Books

Quarto. In Two Volumes, quarto. Unpaginated. Complete with half-titles and engraved frontis portrait by Heath after Sir Joshua Reynolds. Text printed in three columns. Contemporary half calf over marbled paper boards, spine with gilt-rules and lozenge ornaments between raised bands, speckled edges. Boards quite rubbed and scuffed, joints rubbed and quite tender with short splits at spine ends, (inner) hinges cracked but cords intact, portrait mildly offset onto title, bookplate on pastedown of Philippe Garigue (1917-2008), dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Montreal and Principal of Glendon College in Toronto. On the whole a nice clean set, in still quite presentable and serviceable bindings. The Ninth Edition of Samuel Johnson's great Dictionary, surely one of the most famous books in all of the English language. "Dr. Johnson performed with his Dictionary the most amazing, enduring and endearing one-man feat in the field of lexicography. The preface ranks among Johnson's finest writings; (but) it is the dictionary itself which justifies Noah Webster's statement that 'Johnson's writings had, in philology, the effect which Newton's discoveries had in mathematics'. Johnson introduced into English lexicography principles which had already been accepted in Europe but were quite novel in mid-eighteenth-century England. He codified the spelling of English words; he gave full and lucid definitions of their meanings (often entertainingly coloured by his High Church and Tory propensities); and he adduced extensive and apt illustrations from a wide range of authoritative writers. (D)espite the progress made during the past two centuries in historical and comparative philology, Johnson's book may still be consulted for instruction as well as pleasure." (PMM). The Ninth Edition; Corrected and Revised.

Samuel Johnson's 'A Dictionary of the English Language' is among the most influential dictionaries in the history of the English language. First published on 15 April 1755, the dictionary offered comprehensive definitions and illustrative examples of usage.