The OED's first reading scheme

In July 1857 the Philological Society of London sent out its first appeal for help with collecting materials for a new English Dictionary. This came in the form of a proposal sent to all suitable persons by a 'Special Committee' of three appointed 'for the purpose of collecting words and idioms hitherto unregistered', and inviting 'help in all promising quarters'. The volunteers were initially directed only to 'the less-read authors of the 16th and 17th centuries' and the works of Andrewes, Ascham, Barrow, Becon, Cowley, Cranmer, and Donne were given among examples of reading already undertaken. A long list put forward authors still awaiting attention: Dekker, Skelton, Bacon, with Hall's and Holinshed's Chronicles, Wycliffe's Bible, and the publications of many societies were just a few of the suggestions. Within weeks the interest had been so great that the proposal was revised, and readers could choose from all the authors of the 16th and 17th centuries, while nineteenth-century works were also acceptable.

American readers were also needed and two years later a Secretary in America, the distinguished scholar and politician George P. Marsh of Vermont, was appointed to enrol volunteers, again with a printed circular sent out to likely contributors. It would be more difficult for these readers to obtain the early texts particularly wanted by the Society, so it was decided that 'the entire body of English literature belonging to the eighteenth century' should be 'reserved for their perusal'.

Six hundred and eighty works or authors had already been or were being read when in 1861 a booklet was published listing exactly what had been done, and demonstrating the great success of the fledgling scheme. The volunteers continued for some years with great enthusiasm but eventually, with no sign of preparations for publication of the proposed Dictionary, interest waned. The materials collected by these first readers were inherited by James Murray when he took over the position of editor of the Dictionary, and his famous 'Appeal to the English-speaking and English-reading Public' of 1879, which launched the first OED reading programme proper, followed in the tradition of this earlier scheme, a tradition which is still maintained today in the OED's modern reading programmes.