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Illustrations
Andrew Bell and colleague. Chronicle / Alamy.
The birth of Britannica. Prismatic Pictures / Bridgeman Images.
St Isidore of Seville. Zuri Swimmer / Alamy.
Ephraim Chambers’s Cyclopaedia, 1741. British Library.
Diderot and D’Alembert. Masterpics / Alamy; Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy
James Tytler. Classic Image / Alamy.
Brockhaus. FALKENSTEINFOTO / Alamy.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Metropolitana. Chronicle / Alamy.
Paul Otlet’s Mundaneum. From the collection of Mundaneum.
H.G. Wells in his study. The Print Collector / Alamy.
Arthur Mee’s Children’s Encylopedia. The Print Collector / Alamy.
UK Educational Book Co. magazine advert. Retro AdArchives / Alamy.
Encyclopaedia salesman. ClassicStock / Alamy.
Bill and Melinda Gates. Ann Little / Alamy.
Katherine Maher. Biswarup Ganguly / Wikimedia Commons.
Wikimania group photo. Ralf Roletschek / Wikimedia Commons.
‘Branches Unbound’ by Wendy Wahl. Jim West / Alamy.
USA Britannica Magazine advert. Retro AdArchives / Alamy.
All other images supplied by author.
Also by Simon Garfield:
Expensive Habits
The End of Innocence
The Wrestling
The Nation’s Favourite
Mauve
The Last Journey of William Huskisson
Our Hidden Lives (ed.)
We Are at War (ed.)
Private Battles (ed.)
The Error World
Mini
Exposure
Just My Type
On the Map
To the Letter
My Dear Bessie (ed.)
A Notable Woman (ed.)
Timekeepers
In Miniature
Dog’s Best Friend
Copyright
First published in Great Britain in 2022 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson,
an imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
An Hachette UK Company
Copyright © Simon Garfield 2022
The moral right of Simon Garfield to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (eBook) 9781474610803
www.weidenfeldandnicolson.co.uk
Table of Contents
Dedication
Title Page
Contents
Epigraph
Introduction
Aah, Here Comes Andrew Bell
Backstory
Chalcenterocity
Damask Silk
Ephraim Chambers (Gentleman)
Fabuleux!
Germination
Hamilton’s Choice
Information Overload
Jahrbuch
Knowledge
Liberation?
Method
Novelties
Otlet, Paul
Pantology
Questioning
Rule Britannica?
Selling
The Single Volume
Unprecedented
Valedictory
Wikimania
Extinction
Yesterday
Zeitgeist
Acknowledgements
Further Reading
Illustrations
Also by Simon
Copyright