Longman English Larousse [antikvár]

Editor's preface This is a brand-new reference work, with a hundred years of experience behind it, modelled on the French 'Petit Larousse'. It is by a team of English and American scholars, working under editorial control from the Larousse headquarters in Paris. As in the French model, access to language and access to general knowledge are taken as one and indivisible. The integration is what essentially distinguishes 'English Larousse' from other English dictionaries. The direct style in which vocabulary is analysed, the examples accompanying this analysis, the extended encyclopedic treatment of lexicographical entries where that seemed necessary or useful, the historical, geographical, artistic and literary entries, and the inclusion of maps, photographs and diagrams all serve this effort at integration, to provide users of English in all countries with a dictionary that is at the same time a new reference book of informative and cultural value. Over 100 contributors worked on it. Mr René Hague and Mr W. H. Spikes did much of the compiling. Mr P. Fallon and Mr Arthur M. Holden were largely responsible for the final form of the scientific entries, and Mr E. H. Hudson for that of the historical ones. Mrs Elizabeth Palmer checked the etymologies. Mr. Ralph Manheim made many valuable changes in the text. Mr A. C. Ward read and commented on the whole manuscript. Mr Spikes, Mr Ward, Mr Milton D. Andrews, Mr J. MacLean, Professor N. A. Ziadeh, Mr. V. B. Thompson and Mr. Ravi Vyas read the proofs. The maps are by Mr K. C. Jordan. Mr Manuel Tarazona assembled the illustrations. The authorities most heavily drawn upon by the editor and his assistants were Webster's Third New International Dictionary, the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, the Grand Larousse Encyclopédique, and the Statesman's Yearbook. The condensing of so much matter into a handy volume involves deliberate omission. Many derived words of regular formation, constituting large classes, have been omitted whenever meaning or usage could be taken as requiring no special explanation : nouns ending in '-er' or '-ness', adverbs in '-ly', adjectives in '-less', '-like', '-able', and many negatives beginning with 'in-' and 'non-'. The whole took seven years to compile, and the book will be constantly kept up-to-date in revised impressions if its usefulness is proved. o. c. watson Paris 1 Jan. 1968