The Compact Edition of The Oxford English Dictionary, Complete Text Reproduced Micrographically (in slipcase with reading glass) (v. 1-20)
Proper words in their proper places--and a good many improper  ones, too! If the OED's many obsolete definitions tend to be the most  enjoyable--shuffis dialect for "shy,"doltwas  once upon a time a verb as well, meaning "to befool"--everyday idiosyncrasies still abound.But, for instance,  occupies nine columns of text, and who would wish a single line away?  There's also the sublime pleasure of trawling through the sea of  relevant quotations. The OED's initial team of "voluntary  readers" was asked to cite as many phrases as possible for both  archaic and ordinary terms. None seems to have found this remotely  arduous, and we now reap the < />ubiquitous("present or  appearing everywhere; omnipresent") rewards. This huge venture is  a labor of lore, love, and good humor. One caveat: If you skip over the  Historical Introduction, you'll miss learning about the Unregistered  Words Committee, and overlook the wry warning, "If there is any  truth in the old Greek maxim that a large book is a great evil, English  dictionaries have been steadily growing worse ever since their  inception...."