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1 40Reviews The Oxford Guide to Practical Lexicography. 2008. B.T. Sue Atkins and Michael Rundell. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. 552. This compendious and welcome tide has been thoroughly reviewed in other tradejournals by DSNA members and outers.1 I will not duplicate here die thorough detail that those scholars have exercised their considerable powers on, but rather try to give a brief and practical account of a book that itself purports to be practical: what its successes and failings are, to what practical uses it may be put, and a few points that various users of die book may wish to be alerted to. The authors are well known in lexicography generally and are known personally to many DSNA members. The publisher's blurb boasts that the authors have "seventy years experience between them," in addition to their long experience as principals of the lexicography Master Glass. It would be difficult to find anyone active in English lexicography today who is better qualified to write such a book. Recent books about the practice of lexicography barely occupy a handspan on the shelves oftoday's university libraries, and this volume will therefore be a most welcome addition there. We are promised (again by the publisher) "a step-by-step course for die training of lexicographers in all settings, including publishing houses, colleges, and universities world-wide, and for the teaching of lexicography as an academic discipline." The book is that, and it is possible that in some settings it will be used as that — particularly in places where aspiring lexicographers cannot afford to fly to, or fly in, the lexicography Master Glass. A university course in lexicography could not cover everything in the book in a single quarter or semester; a lexicography instructor can certainly find here (and in the companion volume, also reviewed in this issue) all the material required, including exercises, to keep students meaningfully engaged for a long period of time. The order of chapters in the book parallels the steps that one would undertake if building a dictionary completely from scratch. Indeed, the detail is so complete that it would be possible in theory to use the book as an instruction manual for some future or distant civilization who had not developed lexicography ; by careful study and application, one could expect completely naïve but dedicated readers of the book to turn out respectable dictionaries with only the investment of several hundred thousand man-hours. It is possible that the book will be put to both of these uses — as a course book and as a vade mecum for the naïve dictionary builder. I think it is likely, however , that the book will serve primarily as the principal English-language reference work about what constitutes best practice in lexicography. Its organization, detailed table of contents, and index (though comparatively scanty) make it readily 1 See reviews by Sidney Landau and Reinhard Harunann in the Internationaljournal oflexicography 22,1 (March 2009) and a review by Gilles-Maurice de Schryver in ¡sxikos 18 (2008). Dictionaries:Journal ofthe Dictionary Society ofNorth America 30 (2009) , 1 40-1 42 Reviews1 41 accessible for anyone interested in filling up on lexicography in a general way, or in finding specific information about a particular topic in modern lexicography. For die experienced lexicographer, die book contains a great deal, in great detail, of what is already well-known. Except for diose who imagine some benefit from skimming die pages and nodding sagely, these sections of the book will be superfluous . The many very useful sections of the book for working and experienced lexicographers, however, should not be overlooked. There is a wealtii of practical information tiiat the autiiors impart from tiieir experience across a spectrum of lexicographic endeavors and diere is much to be taken away from it: many lexicographers today have experience much deeper tiian it is broad, from working long witii a single organization or publisher, and it is a great benefit to have die insight of diese audiors who have worked and consulted so widely. There are many sections of the book where we are privy to useful insights diat could only be borne of die audiors' long...

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