What’s 11.2 pounds, five inches thick, has to be assembled from nearly twenty individual pieces, and contains the entire width and breath of English language knowledge (from 1957 anyway)?
If you said the Assemble It Yourself New Century Dictionary, Deluxe Illustrated 1957 English Language Edition, you would be correct.
A copy of this incredible, monstrous dictionary walked through the library’s doors as a donation the other day. The dictionary is 2,300 pages, with 4,000 illustrations!
It’s on display at the library during regular hours.
Back in the late-1950s when you bought a copy of this book, it came in pieces with long metal posts and you needed a screwdriver to assemble it. We even have the instruction manual that went with it.
The four-page instruction manual helps readers assemble their dictionary!
This book is the 1950s equivalent of today’s iPhone. It likely would have been unusual for an individual of the day to have this book, but libraries, law firms and universities would certainly have it available.
As many patrons know, the Griffin Free Public Library was chartered all the way back in 1893 as not just a library but as a museum as well. We have a fairly large collection of period pieces both from our founder, Sebastian Griffin, but also of items donated to our collection over the years.
Our goal is to add this massive book to our collection as Touchable History – a way for our community, especially kids, to see what having all the information in the palm of your hand actually looked like back then!
The New Century Dictionary is now available for in our front room (also the museum space). Come take a look! Bring a magnifying glass because for a 2,000+ page book, the text is awfully small!