Madeline Kripke

Madeline Kripke is someone I’ve known since I was a child, because she is my mother’s best friend from college. Only since becoming a librarian have I learned how important she is in the circles of lexicography and book collecting. Madeline has what is possibly the premiere collection of dictionaries in English, and it focuses on slang and specialized argot. My mother just sent me a link to this interesting article about her from a book collectors’ website called Americana Exchange: The Gifted in Pursuit of the Valued. The article contains a link to a recorded interview, where Madeline talks about some of the treasures in her collection. Some of the philosopher-librarians out there may recognize the name Kripke. Madeline is the sister of philosopher Saul Kripke, author of Naming and Necessity.