Arthur Mee was a sort of British Walt Disney, who fervently exploited children to sell British Imperialism and the Word of God.

“Let us think we are sitting by the fire, little and big children everywhere (for children are we all), with storytellers and wise men to talk to us. Such a big book must have a big name, but the name is the biggest word in the book, and you will learn to say it easily and will know when you grow up that it is the only name that will do. It is a Big Book for Little People, and it has come into the world to make your life happy and wise and good...”
    It goes on like that for ten thick volumes, talking down to children, extolling the glories of God’s wisdom in making the world the way he did, and telling how brilliantly the gentlemen of the British Empire (with just a little help from their wives and foreigners) improved upon that original divine concept. The British bias is truly amazing—Australia and Canada each receive more attention than USA or Germany while Russia and China are obscure distant places, no more significant than Cyprus or Ethiopia. But, despite these massive failings, its assets were dominant and really for just one vital reason. Unlike most encyclopaedias, it started at the beginning and went through the middle to the end.
    That was what entranced me so. In the first chapter, it described how the universe formed and then the stars and finally earth, and it went on from there. The book was divided into nineteen serialised sections, or broad subject areas, each leapfrogging the others at a rate of seven episodes per volume. History began with the man who discovered fire, art with the cave paintings, literature with Homer, and of course the Bible section with Genesis. In addition there were stories and poetry from all around the world, sections on plant life, animals, geosciences and music, philosophy and languages and all sorts of funny things to make and do. And all of it arranged the way a child sees the world, rather than how an adult thinks they should. I started on page one and went all the way through that first volume, but long before I got that far, Horrie came home.