1. The history of the Oxford English Dictonary A brief description, with appearances by some of the key players © Wim van der Wurff, Newcastle University, 2009

2. The Oxford English Dictionary (1 st edn; 1928)

3. Some earlier English dictionaries Robert Cawdrey (1604) Table Alphabetical (first English-English dictionary; 2500 words, copied from a Latin-English dictionary) Soon after this, several other dictionaries were published. Further landmarks are: Elisha Coles (1676) An English Dictionary (25,000 words; plagiarises much from previous dictionaries; adds jargon terms, obsolete words and dialect words (marks these and specifies the relevant county) Samuel Johnson (1755) Dictionary of the English Language. (quite full and scholarly; includes quotations to illustrate word usage)

6. Samuel Johnson

7. Planning the OED First discussed at meeting of Philological Society, 1857 Existing dictionaries were criticised for being incomplete and unsystematic Plan: a record of all words ever used in the language, with etymology, list of spellings, division into subsenses, and supporting quotations for each sense

8. Richard Trench, Dean of Westminster, one of the three initial movers of the OED

9. Herbert Coleridge, the first editor of the OED

10. James Furnivall, editor of the OED 1861-1870

11. James Furnivall at work

12. James Furnivall at play: the Hammersmith sculling club for ladies