Foo - The World As It's Known, ca. 1797

This (http://cgi.ebay.com/Encyclopaedia-Britannica-Third-Edition-Encyclopedia-Set_W0QQitemZ200269262096QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item200269262096) is pretty incredible. A third edition printing of the Encyclopedia Britannica, from 1797. Had I $8,500 (the Buy It Now price) laying around, I'd be tempted. It would be amazing to sit down and read about the world and everything in it, as seen by the eyes of scholars from over two hundred years ago.

Plus old books are just cool.

http://i24.ebayimg.com/03/i/000/ff/00/82c0_3.JPG

I'm glad they stopped using the "long s". Man those things are annoying. But yea, this would be pretty cool to own.

perhaps I shouldn't mention that I'm using a recent one for elevating my front end on the bike trainer :innocent:

ye old english would be a bit hard to read for anyone born recently too.
understanding it is no problem, but the spelling is different enough.

perhaps I shouldn't mention that I'm using a recent one for elevating my front end on the bike trainer :innocent:

ye old english would be a bit hard to read for anyone born recently too.
understanding it is no problem, but the spelling is different enough.

that wasn't 'old english'.

vis-a-vis spelling, to my knowledge there were no set guidelines until the 19th century.

Plus old books are just cool.



+1:thumb:

no bites on ebay yet...I don't really know how desirable encyclopedias are to dealers/collectors so that price may be a bit inflated - especially these days. But, yes, that'd be a gas to flip through.

Have you read Double Fold by Nicholson Baker? All about the sad destruction of old newspapers and books. By national libraries!

So wait, they didn't have Google in 1797?

Britannica should have scans of that kind of stuff online.

Wow, that's nuts. I like those medical illustrations posted in the auction. It just gives you an idea of just how far back our medical studies go as far as anatomy and physiology. Those look like illustrations you may see in a modern book.

wasn't pcad born in 1797?

You can borrow mine.

Wow, that's nuts. I like those medical illustrations posted in the auction. It just gives you an idea of just how far back our medical studies go as far as anatomy and physiology. Those look like illustrations you may see in a modern book.

goes a hell of a lot further back (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Vesalius) than 1797.

Britannica should have scans of that kind of stuff online.

That's the problem - stuff was scanned or microfilmed - often badly (out of focus, margins cut off, etc) - and the originals destroyed in the process or trashed afterwards.

I wonder what Foo would have been like in 1797.