Description
Book Synopsis**LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2024**
'Enthralling and exuberant ... Here is a wonder-book for word-lovers' Jeanette Winterson
‘A lively, entertaining, and illuminating read. I loved it’ Susie Dent
What do three murderers, Karl Marx's daughter and a vegetarian vicar have in common?
They all helped create the Oxford English Dictionary.
The Oxford English Dictionary has long been associated with elite institutions and Victorian men. But the Dictionary didn't just belong to the experts; it relied on contributions from members of the public. By 1928, its 414,825 entries had been crowdsourced from a surprising and diverse group of people, from astronomers to murderers, naturists, pornographers, suffragists and queer couples.
Lexicographer Sarah Ogilvie dives deep into previously untapped archives to tell a people's history of the OED. Here, she reveals, for the first time, the full story of the making of one of the most famous books in the world - and celebrates the extraordinary efforts of the Dictionary People.
** A Financial Times, TLS and Daunt Books Book of the Year 2023 **
'Utterly fascinating, entertaining, astonishing and as clever as a box of monkeys ... I completely love it' Joanna Lumley
'Full marks to Sarah Ogilvie... guaranteed to grab those of us obsessed with books, language and mystery' Financial Times
'[An] astonishing book' Sunday Times
'Touching ... The oddities [of language] enliven the book' Observer *Book of the Day*
'[An] affectionate and accomplished book' TLS
'Engaging' Spectator
'Marvellous, witty and wholly original' Alan Rusbridger
'Glorious and surprising' Richard Ovenden, Bodley's Librarian and author of Burning the Books
‘A fascinating and delightful exploration of the Victorian world … Wonderful’ Nicola Shulman, TLS Podcast
Trade ReviewSarah Ogilvie has
brought to centre stage a gallery of remarkable characters quite as astonishing, hilarious, terrifying and beguiling as any found in Dickens. The “ordinary” people who helped create the Oxford English Dictionary reveal themselves to be anything but ordinary. At the back of it all we are reminded that words themselves are not abstract units of meaning, they are every bit as alive, elusive and enchanting as the people who devote themselves to their study.
The Dictionary People serves also, incidentally, as a marvellous record of the incidentals, the daily details, manners and modes of 19th century life.
An unmissable wonderful achievement. -- Stephen Fry
Proof that not only do our words have extraordinary lives, but so do the people who have documented them for us.
A lively, entertaining, and illuminating read. I loved it -- Susie Dent
Utterly fascinating, entertaining, astonishing and
as clever as a box of monkeys... I am bowled over by Sarah Ogilvie's book and every home should have a copy.
I completely love it * Joanna Lumley *
Who knew such mysteries lay behind the Oxford English Dictionary? This is a
fascinating, unique and original book which uncovers the people behind the words.
A jaw-dropping cross-section of society are revealed for the first time in all their complexity * Janina Ramirez, author of Femina *
Exquisitely written ... A
lively, funny book full of eccentrics * Jamaica Kincaid *
Enthralling and exuberant, Sarah Ogilvie tells the surprising story of the making of the OED. Philologists, fantasists, crackpots, criminals, career spinsters, suffragists, and Australians:
here is a wonder-book for word-lovers * Jeanette Winterson *
I love words and I cherish my OED ... having the background of it explained was
fascinating * Val McDermid *
Astonishing * Kathryn Hughes, The Sunday Times *
Fascinating * Observer *
'An
erudite and vivid exploration of the origins of the OED in the first crowdsourcing of contributions from thousands of individuals - including murderers, lunatics and cannibals.
Marvellous, witty and wholly original' * Alan Rusbridger *
