| Summary: | Illustrations sometimes decorate and sometimes add real value to the text of a dictionary. When we consider the ability of an illustration to simplify the verbal definition of technical terms, for example, the question 'why not illustrate?' is a reasonable one. But we must consider how illustrations affect the view of dictionaries as objective, and how they reinforce them as didactic books. By their graphic nature, illustrations stand out from the seemingly homogeneous field of text against which they stand, and they can immediately indicate to the reader the seriousness or otherwise of the book's approach or the readership it is intended for. Illustrations are always expensive to create and print, so it is not surprising that there is much direct and indirect copying from dictionary to dictionary, and simple re-use. This paper will survey developments in illustrating dictionaries, especially monolingual learners' dictionaries, considering the differences between distributing individual illustrations throughout a text and relying on larger synoptic illustrations; the graphic style of illustrations; and the role of illustrations in 'feature-led' dictionary marketing.
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