Brewer's Dictionary of London Phrase & Fable

There can be few reference librarians unfamiliar with Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. The Reverend Ebenezer Cobham Brewer's somewhat idiosyncratic dictionary first appeared in 1870 and was soon followed by a “revised and updated” edition which, now out of copyright, can be freely accessed online (see for example version at www.archive.org/details/brewersdictionar000544mbp). New editions appeared over the years with substantial modification and updating taking place for the centenary edition of 1970. Just released is an eighteenth edition edited by Camilla Rockwood (review upcoming) and published under the Chambers label (the previous editions were published under the Weidenfeld &...