Encylopedia Britannica Goes Out Of Print

The digital age claims another victim.

The 244-year-old Encyclopedia Britannica will be going out of print this year, abdicating to the likes of Google and Wikipedia. Most adults will remember looking up information in the IRL knowledge-base's volumes, but the iconic encyclopedia only represents 1 percent of the company's total sales today. Britannica traditionally published a new set of tomes every 2 years, but the company decided that the 2010 version (which costs $1,400) will be the final edition. Britannica will sell its remaining 4,000 copies of the encyclopedia, and then end its run.

When I was a kid we had a late 1950's edition (shut up) that I can vividly recall using to learn about the history of Vietnam while my father was there for the Marine Corps.