WHEN BRITANNICA RULED: A HISTORY OF THE ENCYCLOPEDIA
A rare first edition of Encyclopedia Britannica, from 1768
Mid-1700s: Edinburgh was a cradle of learning - home to novelist Sir Walter Scott, poet Robert Burns and diarist James Boswell.
To chronicle this age of Scottish enlightenment, printer Colin Macfarquhar and engraver Andrew Bell decided to publish a reference work, bringing on board 28-year-old scholar William Smellie to act as editor.
Their volumes would be sorted alphabetically and 'compiled upon a new plan in which the different Sciences and Arts are digested into distinct Treatises or Systems' - and its hallmark would be, in the words of its editor, 'utility'.
Britannica's first edition was published in 'fascicles' - one section at a time - over three years, from 1768.
It was finished three years later and sold out.
Building on this success, another edition - this time in ten volumes - was brought out between 1777 and 1784.
1790: It did not take long for news of the encyclopedia to reach America. A pirated version was printed in Philadelphia by Thomas Dobson. Dropping the name Britannica, parts were rewritten to serve its US audience - and other tweaks included omitting the dedication to King George III.
1797: A third edition of 18 volumes was produced. For the first time, articles from outside contributors were also featured. A fourth edition in 1809 contained 20 volumes.
Eminent 19th century scholars continued to add their contributions - with fascinating treatises on subjects such as the Rosetta Stone and Egyptian hieroglyphics.
1875-89: The ninth edition - known as the 'scholar's edition' - was published.It outlined many scientific discoveries: a study of Darwin's theory of evolution; a critique on biblical literature; and other topics of discussion included John Keats, anarchism and taboo.
1910-11: An 11th edition was published in association with Cambridge University. By this point, two Americans had taken over ownership of Britannica - Horace Hooper and Walter Jackson.
Contributors to the 12th (1921-22) and 13th (1926) editions included such luminaries as Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Leon Trotsky and Harry Houdini.
1929: The company had almost completely shifted its operation to the States - and a permanent editorial team was established in Chicago. Under the leadership of William Benton, who later became a senator, the company expanded by purchasing Compton’s Encyclopedia, the dictionary publisher G. & C. Merriam (later Merriam-Webster, Inc.) and others.
1981: The first digital version of the the encyclopedia was produced - and also made the first multimedia CD-ROM encyclopedia, Compton's MultiMedia Encyclopedia, in 1989.
By the 1990s, Britannica had produced or was at work on encyclopedias and other educational materials in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Italy, France, Spain, Latin America, Turkey, Hungary, Poland, and elsewhere.
1994: The company developed Britannica Online, the first encyclopedia for the Internet, making the entire text available worldwide. That year, the first version of the Britannica on CD-ROM was also published.
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