''Quid''
[The word ''"quid"'' means ''"what"'' in ]Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
. is a French
encyclopedia, established in 1963 by
Dominique Frémy. It was published annually between 1963 and 2007, first by
Plon (1963-1974) and later by
Éditions Robert Laffont
Éditions Robert Laffont is a book publishing company in France founded in 1941 by Robert Laffont. Its publications are distributed in almost all francophone countries, but mainly in France, Canada and in Belgium.
It is considered one of the most ...
(1975-2007),
and was the most popular encyclopedic reference work in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
.
The presentation is very compressed, and
abbreviations
An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...
are used extensively in
telegraph style. It uses very thin paper to get all the information into one volume. It is published each year in one volume about the size of a large dictionary. The motto of the encyclopedia is "Tout sur tout... tout de suite" (translated as: "Everything on everything... right now"). Examples of the precise information included in ''Quid'' are: a) the use of moustaches among Austrian mailmen is forbidden to avoid them being confused with military officers; b) in 1850 there were 1,400,000 inhabitants in
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
, and c) in the West, a woman spends an average of 100 days of her life in ironing.
[John Lichfield.]
France's Favorite Encyclopaedia Falls Victim to Wikipedia
''Independent'', 20 February 2008.
History
The first edition was published by
Plon in the first quarter of 1963 was sold in 20,000 copies. It was a 632-page illustrations-free paperback. In addition to a brief table of contents, the book included a 10-page index. The author introduced it as a “complete, up-to-date, handy and easy-to-read” book. He announced the book would be published yearly. The next edition was published in the third quarter of 1964: the book was made of a cardboard binding and was a little bit larger (824 pages). The first editions were cosigned by
Michèle Frémy,
Dominique Frémy’s wife. The encyclopedia became larger over the years, reaching the size of a large dictionary. Each edition now needs the contribution of around 12,000 specialists.
The 2007 edition of ''Quid'' cost €32; its 2,176 pages contained 2,500,000 items about 650 topics. It sold only about 100,000 copies, compared to more than 400,000 in the 1990s. In February 2008, the 2008 edition was canceled by the publisher,
Robert Laffont
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
, which said that print encyclopedias can no longer compete with the free information available on the internet. Frémy, the founder of ''Quid'', said that he would find another publisher and intended to publish a 2009 edition for Christmas 2009.
Internet edition
For some time, ''Quid'' was available on the Internet. The original site www.quid.fr disappeared around 2010. In addition to the complete current issue, it offered a daily news website, a world atlas with maps and 6,000 lexical entries on the 36,380 French communes with details about their history, geography, tourist attractions and economic life.
Special editions
Notes
{{Reflist, group="nb"
References
French encyclopedias
French online encyclopedias
Publications established in 1963
Publications disestablished in 2007
Éditions Robert Laffont books
20th-century encyclopedias
21st-century encyclopedias
Plon (publisher) books