Editing Oxford English Dictionary (section)

=== Early editors ===
{{See also|List of contributors to the Oxford English Dictionary}}
[[Richard Chenevix Trench]] (1807–1886) played the key role in the project's first months, but his appointment as [[List of Deans of Westminster|Dean of Westminster]] meant that he could not give the dictionary project the time that it required. He withdrew and [[Herbert Coleridge]] became the first editor.<ref name=Mugglestone>{{Cite book |title=Lost for Words: The Hidden History of the Oxford English Dictionary |last=Mugglestone |first=Lynda |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-300-10699-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/lostforwordshidd00mugg}}</ref>{{Rp|8–9}}

[[File:FrederickJamesFurnivall.jpg|frame|left|[[Frederick James Furnivall|Frederick Furnivall]], 1825–1910]]

On 12 May 1860, Coleridge's dictionary plan was published and research was started. His house was the first editorial office. He arrayed 100,000 quotation slips in a 54 pigeon-hole grid.<ref name=Mugglestone />{{Rp|9}} In April 1861, the group published the first sample pages; later that month, Coleridge died of [[tuberculosis]], aged 30.<ref name=Craigie />{{Rp|x}}

Thereupon Furnivall became editor; he was enthusiastic and knowledgeable, but temperamentally ill-suited for the work.<ref name=Winchester1999 />{{rp|110}} Many volunteer readers eventually lost interest in the project, as Furnivall failed to keep them motivated. Furthermore, many of the slips were misplaced.

Furnivall believed that, since many printed texts from earlier centuries were not readily available, it would be impossible for volunteers to efficiently locate the quotations that the dictionary needed. As a result, he founded the [[Early English Text Society]] in 1864 and the Chaucer Society in 1868 to publish old manuscripts.<ref name=Craigie />{{Rp|xii}} Furnivall's preparatory efforts lasted 21 years and provided numerous texts for the use and enjoyment of the general public, as well as crucial sources for lexicographers, but they did not actually involve compiling a dictionary. Furnivall recruited more than 800 volunteers to read these texts and record quotations. While enthusiastic, the volunteers were not well trained and often made inconsistent and arbitrary selections. Ultimately, Furnivall handed over nearly two tons of quotation slips and other materials to his successor.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.oed.com/page/reading/Reading$0020Programme |title=Reading Programme |access-date=7 June 2014 |website=Oxford English Dictionary Online |archive-date=13 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613141705/https://www.oed.com/page/reading/Reading$0020Programme}}</ref>

In the 1870s, Furnivall unsuccessfully attempted to recruit both [[Henry Sweet]] and [[Henry Nicol]] to succeed him. He then approached [[James Murray (lexicographer)|James Murray]], who accepted the post of editor. In the late 1870s, Furnivall and Murray met with several publishers about publishing the dictionary. In 1878, Oxford University Press agreed with Murray to proceed with the massive project; the agreement was formalized the following year.<ref name=Winchester1999 />{{rp|111–112}} 20 years after its conception, the dictionary project finally had a publisher. It would take another 50 years to complete.

[[File:Dr. William Chester Minor.jpg|thumb|[[William Chester Minor]], 1834–1920]]
Late in his editorship, Murray learned that one especially prolific reader, [[William Chester Minor|W.&nbsp;C. Minor]], was confined to a mental hospital for (in modern terminology) [[schizophrenia]].<ref name=Winchester1999 />{{rp|xiii}}  Minor was a Yale University–trained surgeon and a military officer in the [[American Civil War]] who had been confined to [[Broadmoor Hospital|Broadmoor Asylum for the Criminally Insane]] after killing a man in London. He invented his own quotation-tracking system, allowing him to submit slips on specific words in response to editors' requests. The story of how Murray and Minor worked together to advance the ''OED'' was retold in the 1998 book ''[[The Surgeon of Crowthorne]]'' (US title: ''The Professor and the Madman''<ref name=Winchester1999 />), which was the basis for a 2019 film, ''[[The Professor and the Madman (film)|The Professor and the Madman]]'', starring [[Mel Gibson]] and [[Sean Penn]].