The American Heritage® College Dictionary, Fourth Edition Deluxe

Rating:
Summary: Stunning and rewarding dictionary
Review: BACKGROUND
I purchased this dictionary based on my experience with two older H-M dictionaries: the H-M Canadian Dictionary from 1982 and the American Heritage 3rd edition; for the most part I prefer the former.

APPEARANCE
I anticipate that anyone who first holds this beautiful example of book making will be as delighted as I was. From the deep red linen cover with its gold lettering, to layout of the entries, to the crisp resolution of both text and images, this dictionary is drop dead gorgeous. Similarly, its size and weight make it both comfortable and satisfying to hold.

CONTENTS
The amount of words is excellent for its size, thanks to H-M's choice of Minion as the body font (one of my favorites!). The definitions are clear and the etymologies are throrough. Usage notes, synonomy paragraphs and the like all add to the richness of browsing through this dictionary; that combined with the visual presentation of the entries and the addition of photos make this a very pleasant dictionary to browse through. In other words, it invites one to explore its pages, as opposed to just being used as a reference for when you want to look up a word.

EXTRAS
Other nice features which expand on the dictionary's encyclopedic character are the addition of several charts and tables, as well as some fascinating appendicies on the Indo-European roots of English and other languages.

SUMMARY
This is a dictionary for those who love to explore the riches of our language. It has ample entries, whose meanings, pronunciations and etymologies are all clearly articulated, as well as being (arguably) the most beautiful dictionary available today. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Misleading description
Review: Just wanted to warn folks that the description of this edition is kind of misleading (at least it mislead me!). It says that it has "an attractive linen case with stamped lettering." Well, I think that it should say it has "an attractive linen COVER." The book does NOT come in a case (as in slip-case), which I expected.