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This article discusses dictionaries published by the Oxford University Press.
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Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford, England. The largest university printing press in the world, it has branches worldwide.
In 1632 King Charles I entitled the University to print books by way of a Great Charter. It was not until 1690, when the University inherited a press, that it had the capacity to act upon the Charter. Publication of History of the Great Rebellion in 1702 earned the University enough funds to build Clarendon House to house the Press.
Oxford University Press publishes 4,500 books annually, including dictionaries.
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The Oxford English Dictionary is not the world’s earliest or largest dictionary, but is known as the most comprehensive. No other dictionary had the same cultural effect as the Oxford English Dictionary.
The dictionary’s concept was envisioned by a Philological Society located in London, England. After two years of negotiations with the Philological Society, Oxford University Press agreed to publish the dictionary in serial installments accumulating in four volumes. It was anticipated it would take a decade to complete the dictionary in final form.
The first section was published February 1, 1884. By 1894, eleven parts were published. A decision was made to publish in smaller sections and more frequently. The 125th and final fascicle was published April 19, 1928, with the final bound volumes available thereafter.
In 1989 a second edition consisting of twenty volumes was published with an estimated 59 million words. Work is underway on the third edition with 25 percent reported completed in December, 2008.
The Oxford English Dictionary, Version 3.1.1 (2007), is available on CD, while it has been available online to subscribers since March, 2000.
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The Concise Oxford English Dictionary was intended to be a derivative of the Oxford English Dictionary, although that intent was somewhat nullified by the fact that sections S through Z were written before the corresponding sections of the Oxford English Dictionary were drafted.
The first edition was published in 1911 with the eleventh edition published in 2004 and revised in 2006. The 11th edition consists of 240,000 entries and 1,681 pages. It is also available in an eBook format.
It is perhaps the most recognized of the concise Oxford dictionaries.
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The Dictionary of National Biography was the result of a project planned in 1882 by publisher, George Smith, to focus on biographies of deceased notable figures from England’s history, including current and past colonies. Volume 1 was published January 1, 1885, with subsequent installments published quarterly until the final volume, No. 63, was published mid-1900.
Dictionary of National Biography was written by in-house researchers, with contributions from renowned writers and scholars.
Three supplementary volumes were necessitated by the deaths of honorable subjects between 1885 and 1900 while the original work was being compiled. The death of Queen Victoria on January 22, 2001 completed the supplements.
Further volumes of errata and revisions were issued in 1904, 1908 and 1909. The dictionary was considered invaluable for lists of sources.
From 1912 until 1996, at approximately ten years intervals, further volumes were published for those who had died during the previous decade.
While Oxford University Press was not the original publisher of the Dictionary of National Biography, it commenced publication of volumes and supplements in 1917.
The University of London published a volume of corrections in 1996 to take into account new discoveries of information and historical assessments since the Victorian Era.
Twelve years in the making, the next edition was published September 23, 2004. Comprising of 60 volumes, 54,922 people were included. An online edition was also made available for subscribers around the same time, with updates provided bi-annually.
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The Concise Dictionary of National Biography is based on the Dictionary of National Biography and includes all personages noted in the original work. The articles in the concise version are greatly shortened in order to fulfill the inclusivity goal.
There are different concise versions, however, the last edition accounts for everyone deceased prior to 1986.
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