"After 244 years, Encyclopaedia Britannica going out of print"

 

After 244 years, the Encyclopaedia Britannica is going out of print. Those coolly authoritative , gold-lettered reference books that were once sold door to door by travelling salesmen and displayed as proud fixtures in US homes will be discontinued , company executives said. 

In an acknowledgment of the realities of the digital age - and of competition from the website Wikipedia - Encyclopaedia Britannica will focus primarily on its online encyclopaedias and educational curriculum for schools. The last print version is the 32-volume 2010 edition, which weighs 129 pounds and includes new entries on global warming and the Human Genome Project. 

"It's a rite of passage in this new era," Jorge Cauz, the president of Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., a company based in Chicago, said in an interview. "Some people will feel sad about it and nostalgic about it. But we have a better tool now. 

The website is continuously updated, it's much more expansive and it has multimedia." But in recent years, print reference books have been almost completely overtaken by the internet and its vast spread of resources, including specialised websites and the hugely popular - and free - online encyclopedia Wikipedia. 

The site is written and edited by tens of thousands of contributors, and it has been gradually accepted as a largely accurate and comprehensive source, even by many scholars and academics. Wikipedia also regularly meets the 21stcentury mandate of providing instantly updated material. 

A LUXURY ON THE SHELF 

The Britannica, the oldest continuously published encyclopaedia in the English language, has become a luxury item with a $1,395 price tag. It is frequently bought by embassies, libraries and research institutions, and by welleducated , upscale consumers who felt an attachment to the set of bound volumes. Only 8,000 sets of the 2010 edition have been sold, and the remaining 4,000 have been stored in a warehouse until they are bought. 

Sales of the Britannica peaked in 1990, when 120,000 sets were sold in the United States. But now print encyclopaedias account for less than 1% of the Britannica's revenue. About 85% of revenue comes from selling curriculum products in subjects like math, science and the English language; 15% comes from subscriptions to the website, the company said. 

CAUGHT IN THE WEB 

Many people are also discovering that the books have outlived their usefulness. Used editions of encyclopaedias are widely available on Craigslist and eBay. Charles Fuller, a geography professor who lives in the Chicago suburbs, put his 1992 edition on sale on Craigslist on Sunday. For years, he has neglected the print encyclopaedias, he said in an interview , and now prefers to use his iPhone to look up facts quickly . 

He and his wife are downsizing and relocating to California, he said, and the Encyclopaedia Britannica will not be coming with them, a loss he acknowledges with a hint of wistfulness. "They're not obsolete," Fuller said. "When I'm doing research, I still use the print books. And they look beautiful on the bookshelves."