“CASH IN THE ATTIC” FOR CHELMSFORD COUPLE
200-year old encyclopedia is the country’s oldest still in private hands
London, 26 January 2010
- The search by Encyclopædia Britannica for the oldest set of volumes still in private hands has ended with the discovery of an 18-volume set from 1797. The books are still in regular use today by their owner and her family, Charlotte Hampson from Chelmsford, Essex.
- Mrs Hampson’s books were purchased by her family in the 1970s for £15 and could be worth as much as £9,000 today. Sets of the 1797 edition have recently sold for £8,750 at auction.
- Encyclopædia Britannica, the world-renowned encyclopaedia of current knowledge, offered a prize worth £2,600 to the owner of the oldest set of volumes. The prize includes the 2010 Limited Edition set, one year’s access to Britannica online and a leather-bound replica of the first edition from 1771. With over 2,800 entries, Mrs Hampson’s third edition set was the clear winner.
- Speaking about the books, Mrs Hampson said: “My father bought the books over thirty years ago from a local acquaintance. Apparently they had originally come from a stately home in Suffolk but had been presented to an estate worker who no longer needed them. We had no idea that they were particularly rare or unusual but we’ve always loved them for their interesting contents and wonderful smell! My sister Joanna and I used them regularly to help us with homework – just like children today using the internet.”
- Ian Grant, Managing Director of Encyclopædia Britannica, commented: “We are thrilled to have found such a rare and early edition, and one which has been enjoyed by Mrs Hampson’s family for many years.”
- Encyclopædia Britannica is the oldest English-language encyclopaedia still in print, with fifteen editions in its 241-year history. The original founders - Colin Macfarquhar, Andrew Bell and William Smellie – were the first writers in English to systemise knowledge and enlighten readers about the latest discoveries in the “arts, science, literature and general information”.
Notes to editors:
- ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA TODAY:
Britannica is the oldest English language encyclopedia still in production. It is available in online, digital and print formats. The 2010, 32 volume edition, carries articles on such diverse subjects as human genomes, global warming and President Barack Obama amongst its thousands of articles.
Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Leon Trotsky and Sir Walter Scott are among the thousands of eminent contributors over the years. Today’s edition counts golfer Arnold Palmer, skateboarder Tony Hawk and NASA space scientist Jack Lissauer amongst its 4,300 contributors.
Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Leon Trotsky and Sir Walter Scott are among the thousands of eminent contributors over the years. Today’s edition counts golfer Arnold Palmer, skateboarder Tony Hawk and NASA space scientist Jack Lissauer amongst its 4,300 contributors.
ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA – Examples of content from Mrs Hampson’s 1797 edition:
- Children: “Marriages, one with another, produce four children, not only in England, but in other parts also”.
- Fool: “A fool is a person who makes false conclusions from right principles; whereas a madman, on the contrary, draws right conclusions from wrong principles”.
- Salmon: “The chief rivers in England for salmon are the Tyne, the Trent and the Thames”.
- Under the heading of pharmacy: “Wine of millipeds - take of live millepeds, bruised, one ounce; Rhenish wine, eight ounces. Infuse them together for twelve hours, and afterwards press the liquor through a strainer. This wine has been commended as an admirable cleanser of all the viscera, yielding to nothing in the jaundice and obstructions of the kidneys or urinary passages”.
ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA – Examples of content from the first edition, 1768:
- The US state of Callifornia is spelt with two ‘L’s’ and is described as “a large country of the West Indies. Unknown whether it is an island or a peninsula”.
- Early editions contained medical advice for all kinds of maladies. Cures for flatulence included drinking chamomile tea and blowing smoke from a pipe through the anus.
- Vermicelli was first brought from Italy, where it was in “great vogue”; it was chiefly used in soups and pottages, “to provoke venery” (i.e. sexual gratification) .
- Dragons were described as being found in Africa, East Indies and America. “It has four legs, a cylindrical tail and two wings, radiated like the fins of a fish, by which he is enabled to fly but not to any great distance at a time”.
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