Read it. In about 1980, I got one from near the turn of the century, when Oslo was still named Christiania. It was delight to read historical accounts of things from the viewpoint of people several generations earlier.
There is also a lot of historical material in there that had to be deleted in later editions, in order to make room for the huge amount of new material that accumulated subsequently. There are entire pages in old editions that have been reduced to a paragraph in later versions, or excised completely, or altered to meet modern standards of academia, including the heavy hand of political correctness…
The internet was created in the last decade of the century, by very young people, who had little or no interest in documenting anything that preceded their own lifetime, which was not sufficiently hip to deserve their attention. Historical data has now back-filled quite a lot of the gaps, but there is still a lot that can be found in old encyclopedias that is either glossed over or deleted from more modern versions.
My most local thrift shop does not accept books over ten years old.
My next book donation option is a local charitable outlet called The Book Thing of Baltimore. They take all sorts of books. After no interest through craigslist or freecycle I am taking my 1960s 12 volume Interpreters’ Bible there this very day. I like to imagine other cities have similar operations.
Regarding magazine collections, I understand if you have a different vision for them but perhaps you could donate them to a school. Recently I was at a meeting of parents to support the visual art department at my son’s school. The teachers asked for magazines, specifically mentioning National Geographic. They were not asking for a specific project, just saying that they always need magazines with good pictures for collage projects and to use as source material.
I’m kind of surprised by this; the thrift store I used to work for took pretty much any printed materials, as we made money off of recycling the material we couldn’t sell. We filled a Gaylord box with books and magazines every couple of days, shipped it out, and got $50 or so (the company which bought them went through them as well, pulled stuff out for re-sale, then pulped the rest). Same thing with otherwise unusable clothing, shoes, etc. About the only things we wouldn’t take were wet/dirty items and bags of wire hangers.
Guess it wouldn’t hurt to call ahead, though. I could see a mom-and-pop thrift having difficulty with arranging for profitable recycling, but the big organizations quite possibly have arrangements in place.
But, if I was down the street from you I would take the old encyclopedias however. I just finished reading through the entire 1949 edition. It would be interesting to read the next version, see how much changed. (based on experience, most of the entries don’t change at all)
Not so sure about that. IIRC lot’s of NG stories involved geology, a wide range of sciences and even evolution. That’s not exactly your go to audience for that.
I asked this very question on this board a few months ago, for my EB of a similar vintage. The best lead was Half Price Books. I emailed them to be sure they would take them and was told they do. I drove WAY out of my way to take them there only to find that actually, no, they don’t. I wound up dumping them at a nearby Savers (chain thrift store) which I could have done at home.
1965 might be a little young, but it’s always fun to find the horribly outdated references to phlogiston or whatever else has been shown wrong, or the blatantly racist and outdated things.
Why would you want to trash a book? And so what that we have INTERNET? So what that it’s old? It’s a book. BOOK! Also Encyclopedia Britannica - it may be a treasure for someone. Find someone who will love and appreciate it or give it to some used books bookstore. Gosh, why would anyone trash a good book. Yes I love books and I think they will never become obsolete.
Old encyclopedias are worse than trash in the minds of most librarians. They’re outdated, they’re heavy, and people think that if you throw them away (even if NO ONE wants them) you’re some kind of monster. For a general purpose encyclopedia, the Internet is a million times better.
Plus, not every book needs to be saved. Stuff that’s in horrible condition needs to go. Nine times out of ten, if it’s something worthwhile, someone else will have a decent copy or it will have been reprinted in a new edition.
All joking aside, librarians care about content, not the item itself. Scan the pages for historical value and, if they’re in poor shape, toss the encyclopedias.
A set of encyclopedias makes pretty good winter ballast in your car’s trunk. And you can rip out bits for better traction when you get stuck (I favor I-L).
