Early Modern English Materials

Our departmental files have recently been augmented by the arrival of around 3 million slips from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. These contain the Early Modern quotations from the original OED (both those which formed part of the original "copy" and also those which were not themselves used in the final publication). Sir William Craigie, one of the editors of OED1, encouraged the planning of various regional and period dictionaries to supplement the OED's coverage, and he supported Professor Charles C. Fries in the removal of these slips in the late 1920s and early 30s to Ann Arbor.

The slips, like so many used for the OED, were often written on odd scraps of paper, the backs of envelopes, invitations, and advertisements, and hence have the added interest of showing something of the life and times of the original collectors. A description of their removal may be found in the article "Charles C. Fries and the Early Modern English Dictionary" by Professor Richard W. Bailey, in P. H. Fries (ed.) Toward an Understanding of Language: Charles C. Fries in Perspective, (Current Issues in Linguistic Theory XL, 1985).

During subsequent years these slips were supplemented by a further million or so Early Modern English illustrative quotations collected through Fries's own reading programme, and had been intended to form the basis of a projected Dictionary of Early Modern English at Ann Arbor. Sadly the dictionary never came to fruition, and the collection has in recent years been in the care of Professor Bailey, who has made a selection available to scholars on microfiche in the form of the well-known Ann Arbor Early Modern English Materials.

We are very grateful to Professor Bailey and his colleagues for allowing this important collection to come to Oxford, where we are already uncovering significant antedatings and additional historical evidence for this period, the coverage of which will as a result be improved considerably in the third edition. The slips reside in a wonderful series of old metal cabinets which themselves exude an aura of history when seen alongside our intimidating computer equipment.

At present editorial staff have immediate access only to those corresponding to the range of the alphabet currently being revised, tucked into a corner under the stairs, while OUP's archivist Peter Foden, who is used to requests from lexicographers for vast amounts of storage space, is preparing a permanent home for them safe in the basements of the Press.