Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$175.00 + shipping
Description: Original full calf, rubbed, spine very poor, back board detached. half-title, xxx, [1], 1156 pp., frontispiece portrait of Samuel Johnson. Internally very good, front are rear blanks loose. This is an excellent combination of the two most important dictionaries of the day, Samuel Johnson's dictionary and John Walker's pronouncing dictionary, published the same year as the first edition of Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language. American Imprints 33724, Cordell p.97.
Seller: High Ridge Books, Inc. - ABAA, South Deerfield, MA, U.S.A.
Price: US$18500.00 + shipping
Description: First edition of pioneering lexicographer Noah Webster's monumental American Dictionary, arguably the most popular American book ever published and one of only 2500 copies printed. Thick quarto, bound in three quarter polished calf over marbled boards with morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, engraved portrait of Webster after Samuel F.B. Morse, unpaginated text in triple columns, pages untrimmed and hence a copy once in boards, the 44 preliminary leaves in Vol. I containing Webster's preface on the history of the dictionary, his introductory dissertation, "on the origin, history and connection of the languages of western Asia and of Europe. With the additional leaf in Vol. II, "Additions and Corrections" which is often lacking, and without the "Advertisement" lead, as issued. Copies in boards did not have the "Advertisement" leaf bound in, as did many copies in calf. In the copies in boards, the leaf was laid in to some but was never originally bound in. Only 2500 copies were printed. With some spotting to the text and dampstain entering the margin of the frontispiece. In very good condition. A sharp example. In 1807 Webster began compiling a fully comprehensive dictionary, An American Dictionary of the English Language; it took twenty-eight years to complete. To evaluate the etymology of words, Webster learned twenty-six languages, including Old English (Anglo-Saxon), Greek, Hebrew and Latin. Webster completed his dictionary during his year abroad in 1825 in Paris, France, and at the University of Cambridge. His book contained seventy thousand words, of which twelve thousand had never appeared in a published dictionary before. As a spelling reformer, Webster believed that English spelling rules were unnecessarily complex, so his dictionary introduced American English spellings, replacing colour with color, substituting wagon for waggon, and printing center instead of center. He also added American words, like skunk and squash, that did not appear in British dictionaries. At the age of seventy, Webster published his dictionary in 1828, registering the copyright on April 14. Webster did all this in an effort to standardize the American language. âThis dictionary, which almost at once became, and has remained, the standard English dictionary in the United States, was the end-product of a stream of spelling books, grammars, readers, and dcitionaries which flowed from the pen of the industrious Noah Webster.Websterâs great dictionary, all the 70,000 entries of which he wrote with his own hand, has been reprinted and brought up to date innumerable times.the book marked a definite advance in modern lexicography, as it included many non-literary terms and paid great attention to the language actually spoken. Moreover, his definitions of the meaning of words were accurate and concise.and have for the greater part stood the test of time superbly wellâ (Printing and the Mind of Man). "As a whole, Websterâs American Dictionary was a scholarly achievement of the first order, richly deserving of its great reputation at home and abroadâ (DAB). With definitions for âsome 70,000 wordsâ"15,000 more than any previous English lexicon⦠Although only 2500 copies of the first edition were printed, the work established Webster as a lexicographer of international reputeâ (Lathem, 76 United Statesiana 9).
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.
Price: US$24960.00 + shipping
Description: 290 x 235 mm. (11 1/2 x 9 1/4"). Including the terminal leaf of "Additions" (not infrequently missing) in the second volume. Two volumes. Convincing period-style modern sprinkled calf, flat spines divided into panels with gilt lozenge centerpiece by decorative gilt rolls, one brown and one green morocco label, marbled endpapers. Engraved frontispiece portrait of the author by A. B. Durand from the painting by Samuel F. B. Morse in volume I. Title page of vol. II with ink ownership signature of S. Alexanderson. PMM 291; Skeel 583; Grolier "American Books" 36; Sabin 102335. âPenultimate leaf of volume II a bit dust-soiled, final "Additions" leaf a little browned and slightly frayed at tail of fore edge, other very trivial imperfections (intermittent faint foxing, occasional mild browning or small marginal stains, isolated corner creases or printer's smudges), but A FINE COPY of a book seldom found this way--the text clean and very fresh, and the sympathetic bindings unworn. This is an unusually fine copy of perhaps the all-time greatest American bestseller, one of the most famous and best-loved books ever to originate in the United States. Its publication signified that America had come of age in the linguistic field and had developed its own legitimate variety of English speech. Published in a press run of 2,500 copies, our first edition contains more than 70,000 entries, compiled entirely by Webster himself. According to PMM, the dictionary "marked a definite advance in modern lexicography, as it included many non-literary terms and paid great attention to the language actually spoken. Moreover, [Webster's] definitions of the meaning of words were accurate and concise and have for the greater part stood the test of time superbly well. In fact, Webster succeeded in breaking the fetters imposed upon American English by Dr. Johnson . . . to the ultimate benefit of the living languages of both countries." The book sold rather poorly at first, but its authority was gradually established, and its updated versions have remained a staple of American reference libraries ever since. Noah Webster (1758-1843) was born in West Hartford, Connecticut, and attended Yale University during the period of the Revolutionary War. Trained as a lawyer, he decided to become a schoolteacher and journalist. The first literary fruit of his teaching career was a spelling book published in 1782. Grammatical works followed, and on a visit to Philadelphia, he discussed with Ben Franklin the need for establishing an American standard spelling. Webster published a small "Compendious Dictionary of the English Language" in 1806, an appetizer to his great work, which was in gestation for almost 20 years. These two decades of preparation involved Webster's becoming conversant in no fewer than 26 languages, including Sanskrit, and the fruits of his study can be seen not only in the main body of the dictionary, but also in the 80-page prefatory section in volume I, the most important part of which is the author's dissertation "On the Origin, History and Connection of the Languages of Western Asia and of Europe.".
Seller: Phillip J. Pirages Rare Books (ABAA), McMinnville, OR, U.S.A.
Price: US$27500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: [Americana] Webster, Noah. An American Dictionary of the English Language New York: S. Converse, 1828. Complete in two volumes. Small Folio. First volume Illustrated with frontispiece portrait; with two blank leaves at front and rear. Three blank leaves at front and one blank leaf at rear in second volume. Original tree calf leather binding with red and black labels in gilt. A very handsome and large first edition in original boards of the quintessential American dictionary. This is Webster's first unabridged dictionary, he published shorter earlier versions and grammars. "Webster was an ardent nationalist and he wanted to stress the political separation from Britain by the cultivation of a separate American language" He wrote all 70,000 entries himself. "Moreover, his definitions of the meaning of words were accurate and concise (Sir James Murray, editor of the OED called him 'a born definer of words') and have stood the test of time superbly well. In fact, Webster succeeded in breaking the fetters imposed upon American English by Dr Johnson, to the ultimate benefit of the living languages of both countries" (PMM). Grolier American 36; PMM 291, Sabin 102335. First edition of the first unabridged American dictionary of the English language. A pleasing copy of a rare and important text.
Seller: Crawford Sterling Rare Books and Manuscripts, Munford, AL, U.S.A.