Oxford Illustrated Shakespeare Dictionary

David Crystal, well-known writer, editor, lecturer and broadcaster on the English language, is also honorary professor of linguistics at the University of Bangor. Among his many books are Think on my Words: Exploring Shakespeare's Language, (with his son Ben) Shakespeare's Words and The Shakespeare Miscellany and (with his wife Hilary) Wordsmiths and Warriors: the English-language Tourist's Guide to Britain. He was Sam Wanamaker Fellow at Shakespeare's Globe in2003-4 and received an OBE for services to the English language. Ben Crystal is an actor, writer and producer. Along with books co-written with his father, he wrote a series of introductions toShakespeare's plays for Arden called Springboard Shakespeare and his Shakespeare on Toast was shortlisted for the Educational Writer of the Year Award. He and his ensemble perform Shakespeare in original pronunciation - a first reading of Macbeth in OP was in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare's Globe - and give workshops around the world.

"Sometimes you find a book and think, 'Why didn't someone do this years ago?' The answer is probably that no-one else could have approached the job or seen it through to completion so magnificently. This is much more than a valuable resource to make Shakespeare's vocabulary accessible to students; it is so crammed with delicious snippets that it is a delight to browse."