Forty-four years after the first part of the OED had been published (1884), and seventy-odd years after the Dictionary was first thought of (late 1850s), the first edition of the OED was completed in 1928. To mark the event, the OUP's own in-house journal The Periodical devoted its entire February 1928 issue to an account of the Dictionary's history and significance, including brief biographies of the main editors (pp. 10ff.) and a description of how the Dictionary had been made (pp. 15ff.). Click here to read it in a single text-searchable PDF file, or go to pages individually starting here.

The University of Oxford also engaged in special celebrations. On 5 June 1928, at its annual feast of Encaenia (a major event in the University's calendar at which honorary degrees are bestowed on public, academic and local luminaries), it rewarded both the publishers and the editors. Then on 6 June the Oxford University Press, Oxford University, and the Goldsmiths' Company (who had contributed £5,000 towards the cost of Volume VI), held a magnificent banquet in Goldsmiths' Hall, at which prime minister Stanley Baldwin gave a speech.

Click here to read more about the banquet. Click on the linked surnames to read facsimiles of speeches by Stanley Baldwin, William A. Craigie, William Jackson Pope and Francis W. Pember. We also reproduce a copy of the banquet's programme (including the menu) and the seating plan.