This paper deals with the history of the Chambers Dictionary and examines how the dictionary has changed over years, from its beginnings down to the present day, with respect to accessibility of lexical items. It considers the following aspects of the dictionary structure, which are vital for the user engaged in reading tasks: the arrangement of entries, the location of multiword lexical items, the order of senses, and the indication of meanings. The author observes that early editors adopted various conventions in the entry layout, which were not always easy to use. When Chambers editors began to strive for comprehensiveness of coverage, the dictionary showed a number of inconsistencies in the arrangement of entries. Many of these were corrected in subsequent editions, as the lexicographers made attempts at a more unified and principled organisation of entries. The author concludes that the policy of all-inclusiveness was difficult to match with ease of access to information.