Seven North American Dictionary Collections

Seven North American collections housed or sponsored by public or academic libraries focusing on lexicographical and similar word-oriented resources are discussed with respect to their strengths and accessibility, especially via the Internet. The Canadian collections are the Lexicons of Early Modern English and the H. Rocke Robertson Collection of Dictionaries and Related Works. The former provides access to a growing database of vocabulary drawn from 1,276 works used and published in 1450 through 1702. The Robertson Collection provides 352 examples of dictionaries, encyclopedias, and similar works in English and other languages showing the development of English and lexicography. Five collections are treated in the United States. The Edward J. Blount Dictionary Collection, the smallest, provides examples of 129 word books and manuscripts. The Cordell Collection of Dictionaries, the largest, provides over 6,000 pre-1901 examples and more than 2,800 post-1900 examples in a wide range of holdings with remarkable depth of editions held in the works of the English lexicographers. The Louis E. Kahn Collection of Dictionaries, the oldest collection, is approaching 1,000 titles and is similar in scope to the Cordell Collection in its initial gift of 459 dictionaries, while its recent acquisitions appear to be primarily modern imprints. The Edwin A. Miles Historic Dictionary Collection and the Breon Mitchell Collection of Bi-lingual Dictionaries, 1559-1998, are the most recently-created dictionary collections. The Miles Collection of 1,300 titles is broad-based, as its name implies, with many holdings of American imprints. The Mitchell Collection contains approximately 2,000 works about languages which are largely inadequately documented.