Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

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This edition is opened by a reproduction of the Brewer's autographed "Preface to the New and enlarged Edition of 'Phrase and Fable' 1894", which is dated "Autumn 1894".

This retitled and updated version, initially edited by Adrian Room, was first published in 2000 ( ISBN 978-0304350964). A second edition ( ISBN 978-0550105646), edited by Ian Crofton and John Ayto, was published on 30 November 2010. [4] While this title is based on the structure of Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, it contains entries from 1900 onwards and exists alongside its parent volume as a separate work. [5] Other special editions [ edit ]Reprints: 1896, 1897, 1898, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1909, and others with no date) Much loved for its wit and wisdom since 1870, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable takes you on a captivating adventure through its trademark blend of language, culture, myth and legend. Nowhere else could the histories of the guillotine and Guinness stout sit so comfortably alongside the KGB and the Keystone Kops. Brewer's is a catalogue of curiosities and absurdities that, over almost 150 years in print, has acquired near-mythical status. The most recent version is the 20th edition, published in November 2018 by Chambers Harrap Publishers. An idiosyncratic adventure, pulling you in and saying: "this is, in fact, not what you were looking for; but it's much more interesting" (Terry Pratchett)

Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (Philadelphia: Henry Altemus Company, 1898) "New Edition, Revised, Corrected and Enlarged": searchable web-format at Bartleby.com [ dead link] This twentieth edition of Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable encapsulates all the charm and wit that characterise its predecessors and maintains the standards of scholarship and eclecticism that have long been its hallmark. Find sources: "Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable"– news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( August 2013) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Much loved for its wit and wisdom since 1870, Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable takes you on a captivating adventure through its trademark blend of language, culture, myth and legend. As Susie Dent explains in the foreword, Brewer’s “is not a straightforward dictionary, nor is it an encyclopaedia. It is, in fact, unlike any other reference book that exists, anywhere.” This nineteenth edition encapsulates all the charm and wit that characterise its predecessors and maintains the standards of scholarship and eclecticism that have long been its hallmark.

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As Susie Dent explains in the foreword, Brewer's "is unlike any other reference book that exists, anywhere." For almost 150 years it has been a celebrated treasure-trove of curious words, forgotten folklore and colourful olde worlde insults...It's opinionated, incomplete, haphazard and strangely addictive. ( The Telegraph) Mini-review: Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable - Miscellany". Economist.com. 2012-10-05 . Retrieved 2018-07-29. Of all the dictionaries in the world [Brewer's] is the most like a treasure-hunt, where one phrase leads to another, and that to a third, and before you know what's happened, it's time for lunch (Philip Pullman)