The customer was expected to bring them to bookbinders, which was expensive, Great EB, The Story of Encyclopedia Britannica, Unbound in Elliots bookstore in Edinburgh, When completed in 1784, the unsold sets were sold In magazine format to subscribers, who may or may not have brought their Only 1,500 copies were produced, and most were sold Rare, but not extremely rare.Įdition, of 1777-1784, in 10 volumes, is the rarest edition. The 3rd edition, by itself, is about as common as the 4th, 5th, and 6th added together.

These prices are typical of what one sees for On July, 15, 2011 found 5 copies of the third edition for sale, all dated 1797. About 2,000 of the American bootlegs were sold, and an unknown number of the Dublin sets. This information is taken from the 11th edition of Britannica in the article 'Encyclopedia.' In addition, pirated sets dated as they were produced were being printed by James Moore in Dublin, and pirated sets dated 1798 were printed by Thomas Dobson in Philadelphia. In total, 10,000 copies were printed, according to Kerr (Smellies Life, i.

Over a 9-year period, but the sets are all dated 1797, which is when the title pages were all printed and sent to subscribers with the final volume.

Of 1788-1797, in 18 volumes, is rare but not nearly as rare as the fourth.Ĭomplete sets, leather bound, continued to be produced for several years inĮdinburgh after the writing was completed. A search on usually reveals copies of the 4th, 5th or 6th editions for sale, in various conditions, and sells for $3,000 The 5th and 6th editions were merely reprints of the 4th. Was saved by Archibard Constable, who bought it and produced the 5th and 6th By theĬompletion of this edition, both of the men who founded the encyclopedia, Colin MacfarquharĪnd Andrew Bell, had passed away, and the future of Britannica looked bleak, but it Of 1801-1810, is very rare, as only 4,000 sets were printed. It was the 9th edition that was the first toīe mass-marketed, and sets of the 9th are quite common, and later editions are more common still. The 8th edition, though rare, comes up for sale The 8th was the first to authorize an American publisher to produce sets,Īnd sales began to increase. Only, like the others, and still the sales were low, so this edition is very The 7th through 9thĮditions were produced by A. UK, but in similar quantities and are also very rare. Were reprints of the 4th by Archibald Constable, and were sold throughout the In Edinburgh only, and therefore are extremely rare. In Scotland at the printing shop of Colin Macfarquhar, and in local bookstores The first four editions of Britannica were printed in small quantities and Encyclopedia Britannica First 1st Second 2nd Third 3rd Fourth 4th EditionĮncyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia britannica 1797