C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Joseph Emerson Worcester (1784–1865)
Worcester, Joseph Emerson. A famous American lexicographer, author of ‘Worcester’s Dictionary’; born in Bedford, NH, Aug. 24, 1784; settled in Cambridge, MA, 1820, and died there, Oct. 27, 1865. He graduated at Yale in 1811, and very shortly began his life work as a dictionary-maker. His first publication was: ‘A Geographical Dictionary, or Universal Gazetteer’ (1817, revised 1823); followed by ‘Gazetteer of the United States’ (1818); ‘Elements of Geography’ (1819); ‘Sketches of the Earth and its Inhabitants’ (1823); ‘Elements of History’ (1826). In 1830 he published the ‘Comprehensive Pronouncing and Explanatory English Dictionary’ (enlarged editions appeared 1847–49–55). In 1860 he published the great quarto, ‘Dictionary of the English Language’ (Illustrated).