The Oxford English Dictionary, Volume 1-20, (20 Volume Set) Hardcover – March 30, 1989

When ordering furniture, prudence dictates some allowance be made for the size of the furniture and floor plans. Housing dimensions are always wishful mental impressions which are rapidly brought down to earth when the actual stuff arrives.When ordering the Oxford English Dictionary, I recommend preparations for 120 cm (47 to 48 inches) of shelf space to be set aside. 4 feet is safe. Anything less than 4 feet is slicing it a bit thin. Very few shelves today are more than a metre (37-38 inches)wide. I run mine across two shelves with the planks at the same height. Anything less spacious and all 20 volumes will be wedged so tightly that retrieval of individual volumes become tiresome. I cover my volumes with plastic wrap, some uncompressed area every few volumes avoids "stickiness" and helps the hand grasp a volume.Each volume is slightly more than 2 inches thick. They are not of uniform thickness. Volumes 1-10 is about 1.5 inches wider on the shelf than Volumes 11-20.The height of the shelves should be just over 32 cm. 13 inch height is fine. Anything more and the volumes will not look aesthetically pleasing. Such an august collection should not look as if it were an ill-fitting after-thought. Too much head space in the shelf is to be avoided.Getting a shelf 30 cm or 12 inches deep should not be a problem.For 20 years, my first set sat on scandinavian solid pine 1 inch thick shelves, so that was uneventful, but such furniture is now virtually unavailable. Another set meant for more robust use sat on half inch thick shelves made of tropical teak ply, each 32 inch wide. After a few months, the two shelves started bowing (warping downwards at the centre). There were some other books on these shelves to act as "book-ends". I turned over the teak ply planks, only to have them bow from convexity to concavity again. I bought some extra half inch planks and two planks held the Dictionary without them warping downwards.I would advise against IKEA "Billy" shelves (suggested by a reviewer) for long term use. Other lighter volumes (like law journals) have collapsed a shelf every now and then, spilling the books on to the floor. Perhaps the fault was in my poor workmanship as an outsourced assembler of otherwise sturdy Swedish furniture. The volumes look solidly bound to survive such a fall, but I am loathe to crash-test them.The weather in my country is tropical, and is harsh to books. The Dust Jacket colour has held up extremely well, with no noticeable deterioration of colour over 20 years. The page edges are blue-speckled, and my earlier type-set in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England and MANUFACTURED IN THE USA shows some additional light brown speckling from age. Otherwise it is like the day it was bought. There is no mention of where it was printed. The latest sets are printed in China (it says so on the box and in the book), and the jury is out on which country produces the better product. For example, Volume 15 2002 7th reprint in the USA weighs 2.8 kg, while the same Vol 15 8th reprint PRINTED IN CHINA on acid-free paper weighs 3.0 kg. The Printed in China volume looks less glossy, and duller, which makes the print easier to read, and feels far more solid. I prefer the United States marque although evidence in the physical product points to the contrary.It is a dilemma looking at the three versions: 1989, 2002 and the present China one, each having its own merits. The irony is that the 2002 version from Fulfilment by Amazon (click under "see 2 other formats") from Intelligent Entertainment is $799.99; the USA product being $200 to $400 cheaper than the China product is an irony when the balance of trade points to the contrary. Maybe the Chinese, as they told you in their 2008 Olympics, were the inventors of paper and had several millenia advantage over Yankee newbies.20 years ago, I bought the Oxford for the USD equivalent of about $4,000, and shipping from England cost about $800 and it took 3 months to arrive. Nowadays, a set with the CD is just 1,099. And Amazon got it to Singapore by Standard Shipping by DHL from USA to Singapore in just 3 days for a mere $71 dollars.It got cheaper when I ordered the 2002 reprint from the Amazon Fulfilment centre, at USD799. The shipping was just a nominal $9.99 (the same as a normal book - $5 plus 4.99 for an overseas Standard Shipping). And Amazon delivered it by DHL in just 3 days yet again, and again. For the price of ONE set in 1989, I can have multiple sets in 2010. Plus instant gratification too. I do not have to worry about misplacing a volume any more. In 1989, a Manhattan apartment cost around $40,000, so $4,000 for the Oxford was a 10% down-payment on an apartment.I thought I should put things in perspective if anyone is wondering if the 20 volume set is good value for money. The only considerations in acquisition are: (1) the availability of 4 feet of shelf space, and(2) current fortuitous availability of disposable income, which otherwise might have been misspent elsewhere.Fortunately, I live in an area where tropical hardwood shelves are bountiful. My dvd collection looks great on stylish IKEA shelves, but I urge caution when using the terms "IKEA" and "OXFORD 20 VOLUME SET" in the same context.July 2010 update: I have had the 20 volume set on a professionally assembled IKEA basic economy "billy" 30 inch bookshelf and it seems to have held up well for months. The $50 shelf and the $799.99 Fulfilment by Amazon USA set placed within arm's reach of my work station really encourage its use, even over the Shorter Oxford, which is on the same Ikea bookshelf.Christmas 2010 update: The same stuff plus CD Rom under "Oxford English Dictionary Set" is just $1,091.78. So if clicked "Check Out" under this heading, you would be paying about $200 extra. If you were suckered, write to Amazon to demand a refund.I take the point of another reviewer that the cost of the Oxford does fluctuate from time to time. The 20 volume set with the CD-rom Version 4.0 dropped from $1,299 to $1,099 during the three months when it was "out of stock" at Amazon in 2009. The CD rom ($220 if bought separately) is thrown in for just $100 more, now that 20 volume Hard Copy+ CD is in stock.That reviewer's claim that he got his set at only $300, during what must be a Black Friday Gold Box flash sale, rubs salt into wound. The same Oxford is readily available today for what is less than a month's mortgage payment on the same time-travelled Manhattan apartment. However, that claim of a give-away $300 for 20 volumes grates on my nerves.I want to whack that guy on the head with a volume of Oxford. Individual volumes of the Oxford are finely balanced and handles well for its size, both for reading as well as for use as a blunt instrument.

This twenty volume set weighing in excess of 140 lbs. was packed in a 65 lb. maximum capacity box. The box was totally demolished and only 14 of the 20 volumes were delivered. The volumes that made it had crushed corners and scratched covers. I repacked the remaining volumes in 3 separate boxes and sent them back. I would really like to have this incredible set of dictionaries but am afraid that if I order them again I will get the same result.

I determined to purchase both the printed edition and CD of The Oxford English Dictionary ( it had been my dream to possess this dictionary since my early childhood). Astonishingly Constructed with over 20 volumes 5 million words comprehensively defined, by countless quotations from older generations which also has inclusion of middle English, Latin, Greek to dedicately explain etymology of words. I am stupendously glad I've successfullly got them in my hand. Thank goodnessThere are so many so many words that you didn't know existed from old English to Modern English.... words that have fallen out of conversational usage but no doubt will contribute at describing weirdish phenomenons like vexation caused at having difficulties finding a right word(refers to onomatomania)If you are obsessed with words like me, buy this definitive record of the English language.From what I have heard from lexicogrephers at Oxford University they no longer will manufacture the printed edition what that means is.. you have got to buy them as at the earlier time as possible before the dicitonary gets out of stock!!!!!!!!!!Thank sir James Murray who has sacrificed his entirety of his life to publish this historical most refulgent dictionary

I ordered the 20 volume set and paid the full price of $1215.00 plus taxes etc and received only a single volume, volume 17, out of the 20 volumeThis way below any expectations

This was amazing price for my wish list of over 25 years. I remember being extremely tempted to buy very old first edition while I was a poor college student; I do not rember that price. Later I bought this on digital CD which I very much enjoyed but that CD stopped working with a windows upgrade. Next I tried $100 per year digital online OED; online OED requires too many logins. I might not renew online OED but meanwhile I use it for quick queries. I very much enjoy fullsize -- not the microscope version -- because I like browsing nearby entries with zero logins.Extra credit: this seller sent supplements 1 and 3 of 3, and something about hiking in oregon. This was a huge order requiring four boxes. The extra boxes were part of very good padding to protect these books in shipping.Extra credit for USPS tracking numbers.Extra credit for early delivery.Extra credit for my query why first three of four boxes arriving first. That was USPS unrelated to seller. Seller investigated the problem and advised me on USPS delay.I very much recommended this seller.

We ordered the wonderful OED and waited on its arrival. Finally it arrived - well at least Soot -Styx, Volume 16 arrived in a single mail bag. Nothing more arrived of our order so we organised to have a replacement set.The next set arrived MINUS volumes 5-8! So we now had 2 volumes 16 and no volumes 5-8. So we contacted Amazon yet again and they said, "OK we'll replace the whole lot again!" Well, I don't know about you but the utter waste of thousands of pages of beautiful books I can't abide, so I said, "NOooooo."Its obvious that Amazon in all its multinational high powered glory can't, after repeated attempts, get the OED to Australia. So we ordered the 4 missing volumes separately from a book shop affiliated with Amazon and are hoping for better things.... will keep you posted.