The Professor and the Madman, Simon Winchester

The Professor and the Madman:  A tale of murder, insanity, and the making of the Oxford English dictionary by Simon Winchester was a book that I saw briefly described in a column and the subtitle drew me in.

Started:  4/22/2020
Completed: 6/13/2020
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By:  Nobody

Review:

What an interesting way to cover a truly boring topic.  Lexicography in general and the creation of dictionaries in particular are deadly boring.  Linking in a murder and a madman, well that makes it more approachable.  This book is broadly a sad account of a man whose grasp of reality was tenuous on a regular basis (at least nightly).  As a result of murder, however, the madman in resigned to a sanatorium and because he was a gentleman, he was given a lot of latitude which included occupying two cells and the acquisition of his own library of precious books.  This gave the madman the resources in both time and literature to be an enormous contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary.

My first encounter with the Oxford English Dictionary was in high school where I stumbled across the enormous number of volumes making the dictionary over 20 books.  It was on a corner shelf and, if memory serves, was an edition printed in 1932 (if that is possible).  I remember looking at the date when I could not find a word I thought was commonplace, but it was clearly a word that only became common after 1932 (maybe it was something like, "jet").  I can remember just flipping through the dictionary and finding definitions that were antiquated for common place words (I remember "fag" being a bundle of sticks or a cigarette).  I also found quotations that explained how the word was used (it was helpful later to be able to occasionally recall such a quotation when playing Scrabble).  For me, it was fascinating.  I remember looking up good words for hang man.  "Quiffe" was such a word which I will both never forget and doubt that I will ever have the courage to use.

I was also stunned to learn that Trench had been the person who had proposed the dictionary (I have a first edition of "Trench on Words" which is really interesting).  So, all in all, this book was one I really enjoyed.