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Show Britannica Celebrates 175th Anniversary Only one living person claims to have read the Encyclopaedia Britannica Bri-tannica from cover to cover. His name is believe it or not Mr. Shirk, A. Urban Shirk, of Little Neck, L. I. It took him 4 years. Although Mr. Shirk is unique in his accomplishment, millions of persons per-sons for the past century and three-quarters three-quarters have turned to the Britannica Britan-nica for information on anything from atoms to zymurgy. Recently Britannica celebrated its 175th birthday anniversary ' with a historical exhibit at Art Center, Chicago. Chi-cago. Included in the exhibit was the panorama of Britannica's history his-tory from the first edition which was mutilated by the Puritans who tore out the article on midwifery, to modern editions with their articles arti-cles on air warfare, mass production produc-tion and space-time theories. The Britannica is older than the United States. It was founded in 1768 by a "Society of Gentlemen in Scotland." First editor was William Smellie, a scholar of "convivial habits" hab-its" and close friend of Robert Burns. Smellie soon quit because he disapproved of his associates' new-fangled ideas for including biographies bi-ographies in the Britannica. He was succeeded by an editor who was more liberal-minded but also more "convivial." He drank to excess one night, wandered around the edge of a pit, fell in and drowned. The Britannica was acquired by Sears Roebuck & Co. in the early part of this century, and recently was presented as a gift to the University Uni-versity of Chicago. Although the cheapest Britannica set cost $150, more than 40 per cent of sets are bought by families with incomes under $2,500. Sales have jumped 35 per cent the past year. People apparently hunger for facts in wartime. Editor of the 35,000,000-word classic clas-sic is Walter Yust of Chicago. Mr. Yust has not averaged more than five hours' sleep a night in the past ten years. His gruelling job has not impaired his sense of humor. He delights to relate the humorous mistakes mis-takes Britannica sometimes makes how greenhorn filing clerks working work-ing on the Index volume listed gallstones gall-stones under Geology, defense mechanism under Military, and physics under Direct Action. |