ABSTRACT
The Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles (DCHP-1, Avis et al. 1967) was published to considerable acclaim in 1967 by a Canadian editorial team and a Canadian publishing house, W.J. Gage Ltd. DCHP-1’s benchmarks appear somewhat modest by today’s standards: 927 pages long, it contains 10,000 headwords, 13,400 meanings, about 30,000 quotations and was published as a beautifully made one-volume hardcover for the then-hefty price of $25 (about $180 in 2016 money). When Raven I. McDavid (1970:289), then one of the best English-language dialectologists, wrote that DCHP-1 would see “unlike most other historical dictionaries […] frequent and adequate revision”, he could not know that half a century would pass before a second edition would see the light of day.
