Secondhand Language & Reference Bargain Book Box SP4286

Secondhand Language & Reference Bargain Book Box SP4286

Fifteen books about words, most hardback: Brewer’s Phrase and Fable 18th edition, the Concise Oxford Quotations, Penguin Modern Quotations, the New Oxford Book of English Prose, the Oxford Book of Literary Anchorotes, Eats Shoots & Leaves, Aussie Talk, Clichés, Use the Right Word, Urdang’s Dictionary of Differences, and T.S. Eliot’s Selected Prose. A reference shelf for a writer or a crossword addict.

1. Eats, Shoots & Leaves — Lynne Truss — The panda that eats, shoots and leaves, and why the comma matters. The zero-tolerance approach to punctuation that sold three million copies and made people check their apostrophes. Hardback.
2. The New Oxford Book of English Prose — ed. John Gross — Malory to Martin Amis, six hundred years of English prose in extracts. What a marvellous book to dip in anywhere, says John Updike on the cover.
3. Twentieth-Century English Literature — Harry Blamires — The Macmillan History of Literature volume, second edition: every novelist, poet and playwright of the century, in order. The one-volume survey.
4. Lazarus and His Beloved — Kahlil Gibran — A one-act play by the author of The Prophet: Lazarus comes back from the dead and wishes he hadn’t. Facsimile of the manuscript in the hardback.
5. Letter Writing Simplified — G. Snodgrass — How to write a letter of complaint, condolence, application. A period guide with the fountain-pen cover.
6. Aussie Talk: The Macquarie Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms — For Australians, for visitors, for fun: dinkum, drongo, and the rest, with the koala cover.
7. The Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes — ed. James Sutherland — Chaucer to Dylan Thomas, every good story about every English writer. The one with Dr Johnson kicking the stone.
8. The Penguin Dictionary of Modern Quotations — J.M. & M.J. Cohen — Twentieth-century quotes, from Churchill to Monty Python. Penguin Reference.
9. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations — The Oxford Paperbacks edition with the Greek mask cover, 8/6. The pocket one.
10. Clichés: Avoid Them Like the Plague! — Nigel Fountain — At the end of the day, going forward, it’s not rocket science: where each cliché came from and why to stop. Hardback.
11. Use the Right Word — Reader’s Digest — A modern guide to synonyms: which word for which shade of meaning, with examples. The hardback with the pink jacket.
12. Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable, 18th Edition — Foreword by Philip Pullman. Every phrase, legend, nickname and saying in English, in the edition with the cabinet-of-curiosities cover. Hardback.
13. Accomodating Brocolli in the Cemetary — Vivian Cook — Or why can’t anybody spell? A linguist on English spelling and why it’s so hard. The title is deliberate.
14. T.S. Eliot: Selected Prose — ed. John Hayward — Tradition and the Individual Talent, the Dante essay, and the rest of the criticism that changed how poetry was read. Penguin.
15. The Dictionary of Differences — Laurence Urdang — Distinctions, distinguishables, differences: what separates a crocodile from an alligator, a hurricane from a typhoon. Bloomsbury reference.