Encyclopedia Britannica.

The End of an Era.



Everything has a beginning, a middle, and then – the end.



As it is the custom, when a new topic rears its head, the research has to be done first.



Everything according to a plan – no 'fools rush in …'. - it will never do. The reason the world is in the state it is in, has a few of these elements; 'fools …'.



On Tuesday morning, or was it Monday ? (it may have been Monday, time flies by so quickly) We were chatting away in the chat-room  about this and the other, and Gary mentioned about the correct spelling and use of the word 'dial' in the forms of 'dailling or dailing'.Doc had a few comments, and as I was not sure whether we were taking American or English, I was not sure myself - so...



The easiest way to do anything these days is to ask the computer, Google it, or another dictionary website. This done, the answer was not totally clear, it could be either, and further investigation would be required. This version was picked because of the variety of information given in a fairly concise space.





Verb: dial (dialled,dialling, or [US] dialed,dialing)  dI-ul

1.Operate a dial to select a telephone number

"You must take the receiver off the hook before you dial"



2.Choose by means of a dial

"dial a telephone number"

Noun: dial  dI-ul

1.The face of a timepiece; graduated to show the hours



2.The control on a radio or television set that is used for tuning



3.The circular graduated indicator on various measuring instruments



4.A disc on a telephone that is rotated a fixed distance for each number called

- telephone dial

Derived forms: dialling, dialed, dials, dialled, dialing

Type of: choose, control, controller, face, indicator, operate, pick out, select, selector, selector switch, take

Part of: dial phone, dial telephone, horologe [archaic], timekeeper, timepiece

Encyclopedia: Dial



Source: WordWeb Online



The discussion went on about all the variations found. On my side, a few of the 'dictionary/thesaurus' were paged through.



Thesaurus; a lexicon or treasury of words.

Dictionary; A book containing the words of a language arranged in alphabetical order, with the explanations or definitions of their meanings; a lexicon; wordbook; any work which communicates information on an entire subject or branch of subject, under entries or heads arranged alphabetically.



The Consolidated-Webster Encyclopedic Dictionary

Chicago : 1961



I took the copy of the E/B and found no variation on the word 'dial', only a 16 page discussion  on 'dial' as in 'sundial'. There was no information on the 'telephone' either.

This was most strange, and the date of printing was inspected, it read MDCCLXXI.

This made no sense to me, as my knowledge of Roman numerals is limited, and I asked the fellow 'chattees' if they knew what these figures added up to. Much to my surprise, an answer was there, very quickly, from both the gents.

1771

Anybody interested in the history of  books should know, anything from that era will be considered ancient, and as such – valued. So - back to Google.

The valuation on a set of Encyclopedia Britannica (1771) is quite impressive.

At that stage Gary had left the conversation and I told Doc about the possible value of the books. I was still playing around with the valuation of this set, looking at various websites, and eventually the stories came to be fact.

The first sets of Encyclopedia Britannica was printed in Scotland between 1768 – 1771, when it went onto the market, it was sold at 6 shillings for a set of 3 books.

One original set was chosen and re-printed in 1971 as a commemorative set. It was printed, warts and all, only the paper and covers were of newer material. Also, it is marketed as the 1768 set and is still available from the dealer via INTERNET.

It is more commonly known as the 'Encyclopedia Britannica 1991 – 3 set', and can be found on Google as such, and this is what I have.

It is worth something on the INTERNET, altho, my set is not for sale.



Encyclopedia Britannica has decided to stop printing the main set since 2010, and it will be available on the INTERNET in various options. Maybe 2071 will see a release of the first set ?

Officially: From March 14. 2012 Encyclopedia Britannica will go digital only.



As for the real book-worm, a disc is not quite the thing to read in bed, and a bookshelf with the full set of encyclopedia is still impressive, if nothing else.



As for the computer, it has its advantages, and it can talk to me !



Ed. note: If you have read this item, there is a glaring error made at the beginning,- 'dailling or dailing'.- it slipped past the writer numerous times, till it was picked up and noted. Once again proving the value of the 'reviewing process. 

The photo is of the re-print offered @ 1971, and belongs to jrr. There was a dictionary/thesaurus included, which was not found in the bookshop.