Product Description

This is the abridged edition of Dr Brewer's reference, originally compiled in 1870. It contains over 15,000 entries which give the meaning and origin of words, phrases, proper names, figures in mythology and history, and terms in religion, magic, philosophy, literature, geography, history and the sciences. This is a miscellany of knowledge, including lists of traditional animal calls, patron saints, wedding anniversaries, heraldis terms, how to play nine men's morris, and much more.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #807010 in Books
• Published on: 1999-01-28
• Format: Abridged
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 1136 pages

Sunday Express
"A browser's joy"

The Times Educational Supplement
"A classic reference work"

The Independent
"One of the great reference books"

Customer Reviews

Worth spending 10 minutes reading every day !
I have used this book as a reference work for the last forty years, at school, at university and at work. Now I encourage my own four children to use it to improve their knowledge. More fun than a traditional encyclopaedia, it is a fascinating mine of information (both useful and useless). I have often used it to look up a particular word or phrase, the origin of which is unknown to me or is the subject of heated debate (!), and find I am still reading it half an hour later.

Try opening it at random and I defy you not to find a topic about which you were either totally ignorant before or which does not have you chortling.

Well worth picking up for at least 10 minutes each day. If nothing else it will improve your English and your knowledge of the English language.