Chapter closes on encyclopaedia

In book format for 244 years, Britannica is downsizing to an internet presence, its hefty print edition no longer viable, says Richard Fitzpatrick

THE Encyclopaedia Britannica has sold its last published volume after 244 years. The company’s headquarters, in Chicago, announced last week that it will no longer produce its encyclopedias in book form.

Encyclopaedia is Greek for ‘a general education.’ Britannica’s multiple entries, organised alphabetically and by topic, from biographies of biblical figures (e.g. Absalom: “first mentioned as murdering his half brother Amnon, David’s eldest son, in revenge for the rape of his full sister Tamar”) to explanations of Zermelo’s axiom of choice and other theories, proved popular with know-it-alls. George Bernard Shaw claimed he read its entire ninth edition, excepting its science articles.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica was first printed in Edinburgh, 40 years after its forerunner, Chambers’ Cyclopedia. Early contributors included Sir Walter Scott. During its heyday, in the 1920s, when Encyclopaedia Britannica’s HQ moved to the US, the great minds of the day, including Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein and Leon Trotsky, provided content. The web-based volunteer contributors, particularly online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, have been its death knell.

“It’s sad that the Encyclopaedia Britannica is going,” says novelist Kevin Barry. “I’ve very mixed feelings about the internet and technology. It’s wonderful and it’s great that it’s there, but looking up something online, in a strange way, is a very flat and empty experience, as opposed to going to a bookshelf and taking down a tome and opening its pages and turning them.”

Wikipedia has the advantage of instant updates. Professor Alan Smeaton, of DCU says the announcement that the Encyclopaedia Britannica was discontinuing its book format would have been updated on its Wikipedia page immediately. Having only issued 15 editions in its history, the Encyclopaedia Britannica updated less regularly.

“I’ve watched a Six Nations rugby game on television and a couple of minutes after it’s over, somebody will have updated the appropriate Six Nations entry. It’s that up to date. There’s always some soul, somewhere who wants to maintain it,” says Smeaton.

Wikipedia has 30 times the number of articles of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, but has editorial shortcomings. “In its articles, Wikipedia goes for the popular consensus on a topic rather than the critical, correct opinion,” says Smeaton.

“You’ll have a topic, maybe it’s something to do with politics, and rather than go for the viewpoint based on credence, it will quite often go for the one based on popularity, so it’s editing by committee, where the committee is all of humankind. Sometimes, it means it has a very bland opinion on subjects.”

People question Wikipedia’s accuracy, although a study in 2005 by the journal Nature found that the average scientific entry in Wikipedia carried four errors or omissions, which is comparable to the average of three in Encyclopaedia Britannica entries.

“In terms of Wikipedia’s truth or veracity, initially it had question marks and doubts, but in my mind that has completely disappeared,” says Smeaton. “It is now reasonably well-regarded as a reference for citation. When I teach students, I give references and links to Wikipedia articles and encourage them to do so in their essays.

“As regards hacking, it really doesn’t happen on any kind of scale, because if anybody hacks into a page, or puts something inaccurate or mischievous on it, somebody will come along shortly afterwards and fix it. Also, the last version and all the previous pages are available for cross-referencing.”

The Encyclopaedia Britannica got into a stew in early 2010 when it was discovered that the company’s online version (it has been producing CD-ROMs since 1994) contained blunders about the Irish Civil War, which it said occurred between 1919 and 1921, not 1922-23. It described it as a battle between Catholics in the south and Protestants in the north, when it hinged on acceptance or rejection of the Peace Treaty signed with London to end the War of Independence, and it said that Michael Collins was shot dead in Nov 1922 instead of Aug 1922.

How often was the old Encyclopedia Britannica used by families? For many, it was an extravagant outlay.

A report in 2006 by Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, for instance, which was based on Britannica’s own research, discovered that the typical owner only opened his or her collection once or twice a year.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica’s demise also signals the end of its door-to-door sales force, which included famous practitioners, such as the writer JG Ballard, and some infamous ones, like the actor Woody Harrelson’s father who peddled the company’s encyclopaedias before becoming a contract killer.

“In the late 1970s, I remember fellas going around selling, door to door,” says Barry, who grew up in Limerick City. “I remember we bought a set. They weren’t encyclopaedias; they were a set of classics, Aesop’s Fables up as far as Charles Dickens. They had mock, leatherette covers.

“I think one of my sisters might have had a summer job, going around door-to-door selling encyclopedias.

“It was the worst summer job you could get, a dead loss. My memory is of fellas knocking forlornly on the door.”