An edition of The Devil's Dictionary (1840)

The Devil’s Dictionary

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  • 4.12 ·
  • 8 Ratings
  • 113 Want to read
  • 4 Currently reading
  • 10 Have read


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Last edited by lisaBot
November 2, 2023 | History
An edition of The Devil's Dictionary (1840)

The Devil’s Dictionary

  • 4.12 ·
  • 8 Ratings
  • 113 Want to read
  • 4 Currently reading
  • 10 Have read

Dictionary, n: A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however, is a most useful work.”

Bierce’s groundbreaking Devil’s Dictionary had a complex publication history. Started in the mid-1800s as an irregular column in Californian newspapers under various titles, he gradually refined the new-at-the-time idea of an irreverent set of glossary-like definitions. The final name, as we see it titled in this work, did not appear until an 1881 column published in the periodical The San Francisco Illustrated Wasp.

There were no publications of the complete glossary in the 1800s. Not until 1906 did a portion of Bierce’s collection get published by Doubleday, under the name The Cynic’s Word Book—the publisher not wanting to use the word “Devil” in the title, to the great disappointment of the author. The 1906 word book only went from A to L, however, and the remainder was never released under the compromised title.

In 1911 the Devil’s Dictionary as we know it was published in complete form as part of Bierce’s collected works (volume 7 of 12), including the remainder of the definitions from M to Z. It has been republished a number of times, including more recent efforts where older definitions from his columns that never made it into the original book were included. Due to the complex nature of copyright, some of those found definitions have unclear public domain status and were not included. This edition of the book includes, however, a set of definitions attributed to his one-and-only “Demon’s Dictionary” column, including Bierce’s classic definition of A: “the first letter in every properly constructed alphabet.”

Bierce enjoyed “quoting” his pseudonyms in his work. Most of the poetry, dramatic scenes and stories in this book attributed to others were self-authored and do not exist outside of this work. This includes the prolific Father Gassalasca Jape, whom he thanks in the preface—“jape” of course having the definition: “a practical joke.”

This book is a product of its time and must be approached as such. Many of the definitions hold up well today, but some might be considered less palatable by modern readers. Regardless, the book’s humorous style is a valuable snapshot of American culture from past centuries.

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: The Devil’s Dictionary
The Devil’s Dictionary
2021, Standard Ebooks
in English
Cover of: The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary
The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary
2013, Readaclassic.com
in English
Cover of: The Devil's Dictionary
The Devil's Dictionary
2007-02-10, LibriVox
in English
Cover of: The Devil's Dictionary
The Devil's Dictionary
2005, Axiom Publishing
in English
Cover of: The Devils Dictionary
The Devils Dictionary
2005, Echo Library
in English
Cover of: The Devil's Dictionary
The Devil's Dictionary
1997-07-01, Project Gutenberg
in English
Cover of: The Devil's Dictionary
The Devil's Dictionary
1993, Dover Publications, Inc.
in English
Cover of: The Devil's Dictionary
The Devil's Dictionary
1993, Dover Publications, Inc.
in English
Cover of: The Devil's Dictionary
The Devil's Dictionary
1967, Hill and Wang
in English
Cover of: The devil's dictionary
The devil's dictionary
1962, Dover Publications
in English
Cover of: The Devil's Dictionary
The Devil's Dictionary
1911, The World Publishing Co
in English
Cover of: The devil's dictionary
The devil's dictionary
1911, World Pub. Co.
in English
Cover of: The Devil's Dictionary
The Devil's Dictionary
xxxx, Dolphin Books
in English

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Book Details


ID Numbers

Open Library
OL37044861M
Standard Ebooks
ambrose-bierce/the-devils-dictionary

Work Description

The Devil's Dictionary was begun in a weekly paper in 1881, and was continued in a desultory way at long intervals until 1906. In that year a large part of it was published in covers with the title The Cynic's Word Book, a name which the author had not the power to reject or happiness to approve. To quote the publishers of the present work: "This more reverent title had previously been forced upon him by the religious scruples of the last newspaper in which a part of the work had appeared, with the natural consequence that when it came out in covers the country already had been flooded by its imitators with a score of 'cynic' books - The Cynic's This, The Cynic's That, and The Cynic's t'Other. Most of these books were merely stupid, though some of them added the distinction of silliness. Among them, they brought the word "cynic" into disfavor so deep that any book bearing it was discredited in advance of publication."Meantime, too, some of the enterprising humorists of the country had helped themselves to such parts of the work as served their needs, and many of its definitions, anecdotes, phrases and so forth, had become more or less current in popular speech. This explanation is made, not with any pride of priority in trifles, but in simple denial of possible charges of plagiarism, which is no trifle. In merely resuming his own the author hopes to be held guiltless by those to whom the work is addressed - enlightened souls who prefer dry wines to sweet, sense to sentiment, wit to humor and clean English to slang.

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