is a lot to cover in a mere 586 pages of narrative, but Gilliver does it thoroughly and neatly. Gracefully written and occasionally wryly humorous, it achieves the highest standard of scholarship: it is an important book that is a pleasure to read. With The Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, however, Peter Gilliver has supplied that missing history. 'Until now we have had no reliable comprehensive history of the OED. In reading this book, readers will obtain a new perspective of seeing OED: from a dictionary to a masterpiece created by dedicated parties working together because of their enormous love and pride of English.' - Anna Marietta da Silva, Lexicography

Hence, the book is highly recommended for lexicographers, linguists, teachers, language planners, dictionary users, and fans. 'Being so rich in detail such as names, places, dates, events, and happenings that surround OED, the book is actually about the people starting, making, and continuing the journey of OED.

It also examines the evolution of the lexicographers' working methods, and provides much information about the people-many of them remarkable individuals-who have contributed to the project over the last century and a half. The book explores the cultural background from which the idea of a comprehensive historical dictionary of English emerged, the lengthy struggles to bring this concept to fruition, and the development of the book from the appearance of the first printed fascicle in 1884 to the launching of the Dictionary as an online database in 2000 and beyond. The author, uniquely among historians of the OED, is also a practising lexicographer with nearly thirty years' experience of working on the Dictionary He has drawn on a wide range of sources-including previously unexamined archival material and eyewitness testimony-to create a detailed history of the project. This book tells the history of the Oxford English Dictionary from its beginnings in the middle of the nineteenth century to the present. Oxford Research Encyclopedias: Global Public Health.The European Society of Cardiology Series.Oxford Commentaries on International Law.

Oxford english dictionary book