The Lexicography of English

An amazing and surely definitive book on this fascinating subject, documenting how English words have been recorded and ordered in dictionaries in the UK and the US since the 17th century. It also gives the reader an insight into the methodologies by which dictionaries are compiled. And although computers have changed the format of presentation, the function of defining and tracing the history of words remains the same. Dictionaries are defined and classified across a wide range of disciplines, and the British scholarly approach is distinguished from the more utility focused American tradition. The reader learns that Dr Johnson compiled 250,000 extracts from around 500 authors, of which he used about 110,000 illustrative passages. It was typical of Johnson that he refused to cite Thomas Hobbes on the grounds that he did not like his principles. This book is a monumental achievement which will provide hours of fascination for anyone interested in words and dictionaries.