Encyclopaedia Britannica launches hunt through nation's attics
19th October 2009
Encyclopaedia Britannica is searching for the oldest complete encyclopaedia set in private hands, Guardian.co.uk's Alison Flood reports:
It tells us that flatulence can be cured by blowing smoke through the anus, devotes 40 pages to the diseases of horses and informs the reader that homo sapiens is divided into five varieties: "the American, the European, the Asiatic, the African and the monstrous". It is of course the first ever Encyclopaedia Britannica, released in 1768, and to celebrate publication of the latest edition its publishers are launching a quest to find the oldest complete set in private hands.
Put together in the back streets of Edinburgh by an editor, an engraver and a printer, the first version of the encyclopaedia was released in weekly sections - costing six pence each, or eight pence if printed on smart paper - from July 1768. The complete three-volume edition was printed in its entirety in 1771. "It was a huge undertaking back then, and it would be fantastic if we could find someone who had it on their shelves or hidden in their attic today," said managing director Ian Grant.
The 241-year-old encyclopaedia contains no mention of Australia, as it had yet to be colonised, refers to a six-planet solar system (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto hadn't been discovered) and dedicates 40 pages to algebra, 11 to bleaching - "the art of whitening linen cloth" - and 166 to anatomy, featuring eye-watering accounts of surgery performed without anaesthesia. It also describes Callifornia (spelt with two "L"s) as "a large country of the West Indies. Unknown whether it is an island or a peninsula", while the word "female" is called "a term particular to animals".
"The concept was high Enlightenment, directly in the tradition of the great encyclopaedias from France. In Edinburgh in the 1760s they wanted to reproduce Diderot's encyclopaedia, but then decided they would do it themselves," said Grant. "They were stripping away religious authority over knowledge, stripping away medieval scholasticism, and coming to a human point of view ... Through 240 years of publishing, those basic principles haven't changed, even though delivery methods might have."
Today, Encyclopaedia Britannica might be the oldest English-language encyclopaedia still in print but it makes 70% of its profits from its online operations. It publishes refreshed information online every two weeks, but "if necessary we can publish within two hours of an event happening", said Grant. "We are not a news operation; we call ourselves the world's back story. If something's happened, then Britannica can tell you how we got there."
He believes the search is likely to turn up a number of 1930s editions, "although the iconic one was the 11th, published in 1911, which had contributions from Bertrand Russell, Einstein and Freud". The publisher is also keen to hear stories of how family copies have been handed down from generation to generation.
Read the full article on The Guardian's website here.
