Books

Philadelphia: Moses Thomas, 1818. First complete American edition, first issue; (heavily abridged versions in miniature format and bearing no resemblance to Johnson's original had appeared as early as 1804); 2 volumes, thick quartos, complete with the half-titles and the engraved frontispiece portrait of Johnson after Reynolds; vol. I: [124] & unpaginated lexicon in triple column, collating π² b⁴ C⁴ D² E-Q⁴ R² A-6X⁴; vol. II: [4] & unpaginated lexicon, collating π² B-7C⁴​​​​​​​ 7D²; 19th century pebble-grain green cloth, rebacked in black morocco, red morocco labels on spine; light spotting of the preliminaries, else a very good, sound copy. Another issue of the same date but from different plates and in 4 volumes octavo is decidedly later. American Imprints 44473; Alston V, p. 40; Courtney & Smith, p. 58; Fleeman 55.4D/21a: "This publication was the last straw in Moses Thomas's financial downfall. His Catalogue of English Books, Philadelphia 1817,…

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.