Empire of Words: The Reign of the OED Book

Preface and Acknowledgments vii
Abbreviations ix
Chapter 1 Introduction 3
Chapter 2 At Trench's Suggestion, 1858-1878 14
Chapter 3 Murray's Editorship, 1879-1915 35
Chapter 4 Shakespeare's Dictionary 57
Chapter 5 Citing The Shrew 76
Chapter 6 A Victorian Canon: The Authors 92
Chapter 7 A Victorian Canon: The Titles 113
Chapter 8 A Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary, 1957-1986 128
Chapter 9 Modern Citation 145
Chapter 10 The Second Edition, 1984-1989 162
Chapter 11 The Sense of Omission 176
Chapter 12 A Source of Authority 190
Appendix of Tables 209
Notes 223
References 239
Index 251