Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary

Title: Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary
Author: Simon Winchester
ISBN: 9780060175962
Publisher: Harper
Published: 1998
Binding: Hardcover
Language: English
Publisher Description:

The compilation of the OxfordEnglish Dictionary was one of the most ambitious and challenging language projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collected, the vast over-seeing committee, led by professor James Murray, discovered that more than 10,000 definitions had been submitted by one man, Dr. W. C. Minor. When the committee insisited on honoring him, the incredible truth came to light: Dr. Minor was really a brilliant but severly ill inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane. This is the fascinating, unforgettable true story of a man who became the most prolific contributor of the English language and to history itself.