[WikiEN-l] Wikipedia reaches 3 millionth article

[Ray Saintonge]

Carcharoth wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 6:54 PM, Michael Peel<email at mikepeel.net> wrote:
>
> <snip>
>   
>> * The article describes Britannica as "the oldest English language
>> encyclopedia". In fact, it is the oldest continuously published
>> English language encyclopedia.
>>
>> Interesting. What was the oldest English language encyclopaedia, then?
>>     
> According to the encyclopedia article, this one in 1728:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclopaedia,_or_Universal_Dictionary_of_Arts_and_Sciences
>
> "The Cyclopaedia was one of the first general encyclopedias to be
> produced in English."
>
> Another candidate is this one from 1704:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexicon_Technicum
>
>   
It all depends on how you define "encyclopædia".  I have a copy of 
[[Jeremy Collier]]'s /The Great Historical, Geographical, Genealogical 
and Poetical Dictionary /in the 1701 second edition.  The first was in 1688.

Comparing encyclopædias is an interesting exercise.  Tracing how things 
change over the years can be a great eye-opener.  The 14th edition of 
the Britannica was produced over a period of 45 years, but the early and 
late printings were very different.  (Anything pre-1946 did not have its 
copyright renewed.) The supplement known as the 12th edition had 
elaborate details about World War I, but these were decimated for the 13th.

The problem with collecting all these is the space they take up.  I've 
just acquired a [[Enciclopedia universal ilustrada europeo-americana]] 
with supplements to 1980 for $1.00 per volume :-) ... plus shipping :-( 
. I have also been offered [[Enciclopedia Italiana]] and [[La Grande 
Encyclopédie]] on the same basis.  This is about 200 volumes! Finding 
place for them is a significant challenge.

Ec