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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 great lexicographer. It also provides an absorbing account of how the dictionary was written, the personalities of the people working on it, and the endless difficulties that nearly led to the whole enterprise being abandoned. "It is a magnificent story of a magnificent man, one of the finest biographies of the twentieth century, as its subject was one of the finest human beings of the nineteenth." --Anthony Burgess "A moving and dramatic story . . . sometimes tragic, often comic, ul...
Based on the story of the real historical figure of notorious Elizabeth Murray, Countess Dysart and Duchess of Lauderdale, who lived at Ham House, a Jacobean mansion built on the River Thames at Petersham, throughout the reigns of Charles I, Cromwell's Protectorate, Charles II, James II, and William and Mary, and who was deeply embroiled in the politics of the Civil War.
The publication of Webster's Third New International Dictionary in 1961 set off a storm of controversy in both the popular press and in scholarly journals that was virtually unprecedented in its scope and intensity. This is the first full account of the controversy, set within the larger background of how the dictionary was planned and put together by its editor-in-chief, Philip Babcock Gove. Based on original research and interviews with the people who knew and worked with Gove, this is a human story as well as the story of the making of a dictionary. The author skilfully interweaves an account of Gove's character and working habits with the evolution of the dictionary. The reception given Webster's Third - now widely regarded as one of the greatest dictionaries of our time - illuminates public misconceptions about language and the role of dictionaries.
Oxford University Press is one of the oldest and best-known publishing houses in the world. This history, originally published to mark 500 years of printing in Oxford, traces the transformation of the Press from a lucrative Bible house into a great national and international publishing business. Great names in the early history of the Press, like Laud, Fell, and Blackstone, laid sound foundations, but as late as the 1890s the University was censured for sanctioning the publication of the secular and profane literature of Marlowe and Shakespeare.
Wordsmiths and Warriors explores the heritage of English through the places in Britain that shaped it. It unites the warriors, whose invasions transformed the language, with the poets, scholars, reformers, and others who helped create its character. The book relates a real journey. David and Hilary Crystal drove thousands of miles to produce this fascinating combination of English-language history and travelogue, from locations in south-east Kent to the Scottish lowlands, and from south-west Wales to the East Anglian coast. David provides the descriptions and linguistic associations, Hilary the full-colour photographs. They include a guide for anyone wanting to follow in their footsteps but ...
Women in Teacher Training Colleges, 1900-1960 is an intricate and fascinating investigation of the lives and experiences of women in these important educational institutions of the early twentieth century. The book provides an overview of the historical context of the development of the colleges, using detailed case studies of three colleges: Homerton, Avery Hill and Bishop Otter. Drawing on a wealth of archival material, primary and secondary sources, and on the oral testimonies of former pupils and staff, the book examines the following key themes: *the changing social class of women students *the colleges culture of femininity drawn from the family organization and social practices of the middle-class home *the conflicting public and private roles of the woman principal *the role of the college staff and the residential context of college life *women's sexuality *the last days of the womens colleges.Women in Teacher Training Colleges, 1900-1960 is an essential contribution to women's history and gives a unique insight into this neglected aspect of women's experiences in the twentieth century.
The Oxford Handbook of Victorian Poetry offers an authorative collection of original essays and is an essential resource for those interested in Victorian poetry and poetics.
In nineteenth-century Britain, learned societies and clubs became contested sites in which a new kind of identity was created: the charisma and persona of the scholar, of the intellectual.