''Quid''The word ''"quid"'' means ''"what"'' in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. is a French

encyclopedia An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article (publishing), articles or entries that are arranged Alp ...

, 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 (1916–2010). Its publications are distributed in almost all francophone countries, but mainly in France, Canada and in Belgium. Imprints belonging to Édit ...

(1975-2007), and was the most popular encyclopedic reference work in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The presentation is very compressed, and

abbreviations An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening, contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened form of a word, usually ended with a trailing per ...

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, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, 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, 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

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References

Encyclopedias in French French online encyclopedias Publications established in 1963 Publications disestablished in 2007 Éditions Robert Laffont books 20th-century encyclopedias 21st-century encyclopedias Plon (publisher) books