THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE
I wonder how many of my readers remember the “Book of Knowledge”?
Though as a child I wasn’t a reader, “The Book of Knowledge” provided me with a great deal of enjoyment.
Every Saturday night until my grandmother died we would walk to her house for a visit. “The Book of Knowledge” sat in the bookcase inviting me to open them.
My grandparents lived only a block away from us, so it was not much of a walk there. Now the blocks in Brantford are much shorter than they are in London where I live now. There a block consists of about six houses. My grandfather built the house many years before I was born. In fact, my mother grew up in that house. There were two sets of books: “The Book of Knowledge” and the complete works of Charles Dickens.
Grandad died when I was only seven, and Grandma died when I was around twelve. The contents of the house were divided up between my mother, her sister and two brothers. Some of the things were designated to specific people. The two sets of books were in that category. “The Book of Knowledge” set was willed to my aunt and uncle and the Dickens went to my mother. I didn’t care anything for the Dickens books then, but I have had them in my possession for years now and I love them. I have read all 18 volumes, some multiple times.
Several years ago, at an annual book sale in Brantford (to raise money for the symphony orchestra), I found a set of “The Book of 
Knowledge”. There are twenty volumes and this one was in excellent condition. It was published in 1927. Not the edition my grandparents had, but as far as I was concerned that didn’t matter. And the price was definitely right – $4.00 for the entire set!
Formerly published in London England under the title “Children’s Encyclopedia”, “The Book of Knowledge” had it’s first printing in the US under this name in 1910 by Grolier. It was only eight volumes at that time.
One of the things that fascinated me in those books at my grandparents’ house was an exercise in imagination. There would be a diagram of a certain number of straight lines and dots and you had to create a picture out of them. Being the artistic child that I was, I assume that is why it appealed to me.
But there was much more. Poetry. Stories. Famous people. Artists. Paintings. Places around the globe. Simple games. How to make many things easy enough for children. How things work, such as motors. How things are made. And wonderful drawings and photographs. Volume 20 was an index of all the other 19 volumes. But rather than tell you more, I have photographed many of the pages of this wonderful set of books. 
I hope you have enjoyed these photos. There are many more that I could have chosen, but I don’t want to make this post any longer. I’m sure you will by now have a good idea of what wonderful things “The Book of Knowledge” provided for children.
I am so happy that I came across this set of books that day.
I do hope you will leave a comment in the comment section before you leave. Thank you so much for stopping by. Let me know if you remember “The Book of Knowledge”.
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Diane,
My grandfather also was a reader and gave me two collectors sets; A set of James Fenimore Coopers books (I still like to read the Leather Stocking Stories) and a set of Bret Harte’s books (I still pick up one out of the bookcase and am refreshed with those old stories).
I remember seeing The Book Of Knowledge and when my three daughters were growing up I purchased the Encyclopedia Britannica as reference books for them. I ended up giving that set to one of my daughters.
Your blog brought back good memories.
Thanks for stopping by, Bud. I’m glad it brought back good memories. We had the Standard Encyclopedia published around 1937 (if I remember right). I still have a set (I think it was my aunt’s) though I seldom look at it. Once in awhile it comes in handy. I’m not sure if I have read “The Last of the Mohicans”, but I know I haven’t read anything else by Cooper or anything by Harte that I recall. I have a very old copy of “The Three Musketeers” that belonged to my father when he was a boy (back in the early 1900s). I’m looking forward to reading your book.
Only $4 – it’s a still! I bet you can get much more than that if you decide to sell it on eBay.
I know! But I don’t think I would ever want to sell it. I guess I’m just attached to the memory of the set at my grandparents’.
Wow!! Four dollars for this amazing set of books? What a find. I wish I had had a set when my daughter was growing up She would have loved it!!
Thank you for visiting my blog, Barbara. Yes, $4.00. I certainly didn’t need them, but I wanted them and could afford them. Then I made room for them. I don’t look at them often, yet I wouldn’t want to part with them. They are is such good condition, too. At the time there were several sets of them, but this was the best. I go to this book sale every year, but this year there wasn’t near the choice as in the past. I got some things, but was somewhat disappointed. I hope next year will be better. I think one of the problems is that a lot of book dealers show up as soon as the doors open and they get the pick of the lot.