Caught in the Web of Words James A.H. Murray and the Oxford English Dictionary

• ISBN13: 9780192812650
• ISBN10: 0192812653
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1979-07-26
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This unique and celebrated biography describes how a largely self-educated boy from a small village in Scotland entered the world of scholarship and became the first editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, and a lexicographer greater by far than Dr. Johnson. It also provides an absorbing account of how the dictionary was written, the personalities of the people working on it, and the endless difficulties which nearly led to the whole enterprise being abandoned.

Table of Contents

Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgements
Prologue	p. 1
'Round O and Crooked S': The Formative Years	p. 3
The Great Learning Period: Schoolmaster and Citizen	p. 27
The Discovery of Anglo-Saxon	p. 45
New Life in London	p. 60
Furnivall's Henchman	p. 87
Mill Hill: The Arcadian Years	p. 101
The Web is Spun: Abortive Negotiations with Macmillan	p. 133
The Fly is Caught: Negotiations with the Delegates of the Oxford University Press	p. 148
'Sundry Shocks and Serious Jars': The Raw Materials for the Dictionary	p. 171
Hoc Unum Facio: Solving the Technical Problems	p. 189
The Triple Nightmare: Space, Time, and Money	p. 205
Editor and Publisher: Confrontation with Benjamin Jowett	p. 215
The Bete Noire of the Press	p. 246
Shearing Samson's Locks: The Pace of Production Must Be Increased	p. 262
'Not the Least of the Glories of the University of Oxford'	p. 280
The Sands Run Out	p. 303
'The Dic and the Little Dics': The Man and His Family	p. 314
Appendix I	p. 342
Appendix II	p. 346
Abbreviations Used in Notes	p. 351
Notes	p. 355
Index	p. 378
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