No 'Joy of Sex'?
You found out that posterity didn't care about old dictionaries and encyclopedias after Thanksgiving dinner, during that cozy family conversation.
You brought up the subject of who was going to get what after you shuffled off. After all, you had 3 generations of articles to dispose of, and it made sense to allocate them now and not have the family quarrelling after you’d snuffed it. You were surprised when your progeny told you that they didn’t want any of your old rubbish; this was the future and it didn’t care too much about the past.
They did take some paintings and ornaments, but you were left with every book; even The Joy of Sex was waved aside, which had you thinking that they were more informed than you’d ever been.
The next day you opened up the bookcase; the one with the bevelled glass doors, and contemplated all the dictionaries and encyclopaedias. How were you going to get rid of them? You could do a Ray Bradbury, but it would take a helluva big bonfire.
Dictionaries & Encyclopedias
You pulled out most of the heavies –
7 volumes of Peoples of All Nations.
6 volumes of Home Doctor.
9 volumes of Harmsworth’s Universal Encyclopaedia.
20 volumes of Children’s Britannica published 1970
8 volumes of Waverly Children’s Dictionary, no publication date
6 volumes of Harmsworth’s Household Encyclopedia. no publication date
10 volumesof The New Educational Library 1962
You noticed an oddity as you gazed at the books. The spelling of encyclopaedia. All of the encyclopaedias had been printed and published in Great Britain, but the titles were printed in the American spelling – encyclopedia. They must have been published with the American market in mind. Even now, your spell checker was letting you know that you didn’t know how to spell.
As you considered your options, you checked out some of the volumes and took a note of the following photographs.
