The first two pamphlets ("numbers") of the Encyclopædia Britannica were issued in December 1768, being sold from the printing office of its originator, Colin Macfarquhar, in Nicholson Street in Edinburgh.
As Sir Gilbert Inglefield, the Lord Mayor of London, put it during his speech, "This, surely, is yet one more memorable episode in our chronicles of time."
Several speakers reiterated the Britannica's commitment to being not merely a reference work (an "enchantingly vast cornucopia of erudition", in Sir Gilbert Inglefield's words), but a great educational instrument of all humanity; in the words of Dr. Hutchins, "the Britannica seems destined to become a world university" and "Senator Benton...will go down in history as one of the most influential educators of our time."
Prime Minister Harold Wilson stated that he and Jennie Lee were inspired to begin the Open University by the Britannica's push into international markets, as well as by the Soviet Union's dedicated broadcasting of educational propaganda.
On the occasion of its 200th anniversary, Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. published a facsimile of the 1st edition, even including "age spots" on the paper.