29 JANUARY 1943, Page 20

A Dictionary of Abbreviations. By Eric Partridge. (Allen and Unwire.

7s. 6d.) THE abbreviations in use before the present war were numerous and puzzling enough to exhaust the average memory, but they. have since multiplied to such vast extent that it has become impossible either to know or to remember them all. This new Dictionary of Abbreviations, therefore, meets a real need, and Mr. Eric Partridge, author of a well-known Dictionary of Siang and other linguistic studies, has succeeded in producing a most useful book, which has passed successfully every. test the present writer has applied to it.

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