Before there was Google, there was the Encyclopedia Britannica. My mother bought this set in the early 1970’s for the usual reasons, and we relied on it for years.
Now the time has come for it to be re-homed. Before you suggest that I donate it, let me tell you that every library in America that wants a copy already has one. There is no needy organization, no third world village, no prison that could use it. The only possible destination is an individual who actually wants this.
I am willing to give this set for free to a doper in the continental U.S. who is willing to split packaging/shipping costs. The set weighs about 150 lbs (less without the “Book of the Year” volumes, if you don’t want those) and I’m going to have to use a lot of packing tape. I think I would have to ship in it 4 boxes (the size office copier paper comes in).
The catch is, you have to tell me why you want it, so I can feel ok about giving it away. I’m not a hoarder, but I sympathize with their need to hang on to something because someone, somewhere, might want it.
If there are multiple takers with good stories, I’ll make a poll and let the masses vote on who gets it.
I had a complete 1910 version. The map of Europe was bizarre (Austrian-Hungry?). Italy was a mass of independent states if I recall. I think Africa had a total of 10 countries (Belgian Congo was one of the biggest land mass-wise). Wish I still had the set.
I had always made it a point to keep decades-oldl World Almanacs around the house. In order to keep the number pages constant, making room for new information in a new edition has to correspond with information equally useful being excised from the older ones.
I bought a set of Brittaniacas from a book store for ten bucks in the 1970s that still said Christiana was the capital of Norway.
I put a beautiful set of encyclopedias on the curb a couple of weeks ago, since nobody wanted them. Apparently someone does still want them, because they’d been scooped up before the garbage truck arrived.
Although, they might have been after the $5 plastic tub the books were stacked in, I don’t know.
I have a dim childhood memory of those encyclopedias being quite a status item to put on a shelf in the main room to look impressive. If the kids could use them for studying, that was just a bonus.
Do you have an OED2 for sale? That’s something I wouldn’t mind having.
Actually, I have a 2-volume set of the compact OED, that comes with a magnifying glass (the days before pinch zoom!). But it isn’t impacting my living space the way the encyclopedias are, so that’s not on my hit list (yet).
I have an OED and it’s nothing but trouble. 20 volumes of trouble that I’ve lugged up and down the country. I’d feel bad selling, though, as it was a graduation present. (Plus, no one is going to pay much for a used, heavy-ass copy.)
My parents had a 1956 edition of the World Book Encyclopedia, which made it all but impossible to do my homework in the 1980s. Vietnam was a French problem and civil rights were trouble ahead.
My grandmother had that exact set, and I spent hours pouring over them as a nerdly little girl in the late 70s and early 80s. I can remember the sound and feel of flipping the thin, shiny pages. They were kept in the bookcase in the font room of her house on the South Side of Chicago. I have not thought of them in years.
I already saved a 1927, 20 volume set, with small cabinet, when no one else wanted them. And I adore them, great historic photos, lovely colour plates, and, (as they were sent out serially, one volume every few months), each volume contains some of everything. Including poetry, adventure, science, even things for children to make, like kites and bows, plus lots of woodland and pioneer type skills all beautifully illustrated.
My parents had a 1948 set along with a set of The Book of Knowledge, which was the children’s version of an encyclopedia. I used to read from that all the time.
My parents still have the 1970s Encyclopedia Brittanica they ordered just after we settled in San Antonio. Dad refused to ever give it up and was still looking things up in it a couple of years ago. I’m sure my mom would like to get rid of it, but Dad’s hyper aware of any changes to his environment, and it would be more trouble than it’s worth.
Toss 'em. I’m surprised anyone would even pick them up from the curb.
Frankly, I think all the annual supplements would be more interesting, to flip through to see what was on people’s minds and what changed, each year. I’d toss the encyclopedia, but keep the yearbooks within arm’s reach of the commode.
My family got a '65 World Book, which saw me through Junior High. I remember the annual books, which we got for the first 5 or 10 years and then stopped. I remember flipping through a few once or twice and thinking “Gee, this stuff is interesting” but never using them as a reference.
I spent more time using the encyclopedia, the same way I use Wikipedia now, which is to start with one question and wind up with forty. However, we’ve lost what for me was the best part of the encyclopedia, which is finding all those fascinating entries that start with the same letter as what we’re looking up. With Wikipedia, those extraneous-but-fun entries are related to the subject, rather than simply starting with the same letter.
I bet I’m not the only one here who spent more time on the nonessential articles than the one I was doing homework for.