Sam Winston

First published in my bedroom at the ripe old age of 22. At the time I had this to say: “When we read, words take on an existence unto themselves – what would happen if words could do this without our help. The result is what I call A Dictionary Story, a tale where the text decided to take on its own personality and character even before it was read.”

As there was no colophon or other descriptive information, I still class this iteration as a prototype. It is dubious if the edition made it all the way up to its labelled “/50” as large packs of paper were expensive for me, a broke art student. That said, I do have a delivery note saying that 12 copies were dropped off to The Institute of Contemporary Art for sale in their shop at £12 (I was yet to find out that selling out at the shop didn’t equal making a living).

This originally was a prototype collage before I moved to the idea of a typeset story. To make it I hand-cut hundreds of words from an Oxford Mini Dictionary and arranged them with a glue and knife on a page, trying to match the narrative of the story I had just written. I’m not sure how literally one should take the often (misquoted) phrase of “bad artists copy, great artists steal,” but there must have been some ‘great artists’ passing through Camberwell College of Art when I put this work on display in 2001, because it disappeared overnight. Fortunately, a few black and white reproductions were made and now this is all that remains of this early project – aptly now titled a Stolen Dictionary.

Confusingly titled as a second edition, this print is in fact a first edition. The story remained the same as the 2001 book (hence me choosing to call it a second edition) but the medium, design and artwork were all new.

At that time, I was full of passion for breaking down and questioning barriers in art production, including how to label artworks. And whilst that sentiment is honourable, I perhaps neglected the fact that correctly labelling your work is also pretty helpful for other people cataloguing it in the future!

That said it was lovely to see what the large open space did to the typographic illustrations. I was especially fond of the definition of ‘Dropped” falling down the page.

The actual first edition printing of the book A Dictionary Story with the publisher Circle Press, a full colophon edition size and bibliographic information.

In 2006 I had made the wiser decision to clearly define editions, yet life still got in the way. Halfway through the production I had to change my binder (originally Quality Art Reproductions) to Haein Song – and whilst a very smart move it still meant that the colophon was a work in progress.

Designed by Richard Bonner Morgan and myself, this iteration seemed to carry over a lot of the white space from the 2005 print. The luxury of elongated pages meant both the story and type could breathe.

The project up until 2009 had existed in the formats of artist books, print, sculpture and even editorial illustration. But there was one format that I really wanted to make, which was an affordable trade edition.

This was the first iteration that was aimed at a slightly larger audience, printed in an edition of 800. Ironically, to make cheaper books you need to have more money. The biggest expense with handmade books is you, whereas printers, binders and finishers all want hard cash up front. Fortunately, Kickstarter had just launched and A Dictionary Story was an early project on their site before they launched to the public.

Cover design by David Pearson, a collaboration I discussed in an interview – “David Pearson and myself had been talking for some time and it was great for us to finally work together on something – it was also very generous of him to give his time to the project."

For the 2013 second trade edition I returned to the formatting of the original 2001 A Dictionary Story of three concertina folded sections in a plastic wallet. This edition saw a new typographic composition throughout (pictured above, the comparison of 2001 to 2013), and was described by Marina Warner as “a fairy tale as concrete poem, a typographical romance, filled with wit and tenderness.”

I had this to say at the time …’Screen culture has really hidden the roots of the written word and I think when things become so disembodied, it's easy to lose sight of meaning. Now felt like a good time to celebrate the stories and things that help us embody knowledge. ‘

The printing and cover design were overseen by my dear friends Emma and Kirsty at design studio A Practice for Everyday Life.

A Dictionary Story (2013) is available to purchase as part of the Collector’s Set here.

In 2020 I made a Kickstarter to release a new poster titled A New Dictionary Story in celebration of the project’s 20th anniversary. I had this to say at the time …’Screen culture has really hidden the roots of the written word and I think when things become so disembodied, it's easy to lose sight of meaning. Now felt like a good time to celebrate the stories and things that help us embody knowledge.’

The sto­ry is told and illustrated using 230 def­i­n­itions, which were com­plete­ly rewrit­ten and redrawn for this edition, and print­ed at Nomad Letterpress.

You can purchase the print here.

When making works, it's an archaeological dig – what's here and what can be dug up from the cultural soil? Or what can be but cut out from existing narratives. It's the stories that we were given at a young age that interest me, the ones we get fed when we're there’s not a filter (Typeroom, 2020). Dictionaries and rules seem to be part of a very foundational literature that shapes our world view.

I think it’s important that we are also reminded that these too have been made up.

This is why I am so happy The Dictionary Story is coming out as a book for readers both young and old. Dictionary Story is a celebration of crossing over many worlds – from order to play and back again.

The Dictionary Story is a book that I wish I had had as a kid. When I was young, I didn’t understand words, my imagination was crazy and reading seemed like torture.

Purchase The Dictionary Story here.

This was made 23 years ago, but I love how closely it mirrors the end papers in the 2024 book. Sometimes the work we make is not meant for that moment, but rather you bump into its use a few decades later!

Happy accidents. When ink and technology were cheap enough to break. Somehow the ink never really fixed that well to the page with my old printer. This left a lovey window of time (before it dried) to let the words run around a little longer before settling down.

It’s important (for me at least) to keep in mind that all of our communication has a very material background and history. Whilst we’re dedicated to reading the message, it’s vital we don't ignore the physical forms our stories appear in. The ink, silicone, rare earth metals (that make up tech) can’t be separated from the words we say.

This is the notebook from my student days and it actually has the line “(the dictionary) had all the words that had ever been read which also meant it could ever be said" in it. I love that my wonderful friend (and teacher at the time, Ian Wright) was correcting my spelling and grammar – “once there was a time when all the books knew what they were about where they stood..." I still need my friends to help me spell ;).

Part of the printing plate for the letterpress print in Dictionary Story 2020. It was large enough that we needed to produce multiple sections to fit the whole design onto one sheet. Gutenberg would of been proud (or maybe just very confused).