Arthur Mee's Children's Encyclopedia

Subject: Arthur Mee's Children's Encyclopedia.

How many of you remember Arthur Mee's Children's Encyclopedia. Those hardcover books of illustrated history which were the prize of many children fortunate enough to live in a house where reading was a priority. The simple poetry, the stories of valor and adventure, the full page illustrations of Greek and Roman antiquity splendid statues and ruined cities resplendent as full page glossy photographs. Mee started his educational odyssey back in 1908 when he began a weekly educational sheet aimed at children and drawing on topics both current and historical, a sort of addendum to schooling for the masses. Gradually these articles found their way into bound editions and about 1922 were published as a ten volume collection or encyclopedia. It was this edition, the blue bound edition that found its way into our house and became a source of much pleasure.

It's prose style was simplistic and featured a pride of Empire, 'ours' and earlier Empires plus their achievements. There wasn't much hand wringing for the defeated, there was little acknowledgement for indigenous people or the feminist movement. Transgender didn't exist nor did the homosexual community have any traction, other than the closeted writers and artists of whom the articles described. 
The world was populated by heroes defending the Eurocentric position of explore's and colonisers, their exploits the building blocks of our febrile imagination.
The other much more weighty tomb in our house was the Encyclopedia Britannica. The fantastic 1911 edition, 32 volumes of finely printed 'fact'. 
Not your fake news but researched facts, documented and authenticated by teams of academics, set out in this magnificent publication.  Beautiful composition, precise ultra clear typeface, state of the art articles, printed on ultra lightweight paper. Thousands upon thousands of words and illustrations, the epitome of the book publishers art. 
It was there to delve into, to redefine a view or settle a misunderstanding. It was there to embellish and refine, to cross the t and dot the i. 
Of course today we have Wikipedia and Google to find our facts. Much easier than sifting through the thousands of pages of fine print but some how my nostalgia for the academic surety, bound in a series of crafted books created by generations of skill now escaped to a never to be seen again graveyard, along with much we fancied as our 'quality of life' back then.