Simon Winchester

The Professor and the Madman

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New York Times Bestseller
Simon Winchester’s classic about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary—soon to be a major motion picture starring Sean Penn and Mel Gibson.
The making of the Oxford English Dictionary was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collected, the overseeing committee, led by Professor James Murray, was stunned to discover that one man, Dr. W. C. Minor, had submitted more than ten thousand. But their surprise would pale in comparison to what they were about to discover when the committee insisted on honoring him. For Dr. Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was also an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane.
Masterfully researched and eloquently written, The Professor and the Madman is an extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary—and literary history.
“The linguistic detective story of the decade…. Winchester does a superb job of historical research.”—William Safire, New York Times Magazine






This book is currently unavailable
338 printed pages
Publication year
2009
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Impressions

  • Favour Olajideshared an impression4 years ago
    👍Worth reading
    💡Learnt A Lot
    🎯Worthwhile

Quotes

  • Favour Olajidehas quoted4 years ago
    One word—and only one word—was ever actually lost: bondmaid,
  • Favour Olajidehas quoted4 years ago
    The total length of type—all hand-set, for the books were done by letterpress, still discernible in the delicately impressed feel of the inked-on paper—is 178 miles, the distance between London and the outskirts of Manchester. Discounting every punctuation mark and every space—which any printer knows occupy just as much time to set as does a single letter—there are no fewer than 227,779,589 letters and numbers
  • Favour Olajidehas quoted4 years ago
    Twelve mighty volumes; 414,825 words defined; 1,827,306 illustrative quotations used, to which William Minor alone had contributed scores of thousands.

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