The introduction by its Editor-in-Chief, Hugh Chisholm, to the encyclopædia as a whole, setting out its scope, organization, and principles.
A history of the Encyclopædia Britannica from its founding in 1768 through the eleventh edition, written by the editors. Traces the evolution of the work across eleven editions and explains the aims of the current one.
The editors' preface to volume 29, explaining the principles behind the index: what was included and excluded, how references are structured, the treatment of biographical and geographical entries, and the relationship between the index and the Classified Table of Contents.
The key to reading the index: typographic conventions, alphabetization rules, geographical heading formats, and a complete list of the 362 abbreviations used throughout the index and the encyclopædia itself.
A short essay introducing the Classified Table of Contents (the topic index), explaining how articles are grouped by subject and how readers can use the classification to study any field systematically.