Review: The First English Dictionary, 1604
Scott McLemee recently reviewed Bodleian Library's The First English Dictionary, 1604 on Inside Higher Ed. McLemee provides some biographical details on Robert Cawdrey, the original author, and assesses the historical context in which the dictionary was produced.
He goes on to praise Cawdrey and his dictionary on a number of accounts. McLemee praises Cawdrey's pioneering spirit:
At the risk of being overly present-minded, there's a sense in which Cawdrey was a pioneer in dealing with the effects of his era's information explosion. Thanks to the printing press, the English language was undergoing a kind of mutation in the 16th century.
He also praises the format and its accessibility:
Apart from its importance to the history of lexicography, this pioneering reference work remains interesting as an early effort to strike a balance between innovation and accessibility in language use.
Read the NBCC's Blog Entry "The Devil's Dictionary" on McLemee's Review
Read McLemee's response to the NBCC Entry on Puritan Sexuality