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The DEVIL'S DICTIONARY, a sardonic partial thesaurus of the English language, is perhaps the most lasting work of Ambrose Bierce (1842-ca. 1914), a Civil war veteran who established himself as one of the most influential American journalists of the latter nineteenth century as well as a noted writer of short stories and comic verse. Bierce introduced satirical definitions into his columns in 1875 under the title "The Demon's Dictionary" the present title was used for installments published in periodicals from 1881 until 1906 and was given to the selection reproduced here when it was first published as Volume VII of The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce in 1911, and as Bierce mentions in his preface, written for that volume, a portion of it (comprising the entries for letters A-L ) had been published in 1906 under the bowdlerized title The Cynic's Word

Book.

These biting definitions display Bierce's skills as an epigrammatist and wit, as well as knack for a variety of verse forms (and ability to devise outlandish pseudonyms). Seldom has the Devil's Dictionary been matched for relentless causticity, particularly in matters of religion and romance, two of the author's favorite subjects. Two years after its publication in book from Bierce ventured into revolution torn Mexico and was never heard from again.

Raphael Bluewolf