The Surgeon of Crowthorne by Simon Winchester

Madness and scholarship behind the Oxford English Dictionary

Fair to Good Condition - Cover rubbing, corner/edge wear and browned page edges. A pencilled price is present on the title page.

Simon Winchester explores an extraordinary relationship at the heart of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary. James Murray, directing the immense scholarly project, received a remarkable volume of contributions from W. C. Minor, an American former army surgeon living in England. Minor's detailed work seemed the product of an exceptionally dedicated scholar, but his circumstances were far stranger: he was confined in an institution after committing murder. Winchester connects the dictionary's painstaking development with Minor's troubled life, revealing how mental illness, tragedy and intellectual discipline became intertwined. The book offers both a history of a monumental reference work and a moving account of the people whose unlikely collaboration helped make it possible.