Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Edition Year Comments

01 1768-1771 Published in 100 parts in Edinburgh by Andrew Bell (1726 - 1809), engraver. Priced sixpence or 8 pence on finer paper. Completed in 1771 in 3 volumes (A-B, C-L, M-Z). Reprinted in London in 1773
02 1777-1784 Published in 181 parts in Edinburgh, completed in 1784 in 10 volumes.
03 1788-1797 Published in 300 weekly numbers in Edinburgh (1 shilling apiece), completed in 1797 in 18 volumes. Two volume supplement published in 1801, revised in 1803. Following Andrew Bell's death in 1809, Archibald Constable purchased the copyright
04 1810 Published in 20 volumes in Edinburgh
05 1817 Published in Edinburgh as a corrected reprint of the 4th.
06 1823 Published in Edinburgh as a reprint of the 5th with a modern typeface. Six volume supplement (for 4th, 5th, 6th editions) published in 1824. Following Constable's bankruptcy, the British publishing firm of Adam & Charles Black purchased the copyright at auction in 1827
07 1830-1842 Published in Edinburgh as a new work, not a revision, it was sold to subscribers in monthly "parts" of around 133 pages each at 6 shillings per part. Completed in 1842 at 36 shillings per volume (£24 for the full set) in 20 volumes, plus an index bound as an unnumbered thin volume or together with volume I
08 1853-1860 Published in Edinburgh as a thorough revision, even more than the 7th. Completed in 1861 in 21 volumes, at 24 shillings per volume, cloth bound
09 1875-1889 Published in Edinburgh as a landmark edition, often called the "Scholar's Edition" in 25 volumes, with volume 25 the index volume. It was even more luxurious, with thick boards and high-quality leather bindings, premier paper, with the ability to print large graphic illustrations on the same pages as the text. Official copies and bootlegged copies were published in the USA.

In 1889 A & C Black moved to the Soho district in London. Struggling financially, in 1897 A & C Black turned over promotion of the Britannica to US Publisher Horace Everett Hooper and Walter Montgomery Jackson. These men partnered with The Times in London (and its respectable name) for it to heavily advertise and sell on commission the latest reprint of the 9th Edition.
On 9 May 1901 Hooper and Jackson purchase full copyright to the Britannica, New York office opens 1902, Angus & Robertson in Sydney 1925
10 1902 Published as a 25 volume reprint plus a nine volume supplement and a map volume, a total of 35 volumes.
Following a legal fight between Hooper and Jackson, in 1909 The Times severed its connection
11 1910-1911 Published as 29 volumes via Cambridge University Press. Hooper now the sole owner of the Britannica
12 1922 The poor sales of the war years brought the Britannica to the brink of bankruptcy. The CEO of Sears Roebuck in Chicago, philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, was devoted to the mission of the Britannica and bought its rights on 24 February 1920 from his friend Hooper for $1.25 million. Hooper died in 1922 just after a three volume supplement to the eleventh edition was released, summarizing developments just before during and after World War I.

This edition was a commercial failure, losing Sears roughly $1.75 million, after which Sears gave it back to Hooper's widow, Harriett Meeker Cox, and her brother, William J. Cox, who ran the company from 1923 to 1928
13 1926 Three revised volumes were published covering events 1910–1926. In 1928, Rosenwald bought back the rights to the Britannica, but leaving Cox as president until 1932
14 1929 Published as 24 volumes. But with the Depression sales plummeted. Rosenwald died in 1932, the general offices moved to Chicago, and Elkan Harrison “Buck” Powell the Secretary-Treasurer of Sears and a University of Chicago graduate, became its new president. In 1936, annual printing introduced of its revisions. In 1943, operation was purchased by William Benton, a former US senator and advertising executive, backed by the University of Chicago. After World War II, Britannica salespeople solicited orders by telephone and by selling door-to-door. By the beginning of the 1960s, having purchased Compton's Encyclopedia and dictionary publisher G. & C. Merriam (later Merriam-Webster), and having published, in 1962, the Great Books of the Western World, the enterprise had nearly 4,000 employees nationwide and was doing about $75 million in annual sales. In 1973 William Benton died. In 1974 the William Benton Foundation took over
15 1974 Published as 30 volumes. Contained a single Propædia volume (Primer for Education outlines), a 10-volume Micropædia (Small Education articles less than 750 words), and a 19-volume Macropædia (Large Education more scholarly articles). In 1985, the Britannica responded to reader requests by restoring the index as a two volume set.

During the 1990s, the company concentrated on producing electronic references, but competition in this field was heavy, and sales dropped. In 1995, Britannica was purchased by an investment group led by Jacob Safra of Switzerland.

Edition	Year	Comments
01	1768-1771	Published in 100 parts in Edinburgh by Andrew Bell (1726 - 1809), engraver. Priced sixpence or 8 pence on finer paper. Completed in 1771 in 3 volumes (A-B, C-L, M-Z). Reprinted in London in 1773
02	1777-1784	Published in 181 parts in Edinburgh, completed in 1784 in 10 volumes.
03	1788-1797	Published in 300 weekly numbers in Edinburgh (1 shilling apiece), completed in 1797 in 18 volumes. Two volume supplement published in 1801, revised in 1803. Following Andrew Bell's death in 1809, Archibald Constable purchased the copyright
04	1810	Published in 20 volumes in Edinburgh
05	1817	Published in Edinburgh as a corrected reprint of the 4th.
06	1823	Published in Edinburgh as a reprint of the 5th with a modern typeface. Six volume supplement (for 4th, 5th, 6th editions) published in 1824. Following Constable's bankruptcy, the British publishing firm of Adam & Charles Black purchased the copyright at auction in 1827
07	1830-1842	Published in Edinburgh as a new work, not a revision, it was sold to subscribers in monthly "parts" of around 133 pages each at 6 shillings per part. Completed in 1842 at 36 shillings per volume (£24 for the full set) in 20 volumes, plus an index bound as an unnumbered thin volume or together with volume I
08	1853-1860	Published in Edinburgh as a thorough revision, even more than the 7th. Completed in 1861 in 21 volumes, at 24 shillings per volume, cloth bound
09	1875-1889	Published in Edinburgh as a landmark edition, often called the "Scholar's Edition" in 25 volumes, with volume 25 the index volume. It was even more luxurious, with thick boards and high-quality leather bindings, premier paper, with the ability to print large graphic illustrations on the same pages as the text. Official copies and bootlegged copies were published in the USA. In 1889 A & C Black moved to the Soho district in London. Struggling financially, in 1897 A & C Black turned over promotion of the Britannica to US Publisher Horace Everett Hooper and Walter Montgomery Jackson. These men partnered with The Times in London (and its respectable name) for it to heavily advertise and sell on commission the latest reprint of the 9th Edition. On 9 May 1901 Hooper and Jackson purchase full copyright to the Britannica, New York office opens 1902, Angus & Robertson in Sydney 1925
10	1902	Published as a 25 volume reprint plus a nine volume supplement and a map volume, a total of 35 volumes. Following a legal fight between Hooper and Jackson, in 1909 The Times severed its connection
11	1910-1911	Published as 29 volumes via Cambridge University Press. Hooper now the sole owner of the Britannica
12	1922	The poor sales of the war years brought the Britannica to the brink of bankruptcy. The CEO of Sears Roebuck in Chicago, philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, was devoted to the mission of the Britannica and bought its rights on 24 February 1920 from his friend Hooper for $1.25 million. Hooper died in 1922 just after a three volume supplement to the eleventh edition was released, summarizing developments just before during and after World War I. This edition was a commercial failure, losing Sears roughly $1.75 million, after which Sears gave it back to Hooper's widow, Harriett Meeker Cox, and her brother, William J. Cox, who ran the company from 1923 to 1928
13	1926	Three revised volumes were published covering events 1910–1926. In 1928, Rosenwald bought back the rights to the Britannica, but leaving Cox as president until 1932
14	1929	Published as 24 volumes. But with the Depression sales plummeted. Rosenwald died in 1932, the general offices moved to Chicago, and Elkan Harrison “Buck” Powell the Secretary-Treasurer of Sears and a University of Chicago graduate, became its new president. In 1936, annual printing introduced of its revisions. In 1943, operation was purchased by William Benton, a former US senator and advertising executive, backed by the University of Chicago. After World War II, Britannica salespeople solicited orders by telephone and by selling door-to-door. By the beginning of the 1960s, having purchased Compton's Encyclopedia and dictionary publisher G. & C. Merriam (later Merriam-Webster), and having published, in 1962, the Great Books of the Western World, the enterprise had nearly 4,000 employees nationwide and was doing about $75 million in annual sales. In 1973 William Benton died. In 1974 the William Benton Foundation took over
15	1974	Published as 30 volumes. Contained a single Propædia volume (Primer for Education outlines), a 10-volume Micropædia (Small Education articles less than 750 words), and a 19-volume Macropædia (Large Education more scholarly articles). In 1985, the Britannica responded to reader requests by restoring the index as a two volume set. During the 1990s, the company concentrated on producing electronic references, but competition in this field was heavy, and sales dropped. In 1995, Britannica was purchased by an investment group led by Jacob Safra of Switzerland.

Britannica Global Edition was printed in 2009. It contained 30 volumes and 18,251 pages, with 8,500 photographs, maps, flags, and illustrations in smaller "compact" volumes. It contained over 40,000 articles written by scholars from across the world, including Nobel Prize winners. Unlike the 15th edition, it did not contain Macro and Micropædia sections. On March 14, 2012, Britannica announced it would not be printing any more sets of its paper version, which accounted for less than 1 percent of its sales, and would instead focus on its DVD and online versions.

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