Revised Fourteenth Edition, 1973, 24 volumes, complete, 21.4 cms x 28 cms x 108 cms (shelf length), illustrated, condition: as new.

Printed for 244 years, the Britannica was the longest-running in-print encyclopaedia in the English language. It was first published between 1768 and 1771 in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh, in three volumes. The encyclopaedia grew in size; the second edition was 10 volumes, and by its fourth edition (18011810), it had expanded to 20 volumes. Its rising stature as a scholarly work helped recruit eminent contributors, and the 9th (18751889) and 11th editions (1911) are landmark encyclopaedias for scholarship and literary style.

In 1933, the Britannica became the first encyclopaedia to adopt "continuous revision", in which the encyclopaedia was continually reprinted, with every article updated on a schedule.

 To paraphrase President Hutchins of the University of Chicago : "This is more than a set of books, and more than a liberal education. This is an act of piety. Here are the sources of our being. Here is our heritage. This is its meaning for mankind."