Wednesday, April 6, 2016

E: '1910 Encyclopedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition' and East Lansing, Michigan


My fifth and sixth grade teacher was Gertrude Bassett.  She and her husband lived in a very nice home on a very nice street in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.  I know because my parents worked for her as domestics cleaning their home. 
Mrs. Bassett was very encouraging.  One year she gave me a set of encyclopedias.  At the time I thought of them as just a bunch of books she was getting rid of.  Eventually, I grew to cherish them because of the beautiful maps they contained.  
I realize that I have had these books for 60 years.  One of my sons has asked for them and I told him all he has to do is come pick them up - all 29 volumes.  
The 1910 edition tells of the world before the carnage of two World Wars.  I even saw a set at Potsdam, Germany when we were visiting the room where the Potsdam Conference was held.  Here is a section from one of the maps:



East Lansing, Michigan
OK, I mentioned Ann Arbor and so I must give East Lansing and Michigan State University equal opportunity.  Besides, I have an MSU graduate in the family.  Situated next to the capitol of Lansing it is in the middle of the state and an easy drive for anyone in the lower peninsula.  

22 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh; these might be considered a collector's item?? I remember we had World Book Encyclopedias and how we all looked forward to the yearly updates they would send out so we could look through the pages of them. Sadly the "younger" generations haven't had this experience of encyclopedias and find a lot of their stuff on the Internet.

    betty

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    1. They are collector's items. Wish I had the leather bound version.

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  2. Wow! I have never had an encyclopedia of my own, but some of my friends did and I remember envying them.

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    1. I always envied the friends who had the new editions. But then they tossed them and got 'newer' editions. I am so happy I have these old books.

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  3. What a lovely gift and now a family heirloom it seems :) I have several Encyclopaedias in the library downstairs, but they are all single book, single topic modern things. Google is probably better for info than they are :).
    Tasha
    Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)

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    1. As much as I enjoy these, how I wish I had the internet when I was in school.

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  4. I like the map as I love looking at them. And I also have a set of Encylpopaedias that my mother in law gave me. As they was my husbands when he was a child. And my son uses them in Homeschooling. In addition to the computer.

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  5. We had - I think - 26 volumes of the Encyclopedia Brittanica, and what a treasure! Loved "roaming " through the volumes. No Google, no problem! Great series, Denise.

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  6. Small world! My son got his PhD at MSU! My granddaughter was born in Lansing. And that map even has Cornwall, Ontario on it. Great post. Thanks for sharing. https://mhsusannematthews.wordpress.com/

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    1. The maps are a real treasure. Thanks for stopping by.

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  7. I love old books and old maps. You are fortunate that one of your sons wants the set. They are links to a past. Without those links, we will lose ourselves. Too many people keep things for their children and then no one wants the treasures. It's happened in my family and, after a class at the senior center on clutter, it's been happening to quite a lot of people. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com

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    1. Another blogger and I have voiced regrets about throwing out Golden books. I wish I had kept so much more than I did.

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  8. When I was 16 I wanted an Encyclopedia for my birthday... Encyclopedias were very expensive and my parents didn't have much to spend. Still at Sinterklaas (the Dutch Santa Clause on Dec. 5th) I got my 10 volumes of my very own Encyclopedia. I have always been curious about why the things are like they are and I still use them, almost 40 years later...

    Enjoyed your post very much
    Han van Meegeren at hanvanmeegeren.blogspot.nl (caution: adult content)

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  9. I do love old maps! I spent a lot of time over them when I was a kid, planning expeditions :) I don't know if kids these days still do that...

    @TarkabarkaHolgy from
    The Multicolored Diary
    MopDog

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  10. How cool that your son is interested in them. I imagine they'll be valuable someday (if not already). You don't see too many encyclopedias around people's homes anymore.

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  11. I love old maps and old books-how nice your son wants the vintage books. A trip down memory lane-thank you!

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  12. This is so cool because you get to see the world from that time. I'm glad your son wants them. I have the volumes from the early 70's and I love them

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  13. I love encyclopedias. I have my own version: Time Life's "Mysteries of the Unexplained" set, complete with index. It serves me very well, especially at A to Z time. Hello, letter X!

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    1. Old info from these might make for an interesting A to Z.

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