The book The Professor and the Madman presents the creation history of the most known Oxford English Dictionary (OED), and the life story of one of the contributors — Dr. William Chester Minor. For almost twenty years, Dr. Minor worked hard to supply the OED editorial team with words, including quotations and definitions collected and arranged in a unique way. According to James Murray, the primary editor of OED, Dr. Minor was the most prolific contributor, and his work was a stepping stone toward dictionary creation. Minor’s conflicted personality still remains open for further discussions; however, several character traits could be drawn from the book. Simon Winchester, the author of The Professor and the Madman, describes its protagonist,
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Minor was a scrupulous person who paid attention to every and each detail of his work, and this fact made him different from thousands other volunteers who worked at the foundations of OED. As requested by the primary editor of the dictionary, volunteers were supposed to read through the literature and find interesting words, providing the exact reference to the book with direct quotations and explanations of the meaning. Certainly, in order to complete such a task, the editor or a simple volunteer had to spend an enormous amount of time since a word may have different meanings and usages. From thousands of volunteers, Minor was one who put his heart and soul into work. According to Winchester, Minor carefully selected the words and arranged them into a unique way: “Word after word, each one with its exact spelling, its exact location in the quire perfectly appropriate, the page number where it was to be found in the sourcebook precise” (Winchester 140). Furthermore, at the time when editors of OED requested other meanings for the noun “art,” Minor impressed with his imposing results. Unlike other contributors, who sent a few sentences to explain the word art, Dr. Minor was able to provide about twenty-seven, gaining his further distinction as a “meticulous man” (Winchester 154). Evidently, scrupulousness could be attributed to Minor’s
Minor was a scrupulous person who paid attention to every and each detail of his work, and this fact made him different from thousands other volunteers who worked at the foundations of OED. As requested by the primary editor of the dictionary, volunteers were supposed to read through the literature and find interesting words, providing the exact reference to the book with direct quotations and explanations of the meaning. Certainly, in order to complete such a task, the editor or a simple volunteer had to spend an enormous amount of time since a word may have different meanings and usages. From thousands of volunteers, Minor was one who put his heart and soul into work. According to Winchester, Minor carefully selected the words and arranged them into a unique way: “Word after word, each one with its exact spelling, its exact location in the quire perfectly appropriate, the page number where it was to be found in the sourcebook precise” (Winchester 140). Furthermore, at the time when editors of OED requested other meanings for the noun “art,” Minor impressed with his imposing results. Unlike other contributors, who sent a few sentences to explain the word art, Dr. Minor was able to provide about twenty-seven, gaining his further distinction as a “meticulous man” (Winchester 154). Evidently, scrupulousness could be attributed to Minor’s