Distributed Presses

The Bodleian Library's newly published How To Be a Good Wife and How To Be a Good Husband were featured in a Valentine's Day article in the Chicago Tribune. The article excerpts maxims from each book and notes in its introduction:

In 1936, King Edward VIII abdicated the British throne for the American divorcee he loved. Romance apparently was in the air that year, because that's when a pair of "Do's and Don'ts" books were published to help English husbands and wives figure out how to make their marriages work.

History does not tell us if the books turned up among the former king's wedding presents, but we can benefit from the advice ourselves, thanks to the Bodleian Library at Oxford University.

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Posted to Bodleian Library | Books for the News | Reference and Writing | Reviews

Antonio Gonçalves Filho recently reviewed Enemies of Promise: Publishing, Perishing, and the Eclipse of Scholarship and interviewed author Lindsay Waters in Estadão, a Brazilian newspaper:

Lindsay Waters, executive editor for the Humanities at Harvard University Press, has issued a challenge to academics and publishers: to publish less, with more relevance. . . . Waters criticizes the "publish-or-perish" mentality that has produced an avalanche of books of little or no importance.

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Posted to Author Events | Philosophy | Prickly Paradigm | Reference and Writing | Reviews

Katie Haegele reviewed Bodleian Library's The First English Dictionary, 1604 in the Philadelphia Inquirer on July 25th, 2007.

She also interviewed John Simpson, chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, who also edited Cawdrey's dictionary and wrote its introduction. Simpson and Haegele discuss the relative obscurity of Cawdrey's dictionary, the standardization of the English language, and the importance of alphabetical ordering.

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Posted to Bodleian Library | Reference and Writing | Reviews

Julia Keller recently reviewed Bodleian Library's The First English Dictionary, 1604 in the Chicago Tribune. She writes that "few books are as delightful as this compendium. . . ."

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Posted to Bodleian Library | History | Literature | Reference and Writing | Reviews

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.

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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

Read a brief Entry on Bookninja

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Posted to Bodleian Library | History | Reference and Writing | Reviews

The SharpBrains blog recently praised The Dana Guide to Brain Health:

In short, a great reference book for professionals and for people interested in the brain. And a great starting point (the only one we are aware of) for a really useful and practical guide to Brain Health that every family should have. In a bit more creative terms: great quality marble looking for a consumer-oriented Michelangelo.

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Posted to Biology | Dana Press | Reference and Writing | Reviews