Webster’s New International Dictionary

William Allan Neilson, ed

Webster’s New International Dictionary

Springfield, MA

G. & C. Merriam Co.

1934

2d ed.

With a staff of more than 300 and an investment of $25 million (in today’s money), Webster’s Second was Merriam-Webster’s most ambitious dictionary project to date. The editors benefited from the recently completed OED, the Century, and Funk & Wagnalls, just as the editors of those works consulted Merriam dictionaries. (The key was to compose entries that were different enough to seem original.) W2 remains one of the greatest dictionaries ever produced, still a favorite of the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Ex coll. Karolyne & Bryan A. Garner. HHD no. 100