Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$1750.00 + shipping
Description: Handsomely bound in full calf leather with gilt rule edging on the spine. With red leather label ruled in gold with title in gold: "Webster's Dissertations." With some wear and cracking to the leather at the bottom of the spine. Printed on good quality laid paper; Internally very good with occasional foxing, with a 1" tear at the bottom of page 218, touching the catch-word; with a few marginal stains from some seeds that were laid in on at the bottom of pp. 224-225 not affecting any text. The front and rear hinges are tender, the outside leather along the edges is creased and slightly separated; but the interior hinges at the endpapers are very good. Written in ink on the front endpaper by one of the previous owners: "The property of Josiah Wilson, 1818." And with a dedication to Benjamin Franklin. Noah Webster, Jr. (1758 1843), was a lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English-language spelling reformer, political writer, editor, and prolific author. He has been called the "Father of American Scholarship and Education." His blue-backed speller books taught five generations of American children how to spell and read, secularizing their education. According to Ellis (1979) he gave Americans "a secular catechism to the nation-state". Webster's name has become synonymous with "dictionary" in the United States, especially the modern Merriam-Webster dictionary that was first published in 1828 as An American Dictionary of the English Language. He is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the nation. (Wikipedia)
Seller: Brainerd Phillipson Rare Books, Holliston, MA, U.S.A.
Price: US$2000.00 + shipping
Condition: Fair
Description: [Printed for the Author by Isaiah Thomas, 1789,] 1st.ed.? 5"x8-1/4", 410pp., lacks title page & front eps, starts with dedication to Franklin on pp.iii. full leather, red sp label, 1" split to top of front hinge, leather scuffed & stained but still nice, contents foxed, 1 leaf, pp.63-4 has a piece torn out partly affecting 10 lines of text on each page. sound, $
Seller: Harry Alter, Sylva, NC, U.S.A.
Price: US$2500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Title page and 410pp. complete. Full contemporary, dark brown, polished calf, spine with red morocco label lettered in gilt. As early as the 1780s patriots called for a national language to confirm America's independence from England. Among the first champions of the cause was Noah Webster (1758-1843), a graduate of Yale University and a lawyer, journalist, and teacher who was destined to become preeminent in the history of American English and immortalized in America's dictionaries. In his Dissertations on the English Language (1789), published more than a decade before his first dictionary, Webster declares: "Customs, habits, and language, as well as government should be national. America should have her own distinct from all the world. Such is the policy of other nations, and such must be our policy, before the states can be either independent or respectable" (p. 179). Supporters and opponents of Webster's position argued the point in letters, speeches, magazines, and books throughout the early years of the Republic. A very good, strong copy which shows some moderate rubbing and age toning to pages; hinges starting but secure.
Seller: Quaker Hill Books, Redding, CT, U.S.A.
Price: US$3125.00 + shipping
Description: First edition, 8vo, pp. 410, full orig. sheep, neatly rebacked, old spine laid down, preserving the original red morocco label; extremities worn, else a very good, sound copy. A seminal work, dedicated to Benjamin Franklin, in which Webster puts forth for the first time the spirit of an American (as opposed to a British) English, and particularly its orthography, the reform of which grew out of his correspondence with Franklin. Evans 22259; Skeel 651.
Seller: Rulon-Miller Books (ABAA / ILAB), St. Paul, MN, U.S.A.
Price: US$3750.00 + shipping
Description: First edition, 8vo, pp. 410, full original sheep, red morocco label; some scuffing and light general wear, text a little spotted, one internal gathering extended, but overall a very good copy. A Webster family copy with the ownership stamp of Webster's son-in-law, William Chauncey Fowler, on the title-page. Also, with the early ownership signature reading "Luther Holly's Book, 1789." A seminal work, dedicated to Benjamin Franklin, in which Webster puts forth for the first time the spirit of an American (as opposed to an British) language, and particularly its orthography, the reform of which grew out of his correspondence with Franklin. Evans 22259; Skeel 651. A plethora of copies in the U.S. but ESTC locates only two institutions holding copies in the UK: Cambridge and the BL.
Seller: Rulon-Miller Books (ABAA / ILAB), St. Paul, MN, U.S.A.