Discovery in Haste: English Medical Dictionaries and Lexicographers 1547 to 1796

Discovery in Haste is the first book to survey the English printed medical dictionary, a greatly under-researched area, from Andrew Boordes Breviary of Helthe of 1547 to Benjamin Laras surgical dictionary of 1796. The book begins with Andrew Boordes Breviary of Helthe of 1547, moves on to medical glossaries, which were produced through the whole period, the physical dictionaries of the mid-seventeenth century which first employed dictionary in the title, the translation into English of Steven Blancards dictionary, Latin medical dictionaries of the late seventeenth century by Thomas Burnet and John Cruso, the influential dictionary by John Quincy which dominated the eighteenth century, surgical dictionaries through to that by Benjamin Lara, Robert Jamess massive encyclopaedic dictionary and the work derived from it by John Barrow, as well as George Motherbys dictionary of 1775. The characteristics of each are discussed and their inter-relationships explored. Attention is also paid to the printing history and the way the publishers influenced the works and, where appropriate, to the influence each had on succeeding dictionaries. This book is the first to locate medical dictionaries within the history of lexicography.