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An American Dictionary of the English Language
This dictionary, called “Webster-Mahn,” was in its day the best ever produced. (Worcester’s book held that title for only four years!) The definitions were rigorous, and the fanciful etymologies were at last retrenched. Noah Porter engaged Professor…
Photograph of Noah Porter of Yale College
Noah Porter, a Yale philosopher, was asked by Goodrich to take over Webster dictionaries. Porter initially declined, but the Merriams assured him that the job would require only a few hours a week. What fitted him for the work? According to George…
Letter to Messrs. Sampson Lowe & Co. with Dickens’s wax seal intact
Sounding as if he might have requested a copy, the great novelist thanked the British booksellers Sampson Lowe & Co. for “promptly forwarding Dr. Worcester’s Dictionary.” He assured them that he would write to Worcester himself.
A Dictionary of the English Language
The preface to Worcester’s big dictionary, 30 years in the making, magnanimously praised both Noah Webster and Chauncey Goodrich. Perhaps it was doomed from the beginning: Worcester had been fending off accusations of literary wrongdoing for years.…
A Critic Criticized: And Worcester Vindicated
The 1850s were a crucial decade in the dictionary wars. An unscrupulous British publisher inflamed the situation: Henry G. Bohn acquired the British rights to Worcester’s 1846 Universal and Critical Dictionary, where the preface explained that…
“A Gross Literary Fraud Exposed; Relating to the Publication of Worcester’s Dictionary in London,” as Webster’s Dictionary
The 1850s were a crucial decade in the dictionary wars. An unscrupulous British publisher inflamed the situation: Henry G. Bohn acquired the British rights to Worcester’s 1846 Universal and Critical Dictionary, where the preface explained that…
Spine of “Webster Worcester’s Dictionary,” published in London by Henry G. Bohn
The 1850s were a crucial decade in the dictionary wars. An unscrupulous British publisher inflamed the situation: Henry G. Bohn acquired the British rights to Worcester’s 1846 Universal and Critical Dictionary, where the preface explained that…
Printed, but Not Published
The irreparable rift in the Webster clan came when Fowler attacked Chauncey Goodrich: “These pages are not intended for the public, but for the family of Dr. Webster, and such others as Mr. Goodrich has conversed with.” Fowler assaults Goodrich’s…
Undated lists of spellings to be approved by William Chauncey Fowler (both sons-in-law of Noah Webster)
In the mid-1840s, Goodrich sent Fowler lists of spellings in the hope of reaching a consensus. Backed by the Merriams, Goodrich knew all about Lyman Cobb’s criticisms of Webster’s inconsistencies. The envious Fowler sought word-by-word votes of the…
Letter to William G. Webster supporting the purchase of Noah Webster’s synopsis of his Dictionary for the Library of Congress
After his father’s death in May 1843, William G. Webster worked to ensure his father’s legacy and his own. Recently bankrupted, William struggled to find a footing. His name began appearing on the title pages of Webster “pocket editions.” There was…