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What’s
on the bookshelf?
Here’s an English-lover’s bookshelf
to scan through.
Have a contribution? A comment? Something
missing? Let us know!
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|
Title |
Author/Editor |
ISBN or Publisher |
Comment |
|
Dictionary
of Curious Phrases |
Leslie Dunkling |
0-00-472060-1 |
Curiouser and
curiouser... |
|
A Glossary
of Literary Terms |
M. H. Abrams |
0-03-054982-5 |
This astonishing
reference contains all you need to know about such terms as “metaphor”,
“simile”, “purple patch”, and the like. |
|
Benet’s
Reader’s Encyclopedia |
Bruce Murphy
(ed) |
0-06-270110-X |
|
|
Brewer’s
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable |
Revised by
Adrian Room |
0-06-270133-9 |
What else can
be said beyond “Brewer”?This is the senior reference
for anyone interested in tracing the origins of proverbial expressions. |
|
A Writer’s
Companion |
Louis D. Rubin,
Jr. (ed) |
0-06-273472-5 |
|
|
Concise Companion
to the English Language |
Tom McArthur |
0-19-280061-2 |
|
|
Critical Terms
for Literary Study |
Frank Lentricchia
and Thomas McLaughlin |
0-226-47203-5 |
|
|
From Old English
to Standard English |
Dennis Freeborn |
0-333-69154-3 |
Fascinating!
The action starts in the year 410 AD and continues through to
the 20th century. Loanwords, spelling, and grammar are all explored.
Lots of interesting sidebars and illustrations. |
|
The Comprehensive
American Rhyming Dictionary |
Sue Young |
0-380-71392-6 |
What rhymes
with what? |
|
The Language
of Metaphors |
Andrew Goatly |
0-415-12877-3 |
A very thorough,
but accessible, examination of the metaphor. Lots of examples. |
|
The Cambridge
Encyclopedia of the English Language |
David Crystal |
0-521-59655-6 |
|
|
A Guide to
Old English |
Bruce Mitchell
and Fred C. Robinson |
0-631-16657-2 |
|
|
Forgotten English |
Jeffrey Kacirk |
0-688-16636-9 |
“Forgotten
English is a rollicking guide to archaic words and their definitions…”
A list of English words that have, for one reason or another,
died out. Lots of anecdotes, drawings. Absorbing reading. |
|
Wickedary of
the English Language |
Mary Daly |
0-7043-4114-X |
|
|
A Concise Anglo-Saxon
Dictionary |
J. R. Clark
Hall |
0-8020-6548-1 |
|
|
NTC’s
Dictionary of Latin and Greek Origins |
Bob Moore and
Maxine Moore |
0-8442-8321-5 |
|
|
Dictionary
of Historical Allusions & Eponyms |
Dorothy Auchter |
0-87436-950-9 |
“Bite
the bullet, Red Letter Day, Moxie, Jezebel. Such historical allusions
and eponyms enrich the English language. But how many of us know
where these words and phrases originated”? |
|
The Slang of
Sin |
Tom Dalzell |
0-87779-356-5 |
“Take
a walk on the wild side of language through the vibrant and fascinating
vocabulary of vice…offers a glimpse of our culture that
will enlighten and amuse you for hours of enjoyable reading.” |
|
Dictionary
of Phrase & Fable |
Ivor Evans
(based upon Brewer) |
1-85326-300-1 |
|
|
Dictionary
of Idioms |
E. M. Kirkpatrick
and C. M. Schwarz (eds) |
1-85326-309-5 |
|
|
Concise Dictionary
of English Etymology |
Walter W. Skeat |
1-85326-311-7 |
|
|
The Book of
Intriguing Words |
Paul Hellweg |
1-85326-312-5 |
|
|
The Wordsworth
Dictionary of Pub Names |
Leslie Dunkling
& Gordon Wright |
1-85326-334-6 |
|
|
Dictionary
of the Underworld |
Eric Partridge |
1-85326-361-3 |
“Alley-apple,
cheese-screamer, cunny-warren, goose and duck, peter man and
zook are just a few of the thousands of intriguing terms to be
found in this astonishing collection.”
NOTE: this
one is a must!
|
|
The Wordsworth
Dictionary of Obscenity & Taboo |
James McDonald |
1-85326-371-0 |
|
|
Semiotics for
Beginners |
Paul Cobley
and Litza Jansz |
1-874166-55-2 |
|
|
Wordcraft |
Stephen Pollington |
1-898281-02-5 |
This is a Modern
English to Old English Dictionary and Thesaurus. |
|
Looking for
the Lost Gods of England |
Kathleen Herbert |
1-898281-13-0 |
This book traces
the names of the early English Gods and Goddesses. A fascinating
look at etymological research. |
|
Oxford Dictionary
of English Place-Names |
A. D. Mills |
Oxford |
“…From
Abbas Combe to Zennor, it gives the meaning and origin of over
12,000 English place-names, tracing their development from earliest
times to the present day…” |
|
Swearing |
Geoffrey Hughes |
Penguin |
“Tracing
the history of swearing from ancient Anglo-Saxon traditions and
those of the Middle Ages, through Shakespeare, the Englightenment
and the Victorians, to the Lady Chatterley trial… a little
discussed yet irrepressible part of our linguistic heritage.” |
|
Dictionary
of Literary Terms and Literary Theory |
J. A. Cuddon |
Penguin |
|
|
Mother Tongue |
Bill Bryson |
Penguin |
|
|
The Penguin
Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Words |
George Saussy
III |
Unk |
|
|
The Etymological
Spelling Book and Expositor |
Henry Butler |
Unk |
If you see
this one, get it! This work contains an intact reference extending
back to the early Victorian period. |