West Sussex libraries centenary: what is your favourite book?

“I have a confession - I am obsessed with the Oxford English Dictionary, so when The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams appeared in the library I couldn’t wait to read it, and it did not disappoint.

“The New English Dictionary was to be the ultimate authority on the English language with not just the meaning of each word listed, but its history, its earliest appearance in a written source, and a range of examples showing its use. To achieve this mammoth task an appeal went out for volunteers to send in ‘slips’, each with a word and a quotation taken from a book they were reading. It wasn’t until 1879 that things really got underway with Oxford University Press appointed as publishers and Scottish scholar James Murray as editor. In the garden of his Oxford home, Murray set up the Scriptorium, where his team of lexicographers sat around the sorting table with the slips filed alphabetically around the walls.

“Here we find Esme, the young, motherless daughter of one of the lexicographers who is meant to be neither seen nor heard sitting under the sorting table. One day a slip flutters to the floor and curious Esme decides to keep it. Before long she has gathered several discarded slips which she keeps in an old wooden box. It is the start of a life-long obsession.

“Whilst she goes on to devote her working life to the OED as an assistant, Esme becomes increasingly aware that some words are deemed more important than others by the lexicographers. She starts to compile her own dictionary containing the missing words, largely spoken words used by the working class and especially those relating to women. She visits Mabel, an elderly market trader, who puts a woman’s spin on definitions and keeps her supplied with often risqué new words, and spends time with her radical godmother and mentor Ditta, who is also a highly valued contributor to the OED. Esme becomes aware of the power of women’s language as they battle for suffrage and through the dark days of the first world war. This is not always an easy read as there is real emotion – tears may flow.

“Pip Williams’ book is a thought-provoking celebration of words and the power of language. We get a real sense of time and place - Pip is a social researcher and spent several years writing the book with much time spent in Oxford, especially in the OUP archive amongst letters, clippings, photographs and ‘slips’, and this really comes across in her work. Since The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip has returned to Oxford with The Bookbinder of Jericho, an equally wonderful book set in the Oxford Press itself. I adore Pip’s books – the authenticity of the settings and stories mixed with the real depth of her characters, they are of their time but timeless.”