[WikiEN-l] Wikipedia reaches 3 millionth article

[Ray Saintonge]

Carcharoth wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 8:25 PM, Ray Saintonge<saintonge at telus.net> wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>   
>> 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.
>>     
>
> Goodness. Yes. That is a large number of volumes.
>
> Why not scan them and "store" them at wikisource? Or are these modern
> encyclopedias rather than old ones?
>   
1,000 pages x 200 volumes = 200,000 pages.  The French one is from the 
19th century. The Italian one came out 1929-1938. The Spanish one 1908-1980
> Scanning drawings and pictures from old encyclopedias allows for some
> other possibilities as well. I've asked someone to hang on to a set of
> old books that have some lovely colour drawings of European
> landscapes. Three volumes of "Picturesque Europe" by Cassell. Not in
> good condition. If I had a full set (seems to be about 10 volumes) and
> they were in good condition, they would be worth a few hundred pounds.
> Published in around 1870.
>   
You can scan what you have.  At least for scanning purposes it's often 
better to have covers that are not so perfectly tight.  There is just 
one full set currently on Abebooks for £375.00.  One of the unfortunate 
things that happens with the ones in rough shape is that some dealers 
will break them up, and sell individual pages for framing.

Ec