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The Encyclopaedia Britannica Eleventh Edition (Plus Three "New" Volumes Constituting the Twelfth): DELUXE EDITION: THREE-QUARTER MOROCCO (LEATHERBOUND)
New York, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1922, Eleventh (and Twelfth )Editions. HARDCOVER. New Form {App. 8 1/2" x 11"} 32 Volumes in Sixteen Bindings. An index volume, and two new volumes (comprising, along with the Eleventh, The Twelfth Edition) bring the reader up to date with events and developments of the period 1910 to 1921 inclusive. Had in not been for the Great War (WW I), the editiors admit there would not have been any occasion, so early as 1922, for a supplement to the Eleventh Edition "The Eleventh Edition" represented "in an entirely new and original form a fresh survey of the whole field of human thought and achievement, written by some 1500 eminent specialists drawn from nearly every country of the civilized world, incorporating the results of research and the progress of events up to the middle of 1910. 'The book was written to be READ', reads the 4-page ad in the February 1911 issue of The Bookman. 'Here, then, is to be sought the secret of the Encyclopaedia Britannica's greatness, and the attraction it exercises. At no period in its history was the purpose which its editors proposed to themselves that merely of reference. They intended always a book that should be read, that should carry out the promise of the name 'encyclopaedia' - a word which means 'a circle of instruction,' and connotes reading, not reference.' These volumes represent the first year the entire encyclopedia was issued as a whole ("so as to give an organic unity to the whole work.") and the last year before the set began to be "dumbed down", reduced to its eventual status as a multi-volumed lower common-denominator, an agglomeration of commonly useful information, widely acknowledged to be a shadow of its former self in terms of comprehensiveness, depth and excellence of source and material both. From 1921 onward, we see the steady devolution of this once-magnificent work of universal reference to the status of once- obligatory gift for our 12-year olds, that they may bail themselves out of actual thinking, as they perform their quotidian regurgitory functions -- a watery substitute for actual learning and engagement with knowledge -- within the walls of those indoctrination centers so frequently called "schools". This situation was not so much the result of conscious decision (although there were indeed some costcutting measures on the table), as it was the paucity of world-class scholars. The editors wrote: ".neither the minds nor the wills that are requried for such an undertaking are any longer obtainable in any corresponding degree, nor probably can they be again for years to come. This is partly due to sheer 'war-weariness,', which has taken many forms. A shifting of interest has taken place among writers of the academic type, so that there is a disinclination to make the exertion needed for entering anew into their old subjects -- a necessary condition for just that stimulating, vital presentation of old issues in the light of all the accumulated knowledge about them, which was so valuable a feature of the Eleventh Edition.This edition is classically beautiful, -- large substantial, very handsome volumes of rich, reddish-brown morocco (goatskin) at spine and corners, bordering bright, clean maroon cloth All top edges are gilt, as are the lettering on the spine. Minor edge-and corner wear, with front free endapers of some volumes wrinkled. Clean, with all maps and maps present, Iincluding gorgeous color iillustrations. A lovely set - the nicest we've seen in more than a decade. Scans available upon serious request. , VERY GOOD PLUS.
Offered for US$ 1500.00 by: Aardvark Books - Book number: 59815
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