The professor and the madman : a tale of murder, insanity, and the making of the Oxford English dictionary /
Material type: TextPublication details: New York : HarperPerennial, c1999.Edition: 1st Harperperennial edDescription: xiii, 242 p. : ill. ; 21 cmISBN:- 006099486X (pbk.)
- 9780060994860 (pbk.)
- Murray, James Augustus Henry, Sir, 1837-1915 -- Friends and associates
- Minor, William Chester
- Oxford English dictionary
- New English dictionary on historical principles
- Psychiatric hospital patients -- Great Britain -- Biography
- Encyclopedias and dictionaries -- History and criticism
- Lexicographers -- Great Britain -- Biography
- English language -- Lexicography
- English language -- Etymology
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Veterans -- Biography
- 423/.092 21
- PE1617.O94 W56 1998
Item type | Current library | Home library | Collection | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Standard Loan | Kellogg Library Adult Nonfiction | Kellogg Library | Book | 423/WINCHES (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 50610012571142 | |||
Standard Loan | Priest Lake Library Adult Nonfiction | Priest Lake Library | Book | 423.09/WINCHES (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 50610016226420 | |||
Standard Loan | St Maries Library Adult Nonfiction | St Maries Library | Book | 423/WINCHES (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 50610016804374 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
The shocking story of the single greatest contributor to the first Oxford English Dictionary in 1857 reveals that the man who contributed 10,000 definitions to the book was in fact a patient in an asylum for the criminally insane. Reprint. 100,000 first printing. Tour. NYT.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [239]-242).
The dead of the night in Lambeth Marsh -- The man who taught Latin to cattle -- The madness of war -- Gathering Earth's daughters -- The big dictionary conceived -- The scholar in cell block two -- Entering the lists -- Annulated, art, brick-tea, buckwheat -- The meeting of minds -- The unkindest cut -- Then only the monuments.
Table of contents provided by Syndetics
- 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)
Excerpt provided by Syndetics
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Library Journal Review
The Oxford English Dictionary still stands as the distinctive and definitive history of the English Language. First suggested in 1857, this work proposed to present the history of every word by quoting the passage from literature where each was first used. Nearly 22 years later, the stalled project finally got moving with the selection of Dr. James Murray as editor. Handbills were distributed requesting volunteer readers to locate quotations and begin assembling word lists. One such flyer found its way to the Broadmoor Asylum for the Criminally Insane in Crowthorne, Berkshire, where Dr. William C. Minor, who was committed in 1872 for murder, occupied two large cells. Minor would prove to be one of the most prolific contributors to the OED, submitting over 10,000 quotations. For nearly 20 years, Murray and Minor corresponded regularly regarding the finer points of their lexicographical endeavors. With the book nearly half completed, Murray felt it was important to personally meet and thank him. Winchester does a superb job of weaving the historical facts of murder, madness, and scholarly pursuit into a fitting tribute to the remarkable OED. As the reader of his own work, his voice perfectly evokes Victorian England. Highly recommended for all libraries.--Gloria Maxwell, Penn Valley Community Coll., Kansas City, MO (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.Publishers Weekly Review
The Oxford English Dictionary used 1,827,306 quotations to help define its 414,825 words. Tens of thousands of those used in the first edition came from the erudite, moneyed American Civil War veteran Dr. W.C. Minorall from a cell at the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. Vanity Fair contributor Winchester (River at the Center of the World) has told his story in an imaginative if somewhat superficial work of historical journalism. Sketching Minor's childhood as a missionary's son and his travails as a young field surgeon, Winchester speculates on what may have triggered the prodigious paranoia that led Minor to seek respite in England in 1871 and, once there, to kill an innocent man. Pronounced insane and confined at Broadmoor with his collection of rare books, Minor happened upon a call for OED volunteers in the early 1880s. Here on more solid ground, Winchester enthusiastically chronicles Minor's subsequent correspondence with editor Dr. J.A.H. Murray, who, as Winchester shows, understood that Minor's endless scavenging for the first or best uses of words became his saving raison d'être, and looked out for the increasingly frail man's well-being. Winchester fills out the story with a well-researched mini-history of the OED, a wonderful demonstration of the lexicography of the word "art" and a sympathetic account of Victorian attitudes toward insanity. With his cheeky way with a tale ("It is a brave and foolhardy and desperate man who will perform an autopeotomy" he writes of Minor's self-mutilation), Winchester celebrates a gloomy life brightened by devotion to a quietly noble, nearly anonymous task. Photos not seen by PW. Agent, Peter Matson. BOMC selection. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reservedSchool Library Journal Review
YA-This unusual and exciting account centers on two men involved in the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary-Professor James Murray, its editor, and Dr. William Chester Minor, a true Connecticut Yankee who was one of the resource's most prolific contributors. The most surprising aspect of this long and productive partnership was that Dr. Minor, probably a schizophrenic, was incarcerated in England's most notorious insane asylum during the whole of their working relationship. He was a scholar and medical doctor whose fragile mental condition was probably exacerbated by duty as a surgeon during the American Civil War. His imprisonment was not harsh and his devotion to the cause of the dictionary and his precise and prolific contributions probably helped him hold on to some sense of reality. Winchester's descriptions of Civil War battlefields and the search for definitions of words such as aardvark or elephant are intriguing and compelling. This is a fine tale for both word lovers and history buffs. The momentum of the beginning scenes of warfare and murder are followed, not disappointingly, by descriptions of the trials and tribulations of dictionary crafting. Readers will meet some extraordinary men and an unusual woman, and find themselves well and truly ensconced in the late 19th century.-Susan H. Woodcock, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.Booklist Review
Distinguished journalist Winchester tells a marvelous, true story that few readers will have heard about. His narrative is based on official government files locked away for more than a century. As everyone knows, the Oxford English Dictionary is an essential library reference tool. The 12-volume OED took more than 70 years to produce, and one of its most distinguishing features is the copious quotations from published works to illustrate every shade of word usage. By the late 1890s the huge project was nearly half done, and the editor at the time, Professor James Murray, felt the need to meet and personally thank Dr. William Minor, with whom he had been in lengthy contact and who had contributed a lion's share of the quotations. As it turned out, Dr. Minor was an American surgeon who many years before had been found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity but had been incarcerated in an English asylum ever since. The tale of their affiliation and friendship reads like a creatively conceived novel. --Brad HooperKirkus Book Review
Remarkably readable, this chronicle of lexicography roams from the great dictionary itself to hidden nooks in the human psyche that sometimes house the motives for murder, the sources for sanity, and the blueprint for creativity. Manchester Guardian journalist Winchester (The River at the Center of the World, 1996; Pacific Rising, 1991) turns from Asia toward that most British of topics: the Oxford English Dictionary. His account is studded with odd persons and unexpected drama. To wit: When O.E.D. editor Professor James Murray headed off to meet a major contributor (of more than 10,000 entries) to his epochal reference work, he discovered that this distinguished philologist, Dr. William Chester Minor, was incarcerated for life in an asylum for the criminally insane. Minor, apparently a paranoiac killer, had committed murder in 1872; to his lasting travail, hed witnessed atrocities in the American Civil War. Latterly ailing (and sexually repressed), he clung to his lexicographic efforts for dear life and the sake of his sanityor what remained of it. All those Dictionary slips, opines Winchester, were [Minors] medication, [and] became his therapy. When he describes the original O.E.D.s ``twelve tombstone-sized volumes,'' we get a whiff of the grueling mental task exacted from its servants by the work, reminiscent of the labors involved in Melville's classic ``Bartleby the Scrivener''in a book that is similarly a psychological masterwork. In praising the achievement of the work, Winchester rejoices, ``It wears its status with a magisterial self-assurance, not least by giving its half million definitions a robustly Victorian certitude of tone.'' Winchesters own tone and his prose are wonderfully Victorian, an apt mirror for his subject. The author begins each chapter with an entry from the original O.E.D. as an appropriate heading, such as ``murder,'' ``lunatic,'' ``polymath'' (``a person of much or varied learning'') and, eventually, ``acknowledgment.'' First-rate writing: well-crafted, incisive, abundantly playful. (b&w photos, not seen) (Book- of-the-Month Club selection)Author notes provided by Syndetics
Simon Winchester was born in London, England on September 28, 1944. He read geology at St. Catherine's College, Oxford. After graduation in 1966, he joined a Canadian mining company and worked as field geologist in Uganda. The following year he decided to become a journalist. His first reporting job was for The Journal, Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1969, he joined The Guardian and was named Britain's Journalist of the Year in 1971. He also worked for the Daily Mail and the Sunday Times before becoming a freelancer.He is the author of numerous books including In Holy Terror, The River at the Center of the World, The Alice Behind Wonderland, The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, and.Exactly: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World. In 2006, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to journalism and literature.
(Bowker Author Biography)
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