Dictionaries

Three Dictionaries, although technically that is two dictionaries and a novel. 

In my final sort of the old books that came from my Great Aunt I came upon this old dictionary. It is massive (see the size of the spine piece to the left) and falling apart, but I have never really looked at it before. Now I find that it is an 1860 edition of the American Dictionary of the English Language. And sure enough it is all American spellings. The portrait on the frontispiece is Noah Webster who was an American Lexicographer and very influential in popularising certain spellings and in putting together the first Webster’s dictionary. The history of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is fascinating, but why my great, great grandfather had a copy in the house I have no idea. When I looked it up I found copies were changing hands at substantial prices, but I don’t think anyone would be interested in this one in the state it is in. 

I also came across this Little Oxford Dictionary, also falling apart through use. I was given this by my grandmother when I was nine, so my love of dictionaries obviously started when I was very young. 

And the third book is a novel I have just finished - The Liar’s Dictionary by Eley Williams. I enjoyed this - it is clever storytelling, even if one does get a bit lost at times in the play on words. It just happens to be about two Lexicographers. Peter Winceworth, in 1899 and working on a soon to be published Dictionary, for various reasons finds himself inserting fictitious entries into the dictionary. In the present day we have Mallory who has been tasked with finding all the fake words. The two narratives are deftly combined into one.