> 1.) a set of World Book encyclopedias now costs $1,200, and 2.) many print resources aren’t as good as they used to be, if they are even still in print, since the market changed.

I bet you can get sufficient reference materials to cover the basics for much less than $1200 - used books exist and my 1987 Britannica covers a large chunk of human knowledge as long as you’re aware it’s a couple of decades old.