E. Cobham Brewer

Dr. Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1810-1897), was the compiler of Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, a Victorian reference work.

E Cobham Brewer was the son of a Norwich schoolmaster. He attended the University of Cambridge, graduating in Law in 1836. He was ordained in 1838 and then returned to Norwich to work at his father's school. While there he compiled his first major work, A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar, first published in 1838. The book was immensely popular, and the sales may have funded his later extensive travels in Europe.

On returning to England in 1856, he started on the work that was to become Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. The dictionary was derived in part from correspondence with readers of his books. The first edition was published in 1870 and Brewer worked on a revised edition that appeared in 1894.

Another Dictionary by Brewer is: Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1 A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook, New York 1892, available at Gutenberg