Most people know what dictionaries are – today generally found online with brief definitions of words and often now no sense of the word’s origins. Older people know of printed dictionaries, some large, some small such as the Oxford English Dictionary or Webster’s. But there are specialized dictionaries such as this pictured above, that give an alphabetical list particular to a subject of interest (or of no interest!). This dictionary has people, places, events etc. dealing with British history. The series editor notes the book includes the British Isles, but an examination shows a focus on English history salted with some Welsh, Scottish and Irish events and personalities and some mention of British imperialism. There is a chronology at the back, and a family tree of English rulers, neither not much thought about by modern historians. The first entry tells you of the Treaty of Abbeville, in 1259. The last entry gives a pocket history of Zululand, with an emphasis on its inclusion in the British Empire.
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