Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (18th edition)

I always liked the notion of Ebenezer Brewer having his room painted white so that he could scribble memoranda, appointments and other matters of interest to him on his walls. I am only disappointed that this was late in his life and did not represent the manner of compiling his famous dictionary. The author of a series of educational factual books published by Cassell, he collected in the process of compiling them a large amount and wide range of miscellaneous information which by 1870 he had expanded into the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Giving the Derivation, Source or Origin...