I bought the only physical encyclopedia still in print, and I regret nothing

Re:I bought the only physical encyclopedia still in print, a... by function_seven on Friday June 09, 2023 @01:15PM (#36260902)

I remember this vividly. The end-cap on one of the aisles was where the encyclopedias were stocked. The "A" volume was sold for $0.01. One penny!

I remember being incredulous at the low price. My dad: "Wait until you see what they charge for 'B', kiddo."

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Re:I bought the only physical encyclopedia still in print, a... by floren on Friday June 09, 2023 @01:29PM (#36261085)

Do you remember how much the B volume cost?

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Re:I bought the only physical encyclopedia still in print, a... by function_seven on Friday June 09, 2023 @01:31PM (#36261120)

I want to say $39.99, but I'm not entirely sure of that number.

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Re:I bought the only physical encyclopedia still in print, a... by smugma on Saturday June 10, 2023 @12:52AM (#36267702)

Off by an order of magnitude, <$3.99 each:

“Funk & Wagnalls volumes were typically sold in supermarkets as part of a “book-a-week” program. When Mr. Moser came up with the idea of reducing the normal charge to just pennies for the first volume…

The entire 27-volume Funk & Wagnalls set — along with the free two-volume dictionary, another sweetener dreamed up by Mr. Moser — cost a little more than $100.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/06/obituaries/Stanley-Moser-...

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Re:I bought the only physical encyclopedia still in print, a... by function_seven on Saturday June 10, 2023 @01:26AM (#36267869)

So this is how I find out how profoundly cheap my dad was :).

Thanks.

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Re:I bought the only physical encyclopedia still in print, a... by Turing_Machine on Saturday June 10, 2023 @11:55AM (#36271612)

Well, $3.99 in 1953 (the first year the encyclopedia was offered in supermarkets, ATW) is $45.50 now, according to https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm.

For 27 volumes, that works out to $1228.50. Your dad wasn't that cheap. :-)

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Re:I bought the only physical encyclopedia still in print, a... by mvf4z7 on Friday June 09, 2023 @01:47PM (#36261357)

I bet there were a lot of essays written about Aardvarks at that time.

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Re:I bought the only physical encyclopedia still in print, a... by madcaptenor on Friday June 09, 2023 @02:27PM (#36262005)

They should charge $0.01 for the first volume and twice as much for each successive volume.

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