Source:Reaney, P.H. Dictionary of English Surnames (3rd Edition)

According to the front matter of the 3rd Edition (via Google Books), the intial publication was in 1958 under the name "A Dictionary of British Surnames". Subsequently a "second impression" was prepared in 1961 which contained some corrections relative to the original text. A second revised edition was published in 1976, and a third edition, under the name "A Dictionary of English Surnames" was published in 1991 by Routledge (part of Chapman and Hall).

According to the Preface of the 3rd Edition, that volume included 4,000 additional names and variants. "The change of title reflects a concentration on surnames of specifically English rather than Celtic origin, which has been increasingly apparent in successive editions."

According to the Preface of the 2nd Edition, that volume included 700 additional names, excluded from the original edition due to space considerations. Also, the abbreviations set was recomposed for the 2nd Edition.

According to the Preface of presumably the 1st Edition, work on the content of the 1958 1st Edition began in 1943. In this preface, Reaney thanked R. M. Wilson for reading proofs, who would later bring forth subsequent editions.

Looking at Worldcat content, specifically OCLC 7385558255 and the referred DOI 10.4324/9780203993552, the eBook version of the 1991 edition was published by Routledge in 2006 as subscription-restricted content available on the Taylor & Francis site. Adding to confusion, Taylor & Francis refers to the 1991 edition as the 1st edition.

The University of Sheffield holds the copyright to all editions: 1958, 1961, 1976 and 1991.

Authorship

Second Edition, 1976

This appears to have been composed by R. M. Wilson, largely taken from Reaney's original material.

Third Edition, 1991

Retains the primary authorship of P. H. Reaney, and adds R. M. Wilson as contributing corrections and additions for the 3rd edition. Original research from Wilson comprises a major part of the 3rd Edition additions.

Repositories

The Google Books 3rd edition (1991) is provided in Preview mode, allowing a significant but limited reading of the text. The Internet Archive edition (3rd also) is available to borrow by users who have a free registered account on the repository.

ISBN

• 1991 3rd edition, eBook: ISBN 0-203-99355-1
• 1991 3rd edition, print edition: ISBN 0-415-05737-X

Contents

Third Edition, 1991

• Preface to the Third Edition, by R. M. Wilson
• Preface to the Second Edition, by R. M. Wilson
• Preface, by P. H. Reaney (First Edition, apparently)
• Introduction
• Abbreviations
• The Dictionary