If you were a mid-century family with a set of encyclopedias, you were lucky. The rest of us would have to go to the library for those wonderful books that allowed you to look up almost any topic with the help of an index. I remember suggesting that my parents buy a set. Even when I resorted to begging, the answer was no. I was not the type to read every page and every word, I just wanted the ability to look something up when I had a question. In today’s world, I get goosebumps every time I am able to find the answer to a question in seconds. It’s a wonderful thing.
The picture you see is from a 1/3 page ad that appeared in the July 1952 edition of Ladies Home Journal. It gave a convincing argument why your family should invest in a set of World Book encyclopedias.
1st Choice of American’s schools and libraries – Ask any teacher or librarian
If went on to give you information about how to become a door-to-door encyclopedia salesperson.
Want a lifetime career with good pay, future, security? Discover how all this may be yours as a World Book representative. Write Mr. George M Hayes. World Book, dept 277 Box 986 Chicago 80,Ill.
Sorry World Book. You were wrong about the lifetime career part. Your paper volumes are now near extinct and replaced with the digital type. According to Wikipedia, the company still offers the print version to schools and libraries, but not to the general public.
You can still buy an obsolete set. Here’s an example of a 2003 set.
Mid-Century Page 
Nice
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