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The Century Dictionary, last published in 1911, was one of the most highly regarded dictionaries of English. It heavily influenced the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary and was used as the basis of the Random House Dictionary of the English Language.The first edition was published from 1889 to 1891 in six volumes, edited by William Dwight Whitney with Benjamin Eli Smith 's assistance. It was based on the Imperial Dictionary, originally published by the Scottish firm Blackie in 1847- 1850 under the editorship of John Ogilvie and revised by Charles Annadale when it was reissued in 1882- 1883. (The Imperial Dictionary in turn had been based on the 1841 edition of Noah Webster's Dictionary.) Two supplementary volumes were issued after Whitney's death in 1894 under Smith's supervision: The Century Cyclopedia of Names ( 1894) and The Century Atlas ( 1897). The revised edition The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia was published in 1911 in ten quarto volumes, eight of entries, an atlas, and a volume on names.
The Century Dictionary was regarded not only for the quality of the entries, but for the craftsmanship in its design, typographyTypography is art and technique of selecting and arranging type styles, point sizes, line lengths, line leading, character spacing, and word spacing for typeset applications. These applications can be phyiscal or digital. The two primary functions of typo, and bindingBookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book from a number of separate sheets of paper or other material. Historical The craft of bookbinding may have originated around the 1st century A. Romans of the time created a form of simple book call.
Editors of the Oxford English Dictionary often relied on The Century Dictionary, citing it over 2,000 times in the first edition.
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