Useful reference books

	Dictionaries, etymological dictionaries and thesauruses (or thesauri) and a good etymology of place names (The local library may have a local version).
	The Oxford Dictionary of New Words, OUP, is useful. (There are slang dictionaries too, but these necessarily include large quantities of 'colourful' language.)
	Booklets of dialect words are cheap and fun: Abson Books, London, produce several.
	David Crystal's The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, CUP - a highly recommended resource book - covers all aspects of the subject in a lively way, with many examples and illustrations.
	A selection of fiction in which the author uses invented words (JK Rowling, Richard Adams, Tolkein)