Such was their success, selling 3,000 copies, that a second edition of 10 volumes appeared between 17. The first edition was published in 100 parts from 1768 to 1771, bound into three volumes at £12 each. The 127 authors included American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin and philosopher John Locke, although editor William Smellie wrote many essays himself. With engraver Andrew Bell, he formed a Society of Gentlemen to fulfil his grand idea, citing ‘any man of ordinary parts’ as the intended audience for the book’s 40 ‘treatises’ on the Sciences and Arts. The Encyclopaedia Britannica was born 250 years ago this month out of a desire to be enlightened or, in the case of its creator, Colin Macfarquhar, to enlighten others. Not for nothing was the Age of Enlightenment so named. But rather extraordinarily there is still a market for it, as Octavia Pollock finds out. Once the first set of books required in any home library, Encyclopedia Britannica has long since been superseded by the internet. Country Life's Top 100 architects, builders, designers and gardeners.
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