Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer

This arose in part from correspondence with readers of his previous book. On returning to England in 1856, Brewer started on the work that would become Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Its sales may have funded the extensive travels in Europe he made later. In later parts Brewer's questions place scientific information in a theological context, by asking readers to consider how scientific examples illustrate 'the goodness and wisdom of God'. It followed a simple format like a catechism, with questions and answers, and focused on explaining 'the common phenomena of life', such as why snow is white or leaves are green. On returning to Norwich to work at his father's school, Brewer compiled his first major work, A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar, which appeared about 1838–1841 and became immensely popular. Cobham Brewer attended Trinity Hall, Cambridge, graduating in Law in 1836. His father kept a school there in Calvert Street until 1824, when he opened an academy in Eaton on the outskirts. Cobham Brewer was the son of Elisabeth, née Kitton, and John Sherren Brewer, a Norwich schoolmaster associated with the Baptist congregation in Norwich. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, The Reader's HandbookĮbenezer Cobham Brewer ( in Norwich – 6 March 1897 in Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire), was a British lexicographer and the author of A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, and The Reader's Handbook, among other reference books.Į.

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer