Editing Pears' Cyclopaedia

{{Short description|One-volume encyclopaedia published in the United Kingdom}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Pears' Cyclopaedia
| image = Pearscyclopaedia2017cover.png
| image_size = 150px
| alt = Front cover of the 2017 edition of Pears' Cyclopaedia
| caption = Front cover of the 2017 edition of Pears' Cyclopaedia
| editor = Chris Cook (1977–2017)
| author = [[Thomas J. Barratt]] (1897 (first ed.) -?)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pears' Cyclopaedia; Thomas J. Barrett; early 1900s; 12987 – Te Awamutu Museum |url=http://www.nzmuseums.co.nz/account/3376/object/2844/pears-cyclopaedia |access-date=29 July 2018 |website=[[NZMuseums]] |language=en-gb}}</ref>
| title_working = 
| translator = 
| illustrator = 
| cover_artist = 
| country = [[United Kingdom]]
| language = [[English language|English]]
| subject = General
| genre = [[Reference work]]; [[encyclopedia]]
| set_in = 
| published = {{plainlist|
*(1898–1959) [[Pears (soap)|Pears]]
*(1959–1988) Pelham Books
*(1988–2017) [[Penguin Books|Penguin]]
}}
<ref>{{Cite web |title=Results for 'Pears' Cyclopaedia' > 'Book' [WorldCat.org] |url=https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Pears%27+Cyclopaedia&fq=dt%3Abks&dblist=638&qt=sort&se=yr&sd=asc&qt=sort_yr_asc |access-date=29 July 2018 |website=[[WorldCat.org]] |language=en}}</ref>
| publisher = [[Penguin Books|Penguin]]
| media_type = Print ([[Hardback]])
| pages = 832 (last ed.)
| awards = 
| isbn = 0141985542
| isbn_note = ISBN of the last 2017 ed.
| oclc = 1023148764
| dewey = 032<ref>{{Cite web |title=OCLC Classify -- an Experimental Classification Service |url=http://classify.oclc.org/classify2/ClassifyDemo?search-standnum-txt=0141985542&startRec=0 |access-date=29 July 2018 |website=classify.oclc.org}}</ref>
| release_date = 1897–2017
| native_wikisource = 
| wikisource = 
| notes = 
| exclude_cover = 
| website = {{Official|https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/304764/pears--cyclopaedia-2017-2018/9780141985541.html}}
}}

'''''Pears' Cyclopaedia''''' was a one-volume [[Encyclopedia|encyclopaedia]] published in the [[United Kingdom]]. [[Pears' Soap]] launched the original ''Pears' Shilling Cyclopaedia'' in December 1897, the year of [[Queen Victoria]]'s [[Diamond jubilee|Diamond Jubilee]].

The first edition contained an English dictionary, a medical dictionary, a [[gazetteer]] and atlas, desk information and a compendium of general knowledge entitled "A Mass of Curious and Useful Information and Things that everyone ought to know in Commerce, History, Science, Religion, Literature and the other Topics of Ordinary Conversation".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Flood |first=Alison |date=2017-09-01 |title=Final chapter for Pears' Cyclopaedia after 125 years in print |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/01/final-chapter-for-pears-cyclopaedia-after-125-years-in-print |access-date=2018-06-28 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref>
==Background==
Each edition traditionally featured an [[atlas]], a [[gazetteer]], a chronological list of events, a list of prominent people (past and present), a miniature encyclopaedia of general information and around a dozen or more other sections on various subjects such as [[wikt:cinema|cinema]], [[classical mythology]], [[current events]], [[wine]], [[astronomy]], [[ideas]] and [[beliefs]], [[gardening]], [[medicine]], etc. The selection of subjects varied slightly over the years, and in later years the world atlas section was dropped, leaving a world and European map inside the front and rear covers and with the Gazetteer limited to the British Isles.

From 1953, it was published annually. It was published by [[Pelham Books]] from 1959 to 1988, and from then until the final, 2017 edition by [[Penguin Books]].<ref name=":1" /> Dr. Chris Cook was the editor from 1977 until the final edition.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chris Cook |url=https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/chris-cook/6502/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113002314/http://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/chris-cook/6502/ |archive-date=2016-01-13 |access-date=2017-01-30 |website=www.penguin.co.uk |publisher=Penguin Books |language=en}}</ref>

During the 1950s, Pears' awarded the [[Silver Pears Trophy|Silver Pears' Trophy]] annually to a prominent person for "outstanding British achievement in any field."
[[File:Pears' Cyclopaedia Final Edition.jpg|thumb|Pears' Cyclopaedia, The Final Edition]]
The 2017–2018 edition, released on 31 August 2017, was subtitled "The Final Edition".<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=Pears' Cyclopaedia 2017–2018 by Chris Cook |url=https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/304764/pears-cyclopaedia-2017-2018/ |access-date=2018-06-28 |website=www.penguin.co.uk |date=31 August 2017 |language=en}}</ref> The publisher confirmed it is the last: 
{{quote|In the age of the internet, Pears' has continued to be a uniquely British almanac, reaching readers across generations. It is with great sadness that we stop publishing it as Dr. Cook retires but we celebrate his dedication and generosity over the past four decades.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pears' Cyclopaedia to cease publication after 125 years {{!}} The Bookseller |url=http://www.thebookseller.com/news/prh-retires-pears-cyclopaedia-after-125-years-624466 |access-date=2017-11-26 |website=www.thebookseller.com |language=en}}</ref>}}
According to ''[[The Bookseller]]'', "Statistics from [[Nielsen BookScan]] have also revealed volume sales of the work have sharply declined in recent years: the 2001/02 edition sold 24,229 copies whereas the 2016/17 edition sold only 2,854." Over its history, Pears' had "produced sales over 3 million copies by the 1930s and at least as many since".<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite news |title=John Self on Twitter |language=en |work=Twitter |url=https://twitter.com/john_self/status/902969432468852742 |access-date=2018-06-28}}</ref> ''[[The Guardian]]''{{'}}s article on the final edition cites total sales over the last decade (2007–2017) of "more than 120,000", adding that, "according to Penguin, it did particularly well in election years".<ref name=":0" />

[[Sam Leith]] wrote in ''[[The Times Literary Supplement]]'': "Now, rendered quite redundant in that respect by Wikipedia (among many, many other things), ''Pears''{{'}} is more a curiosity than a serious reference resource." But he continues: "You’re more likely, as I did, to open this ''Cyclopaedia'' to see whether something’s in it than in the hopes of finding out about that something. Which said, on that level it is full of interest. To the very great credit of Dr. Chris Cook, who has been annually (and manually) updating the Cyclopaedia since 1977, it has done a semi-successful job of its madly quixotic project of keeping up with the times."<ref>{{Cite web |title=On the final edition of Pears' Cyclopaedia {{!}} Sam Leith |url=https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/pears-down-cyclopaedia/ |access-date=2018-06-28 |website=www.the-tls.co.uk |language=en-GB}}</ref>

The final page of the final edition summarizes "The Story of Pears, 1897–2017" and concludes:
{{quote|The single most important factor in the ''Pears'' success story, and the key to its truly unique publishing phenomenon, is that ''it is the only book of its kind to be fully revised and updated by a team of experts every year''. <br /><br />Schools and colleges, offices and libraries, students and researchers, newspapers, radio and TV stations – for all these and many more, for whom readily accessible, reliable facts at their fingertips are needed, ''Pears' Cyclopaedia'' remained an invaluable companion. Now, the ready availability of electronic information has made the printed reference work no longer commercially competitive. That is progress. But many will regret the passing of a famous book that, in its heyday, had become not only a national institution but also the reliable pathway for successive generations of working-class families to a better education.<ref name=":2" />}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*{{Official|https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/304764/pears--cyclopaedia-2017-2018.html}}
*[[iarchive:b21539649|Pears' shilling cyclopædia]]  1898 ed.

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:English-language encyclopedias]]
[[Category:British encyclopedias]]
[[Category:Yearbooks]]
[[Category:Single-volume general reference works]]
[[Category:Publications established in 1897]]
[[Category:19th-century encyclopedias]]
[[Category:20th-century encyclopedias]]
[[Category:21st-century encyclopedias]]
[[Category:2017 disestablishments in the United Kingdom]]