An unfinished letter to the Right Honourable William Pitt, concerning the new Dictionary of the English Language

Croft, Herbert, Rev

Published by printed in March, 1788, but neither finished nor published, London

About this Item

First edition, 8vo, pp. [2], 44, [8]; later gray paper-covered boards. This copy inscribed on the title-page: "From the author." Small correction in ink on E2 which is likely authorial. Courtney & Smith, p. 69: "On p. 44 is the following note: "As the printer was not able to put together any more of what I wrote yesterday se'nnight than these forty-four pages, and the following seven pages of postscript; and as I found, in writing this Letter to Mr. Pitt, how much is to be said, and must be said, concerning Johnson's book and mine; it was thought better not to print the remainder of this Letter. Of these pages I have had a few copies pulled for my particular friends." In 1787 Croft's manuscript dictionary ran to some 200 volumes in quarto, and by 1793 he claimed to have amassed 22,000 words not found in Johnson's Dictionary. "Proposals for a new edition of Johnson's Dictionary were issued by Croft in 1792, and the work was to have been published in four large volumes priced at twelve guineas, but through want of subscribers the scheme was abandoned" even though Johnson himself seems to have endorsed Croft's work.

Seller Inventory # 64347

Bibliographic Details

• Title: An unfinished letter to the Right Honourable William Pitt, concerning the new Dictionary of the English Language
• Publisher: printed in March, 1788, but neither finished nor published, London
• Edition: First Edition.
• Seller catalogs:
  • Dictionaries
  • Language
  • English Literature