# Ever owned an encyclopedia set? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 18, 2015, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338 "2015-05-18T23:36:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338/21 "2015-05-19T01:48:10Z")
How much is a full set of a good encyclopedia today, I wonder. I’ll look it up if no one posts about it immediately. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338/22 "2015-05-19T01:59:43Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I think my parents bought us Sesame Street books at the grocery store, too. Wow I’d totally forgot about those. Also, they sold [this Peanuts based sorta encyclopedia](http://dinosaurdracula.com/blog/charlie-brown-cyclopedia/) at grocery stores too. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338/23 "2015-05-19T02:02:27Z")
We had an Encyclopedia Americana and another one purchased a volume at a time from the supermarket. (I can’t remember what that one was called, but it had white covers.) I wanted the Britannica but it was really expensive. My favorite things were those transparencies of human anatomy. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338/24 "2015-05-19T02:36:41Z")
We had a World Book when I was growing up. Later my dad worked for Encyclopedia Britannica, and I ended up with 4 different sets. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338/25 "2015-05-19T02:39:59Z")
Funk and Wagnall’s here as well, and I believe we bought them a volume at a time at the local grocery (Jewel). ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338/26 "2015-05-19T03:15:51Z")
We had the Funk & Wagnalls set when I was a kid in the 1970s (although not a complete one) and my dad had a lot of old books stowed away in the basement, including a set (can’t recall the edition) from the 1940s. I liked reading them, too. My brother has a set he purchased secondhand within the past 5 years. A niece on his wife’s side of the family asked them, “Why do you have so many dictionaries?” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338/27 "2015-05-19T04:37:56Z")
Back in 1958, my parents bought a new set of World Books. I used to stay up all night, and eventually read the entire set, cover to cover. They used to brag that I was so intelligent, but it was actually a case of extreme insomnia on my part. I still have that set, though I haven’t opened them in years. My mother wound up selling World Books for a few years (you wouldn’t believe the jobs she had). I sometimes went with her on sales calls, and often related how I stayed up all night reading them. My recommendation made a lot of sales. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338/28 "2015-05-19T04:49:21Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > Like other folks, we had an edition of the World Book when I was growing up–it must have been from sometime in the 1970s. I used to read them for fun, long before wikipedia made pleasure-reading of encyclopedias cool. My parents bought them, obviously, but I have no idea how much they cost, how they went about it, or whether they had to deal with a pushy salesman. Same story here, I think it was the 1974 edition. I used to read those all the time. Probably one of the best things my parents ever bought. They’re still at my Mom’s house. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338/29 "2015-05-19T05:11:43Z")
My mother had a set of a children’s encyclopedia from 1940 which we unfortunately no longer had. In the 1960s I bought a children’s encyclopedia volume by volume that they sold at the A&P Supermarket. We also no longer have that. I won an encyclopedia set on Jeopardy when I was on the show in 1975. About 20 years ago I bought a full set of the Encyclopedia Britannica at a used bookstore which I still have. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338/30 "2015-05-19T06:31:37Z")
My family had the New Book Of Knowledge set and the Pear’s Cyclopaedia from before I was born. When I was 8 or so, we got the World Book, including the Atlas and the light-up globe. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven, especially with the Atlas. That set was considered “mine”. I think MS Encarta was the last ‘encyclopaedia’ I owned, in the late '90s… ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338/31 "2015-05-19T06:55:27Z")
My parents subscribed to the Joy of Knowledge set when I was a kid. Like [this but](http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Joy-of-knowledge-/231550090839)soft -covered. The top third of each page text and the bottom two thirds extensively [captioned illustrations.](https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=joy+of+knowledge&biw=1680&bih=925&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Fd1aVfaDIuPUmAXfwoGIDw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#imgrc=zmUd5DtPFgL_zM%253A%3BMUvXr33xqWkzfM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252F4.bp.blogspot.com%252F-PAXrr4SUw0g%252FTccgU_RbvhI%252FAAAAAAAA2Lo%252FAgKGixV1ons%252Fs1600%252FIMG_6041.JPG%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fjuaimurah.blogspot.com%252F2011%252F05%252Fset-of-10-joy-of-knowledge-encyclopedia.html%3B448%3B336) What really freaks me out is that I can still recognise all the page views I can find searching for it now. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338/32 "2015-05-19T08:12:59Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > My mom bought the World Book Encyclopedia in the mid 60’s from a door-to-door salesman. It was a great investment, as my two sisters and I read those books for fun all the time. My family also had a set of World Book Encyclopedias that were originally owned by my father’s parents. It was the 1946 edition so the American presidents only went as far as Truman and the biography of Hitler had a question mark next to the assumed year of his death, 1945. (I guess the editors of World Book that year still weren’t sure the one-balled son-of-a-bitch hadn’t hopped a U-boat to Argentina.) We lost that World Book set during a move in 1973. We acquired a contemporary set of Funk & Wagnalls shortly thereafter but I didn’t think their graphics were as good and they made for less interesting reading. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338/33 "2015-05-19T11:42:04Z")
My uncle was a World Book salesman. Of course, we had a complete set, along with the yearly Year Book supplement and, when that started coming out, the Science Year supplement as well. We also got lots of flyers and handouts. And I still have a World Book Cyclo-Teacher in my basement. We also had a Golden Book encyclopedia , which they sold, one volume a week at the local supermarket. (We had the Golden Book Dictionary, too). Great for little kids. I also had a weird 1920s encyclopedia set that I picked up at a book fair at my school. It was sort of made up on weekly issues of a magazine, bound together. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338/34 "2015-05-19T11:54:04Z")
When I was a kid we moved from the city to a farm. I was upset about moving until we found that the attic and the basement were stuffed with boxes and boxes and boxes of books, including full sets of Encyclopedia Britannica and The Book of Knowledge! I read every one cover to cover several times as well as all the other books. I don’t remember when the sets dated from. We moved there in the summer of 1963 and they seemed really old to me then. I was bullied in school for several reasons and being considered a “know it all” was one of them, until I learned to keep my mouth shut when a topic I knew about from my books would come up. I loved those books. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338/35 "2015-05-19T11:59:22Z")
We had a set of American Educator encyclopedias growing up in the 60s. We bought a set of World Books in the early 1990s, back when our kids did all their research for school work by going to the encyclopedia. Nowadays, kids Google everything and if Google doesn’t return it, it doesn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338/36 "2015-05-19T12:12:00Z")
I had something better, a mother that was a librarian. If I needed a reference book that normally couldn’t be checked out for school work she would bring it home for me. As long as it was returned the next day. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338/37 "2015-05-19T12:17:34Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > - One was a fairly thin set of volumes, of some obscure brand. We’d gotten them, a book at a time, as a promotional item at a local grocery store (Jewel). Oh, that reminds me, we had two as well. One was the regular F&W’s, the other was the [Funk and Wagnall’s Encyclopedia of Science](http://images1.americanlisted.com/nlarge/funk-wagnall-s-encyclopedia-of-science-set-30-americanlisted_37654697.jpg), which was from Jewel (though mid-80s for me) and came in thin volumes, too. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338/38 "2015-05-19T13:27:58Z")
We had a 1948 set of Britannica and the old Grolier version (same year) of The Book of Knowledge in the house when I was growing up. I wore those things out, as they provided hours of entertainment and education. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338/39 "2015-05-19T13:36:40Z")
I once won a World Book Encyclopedia set from the local newspaper “Cecil Adams,” called Ask Andy. My question was “What is the biggest insect in the world.” I got my photo in the paper, a huge deal for a ten year old. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338/40 "2015-05-19T14:00:06Z")
Nothing to add here, but I notice that my library still has encyclopedias. Given that Brittanica no longer published their print edition, will these old sets be kept for long? Now that we have Google and other on-line resources, who really needs print version encyclopedias anymore? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-owned-an-encyclopedia-set/720338.md?page=3)