This is my brother's first post online! Since he doesn't write much, he doesn't have his own blog yet. His name is Vijay and he's in high school.
One of his hobbies (along with typewriters, of course) is lexicography. He is really into the origins of words and how dictionaries are compiled, so when he found this dictionary at a used book store, he had to get it! Without giving anything else away, here is his first typecast, on the infamous Merriam-Webster 'dord' dictionary.
Front cover.
Entry of dord: page 771
Interesting fact: The term would have been on page 661, but it was on 771...
Front matter of the book: the title page
The colophon (reverse side of the title page): proof of the publication date
Spine.
Portrait of Noah Webster, printed in many of Merriam-Webster's dictionaries in his honor.
Very neat dictionary. I never knew ghost words ever existed.
ReplyDeleteVery well written post.
I've heard of that, Thanks for posting the entry as well.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting story. I have the shorter, Collegiate version of that edition, given to me by my grandmother years ago.
ReplyDeleteI think we should start using the word "dord."