Enquire Within, 112th edition

"Whether You Wish to Model a Flower in Wax;

to Study the Rules of Etiquette;

to Serve a Relish for Breakfast or Supper;

to Plan a Dinner for a Large Party or a Small One;

to Cure a Headache;

to Make a Will;

to Get Married;

to Bury a Relative;

Whatever You May Wish to Do, Make, or to Enjoy,

Provided Your Desire has Relation to the Necessities of Domestic Life,

I Hope You will not Fail to 'Enquire Within." (Editor's introduction.)

The book was a popular addition to the Victorian (and later post-Victorian) home; by the 89th edition, some 1,180,000 copies had published. With the release of the 113th edition, this number had risen to over 1,500,000.

Tim Berners-Lee apparently named his precursor of the World Wide Web, ENQUIRE, after this work. He said that its title was suggestive of magic and the book served as a portal to a world of information. He thought it not a perfect analogy for the Web, but a primitive starting point.

External links

• Project Gutenberg version
• Google Books Version (1865 Edition)