"Dictionary, n: A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however, is a most useful work."
Bierce's groundbreaking Devil's Dictionary had a complex publication history. Started in the mid-1800s as an irregular column in Californian newspapers under various titles, he gradually refined the new-at-the-time idea of an irreverent set of glossary-like definitions. The final name, as we see it titled in this work, did not appear until an 1881 column published in the periodical The San Francisco Illustrated Wasp.
There were no publications of the complete glossary in the 1800s. Not until 1906 did a portion of Bierce's collection get published by Doubleday, under the name The Cynic's Word Book-the publisher not wanting to use the word "Devil" in the title, to the great disappointment of the author. The 1906 word book only went from A to L, however, and the remainder was never released under the compromised title.
In 1911 the Devil's Dictionary as we know it was published in complete form as part of Bierce's collected works (volume 7 of 12), including the remainder of the definitions from M to Z. This edition also includes a set of definitions attributed to his one-and-only "Demon's Dictionary" column, including Bierce's classic definition of A: "the first letter in every properly constructed alphabet."
Perfect for readers who appreciate razor-sharp wit and cynical observations about human nature, Bierce's timeless masterpiece delivers brilliantly subversive definitions that skewer society with devastating humor. This pioneering work of satirical literature remains as relevant and wickedly funny today as when it first scandalized readers over a century ago.