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The Wonderland of Knowledge was a twelve volume series of pictorial encyclopedias, first published in 1937 and then updated almost every year to follow until 1968.
Forty years later, as I walked to the G train I spotted seven out of twelve volumes of the 1968 edition sitting innocuously, waiting for the garbage truck the following day. I picked one up, leafed through it and found a treasure trove of information. Hillarious, outdated information.
In honor of this discovery, every Wednesday at RamseyEss.com will be Wonderland of Knowledge Wednesday in which I will highlight an entry or two from my seven volumes of this pictorial encyclopedia and offer insights and commentary into why I, Ramsey Ess, am better than anyone alive during 1968.
The Wonderland of Knowledge series culls its information from the five major knowledge bases of 1968:
As we move forward I’ll be showcasing this encyclopedia set’s many inaccurate, xenophobic, anti-communist, stupid, poorly researched, and occasionally, accurate articles from these categories. You’ll see black and white photos, charts and diagrams in upwards of two colors and creepy illustrations that probably weren’t changed from the original 1937 edition. Find out what adults thought that the children and barely literate adults of 1968 should know!
See you next week (but really, you should probably check back every day, because I want the hits.)!
9 responses so far ↓
1 Brad // Oct 1, 2008 at 12:00 pm
I AM SO PSYCHED FOR THIS
2 Jimmy // Oct 1, 2008 at 1:23 pm
the wonderland of knowledge isn’t a land at all…it’s a book!
HAHA THE TITLE IS ALREADY STUPID!
I look forward to more.
3 varley // Oct 1, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Actually, I think that’s a Djinn lamp. Note the spout curvature.
4 Michael Doig // Oct 2, 2008 at 5:30 pm
You’re right, I am excited!
5 Pauline Gay // Aug 2, 2009 at 6:29 am
sorting out the attic have fould a complete set 1-12 of the original Wonderland of Knowledge - they were my father’s bought for him by his mother from a door to door salesman. Just about to take them to the tip - do you want them ?
6 Lukas // Feb 24, 2010 at 11:03 pm
I have set of 1-15 from 1937 to 39 I will sell them for a good price.
7 peter kinsey // Mar 3, 2010 at 8:07 am
i have a set of 12 the wonderland of knowledge in very good condition as in your picture i find them very interesting and did not know if they were rare or not and had any value mine are 1965 print hoping you can throw some light on this matter thanking you peter
8 Mrs Floweryapron // Mar 26, 2010 at 10:23 am
I’ve got all these. I was born in 1968.
I think they are brilliant, don’t be too quick to scoff though, we don’t know everything yet.
9 George // Jul 12, 2010 at 10:59 am
I have the complete 37 set in bril condition. Still read them and they help enormously with general knowledge crosswords and pub quizzes. With hindsight must say that they got a lot wrong then but mainly on the predictive front — even the war wasn’t forecast.
I suppose in those days they didn’t have the absolute sincerity and truthful reporting of Sky, blogs, texts etc not to mention an Octopus that the Dutch now wish to turn into Calamari.
George
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