Ebenezer Cobham Brewer

Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (2 May 1810 in Norwich – 6 March 1897 in Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire), was a British lexicographer and the author of A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, and The Reader's Handbook, among other reference books.

Education and travels

E. Cobham Brewer was the son of Elisabeth, née Kitton, and John Sherren Brewer, a Norwich schoolmaster associated with the Baptist congregation in Norwich. His father kept a school there in Calvert Street until 1824, when he opened an academy in Eaton on the outskirts. E. Cobham Brewer attended Trinity Hall, Cambridge, graduating in Law in 1836. In the meantime he was ordained in 1838.

The science of the familiar

On returning to Norwich to work at his father's school, Brewer compiled his first major work, A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar, which appeared about 1838–1841 and became immensely popular. It followed a simple format like a catechism, with questions and answers, and focused on explaining "the common phenomena of life", such as why snow is white or leaves are green. In later parts Brewer's questions place scientific information in a theological context, by asking readers to consider how scientific examples illustrate "the goodness and wisdom of God". Its sales may have funded the extensive travels in Europe he made later.

Phrase and fable

On returning to England in 1856, Brewer started on the work that would become Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. This arose in part from correspondence with readers of his previous book. The first edition appeared in 1870 and a "New Edition revised, corrected, and enlarged" in 1895.