The Dictionary People: The unsung heroes who created the Oxford English Dictionary
Author(s): Sarah Ogilvie
Reading and Writing | SEPTEMBER 2023 NEW RELEASES
What do three murderers, Karl Marx's daughter and a vegetarian vicar have in common? They all helped create the Oxford English Dictionary.
The Oxford English Dictionary has long been associated with elite institutions and Victorian men; its longest-serving editor, James Murray, devoted 36 years to the project, as far as the letter T. But the Dictionary didn't just belong to the experts; it relied on contributions from members of the public.
By the time it was finished in 1928 its 414,825 entries had been crowdsourced from a surprising and diverse group of people, from archaeologists and astronomers to murderers, naturists, novelists, pornographers, queer couples, suffragists, vicars and vegetarians.
Lexicographer Sarah Ogilvie dives deep into previously untapped archives to tell a people's history of the OED. She traces the lives of thousands of contributors who defined the English language, from the eccentric autodidacts to the family groups who made word-collection their passion.
With generosity and brio, Ogilvie reveals, for the first time, the full story of the making of one of the most famous books in the world - and celebrates to sparkling effect the extraordinary efforts of the Dictionary People.
Product Information
I am bowled over by Sarah Ogilvie's book and have not been able to put it down. It is utterly fascinating, entertaining, astonishing and as clever as a box of monkeys. I love the way it is laid out alphabetically, with the most alluring chapter headings and characters who circle round the hub of the mighty OED. Every home should have a copy, every school should award it as a prize. I completely love it: a massive accomplishment * Joanna Lumley * Enthralling and exuberant, Sarah Ogilvie tells the surprising story of the making of the OED. Philologists, fantasists, crackpots, criminals, career spinsters, suffragists, and Australians: here is a wonder-book for word-lovers * Jeanette Winterson * 'An erudite and vivid exploration of the origins of the OED in the first crowdsourcing of contributions from thousands of individuals - including murderers, lunatics and cannibals. Marvellous, witty and wholly original' * Alan Rusbridger * This history, sourced from the author's discovery of the address books of the Dictionary's famous editor, James Murray, is as fascinating as the array of wonderful words they [the Dictionary People] filled their dictionary with * Big Issue *Hottest Reads of Summer 2023* * Fun and fascinating * The Bookseller *
General Fields
- :
- : Random House UK
- : CHATTO & WINDUS - TRADE
- : 465.0
- : 31 August 2023
- : books
Special Fields
- : Sarah Ogilvie
- : Sarah Ogilvie
- : Paperback
- : English
- : 423.09
- : very good
