Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-26

turned the book trade of London upside
down He did not happen to be in, and his
assistant refused to tell me his name or
where he came from in the United States
or where l could find him. He explained
that these were trade secrets and acted
as II he suspected l was detective on the
track of fugitive from justice. But 1t IS
not important to know how many copies OF
an edition are printed.
Six Volumes Published.
The first volume was issued in 1888 and
six complete volumes have been published
up to date of an average of $50 pages each,
three columns to page. Several portions
of volumes have also been issued. The let
ter "P" has been carried down to the
word piper $40 pages The letter q" is
complete in eighty pages. The letter
has been carried through AZ pages to the
word reserve and the letter M to the
word "mesnalty" 369 pages. The letter
Il" is complete in o2S pages and the letter
20" in 422. The remainder will be issued in
installments or parts of eighty-eight pages
each as the copy is finished. A full volume
of 30 pages costs S13.12-that is not
trade secret"-and half volumes containing
about 600 pages which are much more con-
venient to handle are sold at 81 each. Inc
monthly installments are sold for S212 cents
per part. The manager has no objections 10
my mentioning these facts.
1t is estimated that the dictionary, when
completed. will contain about 3t3,op WORDS.
The volumes thus far pnh,ished contain
143. OS1 main words 1881 subordinate words
and 26 400 compound words, making total
of 2DJ, 7h2. There are nearly lO0.eOJ more
words to be taken care of, which Will De
nearly double the number that has ever APP
pearei in any previous English dictionary.
AS a matter of comparison, showing the
growth of the English language, the CEN
fury Dictionary contains about 1000 pages
The Oxford Dictionary has 1900 pages al
ready and will probably have nearly 20,oJO
M hpf ic q
quires an entire volume to ITSELF In john
sons Dictionary down to the word lmper-
ishing'' there are 2.S13 words beginning
with the letter ~ while in the new Oxford
Dictionary there are 1852 words Under
the letter M down to the word niche
Johnson gives 2S4 words the Century DC
tionary 1913 and the oxford Dictionary
3, 400. In the same volume johnson gives
S33 quotations to illustrate the use of words
beginning with the Letter m" the Century
gives 1.50s and the new Oxford 1928
The longest words in the Oxford DC
tionary thus far are "Incircumscriptible-
ness twenty-five letters, "honorifcabi bill
tudnity twenty-five letters and "antdis-
establishmentarians Uwenty-six letters.
The Scriptorium.
Dr. j. A. H. Murray is editor-in-chief and
is assisted by DR.. Henry Bradley and w.
C. Cragie; who also have given their lives
to the work. They have been assisted by
an average of twenty other editors who
have been trained by them from the begin
ming. There have also been several thou
sand volunteer assistants in various parts
of England and other English-speaking
countries.
Most of the work has been done in what
DR.. Murray calls the ''Scrptorium,' tenn
porary building erected expressly for the
purpose in the rear of his residence Sun
nyside,' on the Banbury road. Oxford.
There, ranged like the case racks in an old
fashioned printing office. are hundreds of
cases divided into pigeonholes, each relat-
ing to some word in the English language.
and containing millions of slips upon which
have been noted historical memoranda, quo
tations and other material obtained by the
regular volunteer readers from innu
merable books and manuscripts dating back
to the very origin of the language. This
work could not have been done anywhere
but in Oxford, where the Bodleian Library.
one of the greatest in the world. which 1
shall write you about in day or two, is
particularly rich in manuscripts and early
English publications.
The new dictionary gives a biography of
every word in the English language, its
derivation, its original meaning and uses,
its changes of form and sense and quota
tons to illustrate it's history. For this pur-
pose more than 5,000.GG0 quotations have
been complied from English literature of
all ages, the most remarkable, believe.
being something over $50 years old. The
and completeness of the work
are shown by the fact that the word
make" with its variety of shades of
usage and dioms, occupies eleven
pages. The word go requires almost as
much room. and five full pages are devoted
to the word man.
Suggested by Dean Trench.
The Oxford Dictionary was suggested by
the late DIR. Trench. dean of Westminster,
and author of several learned papers on the
history and development of the English
language. The Pathological Society of
London undertook to carry out his ideas in
1876 but failed financially. and the uni
versity took the task up. securing the
services of DIR. Murray and the gentlemen
who are now assisting him.
The oxford University Press is a very old
and very large institution. Perhaps it is
the Oldest publishing house in the world,
having been founded in 1868. when it issued
its first book, Latin commentary Oh the
Apostles Greed, by St. Jerome. Its second
book was Ciceros Grafton PRO M:lone."
In 1880 the office was closed for more than
100 years. until 1855. when the university
loaned f10O to Joseph Barnes to set up a
press under the supervision of a committee
appointed by the convOcation in 1854 Since
then the presses have been in continuous
activity. and up to 1900 had issued the fol-
lowing number of books:
146s- 1000. 14s 1151 1900. 1865
I69l 1850. ..... 1.l6II 1901 1850. 4,449
i9oi-i15o. ......... 1.iosi ''' '''''
The oldest English newspaper. orig
inally the Oxford Gazette. now the London
Gazette. was published in the University
Press In 1865, while Charles I held court
at oxford.
In 1919 the university obtained a per-
petual copyright and monopoly of the pub
lication and sale of Bibles in the British
empire, and has since enjoyed a perpetual
copyright and monopoly of the prayer
book of the Church of England ALSO which
have been the source of large revenue to
the university. The first Oxford Bible was
printed in 1919. Since then 37S editions
have been published and go editions of the
prayer book, including millions of copies
of several of the editions. The revised
New Testament was published May H.
1881, and more than 100000 copies were
sold within the next twelve hours The
business office of the University Press has
been at Amen Corner, Paternoster Row,
under the shadow of st. Pauls Cathedral
in London, for century and a half and
from that warehouse have been shipped
hundreds of millions of copies of the Bible
The average sales are now 1,00O.OO a year.
The printing is all done at Oxford, where
there Is a large establishment employing
nearly a thousand men and women The
new dictionary is being handled just like
the Bible and the prayer book, and, while
II was not intended as a speculation the
managers hope to make profit out of it,
FOOT BALL NOTES.