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My Nation Story on WC Minor’s Career as an American Lexicographer

http://www.thenation.com/article/159277/minor-exception WC Minor, the “madman” of Simon Winchester’s compelling narrative about the making of the OED, was no amateur lexciographer, as historians have long assumed.   Three days before the start of the Civil War, he signed a contact to work on a major revision of Webster’s American Dictionary.  And as I show, based on my archival research […]

The 1864 Edition of Webster’s — The 19th Century’s Best English Dictionary

In a recent story for the Johns Hopkins Alumni Magazine, I discuss the making of this landmark dictionary — the first major revision of Webster’s after Noah Webster’s death.   http://magazine.jhu.edu/2011/02/redefining-websters/