Introduction
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"Encyclopedia Britannica" (also known as "Encyclopedia Britannica", referred to as EB), is It is considered to be the most well-known and authoritative encyclopedia in the world today, and one of the three major encyclopedias in the world (Encyclopedia America, Encyclopedia Britannica, and Collier's Encyclopedia). Encyclopedia Britannica was born in the atmosphere of the Scottish Enlightenment in the 18th century. Compilation of the first version of Encyclopedia Britannica began in 1768 and took three years to complete the third volume of Encyclopedia Britannica in 1771.
After the American publisher Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. bought the copyright of EB in 1901, the publishing and editing work gradually moved to the United States; now the Encyclopedia Britannica Company as we know it is an American company headquartered in Chicago . In 1929, with the publication of the 14th edition, Encyclopedia Britannica invested a lot of manpower and material resources, invited 4,000 scholars and experts from nearly 140 countries and regions to participate in writing, and included a large number of materials from outside Europe to complete all twenty-four volumes. The fourteenth edition has established its highest and most authoritative status in the encyclopedia world.
History
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"Encyclopedia Britannica" is a product of the Scottish Enlightenment. Colin Mack, a local bookseller and printer Colin Macfarquhar and sculptor Andrew Bell decided to publish a set of reference books in the name of the "Gentlemen's Society". They hired William Smellie, then 28 years old, and asked him to edit a three-volume, ***100-chapter "Encyclopedia Britannica" for a fee of 200 pounds. The first volume was published in December 1768 and sold for sixpence. In 1771, three volumes were completed, with 2391 pages, including 160 copper plate engravings, and the total sales volume was 3000 sets. The three volumes are about the same length and are divided into A-B, C-L and M-Z.
Since the first edition was so successful, they decided to publish a larger second edition. Smelley refused to continue editing, so McFarcar himself became editor. The second edition consisted of 10 volumes, 8595 pages, and was published from 1777 to 1784.
However, the third edition, published between 1788 and 1797, truly reached the standards of an encyclopedia. The original editor of this edition was MacFarcar, who was succeeded by George Gregor after MacFarcar's death. It has 18 volumes, plus two supplementary volumes, and more than 16,000 pages. This edition also includes articles written specifically for Encyclopedia Britannica by experts and scholars hired by Greg. This edition laid the foundation for the Encyclopedia Britannica to become one of the most important reference books in the world.
As of the 10th edition, the important articles in Encyclopedia Britannica were often much longer and more scholarly than those in modern encyclopedias. In the 19th century, articles in the Encyclopedia Britannica often contained the author's latest achievements.
The French "Encyclopedia, Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts and Crafts" is generally regarded as the model for the "Encyclopedia Britannica". But Encyclopedia Britannica is much more conservative. Later versions were often dedicated to the reigning king or queen.
From the fourth to the sixth edition there are articles by many well-known Scottish and English scholars: William Hazlitt, John Stuart Mill, Thomas Robert Malthus, David ·Ricardo, Walter Scott, etc. Thomas Young appended his translation of the Egyptian hieroglyphs from the Rosetta Stone to his article on Egypt.
In the late 1820s, the publishing house of the Black Brothers in Edinburgh acquired the rights to the Encyclopedia Britannica, and they published the seventh and eighth editions. The Ninth Edition, also known as the Scholar's Edition, was published from 1875 to 1889 and included many profound scholarly articles by well-known authors. Some people call it the pinnacle in the history of English encyclopedias. At that time, some British people believed that the book's authority was "second only to God."
In 1895, Blake's publishing house moved to London, and in 1901, "Encyclopedia Britannica" was sold to the "Times" newspaper. The 11th edition of the tenth edition, which also includes maps and catalog volumes, is actually a supplement to the ninth edition. From 1897 to 1922, American Horace Everett Hooper served as editor-in-chief. Beginning with the 11th edition in 1909, Cambridge University helped edit and publish it.
The 11th edition, published from 1910 to 1911, was essentially a rewrite and is regarded as the classic edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, while also reflecting the new ideas of its new publisher. Target. In order to attract readers and promote sales, this edition's articles retain their academic rigor and improve their readability. The articles are not as long as in the past, but they are still very thorough. This version is now in the public domain. This edition was also the first in which all volumes were published simultaneously, rather than one volume after another. All its content can be viewed here.
Later the publishing rights and trademark of "Encyclopedia Britannica" were sold to Sears Department Store and moved to Chicago, Illinois, USA. Both the 12th and 13th editions are published in three supplementary volumes, which must be used in conjunction with the 11th edition. The 14th edition published in 1929 once again showed the changes in the Encyclopedia Britannica. It has fewer volumes and shorter articles to allow more users to use it as a reference book. However, some criticized it for deleting content that was unfavorable to the Catholic Church[1].
In 1941, Sears Department Stores donated its rights to the University of Chicago. William Banton served as editor-in-chief from 1943 until his death in 1973, and then until his wife's death in 1974.
In January 1996, Swiss billionaire Jacob Savery bought the rights to Encyclopedia Britannica.
International Chinese Edition
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In China, Encyclopedia Britannica Publishing House cooperated with Encyclopedia China Publishing House in 1980, and in In 1986, the 10-volume Chinese version of "Concise Encyclopedia Britannica" was published. Volume 11 was added in 1990. In April 1994, a new Encyclopedia Britannica International Chinese Edition was launched. ***20 volumes, with 81,600 entries, 15,300 pictures, and more than 43.5 million words.
The electronic online version comes out
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Encyclopedia Britannica is not lagging behind in the development of core media for electronic publishing. The first multimedia encyclopedia, Compton’s Multimedia Encyclopedia, was published in 1989. In 1994, the company launched Britannica Online, becoming the first encyclopedia on the Internet. Today, although the publishing medium has changed, Encyclopedia Britannica's mission remains the same as when it was founded in 1768: to be the global leader in reference works, education and learning!
Encyclopedia Britannica, after more than two hundred years of development and improvement of revisions and reprints, has formed an English printed version with 32 bound volumes, and electronic and online versions have also been launched. Encyclopedia Britannica Online was officially released in 1994. In addition to the contents of the printed version, the online version also includes the latest revisions and a large number of articles not found in the printed version, with 98,000 searchable entries. It contains 322 hand-drawn line drawings, 9,811 photos, 193 national flags, 337 maps, 204 animated images, 714 tables and other rich content.
Knowledge distribution
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Life sciences
Paleontology, biology and biology, algae, plants, invertebrates Animals, mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians, anatomy, anatomy and physiology, medicine, environment, agriculture, forestry, fishery and animal husbandry, food, biographies
Natural science
< p> Physics, chemistry, astronomy, mathematics, earth science, minerals and fuels, measurement, biographiesSocial sciences
Anthropology, archaeology, society, economy, politics, military , education, law, psychology, organization, biographies
Engineering technology
Communications, transportation, electronics and computers, space technology, military technology, engineering, machinery and tools, biographies
History
Ancient history, American history, European history, Asian history, Oceania history, African history, China and Taiwan history, historiography and historical events, biographies
Geography
Geographic regions, countries, administrative regions and others, cities and towns, China and Taiwan, terrain, mountains, water systems and lakes, oceans, islands, parks and protected areas, adventures, biographies
Philosophy and Religion
Philosophical concepts and schools, religion, Bible, metaphysics, classics, biographies
Humanities and Arts
Architecture, Painting and calligraphy, sculpture, photography, crafts, art schools, language, literature and creation, fables and myths, music, dance, drama, mass communication, cultural institutions, biographies
Sports and leisure entertainment
p>Sports, games, leisure and entertainment, folk customs and festivals, biographies
Competition
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Today's "Encyclopedia Britannica" 》The biggest competitor is information on the Internet. Many people prefer to use search engines such as Google, Yahoo, etc. to search for the information they need. However, such information is often messy. Encyclopedia Britannica can provide a lot of well-organized information from one source.
Other online competitors include Wikipedia. Comparing quality between Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia is difficult. On December 14, 2005, "Nature" compared 41 scientific content articles between the two encyclopedias and concluded that Wikipedia contained 162 errors and Encyclopedia Britannica contained 123 errors. Encyclopedia Britannica accuses Nature of serious errors in its comparison, first of all it says that not all of the articles belonging to Britannica were taken from Encyclopedia Britannica. Two of the articles are taken from the Annals of the Encyclopedia Britannica rather than from the Encyclopedia Britannica itself, and the other two are taken from Compton's Encyclopedia. Another article has an unknown origin. In addition, some are combined content from several articles in Encyclopedia Britannica. Some of what Nature says are errors are not errors in content (such as spelling errors). Nature stands by its comparison and denies that the comparison is wrong.
Comparisons with other printed encyclopedias are also difficult. For example, a 1994 comparison by Kenneth Kister ranked Encyclopedia Britannica above most other encyclopedias, but inferior to Encyclopedia America, World Book Encyclopedia, and Compton's Encyclopedia.