I have a copy of the 11th edition of Encyclopedia Britannica (the 'seed' for original Wikipedia), but it takes serious maintenance (dusting plus periodic oiling

I have a copy of the 11th edition of Encyclopedia Britannica (the 'seed' for original Wikipedia), but it takes serious maintenance (dusting plus periodic oiling of the leather covers/spines). Definitely not the best way to make it thousands of years. It's also public domain, so you can just download it (for a more compact approximation of Wikipedia that's not quite current, less exhaustive, but way better for reading.)