The New Yorker takes a look into the history of English grammar books and a new exhibit featuring works from the collection of Bryan A. Garner of LawProse. The piece also tells the story of Garner’s admiration for the English language.
From the article “Grammar-Nerd Heaven”:
Garner’s success—he is a highly sought-after speaker among lawyers and lexicographers—has enabled him to indulge his passions as a bibliophile and an antiquarian. A selection of sixty-eight items from the Garner Collection is on view at the Grolier Club (47 East Sixtieth Street, through May 15th), with a sumptuous hardcover limited-edition catalogue that serves as a companion guide. To enter the exhibit, titled “Taming the Tongue: In the Heyday of English Grammar (1713-1851),” via a discreet door on the second-floor landing of a stairwell at the Grolier, is to climb aboard the Grammarama ride at Disneyland for Nerds.
Garner is a noted speaker, writer, and consultant on legal writing and legal advocacy. He is editor in chief of?Black’s Law Dictionary?and the author of many leading works on law and language, including?Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage,?The Elements of Legal Style,?and The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style. Garner has taught at Southern Methodist University School of Law since 1990. In 2008, he was given the title of Distinguished Research Professor of Law. He is also a lecturer in law at?The University of Texas School of Law?and?A&M School of Law.
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