Cassell's German & English Dictionary/Cassell's English & German Dictionary [antikvár]

PREFACE Cassell's German Dictionary has a long history. Whether the New German Dictionary, by Elizabeth Weir, published in 1889, was actually a first edition or whether it was based on an older one must remain a mystery, as the publisher's records were destroyed by fire in 1941. Elizabeth Weir made no reference to an earlier version, claiming only that hers was based on now forgotten works like 'the well-known dictionaries of Lucas, Flügel, Hilpert, and Köhler'. This in itself constitutes no proof that she was Cassell's first editor, for subsequently there has always been editorial reticence about one's predecessors. The aim and the layout of the work have remained virtually unchanged since this, the first edition accessible to me, though its size and usefulness has developed with the passage of years. There were four reissues before 1896, and ten years later it appeared 'revised and considerably enlarged by K. Breul'. In 1909 Professor Breul assumed sole responsibility for it, and between that date and his death in 1932 it was reprinted with revisions sixteen times. He had completed a substantial re-editing of the German-English section when he died, and the task of seeing this through the press and the work on the English-German section was left to J. H. Lepper and R. Kottenhahn. The parts were issued separately in 1936 and 1939, and combined into one volume in 1940, since when it has continued unchanged. Though the work had tried to keep pace with the changing times by introducing numerous terms from the fields of commerce, science, motoring, aviation, etc., it had become clear that no amount of patching would make it into a comprehensive modem dictionary. Much of the material included still bore the stamp of the sources to which Miss Weir acknowledged her indebtedness, and which must have seen the light of day nearly one hundred years ago. So in 1948 the publishers decided that the time had come for a complete overhaul, and the task was entrusted to me. The work has to all intents and purposes been rewritten. Each entry has been scrutinized for its relevance to learners and users of German in the post-war world, and it is my hope that for some years to come it will continue to serve them with the same degree of efficiency as Professor Breul's editions have done for the past forty and more years. Miss Weir's and Professor Breul's work was originally designed to appeal particularly to the learners in schools and universities at a time when German was just making its appearance in the curriculum, and as such it had a distinctly literary bias. Those who wish to read the