needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . february 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message encyclop dia britannica inc. founded 1768 ; 248 years ago 1768 edinburgh scotland uk founder colin macfarquhar andrew bell country of origin scotland headquarters location chicago illinois u.s. key people jacqui safra principal owner imprints merriam webster number of employees about 400 300 in chicago 100 worldwide 1 official website www.britannica.com encyclop dia britannica inc. is a scottish founded now american company best known for publishing the encyclop dia britannica the world s oldest continuously published encyclopedia . contents 1 history 1.1 sears roebuck 1.2 william benton 1.3 jacqui safra 2 see also 3 references 4 further reading 5 external links history edit current location in chicago the company was founded in edinburgh scotland in the 18th century in the atmosphere of the scottish enlightenment . a printer colin macfarquhar and an engraver andrew bell formed a partnership to create a new book that would embody the new spirit of scholarship . william smellie was engaged to edit the original three volume work published one volume at a time beginning in 1768 . the encyclopaedia s reputation grew throughout the publication of its subsequent volumes . sears roebuck edit the 11th edition was published in 1910 1911 . in 1920 the trademark and publication rights were sold to sears roebuck which held them until 1943 when ownership passed to william benton . the 12th edition was published in 1921 1922 and the 13th edition was published in 1926 . a thoroughly revised 14th edition was published in 1929 . by the mid 1930s the company headquarters had moved to chicago illinois united states and the editorial staff were now no longer disbanded after the completion of a new edition but kept on as a permanent editorial department to keep pace with the rapid increase in knowledge at the time . starting in 1936 a new printing of the encyclopaedia was published each year incorporating the latest changes and updates . in 1938 the first edition of the britannica book of the year appeared . this annual supplement is still published today . william benton edit william benton published the britannica from 1943 until his death in 1973 . after the death of his widow helen benton in 1974 the benton foundation continued to manage the britannica until it was sold to jacqui safra in 1996 . in 1947 britannica released 10 eventful years a compendium of world war ii in 4 volumes . in 1952 britannica published the landmark set great books of the western world a 54 volume set of the great books of western culture . publishing rights to compton s encyclopedia were acquired by encyclop dia britannica inc. in 1961 . 2 merriam webster inc. has been a subsidiary of encyclop dia britannica inc. since 1964 . 3 on march 9 1976 the u.s. federal trade commission entered an opinion and order enjoining encyclopedia britannica inc. from using a deceptive advertising practices in recruiting sales agents and obtaining sales leads and b deceptive sales practices in the door to door presentations of its sales agents . 4 jacqui safra edit the company was one of the first to offer encyclopaedia content online in association with lexisnexis in the 1980s and currently publishes in several mediums including dvd and through its website . under safra s ownership the company has experienced some financial woes with freelance contributors waiting up to six months for payment and staff going years without pay raises according to a report in the new york post . cost cutting measures have included mandates to use copyright free photos . britannica in december 2002 told employees it would raise the contribution paid into their 401 k accounts then eliminated them entirely . a company spokesman said we ve had some cost reductions and belt tightening but we re not going into details we re a privately held company . 5 see also edit history of the encyclop dia britannica encyclop dia britannica ultimate reference suite encyclop dia britannica online merriam webster inc. references edit smith william c. february 2 2004 . venerable tomes go digital . the national law journal p8 . encyclop dia britannica 1988 topic merriam webster dictionary on britannica.com in the matter of encyclopedia britannica inc. et al. pp. 421 541 pdf . cash shy britannica new york post 11 september 2003 further reading edit encyclop dia britannica may refer to for sale to raise capital portland oregonian april 7 1995 richard a. melcher dusting off the britannica business week october 20 1997 robert mchenry the building of britannica online steve barth britannica on the virtual bookshelf knowledge management magazine dorothy auchter the evolution of encyclop dia britannica reference services review 27 no. 3 297 sydney morning herald online external links edit company website encyclop dia britannica corporate company history authority control worldcat identities viaf 152011302 lccn n79127925 isni 0000 0001 1957 8281 gnd 5545532 3 sudoc 026445956 bnf cb11869222z data nla 35064567 ndl 00743919 nkc ko2002102484 bne xx100470 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title encyclop dia britannica inc. & oldid 743336482 categories encyclop dia britannicabook publishing companies of scotland1768 establishments in scotlandcompanies based in chicagobook publishing companies based in illinoiscompanies based in edinburghhistory of edinburghcompanies established in 1768hidden categories articles needing additional references from february 2016all articles needing additional referenceswikipedia articles with viaf identifierswikipedia articles with lccn identifierswikipedia articles with isni identifierswikipedia articles with gnd identifierswikipedia articles with bnf identifierswikipedia articles with nla identifiers 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