A new book from HMC Senior Research Fellow Sarah Ogilvie

 

Image of the book cover for The Dictionary People: the unsung heroes who created the Oxford English Dictionary, by Sarah Ogilvie. The cover includes a quotation from Jeanette Winterson, describing it as 'A wonder-book for word-lovers'.

The Dictionary People: The unsung heroes who created the Oxford English Dictionary, by HMC Senior Research Fellow Sarah Ogilvie, was published last month by Chatto and Windus. Featured as the cover review of the Times Literary Supplement, the book was also positively reviewed in major newspapers including the Observer, Sunday Times, Guardian, and Financial Times, and periodicals such as the Spectator, New Statesman, The Tablet and Literary Review. 

Headshot of woman

Sarah Ogilvie

Who knew that the story of all the people around the world who contributed to the world’s largest dictionary in the nineteenth century would interest viewers of Kay Burley’s Breakfast Show on Sky TV as well as listeners of TalkSPORT? But this is a history of the Dictionary from the bottom up, and Sarah reveals that the 3000 contributors whom she discovered in her research included a surprising and diverse group of people - from astronomers to murderers, naturists, pornographers, suffragists, vicars and vegetarians.

You can catch Sarah talking about the book on the Australian arts show Late Night Live here.

Find out about more recent books by members of HMC’s fellowship.