As an adult, there are daunting moments in life when I wish I had a book to consult that had all the answers. And, although we do have the internet, I think we all know it’s necessary to be selective in accepting facts for facts and truth as truth because it can’t always be trusted. Some sites are reputable but others are not. I wouldn’t suggest getting research from Facebook or WebMD on a regular basis and I’m skeptical about Wikipedia. Some entries, if you know the facts, are sound but others are not – there are no checks and balances.
That said, as a child I longed for a set of cyclopedias. At school, we had them and I enjoyed using them not only to look up data but just to read. In those days I read any and everything, which I still do. My parents’ friends, Owen and Ilene Pulley, got a set of World Book that I enjoyed. When we visited their farm, if I wasn’t out feeding the pony or climbing fences or exploring the barn, I could be found curled up with one of the encyclopedias.
At home, we had a set of Childcraft books and they were exceptional, filled with stories and history but I craved something more.
And one Saturday, I was gifted a full set of the Book of Knowledge.
Our friends, Milton and Anne Hochman ran a small grocery store in our neighborhood but to us, they were more than merchants, they were friends who sometimes seemed more like family. I have no idea if I had mentioned my thirst for encyclopedias or they were just familiar with my ongoing thirst for knowledge but they gave us a full set of vintage 1920’s Book of Knowledge.
The Book of Knowledge – a misleading name since they were multi-volumes – first debuted around 1912, a good five years prior to World Book and decades before Childcraft came along. The earliest sets were an Americanized version of the British Children’s Encyclopedia but that soon changed and they evolved into a new concept.
Our set was bound in dark maroon with black lettering and design. They offered up stories and poems and history and science and more. Although I didn’t fully realize it at the time, the volumes offered a peek into a vanished world, a time between the two World Wars, an era like no other, one that would never come again. I think they may be stored away at my mother’s house and if so, I would love to unearth them once more.
Now they are more than vintage – they are fully a century old.
Those books offered me many hours of entertainment, education, and enlightenment. Later, my grandparents bought a set of encyclopedias for the grandchildren to use at their house but by then, we’d moved although I did enjoy them on visits, even as an adult.
Reflecting back on the books, I have to wonder if today’s youth even use encyclopedias. From an early age they are introduced to the world wide web and can type in a quest for information that will be returned with speed.
And, while that offers some benefits, it’s nothing like curling up with a random volume on a rainy day and reading, discovering things new to me. Those volumes opened up worlds to me through their pages and provided information I still retain.
Time has passed and technology has gained great strides in the past century but I wouldn’t trade the experience of reading those books at random for anything.
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