The once hugely popular almanac has seen much-diminished sales in the digital era, and editor’s retirement persuades publisher to close it
One hundred-and-twenty years after Pears’ Cyclopaedia made its first appearance, offering “A Mass of Curious and Useful Information about Things that everyone Ought to know in Commerce, History, Science, Religion, Literature and other Topics of Ordinary Conversation” for a shilling, its publisher Penguin has announced that the newest edition of the beloved compendium of facts will be the last.
Penguin attributed the decision to discontinue the almanac to the retirement of its long-term editor Dr Chris Cook, as well as “the ready availability of electronic information [that] has made the printed reference book no longer commercially competitive”. According to the Bookseller, sales have sharply declined in recent years, with the 2001/2002 edition selling just under 25,000 copies, while last year’s sold barely 3,000.
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