Willard Richardson Espy (11 December 1910–20 February 1999) was a U.S. editor, philologist, writer, and poet. He is particularly remembered for his anthology of light verse and wordplay, An Almanac of Words at Play, and its two sequels. His writing and poetry regularly appeared in Punch, Reader's Digest, and Word Ways.

Bibliography

• The Game of Words (1971) (ISBN 072340173X)
• Oysterville – Roads to Grandpa's Village (1976) (ISBN 0517521962)
• The Game of Words (1972) (ISBN 0448011964)
• Omak Me Yours Tonight, or, Ilwaco million miles for one of your smiles: A Ballard of Washington State (1993) (ISBN 0963429418)
• An Almanac of Words at Play (1975) (ISBN 0517524635)
• The Life and Works of Mr. Anonymous (1977) (ISBN 038045047X)
• O Thou Improper, Thou Uncommon Noun (1978) (ISBN 0517535114)
• How to avoid certain pitfalls of spoken English together with a decidedly informal history of how our language rose (or fell) (1980) (ISBN 0140057331)
• Another Almanac of Words at Play (1981) (ISBN 0233972889)
• The Wars of the Words (1980)
• A Children's Almanac of Words at Play (1982) (ISBN 0340348526)
• A Celebration of Language (1984) (ISBN 0671252550)
• Anagram Verse (1982) (ISBN 0517545985)
• Anagrams from America's Favorite Logophile (1983) (ISBN 0934878315)
• A Rhetorical Bestiary (1983) (ISBN 0061812560)
• 80 New Anagram Verses (1984) (ISBN 0517547570)
• Words to Rhyme With (1986) (ISBN 0816043132)
• The Word's Gotten Out (1989) (ISBN 0517079402)
• Skullduggery on Shoalwater Bay (1998)
• The Best of An Almanac of Words at Play (1999) (ISBN 0877791457)

External links

• The Willard R. Espy Literary Foundation (includes biography)
• New York Times obituary

American humorists | American poets | American book editors | 1910 births | 1999 deaths