Giant £750 dictionary may have had its day

It's been in print for more than a century, but in future the Oxford English Dictionary - the authoritative guide to the English language - may only be available online.

Publisher Oxford University Press has said that demand for the dictionary's online version has far outpaced demand for the printed versions.

By the time the lexicographers behind the dictionary finished revising and updating the latest edition - a gargantuan task that will take many more years - publishers are doubtful there will still be a market for the printed form.

The online Oxford English Dictionary now attracts 2 million hits a month from subscribers. The current printed edition - a hefty 20-volume, 750 set published in 1989 - has sold about 30,000 sets in total.

"At present we are experiencing increasing demand for the online product," a statement from the publisher said. "However a print version will certainly be considered if there is sufficient demand at the time of publication."

Nigel Portwood, chief executive of OUP has said he does not think the newest edition will be printed. "The print dictionary market is just disappearing, it is falling away by tens of percent a year," he said.

Although the comments relate primarily to the full-length dictionary, the publisher says the convenience of the electronic format is also affecting demand for its shorter dictionaries.

The first instalment of the Oxford English Dictionary was published in 1884, and it kept growing for decades until the complete text went out in 1928.

It was the first comprehensive English dictionary since Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language of 1755, and has since evolved to become the accepted authority on the meaning and history of words.