The oldest manufacturer of encyclopedias has become one of the first major book publishing casualties of the digital age by cutting out its entire print operation. The Encyclopedia Britannica, which has been in continuous print since it was first published in Edinburgh in 1768, said today that it will continue with digital versions currently available online. The final set of the 32-volume printed edition remains available for sale on the company's website for £890 ($1,400). Jorge Cauz, Encyclopedia Britannica's president, said the top year for the printed encyclopedia was 1990, when 120,000 sets were sold. By 1996, that number had fallen to just 40,000. An online subscription costs around £45 ($70) per year and the company recently launched a set of apps ranging between £1.20 ($1.99) and £3 ($4.99) per month. The company said it will keep selling print editions until the current stock of around 4,000 sets runs out. Mr Cauz added: 'The print edition became more difficult to maintain and wasn't the best physical element to deliver the quality of our database and the quality of our editorial'. Britannica is one of many traditional publishers which has embraced the digital age with a range of online products but it has struggled with financial losses. Mr Cauz admitted to a 'long road to profitability' for many publishers. 'Britannica was one of the first companies to really feel the full impact of technology, maybe 20 years ago, and we have been adapting to it, though it is very difficult at times,' he said. While Encyclopedia Britannica has continued to operate, he expected 'many trade publishers will not survive - and any content development company will have to be thinking about how they are going to fill the gap.' As to whether print editions of books will be viable products in the future, Mr Cauz predicted, 'print may not completely vanish from the market, but I think it is going to be increasingly less important'. With its scholarly, reliable reputation, Mr Cauz said Encyclopedia Britannica had not been affected by the popularity of Wikipedia. Last year, the company unveiled its own iPhone and iPad apps. Mr Cauz told CNN: 'The print set is an icon. But it's an icon that doesn't do justice to how much we've changed over the years'. The death of the print edition of Britannica echoes the rise of the techno-savvy consumer. In terms of space-saving, practicality and cost, there is much to be said for e-books - something independent bookstores would dispute, as they are fast becoming endangered species. Although digital books have been around for more than two decades, it is only in recent times that the long-predicted explosion in electronic reading has come to take hold. In 2010, e-books accounted for 6 per cent of all books sold in the UK, with sales more than doubling every year. And in the US, Amazon now sells more e-books than hardbacks and paperbacks combined.