The Tolkien family is an English family of German origin whose best-known member is J. R. R. Tolkien, Oxford academic and author of the fantasy books The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.
The Tolkien family originated in the East Prussian town Kreuzburg near Königsberg, where the Tolkien name is attested since the 16th century. The verified paternal line of J.R.R. Tolkien starts with Michel Tolkien, born around 1620 in Kreuzburg. Michel's son Christianus Tolkien (1663–1746) was a wealthy miller in Kreuzburg. His son Christian Tolkien (1706–1791) moved from Kreuzburg to nearby Danzig, and his two sons Daniel Gottlieb Tolkien (1747–1813) and Johann (later known as John) Benjamin Tolkien (1752–1819) emigrated to London in the 1770s and became the ancestors of the English family. The family first appears in English records in 1777. In 1792 John Benjamin Tolkien and William Gravell took over the Erdley Norton manufacture in London, which from then on sold clocks and watches under the name Gravell & Tolkien. Daniel Gottlieb obtained British citizenship in 1794, but John Benjamin apparently never became a British citizen. Their German nephew Daniel Gottlieb Bergmann also joined them in London. Johann (John) Benjamin Tolkien, who died in London in 1819, was the 2nd great-grandfather of J.R.R. Tolkien.[1][2]
According to Ryszard Derdziński the Tolkien name is of Low Prussian origin and probably means "son/descendant of Tolk," with Tolk meaning interpreter or negotiator and originating as a nickname.[1][2] A number of other theories on the meaning of the name have been proposed, including that it is derived from the village of Tolkynen in East Prussia.[3][4] J.R.R. Tolkien himself erroneously believed the name to be derived from the German adjective tollkühn, meaning foolhardy.[1][2] Several people with the surname Tolkien or similar spelling, some of them members of the same family as J.R.R. Tolkien, live in northern Germany, but most of them are descendants of recent refugees from East Prussia who fled the Red Army invasion.[1][2] J. R. R. Tolkien's own knowledge of the family history was limited to its 18th century German origin,[5] according to Derdziński in part because he was "early isolated from the family of his prematurely deceased father."[1][2]
Notable members
J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien CBE (3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English philologist, writer and professor of Oxford University.
He was a devout Roman Catholic.
Much of Tolkien's published fiction is a connected body of tales, fictional histories, invented languages, and literary essays about an imagined world called Arda, and Middle-earth (derived from the Old English word middangeard, the lands inhabitable by humans) in particular, loosely identified as an "alternative" remote past of our own world. Tolkien applied the word legendarium to the totality of these writings. Most of the "legendarium" was edited and posthumously published by his son Christopher.
While Tolkien was preceded by other fantasy authors,[6] his enduringly popular and successful works have had a remarkable influence on the genre.[6][7] Thus he has been popularly identified as the "father of modern fantasy literature",[8] or to be precise, high fantasy.[9] L. Sprague de Camp and others consider him the father of modern fantasy together with sword and sorcery author Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan the Barbarian).[6][10]
Arthur Tolkien
Arthur Reuel Tolkien (c. 18 February 1857 – 15 February 1896), the father of author J. R. R. Tolkien, was born in Handsworth, Staffordshire, England (now a suburb of Birmingham). He was the eldest child of John Benjamin Tolkien and Mary Jane Stow,[11][12] who had married on 16 February 1856 in All Saints Parish Church, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England.
Arthur had 6 siblings:
Mabel Tolkien (1858–1937), who married Thomas Evans Mitton;
Grace Bindley Tolkien (b. 1861), who married William Charles Mountain;
Florence Mary Tolkien (b. 1863), who married Tom Hadley;
Marian Esther Tolkien (1866–1934), who married Frederick William Chippendale;
Wilfred Henry Tolkien (1870–1938), a stockbroker, who married Katherine Madeleine Green; and
Lawrence George H. Tolkien (b. 1873), a life and fire insurance secretary, who married (Emily) Grace McGregor.
Arthur's father John had previously been married to Jane Holmwood, with whom he had four children: Emily (b. 1838), Louisa (b. 1840), John Benjamin (b. 1845), and Jane (b. 1846).
John Benjamin Tolkien had been a piano teacher and tuner, as well as a music seller, but he had gone bankrupt in 1877, when he was described as "John Benjamin Tolkien, of High-street, Birmingham, in the county of Warwick, Pianoforte and Music Seller".[13] Arthur did not follow his father into the traditional Tolkien trade in pianos, which many of his London cousins also followed; instead he became a bank clerk and ended up moving to Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State (now part of South Africa), where he became manager of the Bloemfontein branch of the Bank of Africa.[14] A furniture shop[15] now occupies the Bradlow's Building on the site where the bank once stood, on the corner of West Burger and Maitland Streets.
Arthur was later joined by his fiancée, Mabel Suffield. They were married on 16 April 1891 at the St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town, Cape Colony (later Cape Province, South Africa). Two children: John Ronald Reuel (b. 1892) and Hilary Arthur Reuel (b. 1894) followed, and the family lived next door to the bank.
Mabel Tolkien felt the English climate would be better for the boys' health and returned to England with them in 1895. Arthur remained in South Africa, where he died of severe haemorrhage following rheumatic fever, on 15 February 1896, before he had the opportunity to join his family in England.
He is buried in President Brand Cemetery, on the corner of Church and Rhodes Avenues, Bloemfontein.[15]
Mabel Tolkien

Mabel Tolkien, born Suffield (1870 – 14 November 1904) was the mother of J. R. R. Tolkien.
Her parents, John Suffield and Emily Jane Sparrow, lived in Stirling Road, Birmingham and owned a shop in the city centre. The Suffield family had a business in a building called Lamb House since 1812. From 1812 William Suffield ran a book and stationery shop there; Tolkien's great-grandfather, also John Suffield, was there from 1826 with a drapery and hosiery business.[16]
Her husband Arthur Tolkien's death in South Africa in 1896 left her and their two young sons without a source of income.[17] At first, they lived with her parents in Birmingham, then moved to Sarehole (now in Hall Green), then a Worcestershire village, later annexed to Birmingham.[18]
Mabel tutored her two sons, and J. R. R. (or Ronald, as he was known in the family) was a keen pupil.[19] She taught him a great deal of botany, and she awakened in her son the enjoyment of the look and feel of plants. But his favourite lessons were those concerning languages, and his mother taught him the rudiments of Latin very early.[20] She also taught him how to write, and her ornate script influenced her son's handwriting in his later life.[21]
Mabel Tolkien converted to Roman Catholicism in 1900 despite vehement protests by her Baptist family[22] who then stopped all financial assistance to her. She died of acute complications of diabetes in 1904 (at about 34 years of age, about as long as a person with diabetes mellitus type 1 could live with no treatment – insulin was not discovered until two decades later), when Tolkien was twelve, at Fern Cottage in Rednal, which they were then renting. For the rest of his life Tolkien felt that she had become a martyr for her faith, which had a profound effect on his own Catholic beliefs.[23]
Edith Tolkien

Edith Mary Tolkien, born Bratt (21 January 1889 – 29 November 1971) was the wife of J. R. R. Tolkien. She served as the inspiration for his fictional character Lúthien Tinúviel, an Elven princess and the most beautiful of all the Children of Ilúvatar (the name of God in Tolkien's fiction).
Bratt first met Tolkien in 1908, when they lived in the same boarding house. Both were orphans. The two fell in love, despite Bratt being Tolkien's senior by three years. Before the end of 1909 the relationship became known to Tolkien's guardian, Father Francis Xavier Morgan, who forbade Tolkien to see Bratt until he was 21.[24] With one exception, Tolkien obeyed this instruction to the letter while Father Morgan's guardianship lasted. They were married in 1916.
The couple are buried side by side in Wolvercote Cemetery, Oxford; below the names on their grave are the names Beren and Lúthien: in Tolkien's legendarium, Lúthien and the Man Beren were lovers separated for a time by Lúthien's father King Thingol.
Hilary Tolkien
Hilary Arthur Reuel Tolkien, (17 February 1894 – 1976) the younger brother of J. R. R. Tolkien, was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. The climate did not suit the young J.R.R. Tolkien and his mother took both her sons to visit her parents in Kings Heath in Birmingham. When her husband died in 1896 she decided to stay back in England with her sons. They moved to Sarehole, a village then outside Birmingham, in 1896. As a child, J.R.R. Tolkien used to tell stories to his younger brother Hilary, making ogres out of the adult people in the village. Ronald nicknamed the flour-coated miller's son in the nearby Sarehole Mill The White Ogre. A farmer who used to terrorise children intruding on his land was nicknamed as the Black Ogre. He once chased Ronald for plucking mushrooms from his farm. Hilary wrote the stories, letters and reminiscences of past times in a notebook during his twilight years. The contents of the notebook were published as a book titled Black & White Ogre Country: The Lost Tales of Hilary Tolkien in 2009. In 1902, the family moved to 26 Oliver Road in Edgbaston, Birmingham and later they both joined St. Philip's School in Birmingham. However, they soon left the school and their mother started teaching them at home. In 1904, both brothers contracted measles and whooping cough. Owing to the poor condition of their house on Oliver Road, Hilary also contracted pneumonia. When their mother became ill with diabetes, Ronald was sent to live with his aunt Jane's fiancé and future husband Edwin Neave. Hilary was sent to stay with his maternal grandparents, the Suffields. After the death of their mother they were raised by Fr Francis Morgan. Hilary later passed an entrance examination and joined King Edward's School in 1905 where his elder brother also studied. Hilary left school in 1910 and later helped his aunt Jane Neave run Phoenix Farm in the village of Gedling in Nottinghamshire. Hilary, his brother, aunt Jane and members of the Brookes-Smith family made a trip to Switzerland in the summer of 1911. In late September 1914, J. R. R. Tolkien stayed with his aunt and brother at the farm for a few days. In 1914 during World War I, Hilary enlisted in the British Army with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment as a bugler and was wounded in 1916. After his military service, Hilary returned to Gedling and, in 1922, bought an orchard and market garden near Evesham, ancestral town of his mother's family. In 1923, J.R.R. Tolkien along with his wife and children went to stay with Hilary for a while. A few months before his death, he visited Hilary in Evesham. Hilary married Magdalen Matthews in 1928. They had three children. The first son, Gabriel, was born in 1931, the second son, Julian, in 1935, and the third son, Paul, in 1938.[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]
John Francis Reuel Tolkien

John Francis Reuel Tolkien (1917–2003) was the eldest son of J. R. R. Tolkien. He was born in Cheltenham on 16 November 1917. He was educated at the Dragon School, Oxford and The Oratory School in Caversham, Berkshire where in his final year he decided to become a priest. On the advice of the Archbishop he decided to go to college to study English and joined Exeter College, Oxford from where he received his B.A. degree in 1939. In November 1939, he went to the English College, Rome to train as a priest. Due to the outbreak of World War II, the college was moved to Stonyhurst in Lancashire where John trained as a priest during the war. He was ordained as a priest at St John and Augustine Church in North Oxford. His first position was as a curate from 1946 to 1950 at the St Mary and St Benedict Church in Coventry where he taught weekly classes to 60 children and organized the building of church schools. From 1950 to 1957, he was a curate at the English Martyrs Church in Sparkhill, Birmingham. Thereafter he moved to North Staffordshire, where he was the chaplain of University College of North Staffordshire, now Keele University and at two grammar schools, St Joseph's College, Trent Vale and St Dominic’s High School, Hartshill. He was parish priest at Knutton Roman Catholic Church from 1957 to 1966. In 1966, he became the parish priest at Our Lady of the Angels and St Peter in Chains Church, Stoke-on-Trent. He held the position until 1987 and there oversaw the building of a new school. He was chairman of governors at Bishop Bright School, chaplain to the North Staffordshire Catholic Teachers Association and area chaplain to the Young Christian Students. He moved back to Oxford in 1987, settling in Eynsham where he was the parish priest at St. Peter's Catholic Church till his retirement in 1994. Father Tolkien also served in parishes in Oxford, Birmingham, and Warwickshire.[34][35][36][37]
In 1987, he and his sister Priscilla began identifying the large collection of family photographs. In 1992, they released a book titled The Tolkien Family Album containing photographs and memories of the Tolkien family and giving an account of their father's life to celebrate the centenary birth anniversary of J. R. R. Tolkien.[34][35]
Michael Hilary R. Tolkien
Michael Hilary Reuel Tolkien (22 October 1920 – 27 February 1984) was a British teacher. He was J. R. R. Tolkien's second son and was named after J. R. R. Tolkien's brother Hilary. When young Michael lost his toy dog and became sad about this, his father began to write the story of Roverandom to comfort him. Michael's fear of spiders was J. R. R. Tolkien's inspiration for the encounter of Bilbo Baggins and the spiders of Mirkwood in The Hobbit.[38] Michael also used to own a Dutch doll which became an inspiration for Tom Bombadil.[39] In 1939, Michael volunteered for the British Army but he was told to continue his university studies. He studied history at Trinity College, Oxford. In 1941, Michael Hilary Tolkien served in an anti-aircraft role during the Battle of Britain for which he was awarded the George Medal.[40] He met a nurse named Joan Audrey Griffith (1916–1982) whom he married the same year.[41] Later in World War II, he served as an anti-aircraft gunner in France and Germany. In 1944, he returned to Trinity College and finished his studies. He graduated in Modern History in 1945.[38]
From 1947 until the 1970s he worked as a teacher at various Catholic schools in Britain.[38] In 1973, Michael Tolkien published an article about his father in The Sunday Telegraph: "J. R. R. Tolkien – The Wizard Father".[42]
Michael and his wife Joan had three children: Michael George Reuel (b. 1943), Joan Anne (b. 1945) and Judith (b. 1951). Royd Tolkien is the son of Michael's daughter Joan. Michael Hilary Reuel Tolkien died in 1984 from leukemia.[38]
Christopher Tolkien

Christopher John Reuel Tolkien (born 21 November 1924) is the youngest son of J. R. R. and Edith Tolkien. He is best known as his father's literary executor; he is the editor of much of his father's posthumously published work. The Fall of Gondolin  is the latest example of his editorial work, published on 30 August 2018.[43]
During the Second World War he served in the RAF as a pilot. After the war, he followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a lecturer and tutor in English Language at New College, Oxford from 1964 to 1975.
In 2001, he received some attention for his stance on New Line Cinema's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson. It was reported that he had had a falling out with his son Simon over the appropriateness of a film adaptation.[44] Responding to these reports, he said he felt The Lord of the Rings was "peculiarly unsuitable for transformation into visual dramatic form". However, this was just his opinion, he stressed; he said he did not disapprove of the movies, definitely not "to the point of thinking ill" of those with whom he might disagree.[45][46]
Christopher Tolkien has been married twice. He currently lives in France with his second wife, Baillie Tolkien.
Faith Faulconbridge
Faith Tully Lilly Faulconbridge was the first wife of Christopher Tolkien, whom she married[47] on 2 April 1951. Their son Simon was born in 1959.[48] She produced a bust of J. R. R. Tolkien that is displayed in the English Faculty Library at Oxford University.[47] She was born in 1928 to F. T. Faulconbridge, whom J. R. R. Tolkien knew as a fellow student from King Edward's School, Birmingham. She received her B.A. degree from St Anne's College, Oxford in 1950 and later studied sculpture-making from Oxford Art School. She was initially known for portrait heads in bronze, some of which she presented in the Royal Academy in 1958. She made a bust of her father-in-law which the English faculty at Oxford presented to him on his retirement in 1959. He had it cast in bronze and in 1966 it was placed at the English Faculty Library. Her other subjects included Iris Murdoch and C. S. Lewis. She separated from Christopher in 1964[48] and divorced from him in 1967.[47]
In 1958, she produced a seated Madonna and Child for the Catholic Chaplaincy at Birmingham University. In the early 1980s she returned to religious themes, including working for the Corpus Christi Church in Headington, Oxford and the Church of the Sacred Heart in Sutton Coldfield. She died on 24 October 2017.[49]
Baillie Tolkien
Baillie Tolkien (née Klass) is the second wife of Christopher Tolkien. She was born in Winnipeg on 10 December 1941 to Dr. Alan Klass and his wife Helen. Alan Klass (1907–2000) was a surgeon and a distinguished member of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Manitoba. Baillie attended McGill University and the University of Manitoba from which Baillie received her B.A. in 1962. She received her M.A. from St Hilda's College, Oxford in 1964. Her first husband was Brian Knapheis, a Rhodes Scholar from Winnipeg, to whom she was briefly married. While as Baillie Knapheis, she worked as a secretary, first to J.R.R. Tolkien and then to Isaiah Berlin. She married Christopher Tolkien on 18 September 1967. She has two children with Christopher. Their son Adam Reuel Tolkien was born in 1969, and their daughter Rachel Clare Reuel Tolkien was born in 1971. After the death of J.R.R. Tolkien, his letters written to his children were edited by Baillie for publication. The contents of the book were released in a 1976 book titled The Father Christmas Letters, in which Baillie is credited as the editor. In the 1976–77 exhibition of paintings held at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and afterwards at the National Book League in London, Baillie contributed a short introduction to the catalogue.[50]
Priscilla Tolkien
Priscilla Mary Anne Reuel Tolkien (born 18 June 1929[51]) is the fourth and youngest child of J. R. R. Tolkien, and his only daughter. Priscilla had long been hoped for, and was born to Tolkien and his wife in their house at 22 Northmoor Road in Oxford shortly before the couple moved into their new one at 20 Northmoor Road in 1930.[52] She took an active part in production of The Lord of the Rings by typing out some early chapters for her father at the age of fourteen. She completed her B.A. degree in English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford in 1951.[51] The initial name of Frodo Baggins in the fourth draft of The Lord of the Rings was Bingo Bolger-Baggins which was named after a family of toy bears owned by Priscilla.[53] She accompanied her father to a two-week holiday in Italy from late July to mid-August 1955.[51] After that, she started living in the further side of the Oxford city from her parents house but still saw them frequently and started working as a probation officer in the city.[54] She was also a social worker.[51] Tolkien wrote his last letter to Priscilla in August, 1973.[55] She is the honorary vice-president of the Tolkien Society.[56] She wrote an article titled My Father the Artist in December, 1976 for Amon Hen, the bulletin of the Tolkien Society.[57] After her eldest brother John returned to Oxford in 1987, the siblings began identifying and cataloging the large collection of family photographs. In 1992, she and John published the book The Tolkien Family Album containing pictures of the Tolkien family to celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of their father. The same year she unveiled a plaque at the Anglican Cathedral of St. Andrew and St. Michael commemorating the centenary birth anniversary celebrations of her father at his birthplace of Bloemfontein, South Africa.[51] She launched the special Tolkien edition Royal Mail stamps commemorating her father's works in February 2004.[58] In 2012, she along with a coalition of British publishers sued Warner Brothers in her capacity of a trustee of The Tolkien Trust for 80 million USD accusing them of exploiting Middle-earth characters to promote online gambling.[59]
Michael George R. Tolkien
Michael George Reuel Tolkien (born 1943) is a British poet. He is the grandson of J. R. R. Tolkien, being the eldest son of Michael H. R. Tolkien. Michael Tolkien was educated at The Oratory School in Oxford and then Ampleforth College. He studied English and Classics at St Andrews University and later a B.Phil. at Oxford. He taught as Head of English at Uppingham School until 1992. He has several volumes of published poetry including "Taking Cover", "Outstripping Gravity" and "Reaching for a Stranger." He is published by Redbeck Press. Michael Tolkien has two daughters, Catherine, born in 1969 and Ruth,[60] born in 1982. He is married to the artist Rosemary Walters.[61] He sits on the board of the Tolkien Company.
Simon Tolkien

Simon Mario Reuel Tolkien (born 1959) is a British barrister and novelist. He is the grandson of J. R. R. Tolkien. He is the only son of Christopher Tolkien and his first wife, Faith Faulconbridge. Simon Tolkien was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford and then Downside School. He studied modern history at Trinity College, Oxford. In 1984, he married Tracey Steinberg who was born in 1962. They have two children, a son, Nicholas, and a daughter, Anna. Tracey Tolkien owned and operated a vintage clothing store in Chelsea, London, Steinberg & Tolkien which shut in September 2007. She has also published several books on vintage clothing and jewellery. Simon became a barrister in 1994, specializing in criminal defence and prosecution.[62][63][64][65] Their son Nicholas is a playwright and director[66] who debuted with his first play Terezin, in June 2017.[67]
In January 2000, he began writing fiction.[62] His first novel, which he has described as a black comedy, was not accepted for publication. His second novel, a courtroom drama, was published in the United States as The Final Witness in 2002 and in United Kingdom as The Stepmother in 2003.[63][68] His second published work, The Inheritance (the first of a trilogy featuring Inspector Trave of the Oxfordshire Criminal Investigation Department), was published in 2010.[69] The second book of the Inspector Trave trilogy titled The King of Diamonds was released in 2011.[70] The third and final book in the trilogy titled Orders from Berlin was released in 2012.[71] In 2016, he authored a novel titled No Man's Land inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien’s experiences in the Battle of the Somme.[72]
Simon Tolkien notably disagreed with the policy of his grandfather's estate in regard to The Lord of the Rings films. When Christopher Tolkien issued a statement that the "Tolkien estate would be best advised to avoid any specific association with the films",[73] Simon Tolkien broke ranks, offering to cooperate with the filmmakers, stating "It was my view that we take a much more positive line on the film and that was overruled by my father."[74] Following up a 2001 interview with the Independent, Simon in 2003 gave interviews to the Daily Telegraph and other media in which he discussed his strained relationship with his father, describing it as a permanent breach.[75] However, they have since reconciled.[62]
Royd Tolkien

Royd Allan Reuel Tolkien is a great-grandson of J. R. R. Tolkien. He was born on 16 July 1969 to Joan Tolkien and Hugh Baker.[76] At the request of Peter Jackson, he portrayed a soldier of Gondor passing arms out to other soldiers as they prepare to defend Osgiliath in The Return of the King, the final film in Jackson's film adaptation of his great-grandfather's works.[77] Royd Tolkien also produced a film titled Pimp, wherein he also plays himself.[78] He established a film production company called R & R Films along with Robert Cavanah in 2010.[79] He co-produced a mockumentary video film titled Tontine or possibly Tontine Massacre.[80] Royd has an older sister, Mandy Doyle, who was born in 1967. He also had a brother, Michael "Mike" Baker, who was born in 1975 and suffered from motor neurone disease. Mike died in 2015.[81] In 2012, he along with his brother Mike and Peter Jackson made an appearance in an Air New Zealand safety video that was part of a major global promotion linked to the movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.[82] Royd also made a cameo appearance in the extended edition of the film The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. He appears during a scene in which Beorn and Gandalf are discussing the catacombs where the Nazgûl were buried.[83]
Ruth Tolkien
Ruth Mary Reuel Tolkien is a great-granddaughter of J. R. R. Tolkien. She is the daughter of Michael George Reuel Tolkien.[84][85]
Ruth Tolkien is registered blind[86][87] and is believed to be the only blind fencer competing against sighted opponents in British Fencing events.[88] As of September 2015, she is ranked 186 in the UK by British Fencing.[89] In October 2015 she was interviewed by Matthew Bannister on the BBC World Service about her fencing success.[90][91]
Tim Tolkien

Timothy Tolkien (born October 1962) is the great-nephew of J. R. R. Tolkien and the grandson of Hilary Tolkien. His father is Julian Tolkien.[31] He is a sculptor who has designed several monumental sculptures, including the award-winning Sentinel.
His paternal grandfather, Hilary Arthur Reuel Tolkien, was the fantasy author's younger brother.
Tim Tolkien has a public art and metal sculpture business at Cradley Heath, West Midlands. He is also a bass player and member of the band Klangstorm, founded in 1996.
Tolkien family tree
Ancestral line of the Tolkien family
Ancestral line of the Tolkien family

Michel Tolkien (ca. 1620–), of Kreuzburg, East Prussia
Christianus Tolkien (1663–1746), miller in Kreuzburg
Christian Tolkien (1706–1791), of Kreuzburg and Danzig
Daniel Gottlieb Tolkien (1747–1813), of Danzig and London
Johann (John) Benjamin Tolkien (1752–1819), of Danzig and London
George William Tolkien (1784–1840), of London
John Benjamin Tolkien (1807–1896), of Birmingham
Arthur Reuel Tolkien (1857–1896), of Bloemfontein, South Africa
J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973)

J.R.R. Tolkien's descendants

Tolkien family tree

John Suffield Jr.
1833–1930Emily Jane SparrowJohn Benjamin Tolkien
1807–1896Mary Jane StoweWalter IncledonEdith May Suffield
1865–1936Mabel Suffield
1870–1904Arthur Reuel Tolkien
1857–1896Grace Bindley Tolkien
1861-William Charles MountainMarian Esther Tolkien
1866–1934Frederick William ChippendaleWilfred Tolkien
1870–1938Katherine Madeleine GreenEdwin Neave
d. 1909[92]Jane Suffield
1872–1963William Suffield
1874–1904Beatrice BartlettThomas "Tom" Evans MittonMabel Tolkien
1858–1937Tom HadleyFlorence Mary Tolkien
1863-"Emily" Grace McGregorLaurence George H. Tolkien
b. 1873Marjorie May Incledon
1891–1973Frieda Mary Incledon
1895–1940Edith Bratt
1889–1971John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
1892–1973Hilary Arthur Reuel Tolkien
1894–1976Magdalen MatthewsJohn Francis Reuel Tolkien
1917–2003Priscilla Anne Reuel Tolkien
1929—JuneGabriel Tolkien
1931-Paul Tolkien
1935-AnnJoan Griffiths
1916–1982Michael Hilary Reuel Tolkien
1920–1984Faith Faulconbridge
1928–2017Christopher John Reuel Tolkien
1924—Baillie Klass
1941—Julian Tolkien
1935—GlynisIrene FerrierMichael George Tolkien
1943—Rosemary WaltersSimon Tolkien
1959—Tracy SternbergChristopher TolkienAngela TolkienDominic TolkienZoë TolkienJoanna Tolkien
1945—Hugh BakerJudith Tolkien
1951—Alan CrombleholmeAdam Reuel Tolkien
1969—Rachel Clare Reuel Tolkien
1971—SueTimothy Tolkien
1962—Nicholas Tolkien
1964–Stephen Tolkien
1966Mandy Doyle
1967–Michael "Mike" Baker
1975–2015[93]Freya Crombleholme
1976–Piers Crombleholme
1979–Royd
Tolkien
1969–Catherine Tolkien
1969–Ruth Tolkien
1982–Nicholas Tolkien
1990–Anna Tolkien
2005–

Works cited

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Present status
Print version

Since 1985, the Britannica has had four parts: the Micropædia, the Macropædia, the Propædia, and a two-volume index. The Britannica's articles are found in the Micro- and Macropædia, which encompass 12 and 17 volumes, respectively, each volume having roughly one thousand pages. The 2007 Macropædia has 699 in-depth articles, ranging in length from 2 to 310 pages and having references and named contributors. In contrast, the 2007 Micropædia has roughly 65,000 articles, the vast majority (about 97%) of which contain fewer than 750 words, no references, and no named contributors.[2] The Micropædia articles are intended for quick fact-checking and to help in finding more thorough information in the Macropædia. The Macropædia articles are meant both as authoritative, well-written articles on their subjects and as storehouses of information not covered elsewhere.[3] The longest article (310 pages) is on the United States, and resulted from the merger of the articles on the individual states. The 2013 edition of Britannica contained approximately forty thousand articles.[4]
Information can be found in the Britannica by following the cross-references in the Micropædia and Macropædia; however, these are sparse, averaging one cross-reference per page.[5] Hence, readers are recommended to consult instead the alphabetical index or the Propædia, which organizes the Britannica's contents by topic.[6]
The core of the Propædia is its "Outline of Knowledge", which aims to provide a logical framework for all human knowledge.[7] Accordingly, the Outline is consulted by the Britannica's editors to decide which articles should be included in the Micro- and Macropædia.[7] The Outline is also intended to be a study guide, to put subjects in their proper perspective, and to suggest a series of Britannica articles for the student wishing to learn a topic in depth.[7] However, libraries have found that it is scarcely used, and reviewers have recommended that it be dropped from the encyclopaedia.[8] The Propædia also has color transparencies of human anatomy and several appendices listing the staff members, advisors, and contributors to all three parts of the Britannica.
Taken together, the Micropædia and Macropædia comprise roughly 40 million words and 24,000 images.[6] The two-volume index has 2,350 pages, listing the 228,274 topics covered in the Britannica, together with 474,675 subentries under those topics.[5] The Britannica generally prefers British spelling over American;[5] for example, it uses colour (not color), centre (not center), and encyclopaedia (not encyclopedia). However, there are exceptions to this rule, such as defense rather than defence.[9] Common alternative spellings are provided with cross-references such as "Color: see Colour."
Since 1936, the articles of the Britannica have been revised on a regular schedule, with at least 10% of them considered for revision each year.[5][10] According to one Britannica website, 46% of its articles were revised over the past three years;[11] however, according to another Britannica web-site, only 35% of the articles were revised.[12]
The alphabetization of articles in the Micropædia and Macropædia follows strict rules.[13] Diacritical marks and non-English letters are ignored, while numerical entries such as "1812, War of" are alphabetized as if the number had been written out ("Eighteen-twelve, War of"). Articles with identical names are ordered first by persons, then by places, then by things. Rulers with identical names are organized first alphabetically by country and then by chronology; thus, Charles III of France precedes Charles I of England, listed in Britannica as the ruler of Great Britain and Ireland. (That is, they are alphabetized as if their titles were "Charles, France, 3" and "Charles, Great Britain and Ireland, 1".) Similarly, places that share names are organized alphabetically by country, then by ever-smaller political divisions.
In March 2012, the company announced that the 2010 edition would be the last printed version. This was announced as a move by the company to adapt to the times and focus on its future using digital distribution.[14] The peak year for the printed encyclopaedia was 1990 when 120,000 sets were sold, but it dropped to 40,000 in 1996.[15] 12,000 sets of the 2010 edition were printed, of which 8,000 had been sold as of 2012.[16] By late April 2012, the remaining copies of the 2010 edition had sold out at Britannica's online store. As of 2016, a replica of Britannica's 1768 first edition is sold on the online store.[17]
Related printed material
Britannica Junior was first published in 1934 as 12 volumes. It was expanded to 15 volumes in 1947, and renamed Britannica Junior Encyclopædia in 1963.[18] It was taken off the market after the 1984 printing.

A British Children's Britannica edited by John Armitage was issued in London in 1960.[19] Its contents were determined largely by the eleven-plus standardized tests given in Britain.[20] Britannica introduced the Children's Britannica to the US market in 1988, aimed at ages seven to 14.
In 1961 a 16 volume Young Children's Encyclopaedia was issued for children just learning to read.[20]
My First Britannica is aimed at children ages six to 12, and the Britannica Discovery Library is for children aged three to six (issued 1974 to 1991).[21]
There have been and are several abridged Britannica encyclopaedias. The single-volume Britannica Concise Encyclopædia has 28,000 short articles condensing the larger 32-volume Britannica;[22] there are authorized translations in languages such as Chinese[23] and Vietnamese.[24][25] Compton's by Britannica, first published in 2007, incorporating the former Compton's Encyclopedia, is aimed at 10- to 17-year-olds and consists of 26 volumes and 11,000 pages.[26]
Since 1938, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. has published annually a Book of the Year covering the past year's events.  A given edition of the Book of the Year is named in terms of the year of its publication, though the edition actually covers the events of the previous year.  Articles dating back to the 1994 edition are included online.[27] The company also publishes several specialized reference works, such as Shakespeare: The Essential Guide to the Life and Works of the Bard (Wiley, 2006).
Optical disc, online, and mobile versions
The Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2012 DVD contains over 100,000 articles.[28] This includes regular Britannica articles, as well as others drawn from the Britannica Student Encyclopædia, and the Britannica Elementary Encyclopædia. The package includes a range of supplementary content including maps, videos, sound clips, animations and web links. It also offers study tools and dictionary and thesaurus entries from Merriam-Webster.
Britannica Online is a website with more than 120,000 articles and is updated regularly.[29] It has daily features, updates and links to news reports from The New York Times and the BBC. As of 2009, roughly 60% of Encyclopædia Britannica's revenue came from online operations, of which around 15% came from subscriptions to the consumer version of the websites.[30] As of 2006, subscriptions were available on a yearly, monthly or weekly basis.[31] Special subscription plans are offered to schools, colleges and libraries; such institutional subscribers constitute an important part of Britannica's business. Beginning in early 2007, the Britannica made articles freely available if they are hyperlinked from an external site. Non-subscribers are served pop-ups and advertising.[32]
On 20 February 2007, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. announced that it was working with mobile phone search company AskMeNow to launch a mobile encyclopaedia.[33] Users will be able to send a question via text message, and AskMeNow will search Britannica's 28,000-article concise encyclopaedia to return an answer to the query. Daily topical features sent directly to users' mobile phones are also planned.
On 3 June 2008, an initiative to facilitate collaboration between online expert and amateur scholarly contributors for Britannica's online content (in the spirit of a wiki), with editorial oversight from Britannica staff, was announced.[34][35] Approved contributions would be credited,[36] though contributing automatically grants Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. perpetual, irrevocable license to those contributions.[37]
On 22 January 2009, Britannica's president, Jorge Cauz, announced that the company would be accepting edits and additions to the online Britannica website from the public. The published edition of the encyclopaedia will not be affected by the changes.[38] Individuals wishing to edit the Britannica website will have to register under their real name and address prior to editing or submitting their content.[39] All edits submitted will be reviewed and checked and will have to be approved by the encyclopaedia's professional staff.[39] Contributions from non-academic users will sit in a separate section from the expert-generated Britannica content,[40] as will content submitted by non-Britannica scholars.[41] Articles written by users, if vetted and approved, will also only be available in a special section of the website, separate from the professional articles.[38][41] Official Britannica material would carry a "Britannica Checked" stamp, to distinguish it from the user-generated content.[42]
On 14 September 2010, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. announced a partnership with mobile phone development company Concentric Sky to launch a series of iPhone products aimed at the K-12 market.[43] On 20 July 2011, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. announced that Concentric Sky had ported the Britannica Kids product line to Intel's Intel Atom-based Netbooks[44][45] and on 26 October 2011 that it had launched its encyclopedia as an iPad app.[46]  In 2010, Britannica released Britannica ImageQuest, a database of images.[47]
In March 2012, it was announced that the company would cease printing the encyclopaedia set, and that it would focus more on its online version.[48][49]
On 7 June 2018, Britannica released a Google Chrome extension, Britannica Insights, which shows snippets of information from Britannica Online in a sidebar for Google search results.[50] The Britannica sidebar does not replace Google's sidebar and is instead placed above Google's sidebar.[50]
Personnel and management
Contributors
The 2007 print version of the Britannica has 4,411 contributors, many eminent in their fields, such as Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman, astronomer Carl Sagan, and surgeon Michael DeBakey.[51] Roughly a quarter of the contributors are deceased, some as long ago as 1947 (Alfred North Whitehead), while another quarter are retired or emeritus. Most (approximately 98%) contribute to only a single article; however, 64 contributed to three articles, 23 contributed to four articles, 10 contributed to five articles, and 8 contributed to more than five articles. An exceptionally prolific contributor is Christine Sutton of the University of Oxford, who contributed 24 articles on particle physics.
While Britannica's authors have included writers such as Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, and Leon Trotsky, as well as notable independent encyclopaedists such as Isaac Asimov, some have been criticized for lack of expertise. In 1911 the historian George L. Burr wrote:
With a temerity almost appalling, [the Britannica contributor, Mr. Philips] ranges over nearly the whole field of European history, political, social, ecclesiastical... The grievance is that [this work] lacks authority. This, too—this reliance on editorial energy instead of on ripe special learning—may, alas, be also counted an "Americanizing": for certainly nothing has so cheapened the scholarship of our American encyclopaedias.[52]

Staff

As of 2007 in the fifteenth edition of Britannica, Dale Hoiberg, a sinologist, was listed as Britannica's Senior Vice President and editor-in-chief.[53] Among his predecessors as editors-in-chief were Hugh Chisholm (1902–1924), James Louis Garvin (1926–1932), Franklin Henry Hooper (1932–1938),[54] Walter Yust (1938–1960), Harry Ashmore (1960–1963), Warren E. Preece (1964–1968, 1969–1975), Sir William Haley (1968–1969), Philip W. Goetz (1979–1991),[3] and Robert McHenry (1992–1997).[55] As of 2007 Anita Wolff was listed as the Deputy Editor and Theodore Pappas as Executive Editor.[53] Prior Executive Editors include John V. Dodge (1950–1964) and Philip W. Goetz.
Paul T. Armstrong remains the longest working employee of Encyclopædia Britannica. He began his career there in 1934, eventually earning the positions of Treasurer, Vice President, and Chief Financial Officer in his 58 years with the company, before retiring in 1992.[56]
The 2007 editorial staff of the Britannica included five Senior Editors and nine Associate Editors, supervised by Dale Hoiberg and four others. The editorial staff helped to write the articles of the Micropædia and some sections of the Macropædia.[57] The preparation and publication of the Encyclopædia Britannica required trained staff. According to the final page of the 2007 Propædia, the staff were organized into ten departments:[58]
Editorial staff (19 editors and 1 executive assistant)
Art and Cartography (9 employees)
Compositional Technology and Design (4 employees)
Copy Department (12 employees)
Editorial and Publishing Technologies (5 employees)
Information Management (9 employees)
Media Asset Management and Production Control (4 employees)
Reference Librarians (3 employees)
World Data (5 employees)
Manufacturing (1 employee)
Some of these departments were organized hierarchically. For example, the copy editors were divided into four copy editors, two senior copy editors, four supervisors, plus a coordinator and a director. Similarly, the Editorial department was headed by Dale Hoiberg and assisted by four others; they oversaw the work of five senior editors, nine associate editors, and one executive assistant.
Editorial advisors
The Britannica has an Editorial Board of Advisors, which includes 12 distinguished scholars:[59][60] non-fiction author Nicholas Carr, religion scholar Wendy Doniger, political economist Benjamin M. Friedman, Council on Foreign Relations President Emeritus Leslie H. Gelb, computer scientist David Gelernter, Physics Nobel laureate Murray Gell-Mann, Carnegie Corporation of New York President Vartan Gregorian, philosopher Thomas Nagel, cognitive scientist Donald Norman, musicologist Don Michael Randel, Stewart Sutherland, Baron Sutherland of Houndwood, President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and cultural anthropologist Michael Wesch.
The Propædia and its Outline of Knowledge were produced by dozens of editorial advisors under the direction of Mortimer J. Adler.[61] Roughly half of these advisors have since died, including some of the Outline's chief architects — Rene Dubos (d. 1982), Loren Eiseley (d. 1977), Harold D. Lasswell (d. 1978), Mark Van Doren (d. 1972), Peter Ritchie Calder (d. 1982) and Mortimer J. Adler (d. 2001). The Propædia also lists just under 4,000 advisors who were consulted for the unsigned Micropædia articles.[62]
Corporate structure
In January 1996, the Britannica was purchased from the Benton Foundation by billionaire Swiss financier Jacqui Safra,[63] who serves as its current Chair of the Board. In 1997, Don Yannias, a long-time associate and investment advisor of Safra, became CEO of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.[64] In 1999, a new company, Britannica.com Inc., was created to develop digital versions of the Britannica; Yannias assumed the role of CEO in the new company, while his former position at the parent company remained vacant for two years. Yannias' tenure at Britannica.com Inc. was marked by missteps, considerable lay-offs, and financial losses.[65] In 2001, Yannias was replaced by Ilan Yeshua, who reunited the leadership of the two companies.[66] Yannias later returned to investment management, but remains on the Britannica's Board of Directors.
In 2003, former management consultant Jorge Aguilar-Cauz was appointed President of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Cauz is the senior executive and reports directly to the Britannica's Board of Directors. Cauz has been pursuing alliances with other companies and extending the Britannica brand to new educational and reference products, continuing the strategy pioneered by former CEO Elkan Harrison Powell in the mid-1930s.[67]
Under Safra's ownership, the company has experienced financial difficulties, and has responded by reducing the price of its products and implementing drastic cost cuts. According to a 2003 report in the New York Post, the Britannica management has eliminated employee 401(k) accounts and encouraged the use of free images. These changes have had negative impacts, as freelance contributors have waited up to six months for checks and the Britannica staff have gone years without pay rises.[68]
In the fall of 2017, Karthik Krishnan was appointed global chief executive officer of the Encyclopædia Britannica Group. Krishnan brought a varied perspective to the role based on several high-level positions in digital media, including RELX (Reed Elsevier, FT SE 100) and Rodale, in which he was responsible for "driving business and cultural transformation and accelerating growth."[69]
Taking the reins of the company as it was preparing to mark its 250th anniversary and define the next phase of its digital strategy for consumers and K-12 schools, Krishnan launched a series of new initiatives in his first year.
First was Britannica Insights,[70] a free, downloadable software extension to the Google Chrome browser that served up edited, fact-checked Britannica information with queries on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Its purpose, the company said, was to "provide trusted, verified information" in conjunction with search results that were thought to be increasingly unreliable in the era of misinformation and "fake news."
The product was quickly followed by Britannica School Insights, which provided similar content for subscribers to Britannica's online classroom solutions, and a partnership with YouTube[71] in which verified Britannica content appeared on the site as an antidote to user-generated video content that could be false or misleading.
Krishnan,  at New York University's Stern School of Business, believes in the "transformative power of education"[72] and set steering the company toward solidifying its place among leaders in educational technology and supplemental curriculum. Krishnan aimed at providing more useful and relevant solutions to customer needs, extending and renewing Britannica's historical emphasis on "Utility,"[73] which had been the watchword of its first edition in 1768.
Krishnan also is active in civic affairs, with organizations such as the Urban Enterprise Initiative and Urban Upbound, whose board he serves on.
Competition
As the Britannica is a general encyclopaedia, it does not seek to compete with specialized encyclopaedias such as the Encyclopaedia of Mathematics or the Dictionary of the Middle Ages, which can devote much more space to their chosen topics. In its first years, the Britannica's main competitor was the general encyclopaedia of Ephraim Chambers and, soon thereafter, Rees's Cyclopædia and Coleridge's Encyclopædia Metropolitana. In the 20th century, successful competitors included Collier's Encyclopedia, the Encyclopedia Americana, and the World Book Encyclopedia. Nevertheless, from the 9th edition onwards, the Britannica was widely considered to have the greatest authority of any general English language encyclopaedia,[74] especially because of its broad coverage and eminent authors.[3][5] The print version of the Britannica was significantly more expensive than its competitors.[3][5]
Since the early 1990s, the Britannica has faced new challenges from digital information sources. The Internet, facilitated by the development of search engines, has grown into a common source of information for many people, and provides easy access to reliable original sources and expert opinions, thanks in part to initiatives such as Google Books, MIT's release of its educational materials and the open PubMed Central library of the National Library of Medicine.[75][76] In general, the Internet tends to provide more current coverage than print media, due to the ease with which material on the Internet can be updated.[77] In rapidly changing fields such as science, technology, politics, culture and modern history, the Britannica has struggled to stay up-to-date, a problem first analysed systematically by its former editor Walter Yust.[78] Eventually, the Britannica turned to focus more on its online edition.[79]
Print encyclopaedias
The Encyclopædia Britannica has been compared with other print encyclopaedias, both qualitatively and quantitatively.[2][3][5] A well-known comparison is that of Kenneth Kister, who gave a qualitative and quantitative comparison of the Britannica with two comparable encyclopaedias, Collier's Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia Americana.[3] For the quantitative analysis, ten articles were selected at random—circumcision, Charles Drew, Galileo, Philip Glass, heart disease, IQ, panda bear, sexual harassment, Shroud of Turin and Uzbekistan—and letter grades of A–D or F were awarded in four categories: coverage, accuracy, clarity, and recency. In all four categories and for all three encyclopaedias, the four average grades fell between B− and B+, chiefly because none of the encyclopaedias had an article on sexual harassment in 1994. In the accuracy category, the Britannica received one "D" and seven "A"s, Encyclopedia Americana received eight "A"s, and Collier's received one "D" and seven "A"s; thus, Britannica received an average score of 92% for accuracy to Americana's 95% and Collier's 92%. In the timeliness category, Britannica averaged an 86% to Americana's 90% and Collier's 85%.
Digital encyclopaedias on optical media
The most notable competitor of the Britannica among CD/DVD-ROM digital encyclopaedias was Encarta,[80] now discontinued, a modern, multimedia encyclopaedia that incorporated three print encyclopaedias: Funk & Wagnalls, Collier's and the New Merit Scholar's Encyclopedia. Encarta was the top-selling multimedia encyclopaedia, based on total US retail sales from January 2000 to February 2006.[81] Both occupied the same price range, with the 2007 Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate CD or DVD costing US$40–50[82][83] and the Microsoft Encarta Premium 2007 DVD costing US$45.[84] The Britannica contains 100,000 articles and Merriam-Webster's Dictionary and Thesaurus (US only), and offers Primary and Secondary School editions.[83] Encarta contained 66,000 articles, a user-friendly Visual Browser, interactive maps, math, language and homework tools, a US and UK dictionary, and a youth edition.[84] Like Encarta, the Britannica has been criticized for being biased towards United States audiences; the United Kingdom-related articles are updated less often, maps of the United States are more detailed than those of other countries, and it lacks a UK dictionary.[80] Like the Britannica, Encarta was available online by subscription, although some content could be accessed free.[85]
Internet encyclopedias
The dominant internet encyclopaedia and main alternative to Britannica is the multilingual, Web-based, free-content encyclopaedia Wikipedia.[86][87][88] The key differences between the two lie in accessibility; the model of participation they bring to an encyclopedic project; their respective style sheets and editorial policies; relative ages; the number of subjects treated; the number of languages in which articles are written and made available; and their underlying economic models: unlike Britannica, Wikipedia is a not-for-profit and is not connected with traditional profit- and contract-based publishing distribution networks.
The 699 printed Macropædia articles are generally written by identified contributors, and the roughly 65,000 printed Micropædia articles are the work of the editorial staff and identified outside consultants. Thus, a Britannica article either has known authorship or a set of possible authors (the editorial staff). With the exception of the editorial staff, most of the Britannica's contributors are experts in their field—some are Nobel laureates.[51] By contrast, the articles of Wikipedia are written by people of unknown degrees of expertise: most do not claim any particular expertise, and of those who do, many are anonymous and have no verifiable credentials.[89] It is for this lack of institutional vetting, or certification, that former Britannica editor-in-chief Robert McHenry notes his belief that Wikipedia cannot hope to rival the Britannica in accuracy.[90]
In 2005, the journal Nature chose articles from both websites in a wide range of science topics and sent them to what it called "relevant" field experts for peer review. The experts then compared the competing articles—one from each site on a given topic—side by side, but were not told which article came from which site. Nature got back 42 usable reviews.
In the end, the journal found just eight serious errors, such as general misunderstandings of vital concepts: four from each site. It also discovered many factual errors, omissions or misleading statements: 162 in Wikipedia and 123 in Britannica, an average of 3.86 mistakes per article for Wikipedia and 2.92 for Britannica.[89][91] Although Britannica was revealed as the more accurate encyclopedia, with fewer errors, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. in its detailed 20-page rebuttal called Nature's study flawed and misleading[92] and called for a "prompt" retraction. It noted that two of the articles in the study were taken from a Britannica yearbook and not the encyclopaedia, and another two were from Compton's Encyclopedia (called the Britannica Student Encyclopedia on the company's website). The rebuttal went on to mention that some of the articles presented to reviewers were combinations of several articles, and that other articles were merely excerpts but were penalized for factual omissions. The company also noted that several of what Nature called errors were minor spelling variations, and that others were matters of interpretation. Nature defended its story and declined to retract, stating that, as it was comparing Wikipedia with the web version of Britannica, it used whatever relevant material was available on Britannica's website.[93]

Interviewed in February 2009, the managing director of Britannica UK said: Wikipedia is a fun site to use and has a lot of interesting entries on there, but their approach wouldn't work for Encyclopædia Britannica. My job is to create more awareness of our very different approaches to publishing in the public mind. They're a chisel, we're a drill, and you need to have the correct tool for the job.[30]

Critical and popular assessments
Reputation

Since the 3rd edition, the Britannica has enjoyed a popular and critical reputation for general excellence.[2][3][5] The 3rd and the 9th editions were pirated for sale in the United States,[94] beginning with Dobson's Encyclopaedia.[95] On the release of the 14th edition, Time magazine dubbed the Britannica the "Patriarch of the Library".[96] In a related advertisement, naturalist William Beebe was quoted as saying that the Britannica was "beyond comparison because there is no competitor."[97] References to the Britannica can be found throughout English literature, most notably in one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's favourite Sherlock Holmes stories, "The Red-Headed League". The tale was highlighted by the Lord Mayor of London, Gilbert Inglefield, at the bicentennial of the Britannica.[98]
The Britannica has a reputation for summarising knowledge.[74] To further their education, some people have devoted themselves to reading the entire Britannica, taking anywhere from three to 22 years to do so.[94] When Fat'h Ali became the Shah of Persia in 1797, he was given a set of the Britannica's 3rd edition, which he read completely; after this feat, he extended his royal title to include "Most Formidable Lord and Master of the Encyclopædia Britannica".[98] Writer George Bernard Shaw claimed to have read the complete 9th edition—except for the science articles[94]—and Richard Evelyn Byrd took the Britannica as reading material for his five-month stay at the South Pole in 1934, while Philip Beaver read it during a sailing expedition. More recently, A.J. Jacobs, an editor at Esquire magazine, read the entire 2002 version of the 15th edition, describing his experiences in the well-received 2004 book, The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World. Only two people are known to have read two independent editions: the author C. S. Forester[94] and Amos Urban Shirk, an American businessman who read the 11th and 14th editions, devoting roughly three hours per night for four and a half years to read the 11th.[99] Several editors-in-chief of the Britannica are likely to have read their editions completely, such as William Smellie (1st edition), William Robertson Smith (9th edition), and Walter Yust (14th edition).
Awards
The CD/DVD-ROM version of the Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite, received the 2004 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers.[100] On 15 July 2009, Encyclopædia Britannica was awarded a spot as one of "Top Ten Superbrands in the UK" by a panel of more than 2,000 independent reviewers, as reported by the BBC.[101]
Coverage of topics
Topics are chosen in part by reference to the Propædia "Outline of Knowledge".[7] The bulk of the Britannica is devoted to geography (26% of the Macropædia), biography (14%), biology and medicine (11%), literature (7%), physics and astronomy (6%), religion (5%), art (4%), Western philosophy (4%), and law (3%).[3] A complementary study of the Micropædia found that geography accounted for 25% of articles, science 18%, social sciences 17%, biography 17%, and all other humanities 25%.[5] Writing in 1992, one reviewer judged that the "range, depth, and catholicity of coverage [of the Britannica] are unsurpassed by any other general Encyclopaedia."[102]
The Britannica does not cover topics in equivalent detail; for example, the whole of Buddhism and most other religions is covered in a single Macropædia article, whereas 14 articles are devoted to Christianity, comprising nearly half of all religion articles.[103] However, the Britannica has been lauded as the least biased of general Encyclopaedias marketed to Western readers[3] and praised for its biographies of important women of all eras.[5]
It can be stated without fear of contradiction that the 15th edition of the Britannica accords non-Western cultural, social, and scientific developments more notice than any general English-language encyclopedia currently on the market.—Kenneth Kister, in Kister's Best Encyclopedias (1994)

Criticism of editorial decisions
On rare occasions, the Britannica was criticized for its editorial choices. Given its roughly constant size, the encyclopaedia has needed to reduce or eliminate some topics to accommodate others, resulting in controversial decisions. The initial 15th edition (1974–1985) was faulted for having reduced or eliminated coverage of children's literature, military decorations, and the French poet Joachim du Bellay; editorial mistakes were also alleged, such as inconsistent sorting of Japanese biographies.[104] Its elimination of the index was condemned, as was the apparently arbitrary division of articles into the Micropædia and Macropædia.[3][105] Summing up, one critic called the initial 15th edition a "qualified failure...[that] cares more for juggling its format than for preserving."[104] More recently, reviewers from the American Library Association were surprised to find that most educational articles had been eliminated from the 1992 Macropædia, along with the article on psychology.[8]
Some very few Britannica-appointed contributors are mistaken. A notorious instance from the Britannica's early years is the rejection of Newtonian gravity by George Gleig, the chief editor of the 3rd edition (1788–1797), who wrote that gravity was caused by the classical element of fire.[94] The Britannica has also staunchly defended a scientific approach to cultural topics, as it did with William Robertson Smith's articles on religion in the 9th edition, particularly his article stating that the Bible was not historically accurate (1875).[94]
Other criticisms

The Britannica has received criticism, especially as editions become outdated. It is expensive to produce a completely new edition of the Britannica,[lower-alpha 1] and its editors delay for as long as fiscally sensible (usually about 25 years).[10] For example, despite continuous revision, the 14th edition became outdated after 35 years (1929–1964). When American physicist Harvey Einbinder detailed its failings in his 1964 book, The Myth of the Britannica,[106] the encyclopaedia was provoked to produce the 15th edition, which required 10 years of work.[3] It is still difficult to keep the Britannica current; one recent critic writes, "it is not difficult to find articles that are out-of-date or in need of revision", noting that the longer Macropædia articles are more likely to be outdated than the shorter Micropædia articles.[3] Information in the Micropædia is sometimes inconsistent with the corresponding Macropædia article(s), mainly because of the failure to update one or the other.[2][5] The bibliographies of the Macropædia articles have been criticized for being more out-of-date than the articles themselves.[2][3][5]
In 2010 an inaccurate entry about the Irish civil war was discussed in the Irish press following a decision of the Department of Education and Science to pay for online access.[107][108]
Writing about the 3rd edition (1788–1797), Britannica's chief editor George Gleig observed that "perfection seems to be incompatible with the nature of works constructed on such a plan, and embracing such a variety of subjects."[109] In March 2006, the Britannica wrote, "we in no way mean to imply that Britannica is error-free; we have never made such a claim."[92] The sentiment is expressed by its original editor, William Smellie:
With regard to errors in general, whether falling under the denomination of mental, typographical or accidental, we are conscious of being able to point out a greater number than any critic whatever. Men who are acquainted with the innumerable difficulties attending the execution of a work of such an extensive nature will make proper allowances. To these we appeal, and shall rest satisfied with the judgment they pronounce.[110]

However, Jorge Cauz (president of Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.) asserted in 2012 that "Britannica [...] will always be factually correct."[1]
History

Past owners have included, in chronological order, the Edinburgh, Scotland printers Colin Macfarquhar and Andrew Bell, Scottish bookseller Archibald Constable, Scottish publisher A & C Black, Horace Everett Hooper, Sears Roebuck and William Benton.
The present owner of Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. is Jacqui Safra, a Swiss billionaire and actor. Recent advances in information technology and the rise of electronic encyclopaedias such as Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite, Encarta and Wikipedia have reduced the demand for print encyclopaedias.[111] To remain competitive, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. has stressed the reputation of the Britannica, reduced its price and production costs, and developed electronic versions on CD-ROM, DVD, and the World Wide Web. Since the early 1930s, the company has promoted spin-off reference works.[10]
Editions
The Britannica has been issued in 15 editions, with multi-volume supplements to the 3rd and 4th editions (see the Table below). The 5th and 6th editions were reprints of the 4th, the 10th edition was only a supplement to the 9th, just as the 12th and 13th editions were supplements to the 11th. The 15th underwent massive re-organization in 1985, but the updated, current version is still known as the 15th. The 14th and 15th editions were edited every year throughout their runs, so that later printings of each were entirely different from early ones.
Throughout history, the Britannica has had two aims: to be an excellent reference book, and to provide educational material.[112] In 1974, the 15th edition adopted a third goal: to systematize all human knowledge.[7] The history of the Britannica can be divided into five eras, punctuated by changes in management, or re-organization of the dictionary.
1768–1826

In the first era (1st–6th editions, 1768–1826), the Britannica was managed and published by its founders, Colin Macfarquhar and Andrew Bell, by Archibald Constable, and by others. The Britannica was first published between December 1768[113] and 1771 in Edinburgh as the Encyclopædia Britannica, or, A Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, compiled upon a New Plan. In part, it was conceived in reaction to the French Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert (published 1751–72), which had been inspired by Chambers's Cyclopaedia (first edition 1728). It went on sale December 10.[114]
The Britannica of this period was primarily a Scottish enterprise, and it is one of the most enduring legacies of the Scottish Enlightenment.[115] In this era, the Britannica moved from being a three-volume set (1st edition) compiled by one young editor—William Smellie[116]—to a 20-volume set written by numerous authorities.[117] Several other encyclopaedias competed throughout this period, among them editions of Abraham Rees's Cyclopædia and Coleridge's Encyclopædia Metropolitana and David Brewster's Edinburgh Encyclopædia.
1827–1901
During the second era (7th–9th editions, 1827–1901), the Britannica was managed by the Edinburgh publishing firm A & C Black. Although some contributors were again recruited through friendships of the chief editors, notably Macvey Napier, others were attracted by the Britannica's reputation. The contributors often came from other countries and included the world's most respected authorities in their fields. A general index of all articles was included for the first time in the 7th edition, a practice maintained until 1974.
Production of the 9th edition was overseen by Thomas Spencer Baynes, the first English-born editor-in-chief. Dubbed the "Scholar's Edition", the 9th edition is the most scholarly of all Britannicas.[3][94] After 1880, Baynes was assisted by William Robertson Smith.[118] No biographies of living persons were included.[119] James Clerk Maxwell and Thomas Huxley were special advisors on science.[120] However, by the close of the 19th century, the 9th edition was outdated, and the Britannica faced financial difficulties.
1901–1973

In the third era (10th–14th editions, 1901–1973), the Britannica was managed by American businessmen who introduced direct marketing and door-to-door sales. The American owners gradually simplified articles, making them less scholarly for a mass market. The 10th edition was a nine-volume supplement to the 9th, but the 11th edition was a completely new work, and is still praised for excellence; its owner, Horace Hooper, lavished enormous effort on its perfection.[94]
When Hooper fell into financial difficulties, the Britannica was managed by Sears Roebuck for 18 years (1920–1923, 1928–1943). In 1932, the vice-president of Sears, Elkan Harrison Powell, assumed presidency of the Britannica; in 1936, he began the policy of continuous revision. This was a departure from earlier practice, in which the articles were not changed until a new edition was produced, at roughly 25-year intervals, some articles unchanged from earlier editions.[10] Powell developed new educational products that built upon the Britannica's reputation.

In 1943, Sears donated the Encyclopædia Britannica to the University of Chicago. William Benton, then a vice president of the University, provided the working capital for its operation.  The stock was divided between Benton and the University, with the University holding an option on the stock.[121] Benton became Chairman of the Board and managed the Britannica until his death in 1973.[122] Benton set up the Benton Foundation, which managed the Britannica until 1996. In 1968, near the end of this era, the Britannica celebrated its bicentennial.
1974–1994
In the fourth era (1974–94), the Britannica introduced its 15th edition, which was re-organized into three parts: the Micropædia, the Macropædia, and the Propædia. Under Mortimer J. Adler (member of the Board of Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica since its inception in 1949, and its chair from 1974; director of editorial planning for the 15th edition of Britannica from 1965),[123] the Britannica sought not only to be a good reference work and educational tool, but to systematize all human knowledge. The absence of a separate index and the grouping of articles into parallel encyclopaedias (the Micro- and Macropædia) provoked a "firestorm of criticism" of the initial 15th edition.[3][105] In response, the 15th edition was completely re-organized and indexed for a re-release in 1985. This second version of the 15th edition continued to be published and revised until the 2010 print version. The official title of the 15th edition is the New Encyclopædia Britannica, although it has also been promoted as Britannica 3.[3]
On 9 March 1976 the US Federal Trade Commission entered an opinion and order enjoining Encyclopædia 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.[124]
1994–present

In the fifth era (1994–present), digital versions have been developed and released on optical media and online. In 1996, the Britannica was bought by Jacqui Safra at well below its estimated value, owing to the company's financial difficulties. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. split in 1999. One part retained the company name and developed the print version, and the other, Britannica.com Inc., developed digital versions. Since 2001, the two companies have shared a CEO, Ilan Yeshua, who has continued Powell's strategy of introducing new products with the Britannica name. In March 2012, Britannica's president, Jorge Cauz, announced that it would not produce any new print editions of the encyclopaedia, with the 2010 15th edition being the last. The company will focus only on the online edition and other educational tools.[1][125]
Britannica's final print edition was in 2010, a 32-volume set.[1] Britannica Global Edition was also printed in 2010. It contained 30 volumes and 18,251 pages, with 8,500 photographs, maps, flags, and illustrations in smaller "compact" volumes. It contained over 40,000 articles written by scholars from across the world, including Nobel Prize winners. Unlike the 15th edition, it did not contain Macro- and Micropædia sections, but ran A through Z as all editions up to the 14th had. The following is Britannica's description of the work:[4]
The editors of Encyclopædia Britannica, the world standard in reference since 1768, present the Britannica Global Edition. Developed specifically to provide comprehensive and global coverage of the world around us, this unique product contains thousands of timely, relevant, and essential articles drawn from the Encyclopædia Britannica itself, as well as from the Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, the Britannica Encyclopedia of World Religions, and Compton's by Britannica. Written by international experts and scholars, the articles in this collection reflect the standards that have been the hallmark of the leading English-language encyclopedia for over 240 years.

Dedications
The Britannica was dedicated to the reigning British monarch from 1788 to 1901 and then, upon its sale to an American partnership, to the British monarch and the President of the United States.[3] Thus, the 11th edition is "dedicated by Permission to His Majesty George the Fifth, King of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India, and to William Howard Taft, President of the United States of America."[126] The order of the dedications has changed with the relative power of the United States and Britain, and with relative sales; the 1954 version of the 14th edition is "Dedicated by Permission to the Heads of the Two English-Speaking Peoples, Dwight David Eisenhower, President of the United States of America, and Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second."[78] Consistent with this tradition, the 2007 version of the current 15th edition was "dedicated by permission to the current President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, and Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II,"[127] while the 2010 version of the current 15th edition is "dedicated by permission to Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II."[128]
Edition summary

Edition notes
1Supplement to the fourth, fifth, and sixth editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica. With preliminary dissertations on the history of the sciences.
2 The 7th to 14th editions included a separate index volume.
3 The 9th edition featured articles by notables of the day, such as James Clerk Maxwell on electricity and magnetism, and William Thomson (who became Lord Kelvin) on heat.
4 The 10th edition included a maps volume and a cumulative index volume for the 9th and 10th edition volumes: the new volumes, constituting, in combination with the existing volumes of the 9th ed., the 10th ed.... and also supplying a new, distinctive, and independent library of reference dealing with recent events and developments
5 Vols. 30–32... the New volumes constituting, in combination with the twenty-nine volumes of the eleventh edition, the twelfth edition
6 This supplement replaced the previous supplement: The three new supplementary volumes constituting, with the volumes of the latest standard edition, the thirteenth edition.
7 At this point Encyclopædia Britannica began almost annual revisions. New revisions of the 14th edition appeared every year between 1929 and 1973 with the exceptions of 1931, 1934 and 1935.[134]
8 Annual revisions were published every year between 1974 and 2007 with the exceptions of 1996, 1999, 2000, 2004 and 2006.[134] The 15th edition (introduced as "Britannica 3") was published in three parts: a 10-volume Micropædia (which contained short articles and served as an index), a 19-volume Macropædia, plus the Propædia (see text).
9 In 1985, the system was modified by adding a separate two-volume index; the Macropædia articles were further consolidated into fewer, larger ones (for example, the previously separate articles about the 50 US states were all included into the "United States of America" article), with some medium-length articles moved to the Micropædia. The Micropædia had 12 vols. and the Macropædia 17.
The first CD-ROM edition was issued in 1994. At that time also an online version was offered for paid subscription. In 1999 this was offered free, and no revised print versions appeared. The experiment was ended in 2001 and a new printed set was issued in 2001.
See also

Encyclopædia Britannica Films
Great Books of the Western World
List of encyclopedias by branch of knowledge
List of encyclopedias by date
List of encyclopedias by language §English
List of online encyclopedias
Notes

Further reading

Boyles, Denis. (2016) Everything Explained That Is Explainable: On the Creation of the Encyclopædia Britannica's Celebrated Eleventh Edition, 1910-1911 (2016)

Greenstein, Shane, and Michelle Devereux (2006). "" case history, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

Lee, Timothy. Techdirt Interviews Britannica President Jorge Cauz, Techdirt.com, 2 June 2008

 at Internet Archive
 at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
 at the Online Books Page, currently including the 3rd, 4th, 6th and 11th editions in multiple formats.
3rd edition (first volume, use search facility for others) at Bavarian State Library
7th edition (1842),  via Hathi Trust
8th edition (index volume, use search facility for others) at Bavarian State Library
Scribner's 9th Edition
9th and 10th editions

How many volumes were in the first publication of the Encyclopedia Britannica?