David Crystal “The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language "

 
Prefaces; 1. Modelling English;

Part I. The History of English: 2. The origins of English; 3. Old English; 4. Middle English; 5. Early Modern English; 6. Modern English; 7. World English;

Part II. English Vocabulary: 8. The nature of the lexicon; 9. The sources of the lexicon; 10. Etymology; 11. The structure of the lexicon; 12. Lexical dimensions;

Part III. English Grammar: 13. Grammatical mythology; 14. The structure of words; 15. Word classes; 16. The structure of sentences;

Part IV. Spoken and Written English: 17. The sound system; 18. The writing system;

Part V. Using English: 19. Varieties of discourse; 20. Regional variation; 21. Social variation; 22. Personal variation; 23. Electronic variation;

Part VI. Learning about English: 24. Learning English as a mother tongue; 25. New ways of studying English;
Appendices; Indexes.