Harmless Drudges: Dictionaries and the (Mad)men Who've Made Them
Annotation:Memoir from the author of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of English Language and dozens of other works on language.
Annotation:The Meaning of Everything was the NYPL's Reader's Den selection for October 2011. It's never too late to join the online discussion of SImon Winchester's fascinating and informative book.
Annotation:With your NYPL library card, you can search the entire OED Online from home! That's over half a million words and their histories right at your fingertips...
Annotation:(1979 - present) If you wish to delve more deeply into the work of lexicographers past and present, try this journal published by the Dictionary Society of North America. Available through Project Muse with a valid NYPL library card.
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In his seminal and idiosyncratic 18th century dictionary, Samuel Johnson defines a lexicographer as a "harmless drudge." James Boswell's biography of Johnson still stands as a classic of literary biography, and there are other colorful lexicographers to read about. We were inspired by the occasion of Joshua C. Kendall's talk about the life of the great American lexicographer, Noah Webster, at the Mid-Manhattan Library on August 27, 2012, to compile this brief list of popular books on the history of lexicography, or dictionary making, and the lives of lexicographers.
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