Madeline Kripke

Madeline Faith Kripke (September 9, 1943 – April 25, 2020) was an American book collector who held one of the world's largest collections of dictionaries.

Early life and education Madeline Kripke was born on September 9, 1943, in New London, Connecticut, to mother Dorothy Karp Kripke and father Myer S. Kripke, a rabbi. Kripke's brother was philosopher Saul Kripke, She graduated with a bachelor's degree in English from Barnard College. The oldest dictionary in her collection was a Latin dictionary published in 1502 by Ambrogio Calepino. She placed a special emphasis on collecting dictionaries regarding obscure slang. Her collection includes the only known copy of Larks of London (1840), a dictionary of slang from the London underworld. Jesse Sheidlower described her collection as better than that of the Library of Congress.

After graduating from college, Kripke held several jobs, including as a welfare case worker and a teacher. She eventually became an editor and a publisher, doing copyediting and proofreading. She also worked at several bookstores, eventually becoming a book dealer. Rabbi and Mrs. Kripke donated over $15,000,000 of their wealth to the Jewish Theological Seminary. NY Times May 3, 2014

Kripke died without a will or a stated wish for what to do with her vast collection, resulting in her brother Saul Kripke becoming administrator of her estate. Saul convened various lexicographers who knew Madeline including Jesse Sheidlower, Ammon Shea, Jonathon Green, Tom Dalzell, and Michael Adams to decide what to do with it. While they received offers from elsewhere, Indiana University Bloomington offered to keep the entire collection intact and put it on display.

Death Kripke died from complications of COVID-19 in Manhattan during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City on April 25, 2020. She received their Richard W. Bailey Award for Distinguished Service to Lexicography and Lexicology in 2017.