Before we start today's episode, a few words about this week's sponsor, Ireland's premier literary journal, Irish Pages, a journal of contemporary writing, and the Irish Pages Press.

Founded in 2002, and edited by Chris Aegee and Kathleen Jamie, Scotland's Macca, or National Pert Laureate,

Irish Pages combines a large general readership with outstanding writing from Ireland and overseas,

featuring many of the same writers found in the pages of the LRB.

Widely considered the Irish equivalent of Granter in England or the Paris Review in the United States,

it offers an unrivaled window on the literary and cultural life of these islands and further afield.

Late 2018 saw the formal launch of the Irish Pages Press, an annual programme of major book publishing.

The press flows from the outstanding standards of the journal in an age of media noise and

publishing hyperbole, literary content and production values of exceptional quality.

Irish Pages Press was awarded the British Book

Award Small Press at the Year, 2022, Ireland of Ireland. You can subscribe to Irish Pages on its

brand new website and buy back issues or any of their outstanding titles from Ireland, Scotland and

England. Ideal Christmas gifts include the celebrated hardback reprint Irish Pages,

the classic Hini issue, and an elegant week-to-view diary,

the 2024 Irish Pages literary diary.

Listen to the Irish Pages podcast and order now at www.org.

Thank you. www. irishpages.org.

You're listening to the London Review of Books podcast. I'm Thomas Jones.

This week I'm joined by Daisy Hay, a professor of English literature and life writing at Exeter University, whose books include young romantics, Mr and Mrs

Disraeli, and most recently Dinner with Joseph Johnson, Books and Friendship in a Revolutionary

Age. She has a piece in the latest issue of the LRB on the story behind the making of the OED.

It's a review of the dictionary

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