Posted on 10/27/2018 4:35:04 PM PDT by SamAdams76
It was around March of 1974, right around the time that Nixon and Watergate was in the news day after day after day. I was in the fifth grade and not much up to speed on Watergate and why Nixon was in such big trouble over it. I was more concerned about The Partridge Family, my favorite show at the time, going off the air. I wanted to be Danny and to be able to play tricks on Reuben Kincaid.
My mother used to go grocery shopping over at the Finast - also known as "The First National" - a now long defunct supermarket chain that used to operate in the Northeast.
One day she came home all excited, she was going to give me and my brother and sister "some learning". So we gathered around as she unloaded the groceries, the usual cans of Underwood deviled ham, the Wonder bread, the frozen Gorton's breaded fish sticks, the big can's of Hi-C and so forth. At the bottom of one of the brown paper sacks (there were no plastic bags in those days), underneath the endless boxes of Rice-A-Roni (that she made with just about every meal), she proudly pulled out a shrink-wrapped hardcover book.
It was volume one of the Funk & Wagnalls encyclopedia. Encompassing all the world's knowledge from Aa- Be. For the most part, we kids were underwhelmed but we tried not to show it because our mom was so excited and happy about it.
Apparently the supermarket was running a promotion where each week, a new volume would be available for $4.99 ($1.99 if with a purchase of groceries of $25 or more).
Funk & Wagnalls. Apparently a big name in the encyclopedia world. It didn't have quite the cachet of Brittanica but it might have been up there with World Book.
With a burst of energy, after the groceries were put away, my mom quickly cleared an old bookshelf that my father had crammed with paperbacks of mostly "The Executioner" series featuring Mack Bolan and other such books, putting them all in the same paper bags that just had our groceries. Then she proudly put Volume One of the Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia (Aa-Be) in the upper left of the top shelf, informing us that in a few more months, that bookshelf would be FILLED with knowledge and that we would be able to use them to do research for our schoolwork instead of having to go to the library.
And so indeed the bookshelf did begin to fill up with a new volume each week. But during the summer (just as Nixon was resigning), we took a vacation and she missed a week of grocery shopping. So we ended up doing without Vol 12 (Pa-Re) for a while but eventually it showed up so she must have gotten the supermarket to special order it for her.
So that was how our family obtained our first set of proper encyclopedias. It was a big deal. I think we were the only ones in the neighborhood with a full set. And yes, we did use them from time to time for our schoolwork. Also, I would rummage through them at random from time to time, especially if my mom was around, as I wanted to show her that her investment was paying off.
The Britannica door-to-door sales people would come around from time to time but my Mom would shoo them away, proudly telling them we were "all set" with regard to encyclopedias. But she did over time get a vacuum cleaner, a set of knives and all kinds of Amway and Avon stuff from these door-to-door salespeople who were all over our neighborhood during those days. My father would often have fights with her over all these purchases. She found it hard to say no and as soon as a door-to-door man got through the doorway, I knew my father was going to be pissed later.
So in the 1980s, I got married and before my wife and I even had kids, we got suckered into the complete set of the Encylopedia Britannica. $1400, or twenty or so "easy payments" on the installment plan. Being a young couple, we went with the installment plan. And I tell you, those payments were anything but "easy". Then, without even asking permission, they kept sending us the annual updates for like another $50 a pop. It took endless letters and phone calls to get them to stop.
But it was a bit of a yuppie status symbol to have that beautifully bound set of Encyclopedia Britannica in our home. But our kids never touched them. By the time they got old enough to read, we got the the Microsoft Encarta CD-ROM, which they barely used and a few years after that, everything got on the internet and those CD-ROMs went into the trash. Couldn't even move them in a yard sale.
The Brittanica had a slightly better fate. When we were moving from our apartment to our first house, a neighbor took them off our hands for $75.
A few years later my great aunt gave me her whole set of World Books, which 20 years and a move 70 miles south later I donated to my church's indoor yard sale, as I did my vinyl records.
I don't remember how I parted with my F&W set.
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That’s a nice story.
We had a 1950’s era “Grolier Encyclopedia” and “The Book of Knowledge, the children’s Encyclopedia” that, I think, my parents got used. I read the heck out of those things.
My father bought Brittanica and Worldbook both used.
Read the complete set of worldbook.
Yup been there and done that and they were also purchased at “Finast”.
Vivdily remember the yearly updated one too.
Not sure how long it took to stop that but it did.
Good memories thanks
I just donated a set of encyclopedias and World Books to Goodwill.
Makes me wonder what else will be out of date in 40 yrs.
I have a ginormous Webster’s Dictionary that must have been printed around 1940-41 as one of the new words was Blitzkrieg. This thing weighs about 25 punds and has 50 million pages for each letter of the alphabet. I still use it. It is in itself an enclycopedia of knowledge. If one wants to know a word, then this is th book. My grandfather bought the dang thing back in the day. It is not only an heirloom, but a repository of language and culture. I treasure that dictionary.
As with your mother’s Funk and Wagonall’s...Probably was an excellent set to provide a brief description of all knowledge worth knowing... The printed word is wonderfull. Once you have knowledge, they can’t take it away....that’s why the internet is a beautiful and horrendous thing at the same time. It is constantly being edited to reflect mores of the moment. A printed book stands forever.
I got the same set in the exact same way. We also shopped at First National.
I bought a set the same way and my son still has it.
When Dad finished with the Newspaper He left it on the table.
(Just kidding)
My parents bought us the World Book Encyclopedia A-Z in 1962 plus Childcraft. I spent my childhood reading these books, especially the Childcraft.
Good story.
My folks invested (yes, the amount of $$ they spent was an investment, for them) on a set of Collier’s. It included the World Books, annually, for who knows how many years and several stories/books compilation volumes.
I remember reading most of them, from cover to cover. Not sure if it was out of admiration and appreciation or from an obligation. Maybe a good combination of all.
Encyclopedias took you on world voyages that you/your family couldn’t begin to afford.
So did my mother. She took advantage of an encyclopedia promotion at our local supermarket, and we ended up with an entire set. I must’ve been only a year behind you in school.
I got a set of Child Craft (a World Book product)when I was 4 or so and set of World Books around 5. They were expensive and my parents sacrificed for them. This was in the early 60s. I still have them.
Our clan is full of bibliophiles and I’ve been through many old encyclopedias. Homeschooled with the help of old “Book of Knowledge” and “World Book.” Circa 1960’s. They were far more absorbing than Britannicas.
Britannica is overrated, unless you’ve seen the 1911 edition. We have one that belonged to my great-grandfather.
I think it’s online now.
Funk and Wagnalls — my mom has a “handy edition” (small sized) that her mom got in the 1930’s, one at a time, either from the theater or the market. She calls them her baby encyclopedias because she read them when she was too small to handle larger books.
You can still find them all on ebay. A full set of 1911 Britannicas in good shape goes for several hundred dollars.
I tried to talk my parents into getting a set of Britannicas for my kids a few decades ago. Unfortunately for me, I have smart parents and they knew who really would be reading them...
Later on, mom and dad got a set of the Groliers, but they sat mostly unused until they were given away when we moved.
Bkmk
My parents got me the entire Encyclopedia Brittanica. It took them a year to put it together.
I read it voraciously.
L
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