1799 Samuel Johnson FAMOUS Dictionary of English Language Americana Lexicon 2v

1799 Samuel Johnson FAMOUS Dictionary of English Language Americana Lexicon 2v

“I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am.”

― Samuel Johnson

A fine 18^th-century printing of Samuel Johnson’s famous English Dictionary. This eighth edition is unpaginated and well-preserved, and features a section on grammar unique to the English language. This edition is also considered a highly collectable edition. It includes over 4,000 entries on various subjects such as fashion, food, science, and even sex! Specific spelling examples from Shakespeare are also included in addition to the original and accepted spellings.

According to the DNB,

“For the most part the Dictionary was able to demonstrate the fecundity of the language more comprehensively than any of its predecessors. Conscious that his primary role was to record the state of English vocabulary, rather than to legislate for its usage, Johnson registered the entire sweep of words from the crude and demotic to the most rarefied scientific terms and to recent fanciful forms imported from other languages.”

Item number: #25500

Price: $995

JOHNSON, Samuel.

A dictionary of the English language … Abstracted from the folio edition, by the author … To which is prefixed a grammar of the English language. The eleventh edition, corrected and revised, with considerable additions from the eighth edition of the original.

London : Printed for J. Johnson…, 1799.

Details:

• Collation: Complete with all pages; 2 volumes
  • Unpaginated
    • I – A-K
    • II – L-Z
  • References: Alston V, 191; Fleeman 55.4D/12
  • Provenance: Handwritten
    • Matheson
      • Possibly James Matheson, a congregational minister and Greville Ewing’s son-in-law.
    • Greville Ewing
      • Greville Ewing (1767–1841), was a Scottish congregational minister of the Church of Scotland. He took an active part in the formation of the Edinburgh Missionary Society, becoming its first secretary in 1796. He was also editor of the ‘Missionary Magazine’ from 1796 to 1799. He was tutor of the Glasgow Theological Academy from its foundation in 1809 till 1836, and did much to promote the study of the Bible in the original languages. In 1812 he helped to form the Congregational Union of Scotland. In 1801 he published a Greek grammar and lexicon (The Rudiments of the Greek Language Shortly Illustrated …) for students of the New Testament. He also published several pamphlets and sermons, and two larger works—’Essays to the Jews, on the Law and the Prophets,’ 2 vols. (1809–1810), and an ‘Essay on Baptism’ (1823).
    • Language: English
    • Binding: Leather; tight and secure
    • Size: ~11in X 9in (28cm x 22.5cm)

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25500