First edition of this most famous of English dictionaries. This work has at various times been called "the most important British cultural monument of the eighteenth century" (Hitchings); "the only dictionary [of the English language] compiled by a writer of the first rank" (Robert Burchfield); "the most amazing, enduring and endearing one-man feat in the field of lexicography" (PMM); and the first genuinely descriptive dictionary in any language.
"Johnson's writings had, in philology, the effect which Newton's discoveries had in mathematics" (Webster). Two volumes, folio (400 x 251 mm). Contemporary boards fully re-covered to style in sprinkled calf, spines with raised bands, gilt in compartments, red and green labels, board-edges with decorative roll in gilt. Title pages in red and black. Bookplates of William J. Young, Professor of Music (fl. 1851). Vol. I title a little short at head and with inkspot at foot, lower outer corner of following leaf torn away not affecting text, with the occasional spot or mark, a very good copy.