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The Devil's Dictionary_ was begun in a weekly paper in 1881, and was continued in a desultory way at long intervals until 1906. In that year a large part of it was published in covers with the title _The Cynic's Word Book_, a name which the author had not the power to reject or happiness to approve. To quote the publishers of the present work: | The Internet Wiretap 1st Online Edition of THE DEVIL S DICTIONARY by AMBROSE BIERCE Copyright 1911 by Albert and Charles Boni Inc. A Public Domain Text Copyright Expired Released April 15 1993 Entered by Aloysius of tSftDotIotE aloysius@west.darkside.com PREFACE The Devil s Dictionary_ was begun in a weekly paper in 1881 and was continued in a desultory way at long intervals until 1906. In that year a large part of it was published in covers with the title _The Cynic s Word Book_ a name which the author had not the power to reject or happiness to approve. To quote the publishers of the present work This more reverent title had previously been forced upon him by the religious scruples of the last newspaper in which a part of the work had appeared with the natural consequence that when it came out in covers the country already had been flooded by its imitators with a score of cynic books -- The Cynic s This The Cynic s That and The Cynic s t other. Most of these books were merely stupid though some of them added the distinction of silliness. Among them they brought the word cynic into disfavor so deep that any book bearing it was discredited in advance of publication. Meantime too some of the enterprising humorists of the country had helped themselves to such parts of the work as served their needs and many of its definitions anecdotes phrases and so forth had become more or less current in popular speech. This explanation is made not with any pride of priority in trifles but in simple denial of possible charges of plagiarism which is no trifle. In merely resuming his own the author hopes to be held guiltless by those to whom the work is addressed -- enlightened souls who prefer dry wines to sweet sense to sentiment wit to humor and clean English to slang. A conspicuous and it is hope not unpleasant feature of the book is its abundant illustrative quotations from eminent poets chief of whom is that learned and ingenius cleric Father Gassalasca Jape S.J. whose lines .