Life

Vizetelly was born April 2, 1864, in England, the only son of Henry Vizetelly

Henry Vizetelly

Henry Richard Vizetelly was an English publisher, the son of a printer. He was early apprenticed as a wood engraver, and one of his first blocks was a portrait of Old Parr....

 and his second wife, Elizabeth Anne Ansell. His half-brother was Ernest Alfred Vizetelly

Ernest Alfred Vizetelly

Ernest Alfred Vizetelly , author, son of English publisher Henry Vizetelly. Ernest re-published some of his fathers works about Emile Zola but modified them...

 (1853-1922). After an education in France and England, he joined his father's publishing house in 1882; the firm and his father were eventually ruined by convictions for obscenity

Obscenity

An obscenity is any statement or act which strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time, is a profanity, or is otherwise taboo, indecent, abhorrent, or disgusting, or is especially inauspicious...

 resulting from the publication of the novels of Emile Zola

Émile Zola

Émile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...

.

He moved to New York in 1891, eventually becoming naturalised as a citizen of the United States. The publishers Funk & Wagnalls employed him, beginning on the Isaac Funk's editorial staff compiling A Standard Dictionary of the English Language. His continued to act as an editor for the firm's dictionaries and encyclopedia, and had a column in their Literary Digest

Literary Digest

The Literary Digest was an influential general interest weekly magazine published by Funk & Wagnalls. Founded by Isaac Kaufmann Funk in 1890, it eventually merged with two similar weekly magazines, Public Opinion and Current Opinion.-History:...

known as "The Lexicographer's Easy Chair."

He died in 1926, being interred at New York's Woodlawn Cemetery

Works

Vizetelly was the editor on over 250 publications. The number of publications on a range of subjects, from the humanities and sciences, demonstrated reveal a broad interest in a number of diverse subjects. His abiding interest was literary and lexical subjects, and he was frequently engaged in determining the origins and emergence of words in the English language.