When Fat'h Ali became the Shah of Persia in 1797, he was given a set of the Britannica's 3rd edition, which he read completely; after this feat, he extended his royal title to include "Most Formidable Lord and Master of the Encyclopædia Britannica."-- Wikipedia.
Twenty years ago my cousin tried to buy a set of World Books and they refused to sell them to him over the phone. They insisted on sending a salesman to his home. He had his secretary call back and tell them he would buy the best set they had, just sell them to him. They refused. So he bought his child the Encyclopedia Britannica.
ReplyDeleteThe child was definitely better off. I wouldn't sneeze at a Britannica set even in the age of Wikipedia. World Book was made to crib for jr-high papers.
ReplyDelete... The linked article has some great Britannica howlers btw.