Miniature Dictionary (6 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Reprint. Red cloth binding, inner pages clean and unmarked. ; Miniature Less than 3" tall; 767 pages.

A scarce miniature dictionary in the original suede yapp cover. 2.0" x 1.75" x 0.75" (5.4cm x 4.5cm x 2.0cm). pp.386. Brown suede binding. Rubbed gilt title to front cover: "Thumb Dictionary". Edges rubbed and corners rounded. Plain endpapers. Half title present: "English Dictionary". Printed title, no date. Clean text throughout. Many creased leaves and a few edge tears. No other marks or inscriptions. G+ .

Leather Bound. Condition: Very Good. Includes original magnifier. Leather has some modest rubbing along edges and folds, a few tiny marks but is otherwise in very nice shape, clean and attractive. Binding is tight and pages are very clean. Snap works perfectly with no stress wear around it. Leather is supple. Photos on request.

Leather Bound. Condition: Very Good. Includes original magnifier. Leather has a few tiny marks but is otherwise in fabulous shape, very clean and sharp. Binding is tight and pages are very clean. Snap works perfectly with no stress wear around it. Leather is supple. Photos on request.

A scarce miniature dictionary with a magnifying glass contained in a pocket attached to the front cover. I can find no record of this arrangement being recorded in the past. 2.0" x 1.75" x 0.75" (5.4cm x 4.5cm x 2.0cm). pp.386. Original straight-grained black morocco over thin card covers. Neat repairs to top & tail of spine. Gilt title to front board and spine: "Thumb Dictionary". Black leather front endpaper with pocket containing a small blue leather edged magnifying glass. Frontis of Samuel Johnson. Clean text throughout, just a few creased leaves. Previous owner's name to half title and title-page: "May Firth, 14 Lawn Road, Burley In Wharfedale". VG.

Tooled leather with gilding. Condition: Very Good. Cook (illustrator). First Miniature Edition. 12mo, tooled and gilt-stamped leather with four hubs, engraved frontispiece of Dr. Johnson by Cook, frontis. & t.p. + [iii-iv] advert. + 284 pages. Very Rare! [Edited by Rev. Joseph Hamilton.] Handy edition of the redoubtable Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary with its marvellous definitions. Published in 1800 during the raging Napoleonic wars with France (see also the somewhat later inscription to a French ship's captain below). Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), or more commonly "Dr. Johnson" or "the Great Cham," was a brilliant English writer, devout Anglican and Tory, who made his reputation as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and most lastingly as a lexicographer. His Dictionary of the English Language is noteworthy for its extent, comprehensiveness, and use of pithy definitions. James Boswell, of course, memorialized the life and sayings of the great doctor. So uncommon, it has NOT been identified by Courtney & Smith, Johnson Bibliography with Supplement, e.g., pp.57-59. The eighth edition of A Dictionary of the English Language appeared in 1799; the ninth edition in 1805. The upper cap of the spine is missing and the volume is rubbed with wear evident along the hinges and corners, but the sewing is strong and the pages are clean with minimal toning. Minor brown offset from the fine engraved frontispiece of Dr. Johnson onto the title page. Bookstamp of bookseller "E. Desbois, Bordeaux"; marbled endpapers. Interesting ink presentation on ffe: "To / J [or "T"] Beck Esqr. / commanding the French / packett Esteva on / her passage from Bordeaux / to Vera Cruz in Nov. 1831 ~ by his most obedt / humble servant / L. L. Becker".