Reviews for The meaning of everything : the story of the Oxford English dictionary
Library Journal
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Winchester celebrates the 75th anniversary of the OED by producing a remarkable account of the men who shaped the venerable dictionary, from Samuel Johnson, whose earlier dictionary established the standard; to Dean Trench, who presented a paper championing the need for a new dictionary; to various flamboyant characters, such as William Chester Minor, a word collector who worked from a mental institution and the "madman" in Winchester's The Professor and the Madman; the eccentric and disorganized Frederick James Furnivall; W.J.E. Crane, so ornery that lawyers were needed to force him not to burn his collection of O-words; James Murray, who though not formally educated was nevertheless most responsible for seeing the project through; and others. Winchester wonderfully commemorates this monumental record of English and ultimately produces an inspired story of conflict, madness, genius, and inspiration so amusing that at times it reads like fiction-but it isn't. Highly recommended for academic and public libraries.-Carolyn M. Craft, Longwood Univ., Farmville, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
The conception, gestation, and birth of the world's most comprehensive and authoritative dictionary. Winchester (Krakatoa, p. 220, etc.) returns to territory he first excavated in The Professor and the Madman (1998), which told the stories of OED editor James Murray and his brilliant assistant, William Chester Minor, incarcerated for murder and madness. Here, the author deals only briefly with Minor near the end and focuses instead on the brilliant, dedicated, even obsessed men and women who created the dictionary despite war and illness, insanity and insolvency, and the sometimes vicious politics of publishing and scholarship. Winchester begins in 1928 as the final pages were published of a work that began with the volume A to Ant in 1884. Many notable contributors never lived to see the completed dictionary, but many others attended the grand celebratory dinner, among them J.R.R. Tolkien, who in 1919 had worked on the project and was remembered for his struggles with the difficult word "walrus." (Later, he would help the OED define "hobbit.") Winchester pauses for a few chapters to remind us of the story of the English language—remember those pesky Angles, Saxons and Jutes?—and to sketch the history of dictionaries. By the third chapter, we meet the tale's giant: James Murray, who signed on as editor in 1879 and died in 1915 while working on T. Winchester also profiles gadflies Benjamin Jowett, and Philip Lyttelton Gell, who harried the deliberate and meticulous Murray. Most interesting, of course, are the flotsam and jetsam that the author displays. "Zyxt" is the final word in the dictionary; "black" took three months of nonstop work; the first installment sold for 12 shillings and 6 pence; editor Henry Bradley could read a book upside down; the next published edition may run to 40 volumes. A magnificent account, swift and compelling, of obsession, scholarship, and, ultimately, philanthropy of the first magnitude. (30 b&w illustrations, not seen) Copyright ŠKirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Choice
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
A genteel progress through the history of the Oxford English Dictionary, this book starts with the history of the language itself and the antecedents of the OED, before a leisurely discussion of how the OED came to be. Unfortunately, much attention is directed toward the dictionary's early years and near demise, but little to the latter stages of its creation; one suspects the author was limited by Oxford to a certain number of pages--an ironic echo of the history of the OED itself, and of the ways Oxford tried to limit its scope in its early years. Despite the inattention given the later years, after reading this book one has an understanding of the genesis of the OED. The book's strength consists of its portraits of the individuals associated with the OED, in particular James Murray, though one could have wished for more about the later editors. Excellent photographs and a six-page index enhance this relatively slim volume, which makes a nice acquisition to support the study of either 19th-century England or lexicography. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. General readers and academic collections, upper-division undergraduate and higher. W. Miller Florida Atlantic University
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
The story of the making of the Oxford English Dictionary has been burnished into legend over the years, at least among librarians and linguists. In The Professor and the Madman (1998), Winchester examined the strange case of one of the most prolific contributors to the first edition of the OED--one W. C. Minor, an American who sent most of his quotation slips from an insane asylum. Now, Winchester takes on the dictionary's whole history, from the first attempts to document the English language in the seventeenth century, the founding of the Philological Society in Oxford in 1842, and the start of work on the dictionary in 1860; to the completion of the first edition nearly 70 years, 414,825 words, and 1,827,306 illustrative quotations later. Although there is plenty of detail here about the methodology (including the famous pigeon holes stuffed with quotations slips from contributors around the world), the emphasis is on personalities, in particularames Murray, who became the OED's third editor in 1879 and died in 1915, well into the letter T. The project backers complained loudly about the slow pace over the years, but the scrupulous care taken by Murray and the many others who worked on the OED gave us what is arguably the world's greatest dictionary. Publication of this book coincides with the OED's seveny-fifth anniversary, even as work on the third edition is under way. --Mary Ellen Quinn Copyright 2003 Booklist
Publishers Weekly
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With his usual winning blend of scholarship and accessible, skillfully paced narrative, Winchester (Krakatoa) returns to the subject of his first bestseller, The Professor and the Madman, to tell the eventful, personality-filled history of the definitive English dictionary. He emphasizes that the OED project began in 1857 as an attempt to correct the deficiencies of existing dictionaries, such as Dr. Samuel Johnson's. Winchester opens with an entertaining and informative examination of the development of the English language and pre-OED efforts. The originators of the OED thought the project would take perhaps a decade; it actually took 71 years, and Winchester explores why. An early editor, Frederick Furnivall, was completely disorganized (one sack of paperwork he shipped to his successor, James Murray, contained a family of mice). Murray in turn faced obstacles from Oxford University Press, which initially wanted to cut costs at the expense of quality. Winchester stresses the immensity and difficulties of the project, which required hundreds of volunteer readers and assistants (including J.R.R. Tolkien) to create and organize millions of documents: the word bondmaid was left out of the first edition because its paperwork was lost. Winchester successfully brings readers inside the day-to-day operations of the massive project and shows us the unrelenting passion of people such as Murray and his overworked, underpaid staff who, in the end, succeeded magnificently. Winchester's book will be required reading for word mavens and anyone interested in the history of our marvelous, ever-changing language. (Oct.) Forecast: Winchester could have a second hardcover bestseller this year with this, boosted by a seven-city author tour. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved