Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia


Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia is an encyclopedia edited by John Hammerton and published in London, England by The Education Book Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Northcliffe's Amalgamated Press, in 1921/22.
Aimed at a middle-income market around the world, the main encyclopaedia is prefaced with a series of "New Horizons" articles penned by 'eminent publicists'. These include
  1. 1920-22 was initially published as a fortnightly series in 1920-22 and sold twelve million copies throughout the English-speaking world.
The subscriber could have the fortnightly magazines bound into volumes at a bookbinder's shop. There were several binding and decorative options according to how much the subscriber wished to pay: leather, cloth-covered board or plain board. The bookbinder marked the page numbers on the spine of each volume. This means sets are variable in binding and even in the number of volumes. The following have been noted:
  1. Nine volumes bound in brown leather
  2. Nine volumes bound in red board with corrections
  3. Twelve volumes bound in brown board, 23,500 illustrations

    The ''New Universal Encyclopedia''