Details
Synopsis
Begun in 1857, the Oxford English Dictionary (fondly known as the O.E.D.) was finished in the 1920s, and has become the definitive source for the meaning and, more importantly, the etymology of every English word. Simon Winchester's account of its history begins with a look at the English language and how it has changed over the centuries, and at the previous attempts to codify it. He then goes on to profile the O.E.D.'s three main perpetrators: Herbert Coleridge, Frederick Furnivall, and the passionately committed polymath James Augustus Henry Murray, and writes about some of the unexpected problems that arose during the dictionary's making. A New York Times Notable Book for 2003.
| Size | | Length: | 256 pages | | Height: | 8.5 in | | Width: | 5.5 in | | Thickness: | 1.2 in | | Weight: | 20.8 oz |
Industry Reviews
"It is teeming with knowledge and alive with insights. Winchester handles humor and awe with modesty and cunning. His devotion to the story is the more eloquent for the cool-handedness of its telling. His prose is supremely readable, admirable in its lucid handling of lexicographical mire....[A] deft and engrossing story...."
New York Times Book Review - William F. Buckley (10/12/2003)
|
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
All rights reserved.
