Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. What is a dictionary?; 2. A brief history of lexicography; 3. Key elements of dictionaries and other language references; 4. Definition; 5. Usage; 6. The corpus in lexicography; 7. Dictionary making; 8. Legal and ethical issues; Bibliography and index to dictionaries mentioned in the text, from Johnson (1755) to the present; A selective bibliography of nondictionary sources.

Promotional Information

This second edition offers a comprehensive and completely up-to-date description of how dictionaries are researched and written.

Reviews

'This new version is superb. It gives succinct sketches of all the important dictionaries of English from the earliest days up to now, on both sides of the Atlantic.' The Times Higher Education Supplement 'Thorough and reliable this second edition (now much enlarged, but still impeccably produced) still is: let us be clear right from the start, it is an excellent book ... Sidney Landau's book is an admirable achievement. I have no doubt that it will meet with the same approval as the first edition in its time, from students, teachers of general lexicography, and professional lexicographers, as well as by compilers of technical and/or scientific dictionaries - a role in which it is probably unequalled.' Henri Bejoint, International Journal of Lexicography 'The book is written in simple language that non-linguists can understand easily ... this new edition, like the first, makes good, comfortable reading, with its abundant notes ... Sidney Landau's new book is an admirable achievement. I have no doubt that it will meet with the same approval as the first edition in its time, from students, teachers of general lexicography and professional lexicographers, as well as by compilers of technical and/or scientific dictionaries - a role in which it is probably unequalled.' International Journal of Lexicography