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Encyclopaedia Britannica print editions flying off the shelves

Last month, Encyclopaedia Britannica announced that it was discontinuing its print editions after 244 years.

With the announcement, company executives revealed that there remained 4,000 sets of the final 32-volume 2010 edition in a warehouse.

Most of them are now gone, with collectors rushing to acquire the final print edition of the "oldest continuously published encyclopedia in the English language."

From record low sales of just 60 sets a week to 1,050 a week, customers are overwhelming Britannica's sales staff with demands for the 129-pound, $1,395 sets.

"When they thought it would be around forever, there was no rush to buy one," Jorge Cauz, president of Encyclopaedia Britannica, told the New York Times in an e-mail. "But now, suddenly, it's a scarce item."

With the cancellation of its print edition, Britannica will focus on its online encyclopedias and educational curriculum.

"It's a rite of passage in this new era," said Cauz. "Some people will feel sad about it and nostalgic about it. But we have a better tool now. The Web site is continuously updated, it's much more expansive and it has multimedia."