One-volume Encyclopedia, the Publisher's First, Delivers Quick Facts
CHICAGO, June 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Encyclopaedia Britannica, long known for
big sets of books and vast sums of knowledge, has just published a product of
uncharacteristic brevity: a one-volume encyclopedia, the first in the
company's history.
The new Britannica Concise Encyclopedia packs basic information from the
32-volume Encyclopaedia Britannica into two thousand pages that deliver facts
quickly. The book's 28,000 entries provide overviews, key dates, statistics
and other essential facts on everything from art to zoology. A full
complement of maps, flags and charts is also included, making it ideal for
basic research at school, home or work.
"It's the ultimate desk reference," said Encyclopaedia Britannica CEO Ilan
Yeshua. "For the first time, there's an encyclopedia of Britannica's quality
in one handy volume. If you want to know the chemical composition of
pitchblende, when Jane Austen was born, or who got what in the Peace of
Westphalia, it's all right here."
The encyclopedia also covers many of the people and issues making news
today: George W. Bush, J.K. Rowling, Osama bin Laden, Tiger Woods, cloning,
terrorism, globalization, artificial intelligence and the women's movement.
The compact encyclopedia, the first of several single-volume titles the
company plans, marks a new direction for Britannica, whose name has been
synonymous with large multivolume reference works since 1768. Former Vice
President Al Gore, IBM and others have often used "a Britannica" as a unit of
measurement to characterize large quantities of digital information,
preferring the image of the massive books to abstract measures such as mega-,
giga- and terabytes.
As Britannica develops one-volume titles it continues to move vigorously
in the multivolume encyclopedia market. The company recently published a
revised printing of the Encyclopaedia Britannica and reacquired the 26-volume
Compton's Encyclopedia, which it published in the past. Britannica is also
expanding its offerings on the Internet, CD-ROM and DVD.
General reference encyclopedias, which have been around for centuries,
serving as sources of information and summaries of human knowledge, have
varied widely in size. One-volume works have long been part of the scene,
while some encyclopedias have run to extreme lengths, such as the 167-volume
German set published in the 19th century.
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, at 2,080 pages, contains more than 2,000
illustrations. Schools and libraries can purchase the product by calling
1-800-621-3900. Consumers can call 1-800-323-1229 or order from the
Britannica online store at http://www.britannica.com . The encyclopedia is also
available at select Barnes and Noble bookstores.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. creates and markets products of the highest
quality for reference, education and learning. The 32-volume Encyclopaedia
Britannica, first published in 1768, is the oldest continuously published
reference work in the English language. Since the 1980s Britannica has been a
leader in electronic publishing and now publishes encyclopedias and other
works in many forms on the Internet, CD-ROM, and DVD. The company makes its
headquarters in Chicago and also maintains offices in London, New Delhi,
Paris, Seoul, Sydney, Taipei, Tel Aviv, and Tokyo. More information is
available at http://www.britannica.com .
SOURCE Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.britannica.com
CONTACT:
Tom Panelas of Encyclopaedia Britannica,
Inc., +1-312-347-7309, tpanelas@us.britannica.com
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