A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles

While I’m posting pictures of my departing OED volumes, it seems like a good time to remember what I still have (at least for now). Here are the final four books (making up the last two volumes) of the serially published A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, which would later be printed under the name The Oxford English Dictionary:


The books date from the early 1900s, and opening the final book reveals a newspaper clipping pasted to the inside of the front cover. The article, dated June 2, 1928, was written by W. A. Craigie himself to celebrate “The Completion of a Great Literary Project.”

Like many of my best book discoveries, I found these volumes at the wonderful Brattle Book Shop in Boston for $5 each in their outdoor bargain section.

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