Facsimile First Edition Dictionary (1 results)
More imagesA DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, in Which the Words are deduced from their Originals.To Which are Prefixed a History of the Language and An English Grammar; (With), THE PLAN OF THE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
[Facsimile, First Edition Dictionary]; Johnson Samuel; Fleeman, J.D; O'Kill, Brian
Published by London Printed by W. Strahan, For J. and P. Knapton; T. and T. Longman; C. Hitch and L. Hawes; A. Millar; and R. and J. Dodsley, (but, Longman Group UK0 1755, (but, 1990), 1990
- Softcover
- Signed
Seller: Buddenbrooks, Inc., Newburyport, MA, U.S.A.Buddenbrooks, Inc.
Contact seller5-star seller4 volumes, including two of the DICTIONARY as originally issued, another being the facsimile of the first edition of THE PLAN OF THE DICTIONARY. and a volume containing essays concerning The Genesis of the Johnson's Dictionary and The Lexicographic Achievement of Johnson. First Edition of the Facsimile of the Original First Edit…ion of each title. Title-pages printed in red and black, woodcut tailpieces. Royal folio (410 x 260 mm.), expertly bound to style in full red Cabra leather, the spines with raised bands gilt ruled creating compartments which are paneled in gilt, one compartment with green lettering label gilt, three other compartments with gilt lettering, the covers with gilt fillet rules at the borders, original end-leaves, the Essays and PLAN in original wrappers, the volumes all housed in the original slipcase. Original Collation: Vol. I [A]2, B-K2, a-c2, d1,2B-2K, 2L-13A2, one leaf signed 13B-14Z; Vol. II [-]1, 15A-16Z2, one leaf signed 17A-17Z, 18A-22E2, one leaf signed 22F-22Z, 23A-27D2, one leaf signed 27E-28Z, 29A-31C2 . A very handsome copy beautifully preserved. The bindings are in excellent condition. The text-blocks both clean and unpressed. This is a fine, handsome and clean set of the volumes. Both the PLAN and the Essays volumes also in fine condition as well THE FINE LONGMAN FACSIMILE OF THE HIGHLY IMPORTANT FIRST EDITION OF SAMUEL JOHNSON'S MASTERWORK AND THIS A HANDSOME AND CLEAN AND LARGE COPY. "The most amazing, enduring and endearing one-man feat in the field of lexicography (PMM). Begun in 1747 and printed over five years, Johnson's DICTIONARY set the standard for all subsequent lexicographical work. Its excellence was immediately recognized in all quarters and the first edition of two thousand copies sold quickly. What set Johnson's DICTIONARY apart from earlier efforts was his reliance on the examples of English literature rather than his own intuition or previous word lists or dictionaries, a method that has been the standard ever since, from Richardson and Webster to the Oxford English Dictionary. Johnson, in undertaking this vast work, set out to perform single-handed for the English language what the French Academy, a century before, had attempted for French. He hope to produce "a dictionary by which the pronunciation of our language may be fixed, and its attainment facilitated;" and though, of course, no language can be frozen in time, by aiming at fixing the language he succeeded in giving the standard of reputable use. As Noah Webster stated, his work "had, in philology, the effect which Newton's discoveries had in mathematics." Johnson presumed to finish the work for the Dictionary in three years by his own labor, but he underestimated the work required and it eventually took nine years to complete (though not all of his time was spent upon the Dictionary, as he was also the editor of The Rambler at this time) and required the assistance of six amanuenses--five of whom, to Boswell's satisfaction, were Scotsmen. "Johnson's achievement marked an epoch in the history of the language. The result of nine years labor, it did more than any other work before or since towards fixing the language. The preface ranks among Johnson's finest writings. The most amazing, enduring, and endearing one-man feat in the field of lexicography" (Printing and the Mind of Man). "The most important British cultural monument of the eighteenth century" (Hitchings); "the only dictionary [of the English language] compiled by a writer of the first rank " (Robert Burchfield) and first genuinely descriptive dictionary in any language. "Johnson's writings had, in philology, the effect which Newton's discoveries had in mathematics" (Webster). "It is the fate of those that toil at the lower employments of life, to be rather driven by the fear of evil, than attracted by the prospect of good; to be . punished for neglect, where success would have been without applause, and diligence without reward. Among these unhappy mortals.
