Thoughts In and Out of Season 4

More on Nabokov's Webster's, more on the Philippians Hymn, a bit more of Amanda, incunabula, youngest sons, Bentleys and Madisons, plans for the coming year...

1. Nabokov’s Dictionary Again: In a brief post a week or so back, I noted that Vladimir’s Nabokov’s favorite English dictionary was the massive Webster’s International, Second Edition, the unabridged and comprehensive version. I even provided a pair of (let’s admit it) deeply poignant pictures of myself clutching my own treasured copy. One of the subscribers here, Adina Meyer, then asked which printing is best. This is an astute question, because each successive iteration contained changes, some of which involved unfortunate subtractions. And some supposedly “unabridged” versions are less comprehensive than others. The copy Nabokov used, and the one I own, is from 1944; and, to my mind, it remains the best of the lot.