Internet May Kill Printed Oxford Dictionary

Add another item to the Internet's hit list: It looks like the Oxford English Dictionary may one day exist in online form only. Its publisher said yesterday that it's uncertain whether the next edition will be printed on paper at all. And it's easy to see why: The digital version ($295 per year) gets 2 million hits per month; the 20-volume, 750-pound printed edition has sold 30,000 sets, at $1,165 each, since 1989, according to the AP.

An Oxford University Press rep denied the claims this morning, saying, "No decision has yet been made on the format of the third edition. It’s likely to be more than a decade before the full edition is published and a decision on format will be taken at that point. Lexicographers are currently preparing the third edition, which is 28% complete. No final completion date is yet confirmed." (More Oxford English Dictionary stories.)