"Encyclopedia Britannica" is a product of the Scottish Enlightenment. In 1768, Edinburgh bookseller and printer Colin Macfarquhar and engraver Andrew Bell decided to publish an encyclopedia in the name of the "Gentlemen's Society" to serve scholarship and enlightenment. They hired William Smellie, a 28-year-old scholar at the time, to edit a three-volume, ***100-chapter Encyclopedia Britannica. The first volume was published in December 1768, priced at sixpence, and all three volumes were completed in 1771. This encyclopedia is arranged in alphabetical order, has 2391 pages, includes 160 copper plate engravings, and has a total sales volume of 3000 sets.

Encyclopedia Britannica

Due to the success of the first edition, they decided to publish a larger second edition. Smellie declined to continue as editor, so MacFarcar himself became editor. The second edition consisted of 10 volumes and 8595 pages, and was published successively from 1777 to 1784. But it was the third edition of EB published from 1788 to 1797 that truly reached the standard of an encyclopedia. The original editor of this edition was MacFarcar, who was replaced by George Point Gregg after MacFarcar's death. This edition has 18 volumes, plus two supplementary volumes, totaling 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 major articles in Encyclopedia Britannica were often much longer and more scholarly than those in modern encyclopedias. From the fourth edition to the sixth edition, many well-known Scottish and English scholars wrote articles for EB, such as: William Hazlitt, John Stuart Mill, Thomas Robert Malthus, David Ricardo, Walter ·Scott, Thomas Young, etc. In the late 1820s, the publishing house of Blake 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 authority of the book was "second only to God." In 1895, Black Press moved to London. In 1901, "Encyclopedia Britannica" was sold to "The Times" newspaper. From 1897 to 1922, the tenth edition edited by American Horace Everett Hooper was published in 11 volumes. This edition included maps and catalog volumes and was actually a supplement to the ninth edition. The 11th edition from 1909 was edited and published with the help of Cambridge University. 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 goals of the new publisher. In order to attract readers and promote sales, this edition retains its academic rigor but also improves readability. The articles are not as long as in the past, but they are still very thorough. After that, the publishing rights and trademarks of "Encyclopedia Britannica" were sold to Sears Department Store in the United States. In 1929, the publishing house was also moved to Chicago, United States. Before that, EB laid off its editorial staff every time it compiled a new version. However, after arriving in the United States, the company began to retain a fixed editorial department. Both the 12th and 13th editions of EB 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. Encyclopedia Britannica invited 4,000 scholars and experts from nearly 140 countries and regions to participate in the writing, collected a large number of materials from outside Europe, and completed all 24 volumes of the 14th edition, establishing EB's authoritative position in the encyclopedia world. At the same time, the articles in this edition are shorter, allowing more users to use it as a reference book. But others criticized it for removing content that was unfavorable to the Catholic Church. In 1941, Sears Department Store donated the copyright of EB to the University of Chicago. In January 1996, Swiss billionaire Jacob Savery bought the rights to Encyclopedia Britannica.

Published in 1974, it has 30 volumes. In 1985, it was increased to 32 volumes. It is divided into 4 parts: 2 volumes of "Index"; 1 volume of "Encyclopedia Categories", which is a catalog of the entire book's knowledge; 12 volumes of "Encyclopedia Compendium", There are more than 80,000 short entries. 46% of the content has been updated in the past three years.

"Encyclopedia Britannica"

Encyclopedia Britannica has expanded its cooperation with foreign countries year by year. So far, in addition to the English version, "Encyclopedia Britannica" is also available in French, Japanese, Available in Turkish, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Hungarian and Polish. Although Encyclopedia Britannica faces many competitors from online encyclopedia websites, it does not lag behind in digital publishing and networking, and has successively launched electronic and online encyclopedias.

"Encyclopedia Britannica" said goodbye to the paper version not because it is old-fashioned. In fact, as early as the 1970s, it had the idea of ??testing the digital market. In the mid-1970s, in order to facilitate annual revisions in the future, all the contents of the 15th edition of the encyclopedia were made into electronic versions. Not only that, when digital publishing was just a fantasy for people, encyclopedia companies began to look for ways to publish electronically. In 1989, Encyclopedia Britannica published the first multimedia encyclopedia, Compton’s Multimedia Encyclopedia. In 1994, Encyclopedia Britannica launched Encyclopedia Britannica Online, becoming the first encyclopedia on the Internet. Users around the world can access the full text of Encyclopedia Britannica online. Encyclopedia Britannica has become a leader in the field of global reference books with its strong content editing capabilities and database retrieval technology. It is one of the most widely used electronic reference tools in the world. In addition to all the contents of the printed version, the online version of Encyclopedia Britannica also includes the latest revisions and a large number of texts not found in the printed version. It has more than 100,000 searchable entries, and includes more than 24,000 legends, more than 2,600 maps, More than 1,400 pieces of multimedia animation audio and video and other rich content. Encyclopedia Britannica has also carefully selected more than 120,000 excellent website links, thereby broadening readers' access to knowledge. In 2002, Encyclopedia Britannica also launched the online teaching version of Encyclopedia Britannica - Britannica Online School Edition, which is a reference and teaching garden specially designed for primary and secondary schools. Encyclopedia Britannica also continues to expand its printing product line. In addition to continuing to publish the oldest English reference book - the 32-volume "Encyclopedia Britannica", it includes "Compton's Encyclopedia by Britannica", "I My First Britannica, Discover America, and Britannica Discovery Library. The 2008 encyclopedia on DVD contains more than 56.74 million words and 101,230 articles, including 73,148 Britannica articles, as well as 15,738 articles in the Student Encyclopedia Britannica, 2,523 articles in the Basic Encyclopedia Britannica, and 1993 Yearbook ~ 2006 and articles from past editions. The DVD also includes auxiliary content such as maps, videos, audio recordings, animations and online links. It also provides tools such as dictionaries. Once upon a time, owning such an encyclopedia was the dream of many people. The New York Times article said, “In the 1950s, putting a set of Encyclopedia Britannica on the bookshelf was as practical as parking a station wagon in the garage or placing a brand-name black-and-white TV in the room, which was both practical and a sign of middle-class status. Buying a set of "Encyclopedia Britannica" as 'home decoration' is quite financially stressful, and many families have to pay for it in installments. The price tag of US$1,395 for the latest 2010 edition makes it as unaffordable as a luxury item. "The sales peak of Encyclopedia Britannica occurred in 1990, when 120,000 units were sold in the United States in one year, with total sales reaching a record high of $650 million. But just six years later, in 1996, this number dropped to 40,000.

Compared with the high price of the print version, the digital version subscription fee is only $70 per year. Revenue from paper encyclopedias accounts for less than 1% of the company's revenue. About 85% of revenue comes from related products including mathematics, science, English and other educational courses, and 15% of revenue comes from website subscription services. Entering the 21st century, with the application and popularization of computers and mobile phone networks, encyclopedias are still not far behind. In 2000, the first mobile version for handheld computers was launched. In the following years, the encyclopedia further segmented its user base and launched tailor-made online databases for students of different ages and institutions. In 2002, the Encyclopedia Company launched the online teaching version, which is a reference and teaching garden specially designed for primary and secondary schools. In 1998, Google launched its search engine; in 2001, Wikipedia was founded. The application of the Internet has changed the way people access information, pulling people from the bookshelf to the mouse. After issuing the suspension notice, Encyclopedia Britannica President Jorge Cos said on the encyclopedia's official website, "This decision is of great significance to the Encyclopedia, not for our glorious past, but for our vibrant present and future. We will continue to make knowledge and learning available to everyone in digital form. For me, the printed version is not the only thing that makes Encyclopedia Britannica the most important thing. Explorers provide professional knowledge.” The editorial board of Encyclopedia Britannica said on its official website: “What’s more important is that this encyclopedia will continue to exist—larger, more comprehensive, and in a more dynamic virtual format. In the digital age, the method of serving knowledge and learning is far from a traditional reference. "Announcing is not just an end, it is a new beginning." On March 13, 2012, Encyclopedia Britannica, a company headquartered in Chicago, announced that it would stop printing the 244-year-old paper version of Encyclopedia Britannica and would only provide electronic versions in the future. This stems from the challenges posed by the rise of online encyclopedias. As the "leader" in the encyclopedia world, Encyclopedia Britannica has moved from offline to online this time, which is considered to indicate that large paper dictionaries will gradually become history. Saying goodbye to paper books is really a last resort for Encyclopedia Britannica. The company says it has been thinking about ending the paper version for some time. American media quoted company president Jorge Cos as saying that the decision was made because the electronic version of Encyclopedia Britannica has a larger consumer base. In addition, electronic versions of encyclopedias can be updated in real time, whereas printed versions may be out of date by the time they are printed. Sales of the paper version of Encyclopedia Britannica are no longer what they used to be. Kaus said that the sales peak of "Encyclopedia Britannica" was in 1990, when 120,000 copies were sold, and total sales reached a record $650 million. But by 1996, this number dropped to 40,000 units. With the launch of the free and fast Google search engine and Wikipedia, sales of the paper version of Encyclopedia Britannica plummeted. The first CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Britannica was released in 1989, and the online version started in 1994, with more than 100 million users worldwide.