It's a sad day for fetishists of gold lettering. It's a bitter blow for door-to-door salesmen. It's a major frustration for recently nominated godparents wondering what christening gift would combine the solid, the stylish and the edifying. The print edition of theEncyclopaedia Britannica is no more.

The company has announced that henceforth it will concentrate on their online encyclopaedias, and that the last-ever print edition – a mighty, 32-volume set weighing 129 pounds – won't be replaced when the last 8,000 sets are finally sold...