Hardly Harmless Drudgery: A 500-Year Pictorial History of the Lexicographic Geniuses, Sciolists, Plagiarists, and Obsessives Who Defined the English Language

Garner (Garner’s Modern English Usage), a law professor at Southern Methodist University, teams up with Lynch (The Lexicographer’s Dilemma), an English professor at Rutgers University, Newark, to present an animated history of English-language dictionaries. The authors explain that the reference works evolved out of seventh-century Latin to Old English dictionaries and that schoolteacher Robert Cawdrey delivered the first English-only dictionary in 1604, which was aimed at edifying “unskillfull persons” and contained only 2,500 words. Highlighting unruly experiments in the dictionary format, Garner and Lynch note that some early 18th-century volumes were encyclopedia hybrids featuring long essays, while others tinkered with order (philologist John Walker’s dictionary was organized alphabetically by the last letter of each word). Garner and Lynch also offer background on the dictionaries’ authors, describing how Samuel Johnson compiled his 1755 tome while grieving the death of his wife and how Noah Webster decided to compose his first dictionary, published in 1806, after failing as a lawyer and journalist. Bountiful photos show the exteriors and interiors of the volumes discussed, and the authors’ decision to highlight less obvious lexicographic volumes—such as poet Clarence Major’s 1970 compilation of African American slang, a 1972 rundown of “LGBTQ lingo,” and the online Urban Dictionary—ensure the proceedings don’t get stodgy. Bibliophiles will swoon for this sweeping survey. Photos. (Apr.)