Encyclopædia Britannica facts for kids

"Britannica" redirects here. For other uses, see Britannica (disambiguation).

Encyclopædia Britannica

Author	As of 2008^[update], 4,411 named contributors
Illustrator	Several; initial engravings by Andrew Bell
Country	United Kingdom (1768–1901) United States (1901–present)
Language	British English
Subject	General knowledge
Published	Since 1768; 258 years ago (1768)
Publisher	Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Publication date	1768–2010 (printed version) 1994–present (online)
Media type	Multivolume print (discontinued in 2012), 15 named editions, see edition summary CD-ROM Online digital (Britannica.com)
Dewey Decimal	031

The Encyclopædia Britannica is a very old and famous English-language encyclopaedia that shares knowledge about almost everything. Its name comes from Latin and means "British Encyclopædia." It first started being published in 1768. Over the years, it changed owners several times and is now owned by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc..

The last time it was printed on paper was in 2010. That edition had 32 volumes and 32,640 pages! Since 2016, you can only find the Britannica online at its website, Britannica.com.

For 245 years, the Britannica was the longest-running printed encyclopaedia in English. It began in Edinburgh, Scotland, between 1768 and 1771. Back then, it came out in weekly parts that eventually made up three books. The encyclopaedia quickly grew bigger with each new edition. The second edition had 10 volumes, and by the fourth edition (1801–1810), it had 20 volumes. Since the early 1900s, the total number of words has stayed around 40 million.

The Britannica became known as a reliable and academic source. This helped attract many famous writers and experts to contribute. The 9th (1875–1889) and 11th editions (1911) are especially famous for their high-quality writing and deep knowledge. After an American company bought it, the Britannica started making its articles shorter and simpler. This was to appeal to more readers in North America. Even though it has been published in the United States since 1901, the Britannica mostly uses British English spelling.

In 1932, the Britannica started a new way of working called "continuous revision." This meant that the encyclopaedia was constantly updated and reprinted, with every article checked and changed regularly. This helped keep the information fresh.

The 15th edition (1974–2010) had a special three-part design. It included a 12-volume Micropædia with short articles (under 750 words). There was also a 17-volume Macropædia with longer, more detailed articles (from two to 310 pages). Finally, a single Propædia volume provided a hierarchical map of all human knowledge. The Micropædia was for quick fact-checking and to guide readers to the longer articles in the Macropædia. The Propædia helped readers understand how different subjects connect and find more detailed information.

In the 21st century, the Britannica faced new challenges. First, it competed with digital encyclopaedias like Microsoft Encarta. Later, it faced competition from online encyclopaedias like Wikipedia, which are created by many people working together. Even with this competition, Britannica kept its reputation for being a trusted, complete, and well-organized source of information. While it was known for its quality, it couldn't always cover as many topics or update as quickly as its online competitors.

In March 2012, the company announced it would stop printing paper editions. From then on, it would focus only on its online version.

Exploring the History of Britannica

The title page of the first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, published in 1768–71

The Britannica has had many owners throughout its long history. These included Scottish printers Colin Macfarquhar and Andrew Bell, and later the Scottish bookseller Archibald Constable. Over time, it was also owned by A. & C. Black, Horace Everett Hooper, Sears Roebuck, William Benton, and currently by Jacqui Safra, a Swiss billionaire.

New technologies, like computers and the internet, changed how people looked for information. Digital encyclopaedias such as Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite, Encarta, and Wikipedia became popular. To keep up, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. focused on its strong reputation. It also made its products more affordable and created digital versions for CD-ROM, DVD, and the World Wide Web. Since the 1930s, the company has also created other helpful reference books.

Britannica's Many Editions

The Encyclopaedia Britannica has been published in 15 main editions. Some editions also had extra volumes called supplements. For example, the 5th and 6th editions were mostly reprints of the 4th. The 10th edition was a supplement to the 9th, and the 12th and 13th editions were supplements to the 11th.

In 1974, the 15th edition was a big change, becoming the New Encyclopaedia Britannica. The 14th and 15th editions were updated every year. This meant that later printings of these editions were quite different from the earlier ones.

Throughout its history, the Britannica has always had two main goals: to be an excellent reference book and to provide educational materials. In 1974, the 15th edition added a third goal: to organize all human knowledge in a systematic way.

The history of the Britannica can be divided into five main periods, marked by changes in how it was managed or organized.

Early Years: 1768–1824

Early Britannica editions included important research, like Thomas Young's article on Egypt, which helped translate the hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone.

In its first era, from the 1st to 6th editions (1768–1824), the Britannica was managed by its founders, Colin Macfarquhar and Andrew Bell, and later by Archibald Constable.

The first Britannica was published in parts between 1768 and 1771 in Edinburgh. It was called the Encyclopædia Britannica, or, A Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, compiled upon a New Plan. This "new plan" meant it combined short articles and longer, more detailed "treatises" in one alphabetical list.

Many people consider the Encyclopaedia Britannica a lasting achievement of the Scottish Enlightenment. The first publishers and William Smellie, who put the first edition together, were all Scottish. Smellie wrote most of the first edition himself. Over time, the Britannica grew in size, sales, and reputation. By the third edition, it started to represent a broader "Britishness."

Editors like Macvey Napier, who worked on the Supplement to the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Editions, began to recruit many famous experts. These included the chemist Joseph Black and the natural philosopher John Robison.

Growth and Scholarship: 1827–1901

During the second era (7th–9th editions, 1827–1901), the Britannica was managed by the Edinburgh publishing company A & C Black. Many contributors came from different countries and were respected experts in their fields. The 7th edition was the first to include a general index, which helped readers find information easily. This practice continued until 1974.

The 9th edition (1875–1889), edited by Thomas Spencer Baynes, was known as the "Scholar's Edition." It is considered one of the most academic Britannicas. Famous scientists like James Clerk Maxwell and Thomas Huxley were special advisors. However, by the end of the 19th century, the 9th edition was becoming outdated, and the Britannica faced money problems.

American Ownership and Continuous Revision: 1901–1973

An advertisement for the 11th edition, published in the May 1913 issue of National Geographic

A wooden shipping crate for the 14th edition of the Britannica

In the third era (10th–14th editions, 1901–1973), American business people took over. They started new ways of selling the encyclopaedia, including direct marketing. The American owners gradually made articles simpler and less academic to reach a wider audience. The 11th edition was a completely new work, and its owner, Horace Hooper, put a lot of effort into it.

When Hooper had financial difficulties, Sears Roebuck managed the Britannica for 18 years (1920–1923, 1928–1943). In 1932, Elkan Harrison Powell, from Sears, became president of the Britannica. In 1936, he started the "continuous revision" policy. This meant articles were regularly updated instead of waiting for a whole new edition every 25 years. Powell also created new educational products using the Britannica name.

In 1943, Sears gave the Encyclopædia Britannica to the University of Chicago. William Benton helped fund its operations and managed the Britannica until his death in 1973. He set up the Benton Foundation, which managed the Britannica until 1996, with the University of Chicago as its main beneficiary. In 1968, the Britannica celebrated its 200th birthday.

The Three-Part Structure: 1974–1994

In the fourth era (1974–1994), the Britannica introduced its 15th edition, which had a new three-part structure: the Micropædia, the Macropædia, and the Propædia. Under Mortimer J. Adler, the Britannica aimed not just to be a good reference and educational tool, but to organize all human knowledge.

The first version of the 15th edition received some criticism because it didn't have a separate index and grouped articles in a new way. Because of this, the 15th edition was completely reorganized and given an index for a new release in 1985. This updated version of the 15th edition continued to be published and revised until the last print version in 2010.

The Digital Age: 1994–Present

An 1898 advertisement for the 9th edition

In the fifth era (1994–present), digital versions of the Britannica were created and released on CD/DVD and online.

In 1996, Jacqui Safra bought the Britannica due to the company's financial challenges. In 1999, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. split into two parts. One kept the company name and worked on the print version, while the other, Britannica.com Incorporated, developed digital versions. Since 2001, both companies have shared a CEO, Ilan Yeshua, who continued the strategy of creating new products under the Britannica name. In March 2012, Britannica's president, Jorge Cauz, announced that the company would no longer print new editions of the encyclopaedia. The 2010 15th edition was the last printed one. The company now focuses only on the online edition and other educational tools.

The final print edition of Britannica was in 2010, a 32-volume set. The Britannica Global Edition was also printed in 2010. It had 30 volumes and 18,251 pages, with 8,500 pictures, maps, flags, and illustrations. It also contained over 40,000 articles written by experts from around the world. Unlike the 15th edition, it was organized from A to Z, like earlier editions.

In 2020, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. released the Britannica All New Children's Encyclopedia: What We Know and What We Don't. This encyclopaedia was made for younger readers and covered many important topics. It was praised for bringing back the print format and was Britannica's first encyclopaedia for children since 1984.

Royal and Presidential Dedications

From 1788 to 1901, the Britannica was dedicated to the reigning British monarch. After it was sold to an American company, it was dedicated to both the British monarch and the President of the United States. For example, the 11th edition was dedicated to King George V of the United Kingdom and President William Howard Taft. The order of these dedications changed over time, reflecting the changing influence of the United States and Britain.

Understanding the Print Version

The 15th edition of the Britannica; the green-spined volume is the Propædia; the red and black-spined volumes are the Micropædia and the Macropædia. The last three volumes are the 2002 Book of the Year and the two-volume index.

The logo of the Britannica has long been a thistle, which is the national flower of Scotland.

From 1985, the print version had four parts: the Micropædia, the Macropædia, the Propædia, and a two-volume index. The articles were in the Micro- and Macropædia, which had 12 and 17 volumes respectively. Each volume had about a thousand pages. The 2007 Macropædia had 699 detailed articles, some as long as 310 pages, with references and named authors. The 2007 Micropædia had about 65,000 shorter articles, mostly under 750 words, without references or named authors.

The Micropædia articles were for quick facts and to help you find more detailed information in the Macropædia. The Macropædia articles were meant to be expert, well-written explanations of their subjects. The longest article, 310 pages, was about the United States. A 2013 "Global Edition" of Britannica contained about 40,000 articles.

You could find information in the Britannica by following cross-references or by using the alphabetical index or the Propædia. The Propædia organized all human knowledge into a logical framework. Editors used this outline to decide which articles to include. It could also be used as a study guide to learn about a topic in depth.

The Micropædia and Macropædia together contained about 40 million words and 24,000 images. The two-volume index had 2,350 pages, listing 228,274 topics and many sub-topics. The Britannica generally used British spelling, like colour instead of color.

Since 1936, the articles in Britannica were regularly updated. At least 10% of the articles were reviewed each year.

In March 2012, the company announced that the 2010 edition would be the last printed version. This decision was made to focus on digital distribution. Sales of the printed encyclopaedia peaked in 1990, with 120,000 sets sold. By 1996, sales had dropped to 40,000 per year. Only 12,000 sets of the 2010 edition were printed, and they sold out by April 2012. As of 2016, you can still buy a replica of the first 1768 edition online.

Other Britannica Publications

Children's Britannica

Britannica Junior was first published in 1934 and had 12 volumes. It grew to 15 volumes in 1947 and was renamed Britannica Junior Encyclopædia in 1963. It stopped being printed after 1984.

A British Children's Britannica was published in London in 1960. Britannica introduced the Children's Britannica to the US in 1988, for ages seven to 14.

In 1961, a 16-volume Young Children's Encyclopaedia was made for children learning to read. My First Britannica is for ages six to 12, and the Britannica Discovery Library was for children aged three to six (1974 to 1991). Compton's by Britannica, first published in 2007, is for 10- to 17-year-olds. It has 26 volumes and 11,000 pages.

There are also shorter Britannica encyclopaedias. The single-volume Britannica Concise Encyclopædia has 28,000 short articles. It has also been translated into other languages like Chinese and Vietnamese.

Since 1938, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. has published an annual Book of the Year. This book updates the encyclopaedia with events from the past year and new statistics.

The company also publishes special reference books, such as Shakespeare: The Essential Guide to the Life and Works of the Bard (2006).

Digital and Online Britannica

The Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2012 DVD contained over 100,000 articles. This included regular Britannica articles, plus content from the Britannica Student Encyclopædia and the Britannica Elementary Encyclopædia. It also had maps, videos, sounds, animations, and web links. It offered study tools and dictionary entries from Merriam-Webster.

Britannica Online is a website with over 120,000 articles that are updated regularly. It features daily content, updates, and links to news from The New York Times and the BBC. As of 2009, about 60% of Encyclopædia Britannica's income came from its online services. Subscriptions were available yearly, monthly, or weekly. Special plans are offered to schools, colleges, and libraries.

In February 2007, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. worked with AskMeNow to launch a mobile encyclopaedia. Users could send a question by text message and get an answer from Britannica's concise encyclopaedia.

In June 2008, Britannica announced a plan to let experts and amateur writers work together on its online content, with editors checking everything. Approved contributions would be credited.

In January 2009, Britannica's president, Jorge Cauz, announced that the public could submit edits and additions to the online Britannica website. These edits would be reviewed and approved by professional staff. User-written articles would appear in a separate section from the official Britannica content. Official Britannica material would have a "Britannica Checked" stamp.

In 2010, Britannica partnered with Concentric Sky to create iPhone products for the K–12 school market. In 2011, they brought Britannica Kids to Intel's Intel Atom-based Netbooks and launched an iPad app. In 2010, Britannica also released Britannica ImageQuest, a database of images.

In March 2012, the company confirmed it would stop printing the encyclopaedia and focus on its online version.

In June 2018, Britannica released a Google Chrome extension, "Britannica Insights." This extension shows snippets of information from Britannica Online when you use Google Search.

People Behind Britannica

The print version of the Britannica had 4,411 contributors. Many of these were famous experts in their fields, like Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman and astronomer Carl Sagan. Most contributors wrote only one article, but some wrote many. For example, Christine Sutton from the University of Oxford wrote 24 articles on particle physics.

Famous writers like Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, and Isaac Asimov also contributed to Britannica.

As of 2007, Dale Hoiberg, a sinologist, was Britannica's Senior Vice President and editor-in-chief. Other important editors included Hugh Chisholm and Robert McHenry.

Editorial Guidance

Britannica has an editorial board of advisors, mostly scholars from different areas of study. The Propædia and its "Outline of Knowledge" were created by many advisors, led by Mortimer J. Adler. These advisors helped decide which articles should be included in the Britannica.

Company Structure and Sales

For much of the 20th century, the University of Chicago had a significant ownership stake in Britannica. In 1996, Jacqui Safra bought Britannica from the Benton Foundation. He is now the chair of the board.

In 1999, a new company, Britannica.com Incorporated, was created to develop digital versions. Jorge Aguilar-Cauz became President of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. in 2003. He has focused on working with other companies and expanding the Britannica brand to new educational products.

In the past, Britannica was often sold by door-to-door salesmen. These sales methods changed over time as the company adapted to new markets. While early Britannica was for educated adults, by the mid-20th century, it was often marketed to parents who wanted a good education for their children. The Britannica used its long history to present itself as a high-quality brand.

Digital Encyclopaedias on Discs

A major competitor to Britannica among CD/DVD-ROM encyclopaedias was Encarta, which is no longer made. Encarta was a popular multimedia encyclopaedia. Both Britannica and Encarta were in a similar price range.

The Britannica disc contained 100,000 articles and a dictionary. Encarta had 66,000 articles, interactive maps, and tools for homework. Both were available online by subscription.

Reputation and Influence

A copperplate by Andrew Bell from the 1st edition

Since its 3rd edition, the Britannica has been known for its excellent quality. Its 3rd and 9th editions were even copied illegally for sale in the United States. Time magazine once called the Britannica the "Patriarch of the Library." Famous naturalist William Beebe said it was "beyond comparison." The Britannica is also mentioned in many English books, including one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories.

The Britannica is famous for summarizing knowledge. Some people have even read the entire Britannica to learn more, taking anywhere from three to 22 years! When Fat'h Ali became the Shah of Persia in 1797, he read the entire 3rd edition. Afterward, he added "Most Formidable Lord and Master of the Encyclopædia Britannica" to his royal title.

Writer George Bernard Shaw claimed to have read the entire 9th edition (except for the science articles). Richard Evelyn Byrd took the Britannica to read during his five-month stay at the South Pole in 1934. More recently, A. J. Jacobs, an editor at Esquire magazine, read the entire 2002 version of the 15th edition. He wrote about his experiences in his book The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World.

Awards and Recognition

The CD/DVD-ROM version of the Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite, won the 2004 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers. In July 2009, Encyclopædia Britannica was named one of the "Top Ten Superbrands in the UK" by independent reviewers.

What Topics Britannica Covers

Topics in Britannica are chosen using the Propædia "Outline of Knowledge." Most of the 15th edition of the Britannica covered geography (26%), biographies (14%), biology and medicine (11%), and literature (7%). A study of the Micropædia found similar results, with geography making up 25% of articles. In 1992, one reviewer said that the "range, depth, and catholicity of coverage [of the Britannica] are unsurpassed."

The Britannica does not cover all topics in the same amount of detail. For example, all of Buddhism and most other religions are covered in one Macropædia article, while Christianity has 14 articles. The Britannica includes 50,479 biographies, with 5,999 about women. It has been praised for being one of the least biased general encyclopaedias for Western readers.

Edition Summary

Overview of editions of *Encyclopædia Britannica*
Edition / supplement	Publication years	Size	Sales	Chief editor(s)	Notes
1st	1768–1771	3 volumes, 2,391 pages, 160 plates	3,000	William Smellie	Mostly written by one editor, Smellie. Sold for £12.
2nd	1777–1784	10 volumes, 8,595 pages, 340 plates	1,500	James Tytler	Also mostly written by one editor, Tytler.
3rd	1788–1797	18 volumes, 14,579 pages, 542 plates	10,000 or 13,000	Colin Macfarquhar and George Gleig	Very profitable; first edition dedicated to a monarch.
supplement to 3rd	1801, revised in 1803	2 volumes, 1,624 pages, 50 plates		George Gleig	An additional set of volumes.
4th	1801–1810	20 volumes, 16,033 pages, 581 plates	4,000	James Millar	Authors could keep their copyright for the first time.
5th	1815–1817	20 volumes, 16,017 pages, 582 plates		James Millar	A reprint of the 4th edition.
supplement to 4th, 5th, and 6th	1816–1824	6 volumes, 4,933 pages, 125 plates¹	10,500	Macvey Napier	Famous contributors like Sir Humphry Davy and Sir Walter Scott were recruited.
6th	1820–1823	20 volumes		Charles Maclaren	A reprint of the 4th and 5th editions.
7th	1830–1842	21 volumes, 17,101 pages, 506 plates, plus a 187-page index volume	5,000	Macvey Napier, assisted by James Browne, LLD	Included a wider network of famous contributors.
8th	1853–1860	21 volumes, 17,957 pages, 402 plates; plus a 239-page index volume, published 1861²	8,000	Thomas Stewart Traill	Many articles were copied from the 7th edition.
9th	1875–1889	24 volumes, plus a 499-page index volume labeled Volume 25	55,000 authorized plus 500,000 pirated sets	Thomas Spencer Baynes (1875–80); then W. Robertson Smith	Known for its high level of scholarship.
10th, supplement to 9th	1902–1903	11 volumes, plus the 24 volumes of the 9th. Volume 34 containing 124 detailed country maps with index of 250,000 names⁴	70,000	Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace and Hugh Chisholm in London; Arthur T. Hadley and Franklin Henry Hooper in New York City	American partnership bought the rights.
11th	1910–1911	28 volumes, plus volume 29 index	1,000,000	Hugh Chisholm in London, Franklin Henry Hooper in New York City	Another high point for scholarship and writing; articles were shorter and simpler.
12th, supplement to 11th	1921–1922	3 volumes with own index, plus the 29 volumes of the 11th⁵		Hugh Chisholm in London, Franklin Henry Hooper in New York City	Summarized the world before, during, and after World War I.
13th, supplement to 11th	1926	3 volumes with own index, plus the 29 volumes of the 11th⁶		James Louis Garvin in London, Franklin Henry Hooper in New York City	Replaced the 12th edition volumes.
14th	1929–1933	24 volumes⁷		James Louis Garvin in London, Franklin Henry Hooper in New York City	Published just before the Great Depression.
revised 14th	1933–1973	24 volumes⁷		Franklin Henry Hooper until 1938; then Walter Yust, Harry Ashmore, Warren E. Preece, William Haley	Started "continuous revision" in 1936, updating articles regularly.
15th	1974–1984	30 volumes⁸		Warren E. Preece, then Philip W. Goetz	Introduced the three-part structure (Micropædia, Macropædia, Propædia).
15th	1985–2010	32 volumes⁹		Philip W. Goetz, then Robert McHenry, currently Dale Hoiberg	Restored a two-volume index; this was the last printed edition.
Global	2009	30 compact volumes		Dale Hoiberg	Organized A through Z, unlike the 15th edition's three parts.

Edition notes

¹This supplement was titled "Supplement to the fourth, fifth, and sixth editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica. With preliminary dissertations on the history of the sciences."

² The 7th to 14th editions included a separate index volume to help readers find information.

³ The 9th edition featured articles by famous people like James Clerk Maxwell and William Thomson.

⁴ The 10th edition included a maps volume and an index for both the 9th and 10th editions.

⁵ These volumes were titled "Vols. 30–32... the New volumes constituting, in combination with the twenty-nine volumes of the eleventh edition, the twelfth edition."

⁶ This supplement replaced the previous one and was titled "The three new supplementary volumes constituting, with the volumes of the latest standard edition, the thirteenth edition."

⁷ From this point, Encyclopædia Britannica began almost annual revisions.

⁸ Annual revisions were published almost every year between 1974 and 2007. The 15th edition (also called "Britannica 3") had a 10-volume Micropædia, a 19-volume Macropædia, and the Propædia.

⁹ In 1985, the system was changed to add a separate two-volume index. Some Macropædia articles were combined, and some medium-length articles moved to the Micropædia. This edition was the last one printed on paper.

The first CD-ROM edition came out in 1994, along with an online version that required a paid subscription. In 1999, the online version was free, and no new print versions were made. This experiment ended in 2001, and a new printed set was released that year.