An English dictionary, explaining the difficult terms that are used in divinity, husbandry, physick, philosophy, law, navigation, mathematicks, and other arts and sciences containing many thousand of hard words … together with the etymological derivation…

Coles, E[lisha]

Published by printed by S. Collins, for R. Bonwick [et al.], London, 1717

About this Item

Tenth edition, sm. 8vo, unpaginated; some foxing, contemporary full calf, manuscript paper label on spine; spine a little flakey, otherwise a good, sound copy. Coles (?1640-1680) was the author of a number of "useful and necessary books for the instruction of beginners," among which were his popular A Dictionary English-Latin and Latin-English (London, 1677) which was still in use in schools even after the arrival of Ainsworth's Thesaurus in 1736; and An English Dictionary (London, 1676, et al.). "Still in the "hard words" tradition, Coles included thousands of "old words," obsolete from Chaucer's day. His dictionary contained twenty-five thousand words, eight thousand more than the last, augmented edition of Phillips. He shortened Phillips' already brief definitions in order to include more words and more etymological information. Coles did break new ground in including cant (thieves' argot) and dialectical terms. These, taken from other specialized dictionaries, had never before been included in a general English dictionary" (Landau, Dictionaries, p.43). Alston V, 72. Seller Inventory # 59998

Bibliographic Details

Title: An English dictionary, explaining the ...

Publisher: printed by S. Collins, for R. Bonwick [et al.], London

Publication Date: 1717