Books

First edition of this most famous of English dictionaries. "The Dictionary left an immense mark on its age. It soon became recognized as a work of classical standing, and in spite of some minor blemishes it has never lost its historical importance as the first great endeavour of its kind" (ODNB). Begun in 1746, the Dictionary was Johnson's greatest literary labour, including over 2,300 pages, 40,000 defined words, and 114,000 illustrative quotations. The result demonstrated "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" (ibid.). Johnson's innovations included "grounding his wordlist in the works of English authors, discerning subtle shades of meaning in numbered senses, and providing extensive quotations showing the words in context. Together, these qualities made Johnson's Dictionary, though not a chronological 'first', still the first English dictionary to be widely regarded as the standard of the English language" (Lynch, abstract). Two volumes, folio (410 x 260 mm). Contemporary sprinkled calf, first and final compartments renewed to style, spines with green labels and red numbering pieces, gilt roll to raised bands, floral gilt roll on board edges, book-block edges sprinkled red. Title pages printed in red and black, woodcut tailpieces in text. Old shelfmark on front pastedowns. Minor craquelure to spines, rubbing to extremities, small portion of leather renewed at lower board edge of vol. II, tiny paper repair stabilizing the opening letter "A" of vol. I title page, foxing to occasional leaves, contents with wide margins. A very attractive set. Chapman & Hazen, p. 137; Courtney & Smith, p. 54; Fleeman 55.4D/1a; Printing and the Mind of Man 201; Rothschild 1237. Jack Lynch, "Samuel Johnson and the 'First English Dictionary'", Eighteenth-Century English Dictionaries: Prescriptivism and Completeness.

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.