News from the OED archives

Appeals lists such as the one below were produced by James Murray from the first years of his work on the Dictionary and always brought enthusiastic responses from readers. In this list the word 'collyrium (eye-salve)' attracted a letter from a Scottish schoolmaster who, ignoring the request for eighteenth-century quotations, sent in an extract from a recently published collection of short stories by Ouida. Others, however, were extremely helpful in their responses. John Dormer of Horsham in Sussex, for instance, always scoured the appeals for items with which he could help. An experienced reader, he later revised the slips collected for the letter D and drew up a list of special items needed for that letter. When this earlier list was issued, he responded to Murray's request for help with 'cola-nut', for which quotations were needed before 1878. Dormer sent in a detailed explanation, neatly written on one of the small postcards used at that time; he provided quotations and references to earlier uses of the word with notes about its history and development. Other responses filled out the entries for these two words. The enthusiasm of the past is continued today as readers still 'kindly add to' their 'former favours by sending quotations'.