THE 

 NEW 



ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA eJ!?,"on 



A single payment 

 of $5.00 secures 

 delivery complete. 



THE IMMENSE GROWTH OF 

 KNOWLEDGE renders an en- 

 cyclopaedia more of a necessity 

 to-day than ever before. For the same 



reason, a book which to-day affords a thorough answer to an}' ques- 

 tion that can reasonably be asked must inevitably be voluminous. 



The contents of the 11th edition of the Encyclopaedia 

 Britannica would fill between 400 and 500 ordinary octavo 

 books. Printed, as previous editions were printed, on ordinary 

 paper, the 29 quarto volumes make a row 7 feet long. The 

 ever-increasing bulk of the Encyclopaedia Britannica promised 

 to become a serious menace to its usefulness. The present 

 edition was already far advanced towards completion when a 

 member of the editorial staff, rebelling at the thought that all 

 the precious material passing through his hands was destined to 

 be buried in volumes too cumbersome for easy reading, urged 

 the employment of India paper. The idea was unheard of. 

 Nothing larger than an octavo Bible had ever been printed on 

 India paper. Seldom, however, has a revolutionary change 

 found more complete justification in the event. 



The use of India paper has resulted in light, slender, elegant 

 volumes, inviting for reference, a pleasure to read; and the whole 

 44 million words go into a cubic space of only 2 feet. The 

 greater need of the day for an encyclopaedia has been met by a 

 work which surpasses in usefulness all earlier editions, not only 

 by reason of the more exhaustive and systematic character of its contents 

 of its compact and infinitely more usable form. 



21) quarto volumes ; 1,000 pages each ; 

 4-1,000,000 words 400 plates j 7,000 



other illustrations ; 300 maps. 

 Occupying a cubic space of only 2 ft. 



but also in virtue 



The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, is copyright in all countries subscribing to the 

 Berne Convention by the Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge 



THE MOST WONDERFUL BOOK IN THE WORLD 



Eleven Editions: a Century and a 

 Half of Development 



1. No more striking evidence could be given of the immense 

 expansion of knowledge in modern times than the growth of the 

 Encyclopaedia Britannica. The three volumes of the first edition 

 (I7(iS), mainly the work of a single hand, have grown to 29 volumes 

 in the 11th edition, the outcome of collaboration among some 1,500 

 distinguished specialists. And this growth of the Encyclopaedia 

 Britannica is an indication also of the extent to which the need of 

 such a work has increased with the expansion of knowledge. If a 

 book of this kind was in demand 145 years ago, when a useful ac- 

 count of knowledge could be given in three volumes, how much 

 more is such a resource needed to-day, when the required inform- 

 ation occupies almost ten times as many volumes? 



A Nearer Approach to Perfection 



2. Besides the growth tliat naturally accompanies the increase 

 of knowledge, each successive edition shows also an internal im- 

 provement upon its predecessor. The instrument is ever perfecting 

 itself, until we come to the present edition, and to an advance for 

 which the whole history of encyclopaedias affords no measure. 

 Apart altogether from the immense superiority of its compact and 

 handy format, the 11th edition excels all previous books of the kind 

 in the following points: — (a) it is more thoroughly and consistently 

 abreast of its times, (/') it will appeal to the reader as more exhaus- 

 tive, and (c) to the enquirer as easier of reference. 



An Advantage Peculiar to this 

 Edition 



3. These and other improvements — which may all be included 

 in the general statement that the 11th edition is more systematic 

 than its predecessors — are the result of a circumstance peculiar to 

 the preparation of the 11th edition. For the first time in the mak- 

 ing of an extensive work, the whole book was planned and executed 

 as one consistent whole, and no part of it was printed and published 

 until the whole material from A to Z was assembled. 



More Useful Because More 

 Systematic. 



4. Hitherto, at the beginning of the task of issuing the Ency- 

 clopaedia Britannica, the editor had immediately in view the publi- 

 cation of the first volume only, containing, perhaps, GOO articles. 

 The inevitable tendency, therefore, was to take the corresponding 

 volume of the previous edition as a basis and correct the 

 articles so far as, viewed separately, they seemed to call for correc- 

 tion. In the present case, the editor had in view the issue, not of a 

 single volume, but of the entire work, since the whole was to be 

 published simultaneously. His first business, therefore, was to 

 plan, with the assistance of his permanent editorial staff and his 

 contributors in each department, how each indi\'idual subject — e.g.^ 

 English History, Chemistry, Religion— could best be dealt with in 

 a series of connected articles, each of which should give the reader 

 precisely the information he requires under the heading to which he 

 would naturally refer, while together they should form an exhaus- 

 tive treatment of the whole subject. 



The Perfected Instrument 



5. The 11th edition, therefore, is no mere revision, but a new 

 ivork founded upon a fresh survey. It is singularly easy of refer~ 

 ejice because, in every case, a separate article is accorded to the topic 

 upon which the inquirer seeks information, whereas previously it was 

 too often lost in an *'omnibus" article of inordinate length. It 

 is extraordinarily exhaustive^ because these separate articles 

 were not written independently and at haphazard, according to the 

 exigencies of the alphabet and the particular volume in preparation, 

 but in pursuance of a well considered scheme planned to meet the 

 demands of the whole subject. 



Whether he turn to its pages for the answer to a specific question 

 or for enlightenment upon the whole of a great subject, the reader 

 will find the 11th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica mot f 

 useful f more thorough, viore iuterestiug, than he could ha\ e imag- 

 ined possible in a work of such immense scope, or than he could 

 have expected from his acquaintance with any other encyclopaedia 

 whateve.'. 



