A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles; by (OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY.) MURRAY, James H. (ed.) - 1888–1928

Oxford: Clarendon Press,, 1888–1928. Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by the Philological Society. Edited by James H. Murray. 10 volumes bound in 20, large quarto (340 x 263 mm). Publisher's dark red straight-grain quarter morocco, red cloth sides, titles and university crest to spines gilt, top edges gilt, dark red endpapers. Typical light variation to spines, a couple headcaps expertly restored; an excellent, handsomely bound set. First edition in book form of "the greatest treasure-house of any language in the world, unrivalled for its comprehensiveness and ease of consultation as well as for its reliability and scholarship" (PMM). "The scheme of 'a completely new English Dictionary' was conceived in 1858… Herbert Coleridge and after him Dr. F. J. Furnivall, were the first editors. Their work, which covered 20 years, consisted mainly in the collection of materials, and it was not until Dr. J. A. H. Murray took the matter up in 1878 that the preparation of the Dictionary began to take active form…. The essential feature of the Dictionary is its historical method, by which the meaning and form of the words are traced from their earliest appearance on the basis of an immense number of quotations, collected by more than 800 voluntary workers. The Dictionary contains a record of 414,825 words, whose history is illustrated by 1,827,306 quotations" (Drabble, 728). The Dictionary was originally issued in fascicles which were then gathered into book form. After Murray's death the editing was entrusted to his colleagues Henry Bradley, W. A. Craigie, and C. T. Onions. "The scale of the OED was astonishing by comparison with that of any English dictionary published before the end of the nineteenth century. Murray had revolutionized the whole process by which the English language was mapped" (ODNB). These volumes are titled "The Oxford Dictionary" to the spine, whereas the trade binding was bound as, "A New English Dictionary". The University Press had used "The Oxford Dictionary" as the title in its catalogues and advertisements from at least 1904. The dictionary was officially renamed "The Oxford English Dictionary" in 1933 on the publication of the first supplement, edited by W. A. Craigie and C. T. Onions.