The New Hamlyn Encyclopedic World Dictionary [antikvár]

Preface to the Second EditionThe first edition of the EWD was published in 1971. Seventeen years have therefore elapsed since the text was substantially revised. In this edition the revision has been concentrated in four areas. First, the biographical material has been comprehensively updated; many new people have found their way into the book and a few have been dropped. All the biographical entries have been expanded to tell the reader in one or two sentences what that person is remembered for, and all the entries for living and recently deceased people have been updated. Thus the biographical entries in the new edition of the EWD constitute virtually entirely new material.The placenames have also needed substantial revision, particularly as many countries have achieved independence (and new names) in the past seventeen years. The population figures for cities and countries have been updated, and the entries for British placenames reflect the reorganization of the counties which has occurred since the EWD was first published. New names for places have been inserted where appropriate.The remaining two areas on which the revision has been concentrated are the general language and the technical language. In the general language there has been a surprising burgeoning in the slang and colloquial areas, many examples of which have been recorded in this edition. In the technical areas, it is computing, television, and electronics that have provided the greatest number of new words and senses. The whole medical field has been revised, with many new entries added and many of the existing entries rewritten. The general sciences, too, have been checked and updated. The new system of nomenclature in chemistry has been incorporated into the dictionary, but old, trivial names of chemicals have been retained. The fields of law, business and accountancy also have expanding vocabularies and these have been taken into account in the revision.There are certain categories of information which can be conveyed much more effectively by means of illustrations and the revised EWD includes 50 pages of line drawings on such varied subjects as aviation, design, genetics, photography and spacecraft. Another valuable new feature is a 16-page full-colour atlas of the world.Finally, the editors are grateful to the many readers who have written in to make suggestions for improvements and corrections over the last seventeen years; many of these suggestions have helped us to substantiate our claim that the EWD is now the most comprehensive encyclopedic dictionary available.A.I., J.D., E.A.M.1988