The professor and the madman : a tale of murder, insanity, and the making of the Oxford English dictionary
The Professor and the Madman, masterfully researched and eloquently written, 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 compilation of the OED, begun in 1857, was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collected, the overseeing committee, led by Professor James Murray, discovered that one man, Dr. W. C. Minor, had submitted more than ten thousand. When the committee insisted on honoring him, a shocking truth came to light: Dr. Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was also an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane.
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- ISBN: 9780060839789
- ISBN: 0060175966
- Physical Description xi, 242 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
- Edition First edition.
- Publisher New York : HarperCollins Publishers, [1998]
- Copyright ©1998
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-242). |
Additional Information
The Professor and the Madman : A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary
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Table of Contents
The Professor and the Madman : A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary
Section | Section Description | Page Number |
---|---|---|
Preface | p. xi | |
1. | The Dead of Night in Lambeth Marsh | p. 1 |
2. | The Man Who Taught Latin to Cattle | p. 23 |
3. | The Madness of War | p. 43 |
4. | Gathering Earth's Daughters | p. 75 |
5. | The Big Dictionary Conceived | p. 101 |
6. | The Scholar in Cell Block Two | p. 115 |
7. | Entering the Lists | p. 131 |
8. | Annulated, Art, Brick-Tea, Buckwheat | p. 145 |
9. | The Meeting of Minds | p. 163 |
10. | The Unkindest Cut | p. 189 |
11. | Then Only the Monuments | p. 205 |
Postscript | p. 223 | |
Author's Note | p. 227 | |
Acknowledgments | p. 231 | |
Suggestions for Further Reading | p. 239 |