H. W. Fowler, known as the "King of English," wrote A Dictionary of Modern English Usage. He was helped in this effort by his brother Francis. Although "modern linguists are almost by definition incabable of understanding the function of such a book," one may now buy the classic first edition of the Dictionary again. An earlier book, The King's English, is free for anyone seeking advice on Americanisms or Saxon words.

I took out the "half-educated Englishman of literary proclivities" who just wants to know: "Can I say so-&-so?" and just wrote one. I think it reads better this way and you can still link "one" to that url. I think it reads better, but if I changed what you MEAN, that was not my intention.

I like the original; it has character and quirk.

Some of the fun in the comments on this post will be provided by people attempting to pick apart your grammar.

Anyone is a single word, at least in American English usage. Or did you purposely write it that way because this is a post about a British usage manual .. wait, *is* the way you wrote it an example of British English usage? Should I check the OED? ..

See how this will work?

Well, the "The King's English" begins:

ANY one who wishes to become a good writer should endeavour, before he allows himself to be tempted by the more showy qualities, to be direct, simple, brief, vigorous, and lucid.

But thinking about that, the split between "ANY" and "one" there might just because of the capitalization. He might have preferred "anyone" in this case.

I'd throw "helped by his brother Francis" into parens like "(with some help from his brother Francis)" and move it, because having multiple things set off by commas in a row really chaps my stick, and also because I love parentheses too much.

Also just being a pain here, I'd suggest a little less linking. Not that you shouldn't include the links, but linked text shows up as bold on MeFi so this will make almost your entire post look bold. Alternately, you may want to skip some of the Wikipedia links assuming people can look that sort of thing up themselves. Looks like a nice post.

Thanks folks! Posted a slightly modified version here.

Countdown to bombardment of grammar flames: 3,2,1...