**LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2024** 'Enthralling and exuberant ... Here
is a wonder-book for word-lovers' Jeanette Winterson'A lively entertaining and illuminating
read. I loved it' Susie Dent What do three murderers Karl Marx's daughter and a vegetarian
vicar have in common? They all helped create the Oxford English Dictionary. The Oxford English
Dictionary has long been associated with elite institutions and Victorian men. But the
Dictionary didn't just belong to the experts it relied on contributions from members of the
public. By 1928 its 414 825 entries had been crowdsourced from a surprising and diverse group
of people from astronomers to murderers naturists pornographers suffragists and queer
couples. Lexicographer Sarah Ogilvie dives deep into previously untapped archives to tell a
people's history of the OED. Here she reveals for the first time the full story of the
making of one of the most famous books in the world - and celebrates the extraordinary efforts
of the Dictionary People. ** A Financial Times TLS and Daunt Books Book of the Year 2023 **
'Utterly fascinating entertaining astonishing and as clever as a box of monkeys ... I
completely love it' Joanna Lumley 'Full marks to Sarah Ogilvie... guaranteed to grab those of
us obsessed with books language and mystery' Financial Times'[An] astonishing book' Sunday
Times'Touching ... The oddities [of language] enliven the book' Observer *Book of the Day*'[An]
affectionate and accomplished book' TLS 'Engaging' Spectator'Marvellous witty and wholly
original' Alan Rusbridger'Glorious and surprising' Richard Ovenden Bodley's Librarian and
author of Burning the Books'A fascinating and delightful exploration of the Victorian world ...
Wonderful' Nicola Shulman TLS Podcast
