A DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: In which the Words are deduced from their Originals, and Illustrated in their Different Significations by Examples from the best Writers; [Second edition].
London: Printed by W. Strahan, for J. & P. Knapton, etc. 1755 - 1756. Second edition of the first standard English-language Dictionary. Issued in parts beginning in the same year as the first edition. "Dr. Johnson performed with his Dictionary the most amazing, enduring and endearing one-man feat in the field of lexicography" (Printing and the Mind of Man, 201). One of the many pleasures of having these volumes at hand is flipping through the pages reading various passages quoted from the works of Swift, Donne, Shakespeare, the Spectator [Addison & Steele], Locke, Bacon, Fairy Queen [Edmund Spenser], Dryden, et al, that Johnson employs to demonstrate word usage. Two folio volumes bound in full polished leather ornately bordered in gilt along outer edges and in blind along inner edges; gilt-stamped spines, each with 5 raised gilt-decorated double bands, 6 gilt-stamped compartments and a gilt-stamped red leather titling label; marbled endpapers; not paginated. The occasional minor stain, some sections slightly more age-darkened than others, tape repair to one leaf with marginal tear. Still, text quite bright and overall both volumes nearly fine.
Item #72339
Price: $11,500.00