War of words in fight to keep historic dictionary

TIME is running out to keep one of the earliest examples of an English dictionary in the country.
Minister Ed VaizeyMinister Ed Vaizey
Minister Ed Vaizey

The 500-year-old Catholicon Anglicum was sold to an overseas buyer at auction last year.

But the book – believed to have been written in Yorkshire due to the dialect of the English words in – had an export bar imposed by Culture Minister Ed Vaizey in a bid to stop it leaving the country.

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A matching offer of £92,500 has to be met in order to keep it in the UK, although the deferral could be extended until June 16 if there is a serious intention to raise funds to buy the dictionary.

A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said the deadline for bids was midnight last night and that a decision was expected soon.

The Middle English-Latin dictionary dates from 1483 and is the only complete example in existence.

One other known copy, which has lost leaves in several places, is kept held at the British Library.

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The decision to defer granting an export licence followed a recommendation that the dictionary was so closely connected with the country’s history and national life, and that it was of outstanding significance for the study of the development of English lexicography.

The recommendation was made by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, administered by Arts Council England.