The Illustrated Gaelic - English Dictionary: New Akerbeltz Edition [Hardcover]

Akerbeltz, You've really come up with the goods! Thank you for a much appreciated reliable copy of good old Dwelly. Most of the other publications currently being produced are absolute rubbish.

Folks, AKERBELTZ has just republished Dwelly, an authentic copy of the original dictionary, over 1000 pages long, as was produced by Dwelly himself nearly a century ago but now with cleaner clearer font, complete, effectively proofread and in an attractive hardback edition, destined to last. THIS IS NOT one of those dreadful, disappointing OCR 'print on demand' Dwelly replicas that are swamping Amazon's pages. Amazon ought to be ashamed of themselves for hosting them! If you type "Dwelly Gaelic Dictionary" into Amazon.co.uk's browser slot, you'll get this edition popping up right enough, however, you'll also be swamped by these worse than penny dreadfuls, so make sure you have the right one, Akerbeltz's. Once you're sure you have the right page, click on this book's icon and you'll get the opportunity to cast an eye over its quality; you'll see how legible is the text, the illustrations and the numbers surrounding them - and none of the strange stuff that appears in some of the rubbish replicas. Bear in mind though, that Dwelly's spelling is old-fashioned so not suitable for primary school kids in spite of what you may read to the contrary, however, the old-fashioned spelling is what's to be found in old books of Gaelic prose and poetry and you'll be wanting to read them, won't you? I know I do!

I wrote direct to Akerbeltz and Michael, who owns the business, explained that he hadn't intended to produce a hard copy of Dwelly at all. He reckoned he'd done enough making Dwelly-d available online[...] totally free for all to use. He rejected requests to put it in print for a fair time, however, tons of folks, learners and friends alike, asked him to produce it in book format - in spite of its availability online. In the end poor Michael agreed. What a task to take on! Akerbeltz never received a penny towards the cost of its preparation or publication and a book this size costs a pretty penny to produce. That is why it is £55. I don't believe he'll get much profit out of it no matter how deserving he is!

According to Akerbeltz's site at [...] rather than using the old-fashioned lithographic printing system, this new edition has been freshly typeset and that has left it far brighter & clearer than before. The font is slightly bigger too which is great for ageing eyes. Apart from correcting the odd spelling error and alphabetical mistype he'd found in the original, Michael hasn't altered Dwelly since it went into print nearly 100 years ago. It is exactly as before, but better! Using new digital techniques, Michael cleaned up the illustrations which now look nice and clear and the numbers can now be read, something that had become near impossible with later official editions. I'm afraid the old lithographic plates had worn smooth with all the repeats that had been produced from them.

So here's the bottom line, folks, if you're NOT planning buying an original costing around £200-£300 or more; or if you're NOT wanting a dreadful Dwelly produced with the aid of OCR full of strange symbols making no sense at all; or if you're NOT planning wasting good money on a version with half its pages missing ....

If you DO want Dwelly in book form, a dictionary to keep by your side for when you're reading or writing in Gaelic; if you DO want to read in bed with a dictionary by you when your online version is unavailable to you; if you DO want a good trusty copy of Dwelly you can put your hand on any time you need it, this is the edition you need. That's it. As simple as that! You know, in case you've not discovered the joys of Dwelly's dictionary, it isn't just a fascinating publication, it is so much more than that; such a lot of interesting information in it, not simply pages of translated words.

In case you are wondering if I have any connection to Akerbeltz, no, I haven't. I'm just a person who speaks, reads, writes and enjoys Gaelic and appreciates a good & authentic copy of Dwelly to rely on. :-)

Siuthad, ceannaich e agus gabh tlachd ann. [go on, buy it and enjoy it]