As a wordsmith who loves words, I think I'd love to read this book

The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary ~ by Sarah Ogilvie, 2023, words, 384 pages

The Oxford English Dictionary is one of the greatest achievements humans have made.  Yet, curiously, its creators are almost never considered.  Who were the people behind this unprecedented book?  As Sarah Ogilvie reveals, they include three murderers, a collector of pornography, the daughter of Karl Marx, a president of Yale, a radical suffragette, a vicar who was later found dead in the cupboard of his chapel, an inventor of the first American subway, a female anti-slavery activist in Philadelphia . . . and thousands of others.

Of deep transgenerational and broad appeal, a thrilling literary detective story that, for the first time, unravels the mystery of the endlessly fascinating contributors the world over who, for over seventy years, helped to codify the way we read and write and speak.  It was the greatest crowdsourcing endeavor in human history, the Wikipedia of its time.  It's a celebration of words, language, and people, whose eccentricities and obsessions, triumphs, and failures enriched the English language.

Update on 9/21/23:  Thanks, Helen (see comment below).  I was not aware of the book by Simon Winchester on this subject.  He's an excellent writer.  Here's more information about his book.

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary~ by Simon Winchester, 1998, words, 256 pages

The Professor and the Madman (a New York Times Notable Book) is an extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary — and literary history.

The making of the OED was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken.  As definitions were collected, the overseeing committee, led by Professor James Murray, was stunned to discover that one man, Dr. W. C. Minor, had submitted more than ten thousand.  But their surprise would pale in comparison to what they were about to discover when the committee insisted on honoring him:  Dr. Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was also an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane.

William Safire wrote that the book was masterfully researched and eloquently written, "the linguistic detective story of the decade" (New York Times Magazine).  This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews and recommended reading.