Willard Richardson Espy (11 December 1910–20 February 1999) was a U.S. editor, language author, 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.

Bibliography

• The Game of Words (1971)
• Oysterville – Roads to Grandpa's Village (1976)
• The Game of Words (1971)
• Omak Me Yours Tonight, or, Ilwaco million miles for one of your smiles: A Ballard of Washington State (1993)
• An Almanac of Words at Play (1975)
• The Life and Works of Mr. Anonymous (1977)
• O Thou Improper, Thou Uncommon Noun (1978)
• Say it My Way: How to avoid certain pitfalls of spoken English together with a decidedly informal history of how our language rose (or fell) (1980)
• Another Almanac of Words at Play (1981)
• The Wars of the Words (1980)
• A Children's Almanac of Words at Play (1982)
• Have A Word on Me: A Celebration of Language (1984)
• Espygrams: Anagram Verse (1982)
• Word Puzzles: Anagrams from America's Favorite Logophile (1983)
• The Garden of Eloquence: A Rhetorical Bestiary (1983)
• Espygrams II: 80 New Anagram Verses (1984)
• Words to Rhyme With (1986)
• The Word's Gotten Out (1989)
• Skullduggery on Shoalwater Bay (1998)
• The Best of An Almanac of Words at Play (1999)

External links

• The Willard R. Espy Literary Foundation (http://www.espyfoundation.org/) (includes biography)
• New York Times obituary (http://64.225.103.222/espyobit.jpg)