Most Popular Dictionaries in Libraries

[Fred Shapiro]

Out of idle curiosity, I looked at WorldCat to determine which
English-language lexical dictionaries were held by the most U.S.
libraries.  Below are the results.  I am puzzled that the excellent, and I
would have thought, very popular Merriam-Webster dictionaries are not
higher on the list.


1 Random House Dictionary of the English Language, 1987         2958

2 American Heritage Dictionary of the English
   Language                                        1992         2694

3 Black's Law Dictionary                           1999         2644

4 Black's Law Dictionary                           1979         2504

5 Black's Law Dictionary                           1990         2488

6 Dictionary of American Regional English          1985-        2442

7 Oxford English Dictionary                        1989         2339

8 American Heritage Dictionary of the English
   Language                                        2000         2246

9 Facts on File Visual Dictionary                  1986         2243

10 American Heritage Dictionary                    1982         2195

11 New Dictionary of American Slang                1986         2136

12 Oxford American Dictionary                      1980         2089

13 Dictionary of American Slang                    1975         2084

14 Webster's Sports Dictionary                     1976         2050

15 American Heritage Dictionary of the English
    Language                                       1969         2014

16 Random House Historical Dictionary of American
    Slang                                          1994-        1980

17 Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary        1957-        1833

18 Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary         1993         1826

19 Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary         2003         1795

20 Webster's Third New International Dictionary    1986         1717


Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
   Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
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