The Royal Standard English Dictionary. True Pronunciation, According to the Present Practice of Men of Letters, Eminent Orators, and Polite Speakers in London . The First American Edition

Thomas / Perry

Published by Thomas / Perry, 1788

About this Item

Thomas / Perry / 1788 / The Royal Standard English Dictionary. True Pronunciation, According to the Present Practice of Men of Letters, Eminent Orators, and Polite Speakers in London . The First American Edition (Safe 2, 114379) Sq. 16mo. Contemporary full sheep, red leather spine label: "Perry's Dictionary." Front cover detached, back cover nearly so. Title page stained, first 9 leaves with fore edges irregularly cut in a zigzag pattern by pinking shears (printing not affected). Old tidal dampstain affecting first ten leaves and final few leaves. Occasional foxing and minor spotting. Couple small marginal tear, no losses. [4], 596 pages. The appendix, p. [561]-596, has its own title page, but continuous pagination and signatures. Advertisement for Thomas's other books on page [560]. Complete. Early ownership inscriptions on front free endpaper: "David K. Bill Book / Ashford Ct." and on front pastedown "Sarah E. Kendall." Census records for 1850 note children Sarah (age 4) and David (4) living in the same household in Ashford, Connecticut. First Edition of The First Dictionary Printed in America The "Transatlantic" Accent Before it Was a Thing Very rare first edition of the first dictionary printed in America, William Perry's Royal Standard, printed by and for Isaiah Thomas at Worcester, Massachusetts. Isaiah Thomas s 1788 Worcester edition of William Perry s Royal Standard English Dictionary holds bibliographical significance as the first dictionary printed in America, significantly earlier than Noah Webster's 1806 A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language. Perry, a Scottish lexicographer especially interested in English pronunciation, had first published the Royal Standard English Dictionary in Edinburgh in 1775, where it gained wide popularity for its accessible and practical approach to English usage. Thomas s American edition responded to the growing demand for educational works in the new republic, and its production marked a milestone in the development of American printing and lexicography. The dictionary enjoyed extensive circulation on both sides of the Atlantic - Thomas's American edition would reach a fifth edition by 1800 - influencing early American language instruction and English pronunciation. Printer Isaiah Thomas (1749-1831) was a noted American patriot and printer who performed the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence in Massachusetts, reported the first account of the battles of Lexington and Concord, and founded the American Antiquarian Society. The work is styled on the title page as "The First American Edition, carefully revised and corrected, from the Fourth British Edition." This First American edition is dedicated to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, with the dedicatory text by Thomas reading: This edition of Perry's Royal Standard English Dictionary, (Being the FIRST Work of the Kind printed in America) intended to fix a standard for the pronunciation of the English Language, conformably to the Present Practice of Polite Speakers in Great Britain and the United States. The dedication, dated at Worcester, January 1, 1788, thus promotes the idea of a standard pronunciation of the English language based on "polite" speech in Britain, rather than promoting a distinctive American pronunciation. Proto-Transatlantic Accent Perry s Royal Standard English Dictionary, by promoting the idea of a fixed British standard of pronunciation for American learners, helped lay an early, albeit latent, ideological foundation for the later elite American preference for British-influenced pronunciation - a preference which ultimately culminated, in more self-conscious form, in the cultivated Transatlantic accent of the ear.

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Royal Standard English Dictionary. True Pronunciation, According to the Present Practice of Men of Letters, Eminent Orators, and Polite Speakers in London . The First American Edition
• Publisher: Thomas / Perry
• Publication Date: 1788
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Good
• Book Type: Book
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