TY  - BOOK
AU  - Martin,Peter
TI  - The dictionary wars: the American fight over the English language 
SN  - 9780691188911
AV  - PE1611 .M295 2019
PY  - 2019///]
CY  - Princeton
PB  - Princeton University Press
KW  - Webster, Noah,
KW  - Worcester, Joseph E.
KW  - G. & C. Merriam Company
KW  - English language
KW  - United States
KW  - Lexicography
KW  - History
N1  - Includes bibliographical references and index; Part one. Noah Webster's battles. British mockery and American disdain ; Noah Webster: "The wildest innovator" ; Webster's first dictionary ; Displacing Delilah ; The lexicographer's fifth column ; Tea and copyright: Goodrich takes over ; Spelling wars: the rise of Lyman Cobb ; The "common thief" ; Webster's decline -- Part two. The Merriams at war. Taking Webster out of Webster: from family feuds to the Merriam Brothers ; Waiting for Worcester ; The Bohn affair ; Converse's complaint ; Children, money, and "trash" ; High stakes: "Have we a national standard of language?" ; The "terrible rival": Worcesterian resurgence ; The Merriams triumphant: "Worcester! Worcester! all change for Webster!" -- Conclusion -- Appendix A: The "Webster" brand -- Appendix B: Four centuries of selected dictionaries of the English language -- Appendix C: Publishing terms -- Appendix D: "The spelling bee at Angels (reported by Truthful James)," by Bret Harte
N2  - Peter Martin recounts the patriotic fervor in the early American republic to produce a definitive national dictionary that would rival Samuel Johnson's 1755 Dictionary of the English Language. But what began as a cultural war of independence from Britain devolved into a battle among lexicographers, authors, scholars, and publishers, all vying for dictionary supremacy and shattering forever the dream of a unified American language
ER  -