A DICTIONARY OF SURNAMES. by Lower, Mark Antony - 1988

Ware: Wordsworth, 1988. 443 pp, large 8vo (9 1/2" H). "The origins of words are always a fascination, and the origins of our own names can tell us a great deal of our family history. But the twists and turns of dialect and other influences often obscure the meanings, and a good eye and ear, and a wide knowledge of places, crafts, professions and languages, are needed to unravel many family names. A sense of humour helps, too, and here Mark Antony Lower takes his place in the tradition of observers of linguistic drift and foible such as Dr. Johnson, H.W. Fowler, Eric Partridge and Ernest Gowers. The book is full of fascinating anecdote and detail, and the introductory chapters cover American nomenclature, Scots, Irish and Welsh, and tables of statistical distribution. As for Mr. Lower's engaging style and unstuffy approach, one need only look at his entry for surnames beginning with the letter 'X', where he admits to following the example of a Northern naturalist 'who introduced into his work a chapter entitled 'Concerning Owls in Iceland', the chapter itself consisted of the words, 'There are no Owls in Iceland'. Mark Antony Lower's 'Dictionary of Surnames' is a book of endless delight, full of both scholarship and surprises." Light browning to pages, moderate browning to top and fore-edge of textblock, light edge wear, minor wrinkling at top of spine. Dust jacket has light edge wrinkling, two 3" creases at top of front panel. . Reprint. Hard Cover. Very Good-/Very Good-.