Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica’s 15th Edition

Great Books of the Western World 2nd Edition 1994

In 1974, after an investment of more than $33 million, the 30-volume, 44 million word 15th Edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica was published. The event made the front page of the New York Times. A standalone two-volume index was added to the set as part of a major revision published in 1985.  Encyclopaedia Britannica’s other major reference set was The Great Books of the Western World published in 54 volumes in 1952.  A second Edition was published in 1994.