How prized? According to Beattie, 9th and 11th Britannica Editions can sell for as much as $300 to $400 per set, if in good, clean condition. Today, it is highly prized by collectors. How much is a set of the Encyclopedia Britannica worth? In the 1920s, it had entries written by Sigmund Freud (psychoanalysis), Albert Einstein (space-time) and Harry Houdini (conjuring). The Britannica has always been the more scholarly. Which Is Better World Book vs Britannica? They take donations of all kinds, including books and even encyclopedia sets. Our local recycling center won’t accept them unless the covers are removed which, for a 30 volume encyclopedia, can be quite a task.ĭonate the encyclopedia set to Goodwill or The Salvation Army. Their major issue is that they feel these books (usually from the 1970’s or earlier) are still good and still contain useful information so they don’t want to just “throw them out”. “If you read 100 words of a Wikipedia article, and 100 words of a Britannica, you will find no significant difference in bias,” says Zhu. In other words, for articles of the same length, Wikipedia is as middle-of-the-road as Britannica. In almost all cases, Wikipedia was more left-leaning than Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica sets do sell but value varies with year/edition, condition and sometimes where located. It is best to sell locally so you don’t need to ship the books to the person who buys them. Normally around $25 or so is all they can get for them.

The only official sales outlet is the company’s website. Encyclopedia Britannica ceased print production in 2012. Now, with a sweeping selection of information available online with a few quick taps, encyclopedias have become about as useful as telephone directories. Some people are selling them as a set while others are selling them as individual books.Ĭan you still buy Encyclopedia Britannica?

Lots of books are sold on eBay but it does take a little work to get them listed. Schools can use the encyclopedias in classrooms or in their library, and local libraries sometimes use donated books to stock shelves.Īre Britannica Great books worth anything?īest Answer This set is not like a regular encyclopedia set and is worth money. If you’re looking for a more purposeful use for your old encyclopedias, try local schools and libraries. What is the value of Encyclopedia Britannica? What can I do with old Britannica encyclopedias? And Roundtree says a fine set of 11th Edition Britannicas can command as much as $3,000. According to Beattie, 9th and 11th Britannica Editions can sell for as much as $300 to $400 per set, if in good, clean condition.

Encyclopedia britannica old editions