Goodness, this is a real labour of love! the author tells us she spent 8 years researching the topic, and her delight in her findings really shines out.
Hopefully her hard work will give readers (like me) a real appreciation of the enormity of creating a dictionary.
It's definitely a book to savour and dip in and out of and I really enjoyed the detail of people's lives, many of whom were explorers and thought nothing of going off to a remote country and living there for a while, but always mindful of collecting new words!
I think it may be better as a physical book so the illustrations can be fully appreciated and it's easier to return to a specific entry.
Thank you to netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book.

The Dictionary People is an absolute delight. I was intrigued from start to finish and have learned so much from a book packed with detail. Sarah Ogilvie has taken such a unique slant; identifying individuals who made contributions to the OED when it was first compiled. I had a vague understanding of how it was put together, but this book explains that it was an immense Rita’s k which took years. It’s fascinating and the more so because as beneficiaries generations on, we all take a dictionary for granted.

I’ve always loved words and a treasured Christmas present some 60 odd years ago was a copy of the pocket OED…which I still have. I spent hours reading words, with one leading to another and Sarah Ogilvie’’s book is rewarding in a similar way. After the introduction, it’s set out alphabetically with each letter dedicated to a theme and person. It’s an eclectic mix of individuals from all walks of life and social backgrounds. I really can’t rave enough about this book and on publication, it’ll be on my Christmas present list. Fascinating, compelling and true genius. Love it.

I have read several books over the years about the compilation of the OED - nonfiction as well as fiction. I wondered how this book by Sarah Ogilvie would compare. Very well, is the answer to that question. The idea of looking at the contributors rather than the compilers was excellent and this book is full of fascinating informaiton about people who mostly would never have been written about. I loved it. Full of fascinating facts and trivia t delighted me on almost every page. Two nonfiction books mentioned in this book that I highly recommend if you enjoy this one are both by Simon Winchester - The Meaning of Everything and The Surgeon of Crowthorne. A lovely novel based on the OED is The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams. With thanks to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for an e-ARC of this title to read and review. It's fabulous!

This was a very enjoyable book about the birth of the Oxford English Dictionary, of which I knew very little. I had no idea that it worked - apparently like many other European dictionaries - as a crowdsourcing project, very much like Wikipedia, with volunteers reading books, finding words and sending quotes to illustrate them. The format makes it easy to read and easy to follow, but somewhat repetitive at times as of course nothing can fit into such neat categories. But Sarah Ogilvie does a wonderful job finding out more about the lives of the 3,000 volunteers she has identified (many from the address book of the editor, Murray), exploring archives to tell us more about the ordinary people who read books and wrote words on little slips, in all corners of England and in Europe, the US and Australia. I really found it fascinating and well-researched.

An interesting Book with many people I had not heard of such as the female Archaeologist Margaret Alice Murray & who was a real pioneer in many ways along with helping to add to the Oxford English Dictionary, but many chapters were very long winded & at times I almost fell asleep hence my only giving the Book 3 Stars. #NetGalley , #Goodreads, #Amazon.co.uk, #FB, #Instagram, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/aa60c7e77cc330186f26ea1f647542df8af8326a" width="80" height="80" alt="Professional Reader" title="Professional Reader"/>,#<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/ef856e6ce35e6d2d729539aa1808a5fb4326a415" width="80" height="80" alt="Reviews Published" title="Reviews Published"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/8a5b541512e66ae64954bdaab137035a5b2a89d2" width="80" height="80" alt="200 Book Reviews" title="200 Book Reviews"/>.

A very well researched book, by a philologist and perfect for word nerds.
The Oxford English Dictionary was written between 1884 and 1928 and only had a handful of paid staff. It was made by publishing first the letter A and had editions untill Z was done.
The OED was only possible because of the indefatigable efforts of thousands of volunteers. Because a word needed a written example in a sentence, and most books at that time were written by white, rich men, the whole dictionary is skewed by that. There were women who contributed, but mostly wealthy, highly educated women. And we can’t overlook colonialism and the effects that had on English as well as the places the English had occupied.
Sarah does a tremendous job researching and finding all of the nearly forgotten contributors. Ranging from the bored, to arctic explorers, felons to avid readers. In several families, compiling "slips" was a familial activity.
We meet hundreds of people, and at times that was overwhelming, so I parsed reading the book into bits. I enjoyed some chapters more like:
C for Cannibal, L for Lunatics, M for murderers, S for suffragists, than others. I have annotated a bunch in this book, both on some of the people mentioned, like Eleanor Marx (daughter of Karl), who got into radical politics, supporting strikes and campaigning for women’s rights and 8 hour work days. And a 27 year old J R R Tolkien who assisted Onions as an editorial assistant.
The tireless editors were Frederick Furnivall, J Murray, and Onions (the human not the food).
I loved that the author dove into the women’s rights movement and highlighted female contributors. Also learning the difference between suffragists (peaceful) and sufragettes (sometimes violent, citing "deeds not words").
 
"It is now up to all of us to do our part in honouring James Murray's wish, expressed in 1892, 'that lovers of our language will not willingly let die the names of those who, from unselfish devotion and service to that language, have laboured in the cause of the Dictionary'."

Mentioned also in this book, but if you want to read a fictional beautiful book set in this setting and time I highly recommend “The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams”

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is in an interesting and different premise delivered well. The prose is engaging, if a little challenging at points because of some of the more archaic/unusual words & their definitions. However the stories of the dictionary people shine through & really come to life. The enthusiasm of the author is apparent throughout & helps make this a great read.

Thanks to the author, NetGalley & the publishers for this ARC.

The Oxford English Dictionary and how it came about. When you search for the meaning of an unusual word in a dictionary (or more often on your phone nowadays), you never stop to think about how the definitions were decided and who wrote them. This is the story of how the Oxford English Dictionary evolved and how various people contributed to it. I like the way the chapter headings run sequentially through the alphabet eg D for Dictionary Word Nerds, S for Suffragists. A great book to dip into.