Encyclopaedia Britannica Goes Out of Print After 244 Years

Encyclopaedia Britannica, the oldest continuously published English-language encyclopaedia in the world, has ceased publication of its iconic 32-volume book set on print in favour of a digital-only model that already pulls more than fifteen times the revenue of its print edition.

The president of Britannica, Jorge Cauz, announced the decision on Tuesday, after calling it a natural part of the company’s evolution following more than 244 years of the book set on print.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, the oldest continuously published English-language encyclopaedia in the world, has ceased publication of its iconic 32-volume book set on print in favour of a digital-only model that already pulls more than fifteen times the revenue of its print edition.

The president of Britannica, Jorge Cauz, announced the decision on Tuesday, after calling it a natural part of the company’s evolution following more than 244 years of the book set on print.

[quote]”Everyone will want to call this the end of an era, and I understand that… But there’s no sad moment for us. I think outsiders are more nostalgic about the books than I am,” said Cauz, during an interview with CNN.[/quote]

The Britannica president added that the print version of the encyclopaedia already represented less than 1 percent of the company’s total sales, with the online edition providing 15 percent of Britannica’s revenues, while 85 percent came from sales of the company’s education products such as online learning tools and curriculum projects.

“The print set is an icon. But it’s an icon that doesn’t do justice to how much we’ve changed over the years,” said Cauz. “We knew this was going to come.”

While many fans of the reference set have been quick to lament the effect of Google Search and Wikipedia on Britannica’s sales, Cauz insisted that these online tools had no bearing on the company’s decision to go digital, particularly as the sales of its printed encyclopaedias had been negligible for several years.

Related: Farewell Borders: The End of Book Culture?

[quote]“This has nothing to do with Wikipedia or Google,” he said, as quoted by the Washington Post. “This has to do with the fact that now Britannica sells its digital products to a large number of people.” [/quote]

“Google’s algorithm (also) doesn’t know what’s fact or what’s fiction,” he added. “So Wikipedia is often the No. 1 or No. 2 result on search. But I’d bet a lot of money that most people would rather use Britannica than Wikipedia.”

Unlike Wikipedia, which accepts contributions from the public, Britannica has a slew of expert contributors who edit its content. Among its contributors in its last 2010 edition included global leaders such as former US President Bill Clinton and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and celebrities such golfer Arnold Palmer and skateboarding legend Tony Hawk.

To date, only 8,000 sets of out 12,000 print copies of Encyclopaedia Britannica have been sold, with the remaining sets to be sold on their website for $1,395.

While it is still unclear whether people will be willing to pay $70 a year for Britannica’s online encyclopaedia, Cauz believes that the company still has an “important role to play”, particularly as consumers continue to crave accuracy.

“I think Wikipedia sees us as a relic of an old era. But facts always matter, no matter what form they take. Our mission hasn’t changed, just the method.”

“Wikipedia is a wonderful technology for collecting everything from great insights to lies and innuendos. It’s not all bad or all good, just uneven. It’s the murmur of society, a million voices rather than a single informed one,” he said.

[quote]“To me the most important message is that the printed edition was not what made Britannica,” he added. “The most important thing about Britannica is that Britannica is relevant and vibrant because it brings scholarly knowledge to an editorial process to as many knowledge seekers as possible.”[/quote]