we both commiserated about the loss of print. I also thanked her and Dad for making books an important part of family life. When I was a kid, many Sunday afternoons were spent with no radio, or TV, with her, Dad and me reading in the family room. Unfortunately, my younger brother never cared too much about this tradition.

[southfork]

You cant give the old ones away, Im suprised of the interest.

[Meetzos]

You cant give the old ones away, Im suprised of the interest.

I can believe that no one wants these archaic books, he!! I would think a large portion of the population can hardly read anymore.
All the education system here in Florida teachs is how to pass a standardized test, teachers don't like it when their students don't make a good showing. I think it reflects on their salaries. Just another nail in civilizations coffin.:vollkommenauf:

[Usc96]

We bought a set for the kids for Christmas several years back. They were pricy ($750 I believe), but the kids have certainly used them, and we have several computers for them to use too.

I remember when I was a kid in the 70s I read my 1959 World Book set. Nerdy I know, but it was something to do in the days before computers.