Customer Reviews

Surgeon of Crowthorne

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This really is a fascinating tale!

It was in 1857 that the Philological Society met in London and proposed to compile a New English Dictionary, but it wasn't until 1928 (70 years later!) that the 12 volumes of the dictionary were published. And when you think about what was involved, it's amazing they got it done as quickly as this!

Just think for a minute how difficult it is to define a word. 

It's relatively easy to define the hard words, and for some odd reason, the longer the word, the easier it is to define e.g. if you have to define a word like'multitudinous,' you could quickly rattle of an acceptable definition such as, 'it means too numerous to be counted; lots and lots of something,' and you'd be right.

Easy peasy.

But just think of how difficult it is to define a word like 'take.' See the problem editor, James Murray and his team had with the OED? Now imagine having to come up with definitions for over half a million words as they did!

The other aspect involved in compiling this particular dictionary, and one that made it unique and contributed to the time it took to complete, was that it insisted on "gathering quotations from the published or otherwise recorded use of English, and employing them to illustrate the sense of every single word in the language ... Quotations could show exactly how a word has been employed over the centuries, how it has undergone subtle changes of shades of meaning, or spelling, or pronunciation, and, perhaps most important of all, how and more exactly when each word was slipped into the language in the first place." (The Surgeon of Crowthorne)

Just mull on that for a moment and consider the implications ... gathering quotations (Murray decided on a minimum of six for every word; more for words with many meanings) for every word in the language at the time!

Obviously this was not something a few mates could do over a beer in the back shed, so the Philological Society advertised throughout the realm for volunteers who would read the suggested books and compile lists of quotations for every word.

And this is where the story gets interesting because one who answered the call was Dr W. C. Minor, the surgeon of Crowthorne.

Minor was an American Army surgeon who'd spent time patching up soldiers in the American Civil War, suffered a serious mental disorder, murdered a man in Lambeth Marsh while staying in England, and who worked on the dictionary while an inmate at Broadmoor Asylum in the village of Crowthorne.

Told you it was fascinating, didn't I?

I won't spoil the rest of the story for you, you'll just have to read it yourself.

THIS IS A WONDERFUL BOOK -- BUT AMAZON NEEDS TO MAKE CLEAR THAT IT'S THE SAME BOOK AS "THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN."

Wonderful Simon Winchester wrote three books on the develoment of the Oxford Dictionary and all are worth reading as they together provide a full picture of the writing of this dictionary. When reading, I noticed how eratic spelling was, even with proper names. Words drop in and out of use and even seem to change meaning. Hah! There was no standard such as a dictionary for spelling, meaning and usage of words. It's a wonder that Shakespeare, the American Founding fathers, Hawthorne, and so many others wrote text we read and understand now in the absence of a reference. This particular books tell about the contributions of an American doctor who was institutionalized for mental health problems, perhaps due to his service in the army during the Civil War. The doctor was institutionalized in England where he passed his time reading and submitting papers about words and examples of their usage in English literature. What a wonderful contribution to our appreciation of English. Hurray for Simon Winchester who writes superb books on a range of topics and makes the science and/or the history so very accessible.

An incredibly serendipitous account of how the Oxford English Dictionary came to fruition after years of dedicated hard work by an army of voracious readers and lovers of words.

Most importantly, Winchester tells the tale of Dr W. C. Minor, a former US Army doctor whom after a series of misfortunate life events, became one of the longest serving inmates at the Broadmoor Asylum for the Criminally Insane in the English town of Crowthorne, in addition to being one of the Oxford English Dictionary's most prolific contributors.

This is a wonderful historical account of the goings-on behind the scenes in the crafting of one of the world's most famous and vital reference books, which was made by the people and for the people.

Winchester succeeds in introducing the complex and painstaking art of dictionary preparation to a wider audience. He seamlessly weaves this with an historical context, focusing on the relationship between one of the OED's more unusual contributors, an unhinged US civil war doctor, and one of its most successful editors. Winchester's empathy with the background of these two men, including one's experience of the American civil war horrors, and with the story's central relationship provides a charming window into a time of transition in western society.

This is a fascinating side light on the history of the English language.

For another commentary with much humour in it read Bill Bryson's " The Mother Tongue".