Why would anyone buy a 20 year old encyclopedia?
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6rant6 (
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April 27th, 2011
We’ve got an encyclopedia set – leather bound pristine condition all that. The problem is that, well, it’s in pristine condition – almost never used. And it’s going on twenty years old.
So I go to eBay to see if people are selling these things. And yes they are! More than $200 a set! Why would someone want an old encyclopedia set?
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42 Answers
Maybe a collector? Someone who became attached to the USSR? Or Ceylon (although that was further back)? Someone who wants to forget the last 20 years of their life?
I’d like to have an old set someday. I think it would be interesting to see how things have changed over the years. That is also why I kept all my nursing textbooks.
Interior decorators use them to fill bookshelves with impressive looking books. I buy antique educational books because I like them. (Not 20 years old, though. Those are too new for my purposes.)
Two hundred buck? That is a good sell. Going once., Going twice.
I wish I’d thought of eBay when we gave ours to a nearby elementary school, which was thrilled to have it. But shipping probably would have been a deal-breaker. I like the idea that young kids are using our old Britannica to learn how to do research and how to handle large volumes, without the teachers’ having to worry too much about clumsy little fingers.
Not everything goes out of date, after all: birds and animals, rivers and mountains, gemstones and minerals, the history of aviation and the art of ancient Greece—I would expect them all to be pretty much the same 20 years later.
After all, my own education is much older than that.
I agree @Jeruba. Except mine, twice were World Book. Great books.
My librarian mother used to tell me all the time about the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica, which was written by the top scholars of the day. It didn’t matter to her that it pre-dated WW I.
Well, yes. History doesn’t change. Duh, how smart are we to not have hardcopies of things.
Why? Some people like to collect things that come in sets. Combine that with a desire to own antique items, and you have an audience that will salivate for your encyclopedia collection.
History doesn’t change, but new facts come to light and interpretations change. Reputations come and go. (So do planets.)
However, we are very foolish if the only references we have can’t be accessed without a power supply and can’t be read without electricity. Who knows how long those resources will be cheap and plentiful? Not to mention that traditional publication has a little more going for it with respect to authority and quality of information than websites where anyone can post anything.
And seeing how knowledge changes over time gives us one of the most precious intellectual tools that we can have, namely, perspective.
History doesn’t change @Jeruba. We can each interpret how we please, but the truth will stand till the world’s on fire. Word.
I am referring to history as a written record, which is a human product. It does change. If you are using “history” to mean “the past,” that’s a different matter. (Admittedly, I used it loosely above.)
As for the truth, I don’t think it’s within the capacity of human beings to know it. I call that an opinion because I don’t have any ownership of truth.
That’s it! I’ll buy your encyclopedia set, @6rant6 and pretend that Pluto’s still a planet…
I know the truth. The truth isn’t something that changes unless you are a teenager trying to manipulate a curphew. LOL You know what I mean, right? The truth is the truth.
If you know the truth, @bkcunningham, I think I must bow before you because you are the only one who does,
@zenvelo Yes, the 11th edition of the Britannica is known in library circles to have stellar information on the Classics and mythology. However, there are many newly old encyclopedias that libraries wouldn’t touch with a 10 foot pole. I do still use my 1987 World Book at home at times for some information needs.
Not really @Jeruba. You know the truth. I’m not trying to be “mightier than thou.” The truth isn’t something that changes. You know that. That is the basic premise of being a human. Of being alive. The truth. Perhaps our perceptions of reality are different. But I won’t apologize for knowing the difference between a lie and the truth. You shouldn’t either girlfriend.
I’m a she who knoweth the truth at allmighty seazen. lol
I don’t want to quarrel with you, @bkcunningham, but I really think I’m best qualified to speak about what I know. Your assumptions about human constants and reality and humanity speak for you but not necessarily for me.
I don’t think “what I believe” necessarily equals “the truth” at all. And I can see a lie for what it is without necessarily feeling that truth has been revealed to me.
I think you are best qualifed to speak for what you believe too @Jeruba. That was my entire point. Thank you for repsonding. We seem to agree.
(buries her head in her new encyclopedia set, book “P” for Pluto)
@jeruba, if the power fails, these are going to be tough to read by candlelight.
small print
[mod says] This question has been moved to Social with the asker’s permission. :)
Thank you asker. Thank you granter of asker’s permission. lol
People like me like to cut out the interesting vintag-ey pictures to use in art.
Also, it’s kind of a tangible record of knowledge that is just cool to have. And Encyclopedias look classy as part of a home library.
Cutting a book? OM I can barely fold the edge of a page. Rabbit ears terrify me.
@bkcunningham You must have been scared out of your wits looking at the avatars last Sunday….
(I don’t like books that are dog -eared.)
It took me a few seconds. I mean, I took a few hops backwards for a second. I hear she is fine though.
Old knowledge never dies—I hope the person had room for it, got a good price, and knows what to ignore [geopolitical world maps, cutting edge science]
Pluto? He’s a dog from California who chose to walk on all fours and eat from a bowl, unlike his brother Goofy, who chose to walk on 2 feet, wear clothes, and eat at the dinner table with a mouse.
When I was a child we had an old set of Compton Encyclopedia. I loved looking through them because they were so old fashioned. There were photos of classrooms and students, the kids wearing clothes so different from mine. I remember a list of inventions that would make you rich if you could figure out how to make them. It included things like a non glass milk container and other things that had been invented by the time I saw the list. There was a section of proper table manners of the day that made me laugh. By the time I needed an encyclopedia for school reports, we had a more up to date set, but I wish I still had that old set. It would be a collector’s item.
I can imagine the enjoyment of cutting out interesting bits to make art. I can also imagine a house so filled with crap that you die under a pile of encyclopedias and no one can find your corpse for a week.
@6rant6 One of those certainly does sound like more fun than the other.
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