Britannica, collectors' item na

Makikita sa itaas ang unang edisyon ng Encyclopedia
Britannica (Photo from dailymail.com.uk)

Kaming mga Taong Grasa ay naniniwala sa kasabihang "Walang bagay ang sigurado, Walang bagay ang panghabang panahon".

Ganito ang nangyari sa print edition ng Encyclopedia Britannica. Nagdesisyon ang kumpanyang may-ari ng encyclopedia na itigil na ang paglimbag ng encyclopedia dahil hindi na ito kumikita at hindi na napapanahon.

"The print edition became more difficult to maintain and wasn't the best physical element to deliver the quality of our database and the quality of our editorial," wika ni Britannica president George Cauz sa panayam ng dailymail.


"Print may not completely vanish from the market, but I think it is going to be increasingly less important," dagdag ni Cauz. 


Dito sa Pilipinas ang mga encylopedia tulad ng Britannica ay isang status symbol. Inilalagay ito sa eskaparate na nakatayo sa mga living rooms upang ipakita ang mga librong nakahanay na nakasusi sa likod ng mga glassed book cases.

Napakalaki kasi ng halaga upang makabili ng encyclopedia noong ito ay ibinebenta ng mga sales people na nakakurbata pa kapag nagbebenta ng kanilang produkto. Kaya kaming mg Taong Grasa, nakakahawak lamang ng Encylopedia kapag bumibisita sa library o kaya ay sa mga kamag-anak na nakakaangat sa buhay o kaya'y kaklaseng mababait at ipinapagamit ang mga encyclopedia na itinuturing datin na isang pamana.

Sa kasalukuyang henerasyon kasi, mas madaling mag-research sa internet kaysa magbuklat ng libro. Nauso pa ang mga e-books na puwedeng basahin sa anumang mobile gadgets. Ika nga nila ay i-google mo o kaya ay i-bing mo.

Mayroon ding Wikipedia, isang internet site na puwedeng gamitin para mag-research. At mismong ang Britannica ay may sariling website na puwedeng bisitahin kung may ire-research.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2114646/Encyclopedia-Britannica-cut-print-edition--244-YEARS.html#ixzz1pA0LGsK4

Narito naman ang kasaysayan ng Britannica.

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.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2114646/Encyclopedia-Britannica-cut-print-edition--244-YEARS.html#ixzz1pA2j2rBr