Catalogue 138 - Language and Learning
WITH A PRESENTATION FROM W.W. ROCKHILL
301. JASCHKE, H. A. Tibetan grammar. Second edition. Prepared by Dr. H. Wenzel. London: Trubner & Co., 1883. $500
12mo, pp. viii, [2], 104, 80 (Catalogue of Important Works published by Trubner & Co.); original cream cloth, spine darkened and a little chipped, covers spotted; otherwise good and sound. This copy with a presentation on the front free endpaper: “Mr. S. Crossett with the kindest regards of W. W. Rockhill, Peking, October 15, 1884.” William Woodville Rockhill was the first American to learn, speak, and write Tibetan fluently and was one of the first Westerners to be hosted by the Dali Lama. At the time he was U.S. Minister to China. Jaschke was a Moravian missionary at Kyelang, in British Lahoul. Published in Trubner’s Collection of Simplified Grammars series under the general editorship of Rinehold Rost.
302. JENKINS, JABEZ. Jenkins’s vest-pocket lexicon. An English dictionary of all except familiar words; including the principal scientific and technical terms, and foreign moneys, weights, and measures. Omitting what everybody knows, and containing what everybody wants to know, and cannot easily find. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1870. $175
At the head of the title “Revised Edition.” Electrotyped edition of a pocket dictionary measuring 3.2 x 2.25 inches, pp. 563; publisher’s full brown morocco lettered in gilt on spine, a.e.g.; moderate wear at the edges, short crack starting at the bottom of the front joint; good and sound. First published in 1861; there were at least seven editions up to 1890.
This edition not in Kennedy or Vancil (but see Kennedy 6496).
303. JESSEN, E. Collection of 8 pamphlets inscribed to the runic archaeologist, George Stephens. v.p.: 1863-89. $300
8vo, all in wrappers or self-wrappers, all with presentation inscriptions from Jessen to George Stephens. Includes three titles on the rune stones, one on orthography and several others on grammar and language.
304. JOHNSON, RICHARD. Grammatical commentaries: being an apparatus to a new national grammar: by way of animadversion upon the falsities, obscurities, redundancies, and defects of Lilly’s system… London: printed for the author, and sold by D. Keble [et al.], 1706. $475
First edition, 8vo, pp. [32], 408, 27, [1]; folding table; full contemporary paneled calf, spine worn and stained, joints cracked. The book was reprinted in 1718. It includes a long preface by Johnson and testimonial letters from Thomas Walker and William Baxter, and others. This copy with the signature “G. Berkeley, Ch: Ch: Oxon.” at the top of the title-page, being, apparently, that of George Berkeley (Junior), the son of George Berkeley, the philosopher, who matriculated at Christ Church College, Oxford, in 1750.
305. [JOHNSON, SAMUEL.] The plan of a dictionary of the English language; addressed to the Right Honorable Philip Dormer, Earl of Chesterfield; one of His Majesty’s principal Secretaries of State. London: printed for J. & P. Knapton, T. Longman and T. Shewell [et al.], 1747. $8, 500
First edition, second state (without Chesterfield’s name on A2 recto), 4to, pp. [2], 34; bound without the terminal blank leaf in full 20th century brown levant, gilt-lettered direct on spine; minor rubbing, else fine.
“Johnson conceived the thought of compiling an English Dictionary quite early in life, but he did not turn to the work until his proposals to publish an edition of Shakespeare in 1745 were nullified by Tonson, the holder of the Shakespeare copyright. Work began fairly early in 1746 for Johnson’s manuscript draft of his plan, entitled “A Short Scheme for compiling a new Dictionary of the English Language, ” now in the Hyde collection, dated 20 April, 1746. The manuscript was read by at least two readers who made notes and comments on it. Johnson then revised and rewrote his “Short Scheme” and had the second version copied out by a professional scribe … The faircopy was apparently read by Lord Chesterfield to whom the published version was addressed … In August 1747 the Plan was published.
There are two versions of the original quarto pamphlet, the first bearing the drop-head title on p. 1 “To the Right Honorable Philip Dormer, Earl of Chesterfield … The first signed sheet A containing pp. 1-8 was then canceled and reprinted, the second version having no drop-head title on p. 1, and differing in a few minor readings … When the Dictionary was about to appear in February 1755, the Plan was reprinted from the non-Chesterfield version, as an octavo pamphlet, still bearing the date of 1747” (Alston).
Alston V, 361; Courtney & Smith, p. 20; Chapman & Hazen, p. 130; Fleeman 47.8PD/1b; Kennedy 6234.
306. JOHNSON S. A dictionary of the English language. In which the words are deduced from their originals, and illustrated in their different significations by examples from the best writers. To which are prefixed, a history of the language and an English grammar. London: printed by W. Strahan for J. and P. Knapton, 1755. $7, 500
First edition, 2 volumes, folio, later half black morocco over black cloth, new red morocco labels on spines; the text with many small worm holes (sense in all cases remains clear) and the title-p. in vol. I is in facsimile; but this copy with the earliest setting of sheet 19D which “occurs very infrequently” (Todd, The Book Collector, Vol. 14, no. 2, Summer 1965).
Rothschild 1237; Alston V, 177; Courtney & Nicol Smith, p. 54; Grolier, English 100, 50; Fleeman 55.4D/1a; Printing and the Mind of Man, 201.
307. JOHNSON, S. A dictionary of the English language in which the words are deduced from the originals… London: printed by W. Strahan, for J. and P. Knapton [et al.], 1755 [i.e. Longman Group UK, 1990]. $1, 250
The best facsimile edition of the first edition of Johnson’s famous dictionary, 2 volumes, folio, title-pp. in red and black; original Cabra red bonded leather, blue morocco labels, gilt-paneled spines, sprinkled edges, publisher’s red buckram slipcase with printed paper labels; fine.
Containing, as issued, the separately printed The Genesis of Johnson’s Dictionary by Dr. J. D. Fleeman, and The Lexicographical Achievement of Johnson, by Dr. Brian O’Kill, small folio, 16pp., original printed wrappers; and, a facsimile of the first issue of Johnson’s Plan of the Dictionary of the English Language, small 4to, pp. [2], 34, original printed wrappers.
308. JOHNSON, S. An original leaf from a copy of the first edition of … A Dictionary of the English Language London, 1755 provided by Norman and Charlotte Strouse as a keepsake for the reception opening the exhibition of the private library of Francis and Nini Martin September 9, 1981. Donohue Rare Book Room, Gleeson Library: University of San Francisco, 1981. $225
Single sheet 24x18” folded, printed in red and black on the front, and with a single leaf from the first edition of Johnson’s Dictionary laid in. Fine. Printed by Norman Strouse in a limited but unspecified number.
309. JOHNSON, S. A dictionary of the English language… London: printed by W. Strahan for A. Millar [et al.], 1765. $5,000
Third edition, 2 vols., folio, early 19th century polished calf, red and green morocco labels on spines; top of one spine cracked; leaves 31-C1 and 31-C2 bound out of order at the back of vol. 2; good and sound. Engraved armorial bookplate of Earl Cornwallis.
“1, 024 copies were printed in May, 1765 … This edition was published to coincide with Johnson’s edition of Shakespeare which appeared in October 1765, and for which it supplied a good deal of glossarial matter” (Fleeman).
Alston V, 179; Courtney, p. 55; Fleeman 55.4D/3; Sledd & Kolb, pp. 111-113.
310. JOHNSON, S. A dictionary of the English language … to which is prefixed an English grammar. To this edition are added, a history of the English language, the author’s preface to the folio, and a considerable number of words, none of which are contained in the London octavo. The third edition, carefully revised. Dublin: printed by W.G. Jones for Thomas Ewing, 1768. $750
8vo, pp. [72] plus unpaginated lexicon in double column; full contemporary calf, upper joint cracked, vertical crack in spine, citron morocco label partially chipped away, 2 early ownership signatures on flyleaf (1770 and 1787); a good copy of a scarce edition.
The first octavo was published in London, 1756, abridged by Johnson; a Dublin edition followed in 1758 in 1 volume. Two other 2-volume London editions appeared in 1760 and 1766 respectively, and 1-volume Dublin editions in 1764 and 1766.
Alston V, 196; Courtney & Smith, p. 62; Fleeman 56.1DA/6; Vancil, p. 123.
311. JOHNSON, S. A dictionary of the English language… London: Harrison and Co., 1786. $2, 750
First one-volume folio (“Harrison’s”) edition, with a Preface by Harrison on the merits of his edition, and containing a reprinting of Johnson’s Plan of a Dictionary, Harrison’s Life of Johnson, and Johnson’s original preface, history of the language and his English grammar; pp. [84] plus unpaginated lexicon in triple column followed by a sectional title and 3pp. of supplementary words; engraved frontis portrait, title-p. printed in red and black; complete and sound in contemporary full reversed calf, rebacked, portions of old spine laid down and preserving the original red morocco label; very good and sound.
An unauthorized reprinting of Johnson’s great dictionary, consisting of 100 six-penny numbers, the first of which appeared on October 22, 1785.
Alston V, 183; Courtney & Smith, 57-8; Fleeman 55.4D/7; Sledd & Kolb, 127-9.
312. JOHNSON, S. A dictionary of the English language… London: printed by John Jarvis, and sold by John Fielding, 1786. $1, 500
2 volumes, 4to, portrait frontis after Bartolozzi, [74] plus unpaginated lexicon in triple column; [2] & unpaginated lexicon; bound without the half-title in vol. I, in full contemporary calf, rebacked (in the early 20th century?), red and black morocco labels on spines; some scuffing and wear, minor foxing, slight stain enters top margin for the first 30 leaves or so of vol. II; a good, sound copy, or better, of a scarce edition. Contains a Life of Johnson, the original preface, and the History of the English Language, with the grammar. Includes a 6-page “Appendix of Words either totally Omitted from Johnson’s Dictionary, or used in senses in which he gives no Instances of their Application.”
In this edition the title-pp. are Fleeman’s variant C. “The variant title-pp. are variously attached to the volumes, and no pattern is yet established. There is no half-title in vol. 2. Jarvis’s printing shop was damaged by fire, 7 June 1787 with some loss of stock … Since the work was published in 48 weekly numbers at 1s. each, there was perhaps occasional demand for title-pp. which were supplied ad hoc” (Fleeman).
Alston V, 187a-b (locating only 5 copies); not in Courtney & Smith; Fleeman 55.4D/10; Sledd & Kolb, p. 128.
313. JOHNSON, S. A dictionary of the English language … The eighth edition, corrected and revised. London: printed for J. Johnson, C. Dilly [et al.], 1799. $2, 250
4to, 2 vols., engraved frontis portrait by Heath after Reynolds, [72] & unpaginated lexicon in triple column, [4] & unpaginated lexicon; occasional light browning of the pages, but a nice copy in contemporary calf-backed, marbled boards, neatly rebacked with old spines laid down, gilt-paneled spines, black and green morocco labels with some light scuffing.
n Alston V, 191; Fleeman 55.4D/12.
314. JOHNSON, S. A dictionary of the English language … abstracted from the folio edition … the eleventh edition, corrected and revised; with considerable additions from the eighth edition of the original. London: for J. Johnson, C. Dilly [et al.], 1799. $425
First issue of this edition; a second issue appeared in 2 volumes, with a portrait frontispiece; 8vo, pp. [34] plus unpaginated lexicon in double column; contemporary full sheep, joints cracked, spine with vertical crack; good copy, with later paper label on spine. 19th century bookplate of T. Braithwaite.
“This was issued in weekly parts and in 2 volumes” (Fleeman). This copy contains a half-title not called for by Fleeman, which he identifies as properly belonging to the second issue.
Alston V, 210; Fleeman 56.1DA/21.
315. JOHNSON, S. A dictionary of the English language: in which the words are deduced from their originals … abstracted from the folio edition by the author … to which are prefixed a grammar of the English language, and the preface to the folio edition. Philadelphia: Jacob Johnson & Co., 1805. $850
First American edition of Johnson’s dictionary, here printed in abridged (but not miniature) form, and based on the London octavos; thick 8vo, pp. xl, [2], unpaginated lexicon in double column; full contemporary calf, red morocco label on spine; spine chipped 3/4” at the top, binding scuffed and rubbed, but sound; a good copy, or better. With the early ownership signatures on the flyleaf of Polly and Anne White, Franklin, 1815.
Contains the first appearance in the western hemisphere of Johnson’s famous Preface and Grammar. The entries have been abbreviated, but bear considerable resemblance to the originals, and there are also brief etymologies; sources are cited, but citations are not. The first complete American edition did not appear until the 2-volume quarto edition of Philadelphia, 1818. Miniature editions appeared in Boston and Philadelphia in 1804 under Johnson’s name, but the definitions bear no resemblance whatsoever to the originals.
See Alston V, p. 37-9: “These [miniature editions] though having Johnson’s name on the title-p., really have nothing whatever to do with the full text … but they have been entered here since they are generally catalogued under Johnson’s name.”
Shaw & Shoemaker 8705; Vancil, p. 124.
316. JOHNSON, S. A dictionary of the English language…in four volumes. The ninth edition; corrected and revised. London: printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees [et al.], 1805. $650
8vo, 4 vols., frontis portrait by Heath after Reynolds and one other plate; bound without half-titles in contemporary full diced calf, effectively rebacked but not brilliantly lettered in gilt; internally clean and the bindings are sound.
Courtney and Smith, p. 58; Fleeman 55.4D/13.
317. JOHNSON, S. A dictionary of the English language … the ninth edition, corrected and revised. London: printed for J. Johnson W. J. & J. Richardson [et al.], 1806. sold
4to, 2 vols., frontis portrait by Heath after Reynolds, [70] & unpaginated lexicon in triple column, [2] & unpaginated lexicon; recent calf-backed green linen boards, red and black morocco labels on gilt-paneled spine ; attractive, firm set.
Complete edition, with the original preface, grammar, and the History of the English Language, and the advertisement to the fourth edition.
Fleeman 55.4D/14.
318. JOHNSON, S. A dictionary of the English language … abstracted from the folio edition … the twelfth edition, corrected and revised; with considerable additions. Montrose: printed for Mundel, Doig, and Stevenson [et al.], 1809. $450
8vo, pp. [28] plus unpaginated lexicon in double column; 20th century quarter tan calf, black morocco label on spine; generally a very good, sound copy of an uncommon edition. Second state of the title-page, with a semi-colon, not a period after the word “revised.”
Fleeman 56.1DA/26b.
319. JOHNSON, S. Johnson’s dictionary of the English language, in miniature. To which are added, an alphabetical account of the heathen deities, a list of the cities [and] a chronological table of remarkable events … Nineteenth edition, improved. London: Thomas Tegg, 1812. $225
16mo, pp. [4], 284; engraved frontis portrait; lexicon in double column; slightly later brown ribbed cloth, simple gilt fillets on unlettered spine; upper joint cracked, spine ends chipped; good and sound. Contemporary ownership signature of “G. Milner, 30 North Place” on front free endpaper.
Fleeman 56/1MD/48
320. JOHNSON, S. A dictionary of the English language…together with a history of the language and an English grammar. With numerous corrections, and with the addition of several thousand words, as also with additions to the history of the language, and to the grammar, by the Rev. H.J. Todd. London: Longmans, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Browne, 1827. $1, 250
Second edition of the first and most important revision of Johnson, 3 volumes, 4to, engraved portrait of Johnson after Reynolds, full contemporary sheep, rebacked in calf; gilt lettered direct on spines; spines faded, else very good and sound, with the half-titles in vols. II and III.
“Todd made some additions to Johnson’s grammar and history of language, extended Johnson’s word-list with obsolete and local terms and with derivatives and compounds, improved etymologies, added quotations where they were lacking and corrected some of those which had been given, but left the famous definitions pretty much unchanged” (Sledd & Kolb, p. 154).
Courtney & Smith, p. 59; Vancil, p. 128.
EDITED BY JOSEPH WORCESTER
321. JOHNSON, S. Johnson’s English dictionary as improved by Todd, and abridged by Chalmers; with Walker’s pronouncing dictionary, combined, to which is added Walker’s key… Boston: Charles Ewer & T. Harrington Carter, 1828. $500
“Boston Stereotype Edition, ” thick 8vo, portrait frontispiece, pp. xxxii, 1156, modern full calf, black morocco label lettered in gilt on spine; frontispiece a bit foxed, else generally fine.
Edited by Joseph Worcester who published this version of Johnson originally in 1827, just a year before Webster published his quarto dictionary. Webster was enthralled enough with Worcester’s job on Johnson that he engaged him to abridge the quarto, which Worcester did for Webster in 1829. A rift then developed between the two, Worcester compiled and published his own dictionary in 1830, and the so-called War of the Dictionaries was set in motion. Worcester’s original 1827 “Editor’s Preface” is reprinted here in full.
Vancil, p. 128.
322. JOHNSON, S. Johnson’s dictionary of the English language in miniature … to which are added an abridgement of Murray’s English Grammar… Derby: John and Charles Mozley, and Paternoster Row, London, n.d., [1841]. $300
12mo, pp. xxiv, 288; lexicon in double column, pronunciation of Greek and Latin proper names, and list of cities and boroughs at the back in sextuple column; contemporary full calf, simple gilt fillets and lettering on spine; very good.
“The ancestry of this edition is uncertain since the addition of Murray’s Grammar distorts the structure of the prelims, but most of Mozley’s dictionaries have 144 leaves of text, so this might be a reimpression [of the Mozley editions of 1811 or 1818 onwards].”
Fleeman 56.1MD/185
323. JOHNSON, S. A dictionary of the English language. By Robert Gordon Latham. Founded on that of Dr. Samuel Johnson, as edited by the Rev. H.J. Todd, with numerous emendations and additions. London: Longmans, Green & Co., [et al], 1866. $950
First edition of Latham’s edition of Johnson’s Dictionary, 4to, 2 volumes in 4 (as issued); text in triple column; slightly later half green morocco over green pebble-grain cloth, gilt decorated spines, t.e.g.; joints rubbed (that on v. 3 cracked), extremities worn, but still generally a good sound set.
The last revision of Johnson’s great work. For an account of Latham (1812-1888), the English philologist who edited and largely rewrote Johnson’s work, see DNB XI, p. 609; see Kennedy 6532.
324. JOHNSON, S. A dictionary of the English language. By Robert Gordon Latham. Founded on that of Dr. Samuel Johnson, as edited by the Rev. H.J. Todd, with numerous emendations and additions. London: Longmans, Green & Co., Bickers & Son, [et al], 1882. $500
4to, 2 volumes in 4 (as issued); text in triple column; original blue green cloth, gilt lettered direct on spines; 3½” tear in spine of vol. 1-1, fingernail size chip at the top of vol. 2-1, 3½” tear in the upper joint of vol. 2-2, which vol. also lacks front free endpaper; a few other minor chips, scrapes and bumps, but the binding is sound and the hinges are still intact; good and sound. The last revision of Johnson’s great work. See Kennedy 6532.
325. [JOHNSON, S.] Handsome mezzotint portrait of Samuel Johnson by James Watson after Joshua Reynolds. London: printed for Robt. Sayer, map and printseller No. 53 Fleet Street, 10 July 1770. $3, 250
Approx. 19” x 14” overall, 17 7/8” x 13” within plate marks; bottom left margin waterstained, just touching the descenders in Joshua Reynolds’ name, some light chipping in the margins, else a nice example. Not found in The Adams Library of Johnson and Johnsoniana, nor does Boswell include it in his “List of Eighteen” engravings of Johnson, as detailed in The Life.
This mezzotint is taken from the portrait painted by Reynolds in 1769, of which Johnson said to his step-daughter, Lucy Porter, “I found that my portrait had been much visited and admired. Every man has a lurking wish to appear considerable in his native place, and I was pleased by the dignity conferred by such a testimony of your regard.”
AN IDIOT SAVANT
326. [JONES, ROBERT.] Memoir of Richard Robert Jones, of Aberdaron, in the county of Carnarvon, in North Wales; exhibiting a remarkable instance of a partial power and cultivation of intellect. [By William Roscoe.] London: printed for T. Cadell and J. & A. Arch, 1822. $450
First edition, slim 8vo, pp. [4], 50; original paper-backed marbled boards, paper label on spine; some cracking to the spine, else very good.
Mr. Jones was a something of an idiot savant whose genius was the acquisition of language. He was able to read the Bible in his native Welsh at nine, and in Latin at fifteen. By nineteen he had mastered Hebrew and shortly thereafter French and Italian. English, however, to him a foreign language, was not acquired without considerable difficulty. Ultimately, he became fluent in fifteen languages, and was the subject of several books and pamphlets.
327. JONES, WILLIAM, Sir. The works. London: printed for G.G. and J. Robinson & R.H. Evans, 1799. $1, 500
First collected edition, 6 volumes (2 supplemental volumes were published in 1801 and are not included here), large 4to, engraved portrait after Joshua Reynolds, 59 engraved plates (12 of them on 6 sheets, plus 1 folding and 1 double-p.), a few grammatical diagrams in the text, text largely in roman and Persian character, and with a smattering of Greek and Hebrew; occasional spotting and browning throughout, one internal page in vol. II torn, and neatly repaired, volumes I and VI rebacked with spines laid down, hinges tender on the other volumes, top of spine on vol. II slightly clipped, but all in all a good set or better in later half polished tan calf gilt over marbled boards, gilt-paneled spine in 6 compartments, red and black morocco labels in two.
Includes the texts of many seminal contributions to the Journal of Asiatic Researches, and much on the language and literature of the Persians and Hindus, with notices of their customs and laws, select word lists and grammars, a number of translations of poems, songs, and anecdotes from Asiatic languages, including selections from the Upanishads and Vedas, and a significant bibliography and a catalogue of the Sanskrit manuscripts presented by Jones to the Royal Society. Volume V is given over almost entirely to “L’Histoire de Nader Chah” with additional introductory matter in English.
Ebert 10877; Lowndes II, 1228; ref. Printing and the Mind of Man, 235 for Jones’ On the Hindus (1788) which “marks a turning point in the history of linguistics, and signaled the birth of comparative philology … In 1786 Jones made his epoch-making discovery of the relationship between the Sanskrit, Gothic, Greek, and Latin languages … His clear understanding of the basic principles of scientific linguistics provided the foundation on which Rask, Bopp, and Grimm built the imposing structure of comparative Indo-European studies.”
328. [JONES, W.][Shaw, John, (Lord Teignmouth)]. Memoirs of the life, writings and correspondence of Sir William Jones … by Lord Teignmouth. London: John Hatchard, 1806. $500
Second edition, 4to, pp. xv, [5], 531; fine engraved portrait frontispiece, plate of facsimile handwriting, errata slip tipped in at p. 1; clean tear in p. 211; mild foxing throughout; good, sound copy in original marbled paper-covered boards, neatly rebacked with new paper label on spine. Jones (1746-1794), the great Oriental scholar and co-founder (with Charles Wilkins) of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, was the first to discover the relationship between the Sanskrit, Gothic, Greek and Latin languages.
329. [JONES, W.][Shaw, John, (Lord Teignmouth)]. Memoirs of the life, writings and correspondence of Sir William Jones. Fifth edition… London: John Hatchard, 1815. $175
8vo, pp. xiv, [6], 636; engraved portrait frontispiece, plate of facsimile handwriting; mild foxing throughout; old red library rubberstamp on title, else a good, sound copy in original paper-covered boards, neatly rebacked with new paper label on spine.
330. JONSON, BEN. The English grammar made by Ben Jonson for the benefit of all strangers out of the observation of the English language now spoken and in use. With a prefatory note by Strickland Gibson M.A. Bodleian Library. London: Lanston Monotype Corp., 1928. $200
Small 8vo, pp. vi, [2], 93, [3]; folding type specimen at the back, yapp edges; fine in original art-vellum decorated in blind, glassine jacket and publisher’s marbled slipcase. Nicely printed throughout in Baldo italic and Polyphilus roman on laid paper.
A verbatim reprint of the original edition of 1640, with variant readings from the imperfect 1692 edition. This copy with a presentation in pencil on the flyleaf from the president of the Langston Monotype Co., dated 1928.
331. JUDD, HENRY P., Mary Kawena Pukui & Johnm F. G. Stokes. Introduction to the Hawaiian language (an English-Hawaiian vocabulary) comprising five thousand of the commonest and most useful English words and their equivalents … with a complimentary Hawaiian-English vocabulary. Honolulu: Tongg Publishing Co., [1943]. $125
First edition, 16mo, pp. [3]-314; beige linen binding with printed paper label on upper cover; mild dampstain along the fore-edge, else near fine in the dust jacket.
THE FIRST SYSTEMATIC ETYMOLOGY OF ENGLISH
332. JUNIUS, FRANCIS. Francisci Junii Francisci filii Etymologicum Anglicanum ex autographo descripsit & accessionibus permultis aictum edidit Edwardus Lye…praemittuntur vita auctoris et grammatica Anglo-Saxonica. Oxonii: E Theatro Sheldoniano, 1743. $850
First edition, folio, pp. [40], [624]; engraved portrait frontispiece by G. Vertu, 8-p. subscriber list containing many important names of the day; full contemporary calf, rubbed, hinges cracked, else good and sound; internally very clean. Junius was an early proponent for the study of Anglo-Saxon, and a life-long student of the Teutonic and northern languages. His collection of northern types, which included Gothic, Runic, and Anglo-Saxon, was bequeathed to Oxford University. These types were used in the printing of this book, which was edited by Edward Lye from the unpublished manuscript. It is the first systematic etymology of the English language.
Alston V, 354; Zaunmüller, p. 115; Graesse III, p. 499.
333. [KEMBLE, JOHN MITCHELL.] Anglo-Saxon dialogues of Salomon and Saturnus with an historical introduction. London: Aelfric Society, 1845-48. $450
First printing of this of this poem, with an English translation, 3 volumes, original printed wrappers, being nos. 8, 13, and 14 of the Society’s journal; preliminary leaves bound in at the back of the last volume; library labels removed from base of front covers (not offensive), and several small 19th century library rubberstamps.
Kemble (1807-1857) received his early education from Charles Richardson, the lexicographer; later, at Trinity College, Cambridge, he became part of “the most brilliant group ever in residence at a single college, prominent among them were Edward FitzGerald, Alfred (later Lord) Tennyson, William Makepeace Thackeray and Richard Chenevix Trench, later Archbishop of Dublin and one of the motivating forces behind the Philological Society’s New English Dictionary (i.e. the OED). Within two or three years, Kemble acquired “a more intimate knowledge of the manuscript sources for Old English literature and history than any scholar since Wanley” in the early 18th century.
334. KEMBLE, JOHN MITCHELL. Manuscript notebook of material pertaining to his Anglo-Saxon studies. Gottingen, Munich, Cambridge & elsewhere: ca. 1830s. $7, 500
8vo, over 350 pages in various stages of use, plus additional blanks; bound in 19th century blue cloth, gilt-lettered on spine: “Anglo Saxonica. J.M. Kemble.” Cloth a bit stained and frayed, endsheets foxed, but generally very good.
A most interesting notebook kept by one of the foremost philologists of the first half of the 19th century, among whose many accomplishments is the first complete modernized version of Beowulf (1833). Kemble (1807-1857) “had a more scientific as well as a more accurate knowledge of the [Old English] language than any earlier scholar…The publication of his collection of documents belonging to the Anglo-Saxon period may be said to have laid the foundation of our present knowledge of the institutions and customs of the English before the Norman conquest” (DNB). He studied for a time under Jacob Grimm, who considered Kemble one of his most promising students.
This notebook was obviously used over a period of time and for different purposes; different sections are separated by many blanks, and are scattered through the text block; there are also a number of pages which have been excised. Among these notes and transcriptions are his transcription of the MS. Cotton Vitellius A.XV (folios 1-9, containing Alfred’s translation of Augustine’s Soliloquies); his transcription of portions of the Cottonian, Trinity and Gottingen manuscripts of the Cursor mundi, the second being the most lengthy, and with his replication of illuminated elements of the original MS in colored inks; and his notes for his famed Codex Diplomaticus (see next item) which occupies nearly half the volume. There are other transcriptions as well, including “A German Poem concerning Charlemagne. Harl. MN. 3971, ” and a “Translation of the Hildebrands Lied (Rough translatn. Munich 1835).” Another section resembles a concordance of the occurrence of specific words in various manuscripts, and yet another is a list of words he wished to locate in either Anglo-Saxon or Old English texts based on their transference into Gothic and other texts.
The front endsheet bears the ownership signature of “C[harles] E[dward] Donne, ” the eldest son of Kemble’s very close friend and schoolfellow, William Bodham Donne, who succeeded Kemble as examiner of plays in the Lord Chamberlain’s office after Kemble’s death.
335. KEMBLE, J. M. Codex diplomaticus aevi Saxonici. Londini: sumptibus Societatis [i.e. English Historical Society], 1839-48. $2, 950
First edition, large paper copy printed for one of the Society’s members, John Mee Mathew, Esq., with his name printed in red on the verso of the half-title; 6 volumes, royal 8vo, contemporary half green morocco, gilt paneled spines, t.e.g., with the gilt stamp on the upper covers of the Birmingham Law Society and their gilt supralibros on the back covers, rubberstamps on title-pp. and occasionally in the text; upper joint of volume I tender, several others rubbed; all in all, a good, sound set.
“After his marriage (in 1836) Kemble appears to have resided in London for some time, employing himself in literary work, and specially in transcribing in the British Museum, and in various collegiate and cathedral libraries, the Anglo-Saxon charters afterwards printed in his Codex Diplomaticus … In his knowledge of Teutonic philology he was far ahead of any of his fellow-countrymen, and was the recognised exponent of the investigations of Jacob Grimm and other German writers on the subject … He used his knowledge chiefly in illustrating Anglo-Saxon literature and history, writing in all his original work as a man of letters no less than as a scholar … The publication of his collection of documents belonging to the Anglo-Saxon period may be said to have laid the foundation of our present knowledge of the institutions and customs of the English before the Norman” (DNB).
336. [KEMBLE, J. M.] The philological museum. Cambridge: printed by J. Smith … for Deightons, Cambridge; Rivingtons, London; and Parker, Oxford, 1832-3. $1, 500
First edition, volumes I and II (all published); 8vo, pp. [2], iv, [iii]-iv, 706; iv, 706; light spotting, else a fine set in original green cloth, gilt-lettered spine; engraved bookplates of Alexander Thomson. Founded by Julius Charles Hare and Connop Thirwall it was a journal devoted to classical literature from the philological point of view.
“Most members of the Etymological Society wrote for the Philological Museum, and in our effort to get at the community of background, outlook, and philological interest shared by the influential Cambridge scholars, we may briefly consider that publication. Hare, who shared the editorship with Thirwell, explained in the Preface to the first of the only two volumes that were published, that English scholars in the 1820’s had contributed little more than a ‘mite’ to the knowledge of classical antiquity … it became the purpose of the Museum to foster the ‘spirit of philological criticism’ … Actually, the majority of the articles were on classical subjects, with Thirwell the most prolific contributor. But the Museum also contained several articles on English and the new philology, of which Kemble’s ‘On English Praeterites and Genitives’ was the most important, being the first exposition in English of Grimm’s analysis of the forms of the verb in Germanic” (Aarsleff, The Study of Language in England 1780-1860, pp. 219-20). Also with articles on ‘On English Orthography, ’ by Hare, and ‘On English Diminutives’ by G. C. L.
337. [KEMBLE, J. M.] The poetry of the Codex Vercellensis, with an English translation. London: printed for the Aelfric Society, 1843. $1, 250
First edition, 8vo, pp. xvi, 100; bound with: Kemble, J. M., Anglo-Saxon Dialogues of Salomon and Saturnus (parts I-III) pp. vi, [2], 326; bound with: Kemble, J. M. On the Names, Surnames, and Nicknames of the Anglosaxons, p. [2], 22; together 3 titles in slightly later quarter green morocco; from the library of the runic archaeologist George Stephens, with 3 leaves of his MS notes laid in, the first and second titles annotated by him in the margins, the second title with a MS title-page by him in ink; the last part (III) of the Dialogues, which is separate and in original printed wrappers, also contains 6 pages of MS notes by Stephens on the proverbs of King Alfred.
338. KEMBLE, J. M. A specimen of an etymological dictionary… Edited, with an introduction by J. Lawrence Mitchell. Saint Paul: Rulon-Miller Books, 1990. $495
Edition ltd. to 100 copies, 8vo, pp. 61, [2]; photographic facsimile tipped in, original green cloth, slipcase, paper label on spine. Printed by hand in red and black on handmade Umbria Bianco paper by Emily Mason Strayer of the Kutenai Press, South Willington, CT; designed and produced under the direction of Gerald Lange of the Bieler Press, at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles; matrices for unique characters were provided by Monotype International, Surrey, England; additional characters were supplied by MacKenzie-Harris Corp., San Francisco.
Kemble (1807-1857), the son of Charles Kemble, the actor, was the foremost English philologist of his day, and a friend, correspondent, and protégé of Jacob Grimm. The text is taken from the recently discovered eight page manuscript dated 1830, compiled three years before the appearance of his influential edition of Beowulf—the first in English, and the first to show competent knowledge of Old English. No trace of the Dictionary itself is known and was certainly never published. But, coming at in important juncture of English etymological research and Anglo-Saxon scholarship, this Specimen of select English words, traced back through centuries of Middle and Old English literature, is fitting tribute to Kemble’s erudition and interest in the history of the English language.
339. [KINGDOM, WILLIAM.] A dictionary of quotations from the British poets. In three parts. Part the first. Shakespeare. [Second. Blank verse.] [Third. Rhyme.] By the author of The Peerage & Baronetage Charts. London: G. & W. B. Whittaker, 1824. $750
First edition, 3 vols., 8vo, pp. xix, [1], 276, [24]; 12 (ads for Longman, Rees [et al.] dated Oct., 1826), xv, [1], 431, [1]; 12 (ads, as above), xv, [1], 355, [1]; original paper-covered boards, paper labels on spines; some rubbing and cracking, label on vol. II chipped with a little loss, but the bindings, while fragile, are firm.
According to the preface, each of the volumes was separately published, and consequently this may account for the paucity of complete copies. OCLC lists only the copies at Folger, Glasgow University, and Univ. of Hong Kong. Jaggard, p. 564, but citing only the first volume.
Kingdom is also the author of the well-known America and the British colonies: an abstract of all the most useful information relative to the United States, Canada, the Cape of Good Hope, New South Wales, and Van Diemen’s Island (1820); and Suggestions for improving the value of railway property and for the eventual liquidation of the national debt (1850).
340. KIRKHAM, SAMUEL. English grammar in familiar lectures, accompanied by a compendium … and a system of philosophical grammar … One hundred and fifth edition. Baltimore: Plaskitt & Cugle, 1839. $125
8vo, folding frontispiece (“a compendium of English grammar” in 6 columns under a running head), pp. 228; full contemporary sheep rubbed, but sound; red morocco label on spine; some foxing, especially to prelims and terminals. A formidable rival to Goold Brown’s Institutes of English Grammar, popular at the elementary level from the time of its first printing in 1823 into the 1840’s.
341. KLUGE, FRIEDRICH. Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache. Strassburg: Karl J. Trubner, 1884. $350
Third impression, 4to, pp. xxiv, 428 plus 16pp. publisher’s adverts., publisher’s half brown morocco gilt over marbled boards, little rubbing; very good. German dictionary with an appendix of glossaries of other languages to German: Greek, Latin, Italian, French, and English.
342. [KOERNER, E.F.K. & R.E. Asher.] Concise history of the language sciences from the Sumerians to the cognitivists. [Cambridge]: Pergamon, [1995]. $100
First edition, small 4to, pp. xii, 497; dust jacket; text in double column; with subject and biographical indexes; as new. “There is no doubt about the high quality of the entries nor of the standing of the contributors, many of whom enjoy a world-wide reputation in the field of their scholarship … a most valuable addition to the resources for teachers and students of the history of linguistics … The contents are excellent” (Prof. R.H. Robins, University of London).
343. KONTOPOULOS, N[IKOLAOS]. Lexikon hellenoagglikon kai aggloellenikon. A lexicon of modern Greek-English, English-Modern Greek. Smurne: B. Tatikidou, 1867-69. $500
First edition, 8vo, 2 vols., pp. [8], 456; [8], 575; contemporary and probably original brown morocco-backed blue marbled boards; joints rubbed, some flaking of the gilt lettering on the spines, but generally good; binding sound. Zaunmüller notes only a 20th century edition.
Of this edition Ohio Wesleyan only in OCLC, although of an 1868 edition there are 12.
344. LA CROZE, MATURIN VEYSSIÈRE. Lexicon Aegyptiaco-Latinum ex veteribus illus linguae monumentis summo studio collectum et elaboratum. Quod in compendium redegit, ita ut nullae voces Aegyptiacae, nullae que earum significationes omitterentur, Christianus Scholtz. Oxonii: e Typographeo Clarendoniano, 1775. $1, 750
First edition, 4to, pp. xi, [1], 199, [1], [66] indices; text printed in Greek, Cyrillic and Roman types; full contemporary calf, gilt spine; spine ends chipped, extremities rubbed, slight cracking of joints at the extremities, else good and sound. Not in the Trubner Catalogue of Dictionaries and Grammars.
Not in Vancil or Zaunmüller. OCLC lists four copies only (NYPL, Johns Hopkins, Chicago, and Tokyo University). Lowndes 1285: “A valuable work.”
345. LACOMBE, ALB., Le Rev. Père. Dictionnaire de la langue des Cris. Montreal: C.O. Beauchemin & Valois, 1874. $650
first edition, 8vo, pp. [12], v-xx, 708, 711, [3]; bound with: Lacombe, Grammaire de la langue des Cris, Montreal, 1874, first edition, pp. [2], iii, [1], 190; 1 folding table of Cree verbs; pages slightly browned, covers and extremities rubbed, upper joint cracked; spine chipped at lower edge; otherwise good and still sound in contemporary half roan gilt over marbled boards. Dictionnaire lacks the folding map.
Pilling, Algonquin, p. 282-3.
346. LANGE, RUDOLF. A text-book of colloquial Japanese based on the Lehrbuch der Japanischen Umgangssprache … Revised English edition, by Christopher Noss. Tokyo: Methodist Publishing House, 1907. $145
8vo, pp. xxxi, [1], 588, [1]; very good, sound copy in neat but unappealing brown leatherette, gilt lettering direct on spine. Contains an historical introduction to Japanese, an extensive grammar, a section of Japanese stories and anecdotes, and a 120-p. English-Japanese and Japanese-English dictionary at the back.
347. LANGENSCHEIDTS LILLIPUT DICTIONARIES. A collection.New York, Berlin, Munchen, et al.: Langenscheidts, KG, v.d., 1950s-1980s. $950
100 volumes (including 1 duplicate), mostly, but not entirely bilingual, 64mo, each in varying colors of plastic and faux morocco bindings, each lettered in gilt on upper cover spine; generally in fine condition. Includes some obscure languages, such as Olandese, Serbo-Croatian, Abzurzungen, and Esperanto.
348. LEAN, VINCENT S. Lean’s collectanea: collections … of proverbs (English & foreign), folk-lore and superstitions, also compilations towards dictionaries of proverbial phrases and words, old and discussed. Bristol: J.W. Arrowsmith; London: Simpkin, Marshall, 1902-04. $550
4 volumes in 5, large 8vo, 4 frontispieces, 2 plates of facsimiles; original red cloth backed in white buckram (slightly soiled); generally a very good, sound set of an excellent scholarly work, the best on English proverbs since that of Ray (1670). Contains sections on local proverbs of other countries, and a biographical memoir of Lean by Julia Lucy Woodward.
349. [LEE, CHARLES A.] Aleutian Indian and English dictionary: common words in the dialects of the Aleut Indian language as spoken by the Oogashik, Egashik, Egegik, Anangashuck and Misremie tribes around the Sulima River and neighboring parts of the Alaska peninsula. Seattle: Lowman & Hanford Stationery and Printing Co., 1896. $375
First edition, 16mo, pp. 23; original printed pictorial wrappers, slightly chipped and fragile, but generally well-preserved. Aimed at traders and whalers the lexicon includes monetary terms (all in rubles) native names for individuals and trading companies, and animals (including seals and whales).
Not in Vancil; not in Zaunmüller; Wickersham 2590.
350. LEESBERG, ARNOLD C. M. Comparative philology. A comparison between Semitic and American languages, with a map and illustrations. Leyden: Late E.J. Brill, publishers and printers, 1903. $150
First and only edition limited to 300 copies, oblong 4to, pp. viii, 82, [2]; color map, 11 illus. in text; vocabulary arranged in 8 columns, with comparisons of the English and Semitic languages with those of Maya, Carib, Chukchee, Kichua, Chiapanec, and Aymara. A fine copy in original paper-covered boards.
351. LEMON, GEORGE WILLIAM. English etymology; or, a derivative dictionary of the English language: in two alphabets, tracing the etymology of those English words, that are derived I. From the Greek, and Latin languages; II. From the Saxon, and other Northern tongues. London: Printed for G. Robinson, 1783. $1, 500
First and only edition, 4to, pp. [8], xlii, [2], unpaginated lexicon in double column, [30]; with a 6-p. list of subscribers and a full-p. specimen of 5 different alphabets; contains a table of chronological events and an extensive word index; full contemporary tree calf, red morocco label on spine; joints cracked, bottom of spine a little chipped, but all else very good.
Ignoring Johnson, Lemon cites as his authorities Vossius, Spelman, Somner, Minsheu, Junius, Skinner, Verstegan, Ray, Nugent, Cleland and other etymologists. A handsome book, “well thought of in its day, though only curious and useless now … [by] a man of great industry and much learning. The writer’s view was that most English words were derived from the ‘Greek as the radix, ’ notwithstanding the dialects which they may have passed through” (DNB).
Alston V, 355; Kennedy 6230; Vancil, p. 146.
352. LEMPRIERE, J. Bibliotheca classica: or, a dictionary of all the principal names and terms relating to the geography, topography, history, literature, and mythology of antiquity and of the ancients: with a chronological table … revised and corrected … by Lorenzo L. Da Ponte and John D. Ogilby…. New York: W.E. Dean, 1838. $125
Tenth American edition, 8vo, pp. 803; full contemporary calf, red morocco label on spine; text in double column; mild dampstains; hinges rubbed; good and sound. Lempriere’s classical dictionary, first published in 1788, was “the first specialist work designed as a substitute for, rather than as an aid to, learning… Lempriere’s dictionary has been frequently re-edited and its accuracy has been greatly improved, although its original style, always lively and unusually readable for a work of reference, has been largely preserved” (PMM 236, citing the first edition).
353. LETELLIER, CHARLES-CONSTANT. Nouvelle cacographie, ou exercices sur les participes et les principales difficultés de la langue françoise; suivis d’un choix de sujets de lettres et de compositions propres à former le style et le jugement des élève. Paris: Belin-Le Prieur, 1831. $125
12mo, 192pp., original blue paper wrappers, printed paper label on spine worn away, otherwise a near fine copy.
The author completed a number of works on French grammar in the early 19th century, including a grammar translated into English in 1839. The book is designed for students, with subjects for composition, assorted lessons in the more difficult aspects of the French language, and with extracts from French authors as examples. A seventh edition had been reached by 1819.
This edition not in OCLC.
354. LEWIS, JOHN. Analytical outlines of the English language, or a cursory examination of its materials and structure … in the form of familiar dialogues, intended to accompany grammatical studies. Richmond: Shepherd & Pollard, 1825. $400
First and only edition, 8vo, pp. xii, 178; contemporary full calf, black morocco label; free endpapers excised, occasional pencil notations in the margins; binding rubbed and scraped, but sound.
Includes the tradition discussions of grammar, orthography, etymology and prosody, the uses of these classifications, and sections dealing with the various parts of speech, all laid out in 24 dialogues between “Papa” and “George.” Lewis wrote or compiled several other works of philological interest, as well as two novels.
NUC locates 8 copies; American Imprints 21207. No mention of Lewis in Neitz or Carpenter.
355. LIDDELL, HENRY GEORGE & Robert Scott. A Greek-English lexicon based on the German work of Francis Passow … with corrections and additions … by Henry Drisler. New York: Harper & Bros., 1849. $200
Stereotyped issue of the first American edition, first printed in 1846; large, thick 8vo, pp. xxix, [1], 1705, [6] ads; text in triple column; full original sheep, black morocco label; somewhat scuffed and rubbed, but sound. With a preface of the American editor, and a list of authors and editions cited.
356. LIDDELL, H. G. & R. SCOTT. A lexicon abridged from the Greek-English Lexicon of H. G. Liddell and R. Scott. Fourth edition. Oxford: University Press, 1852. $100
Small 4to, pp. [4], 804; text in double column; contemporary full calf, old spine laid down; previous tape stains along hinges, else very good and sound. Liddell & Scott: still the standard Greek-English dictionary.
WITH TWO MATCHED LEAVES
357. LITTLEJOHN, DAVID. Dr. Johnson and Noah Webster: two men and their dictionaries. Illustrated with a matched pair of original leaves from A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson, A.M. (1755) and An American Dictionary of the English Language by Noah Webster, LL.D. (1828). San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1971. $425
Edition limited to 500 copies printed by Grabhorn-Hoyem, 4to, pp. 84, [2] plus the two original leaves bound in at the end; 8 full-p. reproductions and a few smaller illus. in the text; fine copy in quarter blue cloth over boards, red morocco label on spine. Comparison of the two leaves which, in this copy, list entries under with the letters SWA-SWE (with many common words between them) shows both Webster’s debt to Johnson as well as some of the fundamental differences between them. Littlejohn’s essay is both informative and entertaining.
358. LOCKE, J. The works of John Locke Esq; in three volumes. The sixth edition. To which is added, the life of the author; and a collection of several of his pieces published by Mr. Desmaizeaux. London: D. Browne, C. Hitch [et al.], 1759. $2, 500
3 volumes, folio, pp. [iii]-xv, [1], [12], [xvii]-xxxii, 587, [16]; [2], 719, [12]; [6], 757, [12]; engraved frontis portrait by Kneller after George Virtue, engraved dedication; recent full brown niger morocco, spines in 7 compartments, red and black morocco labels in 2; minor toning of the text, newspaper shadow between pp. 268-69 of vol. I, else fine. The last of the folio editions.
Alston VII, 117; Yolton 368.
359. LOCKE, JOHN. An essay concerning human understanding … to which is prefixed the life of the author. Brattleboro, VT: printed by William Fessenden, for Thomas and Andrews, 1806. $950
Second American edition, 3 vols., 12mo, full contemporary calf, red morocco labels and numbering pieces; slight cracking and rubbing along the joints, otherwise very good and sound. Volume 2 bears imprint Boston: printed by J.T. Buckingham, for Thomas and Andrews.
Odd mix of Shaw & Shoemaker 10742a and 10743.
360. LONCAMPS, ALESSANDRO & Lorenzo Franciossino. La novissima grammatica delle tre lingue Italiana, Francese, e Spagnvola… Venice: Benedetto Miloco, 1680. $375
24mo, 432pp.; attractive, in contemporary vellum-backed marbled boards, MS. title on spine. BM Catalogue cites a Venice, 1664 edition. Tri-lingual grammar, each part with a sectional title.
361. LONGFELLOW, HENRY WADSWORTH. Syllabus de la grammaire Italienne. Boston: Gray et Bowen, 1832. $375
First edition, 8vo, pp. [4], 104, errata slip; original purple muslin soiled and faded, remnants of printed paper label on spine, foxing throughout, rear hinge starting, a good copy at best. BAL’s title-page A, binding A, <->2 is a cancel in state B, errata slip state B.
At the age of twenty two, having returned from a scholar’s sojourn in Europe, he received the appointment of professor of modern languages at Bowdoin, “and probably, with the exception of Mr. George Ticknor, was the most accomplished scholar in this country of the languages and literatures of modern Europe” (Appleton’s CAB). This Italian grammar, published the same year as his edition of Italian short stories, were designed as text books for students of the language, and were published while he was a professor of modern languages and literature at Bowdoin.
BAL 12048.
362. [LONGRIDGE, C. C., Capt.] A glossary of mining terms. With illustrations and geological survey map signs. London: The “Mining Journal Offices, ”, 1897. $275
First edition, oblong 12mo, pp. viii (ads), 98, ix-xxiv (ads); original yellow printed paper-covered boards backed in maroon cloth; very good throughout.
Not in Vancil; not in Zischka; 6 copies in OCLC but only 4 in the U.S.
363. LONNEUX, MARTIN J. Mass book and hymnal in Innuit. Missarchutiti kalikat. Chaneliak, AK: [Vicar-Apostolic of Alaska, 1950]. $150
First edition, 8vo, pp. [2], 129 printed from typescript; ex-library with ink stamp on title-page, else very good in slightly scuffed plain black cloth. Catholic liturgy and hymns in Innuit.
364. LONNEUX, M. J. [et al.]. The graded catechism in Innuit. Chaneliak, Alaska: The Vicar-Apostolic of Alaska, [1951]. $75
First edition, 8vo, pp. iv, 292; very good copy in original black cloth. Prelims and lesson headings in English, else entirely in Innuit.
365. LOPEZ DE LA HUERTA, JOSÉ. Exámen de la posibilidad de fixar la significacion de los sinónimos de la lengua Castellana … quarta edicion corregida y aumentada. Valencia: José Estévan, 1811. $175
2 vols. in 1, sm. 8vo, pp. xxxii, [4], 216; 224; contemporary tree calf, red morocco label; a little rubbed, but sound. Synonyms and antonyms in Catalan, arranged by word pairs. Extensive word index at the back. First published 1789; another printing was called for in 1821.
366. LOPEZ, FR. FRANCISCO. Gramática Ilocana compuesta por el R. Prédioador Fr. Francisco Lopez. Corregida y aumentada por el R. Carro. Tercera edición. Malabón [Philippines]: [Tip. Lit. del Asilo de Huérfanos de Malabón], 1895. $450
8vo, pp. xvi, 354, [2]; contemporary full calf, black morocco label; extremities scuffed and rubbed, pages quite browned. Edited by Cipriano Marcilla y Martin. One of about seventy Austronesian languages spoken in the Philippines. Tagalog, with something on the order of 10 million native speakers in southwest Luzon, serves as the national language. Other important languages include Ilocano and Bikol, also of Luzon, and Celubano Hiligaynon (Ilongo) of the central islands.
367. LOWER, MARK ANTONY. English surnames. An essay on family nomenclature, historical, etymological, and humorous: with several illustrative appendices. London: John Russell Smith, 1875. $125
Fourth edition, 8vo, 2 vols.; pp. xxvii, [1], 276; [iii]-vi, 271; title-pp. printed in red and black, occasional illus. in text; original burgundy cloth, spines browned; light rubbing to extremities; good and sound. Excellent work on English surnames from the Anglo-Saxon period to the present. Also with sections on inn signs, anagrams, rebuses and “canting arms.”
368. LOWER, M. A. Patronymica Britannica. A dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russell Smith, 1860. $350
First edition, tall 8vo, pp. [6], [iii]-xxxix, [1], 443, [1], [2] ads; decorative vignette title printed in red and black, frontispiece portrait of Lower, supplement and addendum; later half blue morocco, smooth gilt-decorated spine, red morocco label; very good and sound. With a long and interesting introductory essay on patronymic history.
369. [LUDEMANN, MAX, Dr.] Deutsch … Herausgegeben vom Rustinischen Lehrinstitut. Potsdam und Leipzig: Bonness & Hachfeld, 1940. $125
First edition complete in 56 parts, 8vo, pp. 1366 (of 1368), lacking the last leaf of the parts summary; pages slightly browned, some corners bent and other wear on leaves and wrappers, upper wrapper torn (no loss of letterpress), back wrapper lacking on Part 56; good, loosely sewn together. A self-instructed study in German following the Rustin method. Fifty-six lessons designed for native German speakers in order for them to learn their language correctly. Mostly grammar, but includes some literature.
JOHNSON AND GOLDSMITH SUBSCRIBERS
370. LYE, EDWARD. Dictionarium Saxonico et Gothico-Latinum. Accedunt fragmenta versionis Ulphilanae, necnon opuscula quaedam Anglo-Saxonica. London: Edm. Allen, 1772. $2, 000
First edition, 2 volumes, tall folio, pp. [54], [430]; [2], [732]; text in double column; full contemporary tree calf remboitage, neatly rebacked, old red and black morocco labels on spines; nice copy, complete with the list of subscribers (which includes Johnson, Goldsmith, Reynolds, and Percy), the Saxon and Gothic grammars, and a preface, all by Owen Manning who completed the work after Lye’s death in 1767.
Lye had been at work on this Saxon dictionary since 1737; only about 30 sheets were published before his death. Manning made a few additions to the work and published it posthumously. It includes several appendices, including fragments of Ulphilas’ Gothic version of the Epistle of Paul to the Romans (parallel text in Anglo-Saxon); the Anglo-Saxon Chartae (parallel with Latin translation); and, fragments from The Saxon Chronicle, among others. The handsome Anglo-Saxon font was cut by William Caslon, and the printing was the work of Edmund Allen, another friend of Johnson.
Lowndes II, 1420: “A most valuable work.” Alston III, 25; Ebert 12558: “Scarce, even in England.”
371. MACBRIDE, MACKENZIE. London’s dialect. An ancient form of English speech. With a note on the dialects of the north of England and the Midlands and of Scotland. London: Priory Press, 1910. $150
First edition, 12mo, pp. 62, [4] ads; fine in original cream wrappers printed in red and green.
372. [MACDONELL, DAVID EVANS.] A dictionary of quotations, in most frequent use. Taken from the Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, and Italian languages; translated into English. With illustrations historical and idiomatic. The second edition, revised… London: printed for G. G. and J. Robinson, 1798. $350
First octavo edition, 8vo, pp. vii, [1], [208]; title-p. creased, and with a short tear neatly closed, the whole a little spotted throughout; later half black morocco, rebacked, old label on spine preserved.
The first edition was a year earlier. An edition appeared in Philadelphia in 1824 and it was in print as late as 1856 in London. The three 18th century editions all appear to be quite scarce.
Alston III, 756 locating only 3 copies, (1 in the U.S.).
373. MACKAY, CHARLES. The Gaelic etymology of the languages of Western Europe and more especially of the English and Lowland Scotch, and of their slang, cant, and colloquial dialects. London: for the author by Trubner, 1877. $375
First edition, imp. 8vo, pp. xxxii, 604; list of subscribers; text in double column; cloth split along front joint, paper label on spine chipped, all else very good and sound in original green cloth.
374. [MACMILLAN, A. S.] Popular names of flowers, fruits, &c., as used in the county of Somerset and the adjacent parts of Devon, Dorset and Wilts. Reprinted from the Somerset County Herald. Yeovil: Western Gazette & Co., 1922. $100
First edition, 8vo, pp. [2], 297; original blue cloth, gilt title on spine, very good.
375. MAGNUSSON, EIRIKR. Description of a Norwegian clog-calendar. Communicated to the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, May 13, 1878. Cambridge: University Press, 1879. $125
First edition, 8vo, 47pp., one photo-mechanical plate of the calendar; fine in original blue printed wrappers. The text of the calendar is presented in full over the last six pages. Presentation copy from the author to the runic archaeologist George Stephens.
376. MAJOR, CLARENCE. Dictionary of Afro-American slang. New York: International Publishers, [1970]. $150
First edition, small 8vo, pp. 127; boards a bit bowed and spine ends a little shelf-worn, else very good in original red cloth lettered in silver on spine; price-clipped, soiled, and chipped dust jacket with 1” chipped away at lower spine panel.
An early nonfiction work by the contemporary novelist, poet, painter, and professor at UC Davis. Of this work, Major (b. 1936) writes, “This so-called private vocabulary of black people serves the users as a powerful medium of self-defense against a world demanding participation while at the same time laying a booby-trap-network of rejection and exploitation” (p. 9). Very difficult to find in the trade in boards; common in paperback.
377. [MAMBELLI, MARCO.] Osservazione della lingua Italiana raccolte dal Cinonio Accademico Filergita … Con l’aggiunta della Declinazioni de verbi de Benedetto Buommattei … Ferrara: Bernardino Pomatelli, 1709-11. $325
Second edition, the only earlier edition appearing to be that of 1659; 2 vols., 4to, xvi, 342, [2]; viii, 443, [1]; handsome vignette titles, a few woodcut textual decorations throughout, contemporary full vellum, spine a little soiled, else fine.
An important work which went through many editions up to 1850; the original work was undertaken under the auspices of the Academy Filergita; this edition is annotated by Allesandro Baldraccani for the Academico Intrepido, with G. Baruffaldo its general editor. It is significant that the declensions of Buommattei are included in this edition, as it shows the respect later Italian philologists had for the work of Buommattei and his influential publication on the Tuscan language. A fairly common title - there were a number of editions up to the mid 19th century, and a reprint as recently as 1995.
Of this edition OCLC locates 3 copies (only 1 in the U.S.).
378. MAMMATA, RAJANKA. Kavya-prakasa. [A treatise on poetry and rhetoric.] Calcutta (?): n.d. [ca. late 19th century]. $1, 250
Oblong folio, printed in Nagari (Devanagari) characters throughout; pp. [392]; 4 woodcut diagrams in the text; bound in western style quarter green calf as a tall, narrow folio, with a citron morocco label on spine; rebacked, old spine neatly laid down. This edition not noted in the Catalogue of the India Office Library, Vol. II, Part 1: Sanskrit Books, 1959 where 18 editions are listed from 1829 up to 1921.
A disciple of Abbinavagupta, the famous poet, critic, philosopher and saint of Kashmir, Mammatacarya, the famous author of Kavya-rakasa … “was not only a profound philosopher, but also an acute critic and successful poet. He lived in the later part of the 10th century A.D. He wrote more than forty works … [His] ‘Kavya- prakash’ still remains the most authentic and authoritative work on poetics in the whole gamut of Sanskrit literature” (www.koausa.org/Vitasta/12a.html).
379. MARCEL, JEAN JOSEPH. Chrestomathia hebraica, varios textus exhibens quos addita eorum lectione, subjunctoque glossario. Lutetia Paris: [cura et typis Hebraicis J. J. M. Typ. Aeg. Q. Praes.], 1802. $500
Small 8vo, pp. [4], 59, [1]; printer’s device on title-p., contemporary green calf-backed marbled boards, lettered and decorated in gilt on spine; extremities rubbed, but sound. Includes a 45-p. “Glossarium Hebraicum.”
OCLC finds only the Indiana and the American Philosophical Society copies in the U.S., and adds one other copy in Germany.
380. MARSDEN, WILLIAM. A dictionary of the Malayan language in two parts, Malayan and English and English and Malayan. London: for the author by Cox and Baylis, 1812. $3, 500
First edition, 4to, pp. [4], xv, [1], 589 [1]; rebound in green buckram, spine gilt, new endpapers, ex-library with withdrawn stamps on front and back of title page, library numbers and residue from removed label at base of spine, else very good and sound. Well represented in institutions, but scarce in the trade.
Marsden (1754-1836), orientalist and numismatist, “during an eight years’ residence in Sumatra, did good official service as sub-secretary, and afterwards as principal secretary, to the government. He amused his leisure hours by writing verses and by acting female parts in a theatre at Bencoolen built and chiefly managed by his brother. He also mastered the vernacular tongue, a study which bore fruit later, ” in the present volume (DNB).
381. MARSDEN, W. A grammar of the Malayan language with an introduction and a praxis. London: printed for the author by Cox and Baylis, 1812. $1, 500
First edition, 4to, pp. [4], l, [2], 225, [2]; late 19th-century half blue morocco gilt over marbled boards, t.e.g.; very good and sound.
Textually complete with the half title and the final leaf advertising his Malayan dictionary (see item above) and his History of Sumatra. Well represented in institutions, but scarce in the trade.
382. MARSTON, J. English and Danish dialogues originally written in English and German by Mr. J. Marston. Adapted to the use of Danes by Frederick Schneider. Copenhagen: F. Brummer, 1804. $225
First edition, 8vo, pp. [4], 236; 2 engraved vignette title-pages (English and Danish), contemporary calf-backed marbled boards, paper label on spine, rubbing; very good.
A reader with vocabulary, fables, dialogues used for learning the language.
383. MARTYN, THOMAS. The language of botany: being a dictionary of the terms made use of in that science, principally by Linneus: with familiar explanations and an attempt to establish significant English terms … the second edition, corrected and enlarged. London: printed by J. Davis, for B. & J. White, 1796. $275
8vo, pp. [iii]-xxxiii, [1], plus unpaginated lexicon; bound without the half-title in contemporary full calf, green morocco label on gilt-decorated spine; very good and sound. First published in 1793.
Alston XVII, 1077.
384. MASON, GEORGE. A supplement to Johnson’s English Dictionary: of which the palpable errors are attempted to be rectified, and its material omissions supplied. London: printed by C. Roworth for John Wright [et al.], 1801. $1, 250
First edition, 4to, pp. [4], v, [1], [2] & unpaginated text in double column; recent quarter calf over marbled boards, fore-margin of title-p. with tear neatly mended, but with loss of 3 letters; all else about fine. Courtney & Smith, p. 70: “Mason first attacked Johnson in his edition of “Poems” by Thomas Hoccleve, 1796 … where he says: “One should really suspect, that the lexicographer had not collected the authorities for himself, nor even revised them when collected for him. Such a supposition might clear him of downright stupidity, but to the impeachment of his common honesty in dealing with the public…”
An American edition, frequently encountered, appeared in octavo in 1803. The first edition in not common.
385. MATHEWS, MITFORD M. A dictionary of Americanisms on historical principles. University of Chicago Press, [1951]. $225
First edition, 4to, 2 vols.; xvi, 1946 continuous pp., text in double column, illus. in text; very good, sound set in the dust-jackets.
“The first dictionary to deal exclusively with those words and meanings of words which have come into the English language in the United States” (jacket blurb).
386. [MATTHEWS, BRANDER.] Americanisms and Briticisms with other essays on other isms. New York: Harper, 1892. $125
First edition, 16mo, pp. [8], [190], [2]; frontis portrait of the author; minor wear, a very good copy in original green cloth stamped in gilt on upper cover and spine.
Includes essays on Americanisms and Briticisms, American Spelling, and the Literary Independence of the United States, among others.
387. MATTHIAE, AUGUSTUS. A copious Greek grammar … translated from the German by Edward Valentine Blomfield. Cambridge: printed by J. Smith for John Murray, 1820. $325
Second edition in English (first published in 1817 and in English in 1818); 2 volumes, 8vo, pp. [4], l, 379; [2], [380]-1013, [2]; 7 folding tables; later full polished tan calf, gilt-decorated spines, tan and brown morocco labels on spines, yellow edges; some edge wear but generally good and sound. Handsome set, with the corrigenda leaf at the back of vol. II.
388. MAURER, DAVID W. Language of the underworld. Collected and edited by Allan W. Futrell & Charles B. Wordell. Foreword by Stuart Berg Flexner. University Press of Kentucky, [1981]. $100
First edition, 8vo, pp. xi, [1], 417; boards bowing somewhat, else very good in dust jacket with creasing and small tears at spine ends.
Twenty essays by a pioneering American linguist providing glimpses into the lives of marginal groups: drug addicts, gamblers, prostitutes, moonshiners, scam artists, forgers, etc.
389. MAURER, FRANZ JOSEPH VALENTIN DOMINIK. Kurzgefasstes hebräisches und chaldäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament mit einem deutschen Index. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler, 1851. $125
First edition, 8vo, pp. xii, 1138 col.; publisher’s quarter black morocco lettered in gilt; some rubbing, title-p. browning; good and sound. Hebrew entries with German and Chaldee equivalents, with an extensive index of the German.
Not in Vancil or Zaunmüller.
ILLUSTRATED BY KATE GREENAWAY
390. MAVOR, WILLIAM. The English spelling-book accompanied by a progressive series of easy and familiar lessons. London: George Routledge, 1885. $275
First edition, 12mo, pp. 108; frontispiece, 41 drawings and an alphabet of 26 figures atop, bestride, and curled around each letter, all by Kate Greenaway; near fine in original printed paper-covered boards, also with a Greenaway illustration on both covers; cream endpapers, edges speckled blue.
Schuster & Engen 71.
PRESENTATION COPY
391. MAY, A[LFRED]. An English grammar for the upper classes at schools, more especially in Sweden, and for the private student. Stockholm: P.A. Norstedt, 1861. $225
First edition, slim 12mo, pp. [2], xi, [1], 99; presentation copy inscribed “Professor George Stephens, with the compiler’s respects” on the flyleaf; top of spine slightly chipped, but generally a very good, sound copy in publisher’s calf-backed marbled boards.
Not in Kennedy; not in the BM Catalogue. Two in OCLC, both in Sweden.
392. [MEDICINE, in Greenlandic.] Hagen, Carl. Náparsimassugdlit atuartagagssait. nugterdlugit kavdluniat nakorsaisa agdlagait, maligtarineruvdlugit: “Thornams Laegebob, Huslaegen af Raspa‘l.” Nungme [Godthåb]: Nunap Nalagata Nakiteriviane Nakitat, L. Màller mit, 1866. $2, 250
Only edition of the second medical book printed on Greenland, a manual for the treatment of the sick. Slim 8vo, pp. 72; orig. pink paper-covered boards, faded at edges; unopened and generally fine.
Printed in Greenland Eskimo (i.e. Kalatdlisut) throughout. The first Greenland medical work was a 16-page pamphlet on hygiene printed in 1856 after the establishment of the Greenland press by Henry Rink. This was printed in Nungme, near Godthaab, by Lars Màller, a seal and reindeer hunter who had been sent to Denmark in the winter of 1861-62 to learn the printer’s trade. The literal translation of the title is: “Those who have the sick [to cure] their manual. He [the writer] translating white men their doctors their books following mostly: “Thornamus Leagebog [Medicine], ” Huslaegen af Raspall [The Household Physician by Raspail]”.
Pasted inside the front cover is a printed slip, probably as issued, but not noticed by NUC, OCLC or Pilling.
NUC locates three copies (Yale, National Library of Medicine, and Stanford), to which OCLC adds Dartmouth, LC and two in Europe. Pilling, Eskimo, p. 41.
393. [MEDICINE, in Sanskrit.] An English translation of the Sushruta Samhitá based on original Sanskrit text. Edited and published by Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna, with a full and comprehensive introduction, translation of different readings, notes, comparative views, index, glossary & plates. Calcutta: published by the author [vol. III: S. L. Bhaduri], 1907-16. $750
First edition of this translation, 3 volumes, 8vo, portrait frontispiece, contemporary green cloth (vol. I not quite uniform); very good and sound. Vol. I: Sutrasthánam; vol. II: Nidána-sthána, S’árira-sthána, Chikitsita-sthána and Kalap-stána; vol. III: Uttara-Tantra. Index & appendices, etc.
The Sushruta Samhita is a Sanskrit text on surgery, attributed to the “father of surgery”, Sushruta (ca. 6th century BC). The text as preserved dates to the 3rd or 4th century AD. Among the eight divisions of medical knowledge (Ayurveda), surgery was considered the first and the most important branch.
394. MEMBRENO, ALBERTO. Hondurenismos. Vocabulario de los provincialismos de Honduras. Tegucigalpa: Tipografia Nacional, 1895. $375
First edition, tall 8vo, pp. xii, 122, [1]; bound with the second edition of the same, Tegucigalpa, 1897; pp. xiv, [3]-269, [2]; contemporary quarter brown calf over marbled boards; occasional neat and informed marginal annotations in ink in the second edition; some edge wear but generally good and sound.
Dictionary of Honduran provincialisms.
Zaunmüller cites only the edition of 1912; not in Vancil.
395. MENAGE, [GILLES]. Dictionnaire etymologique ou origines de la langue françoise. Nouvelle edition revue & augmentee par l’auteur. Avec les origines françoises de Mr de Caseneuve; un discous sur la science des etymologies, par le P. Besnier… Paris: Jean Anisson, 1694. $600
Second edition, folio, pp. [112], 740, [12], 100, [2]; Caseneuve’s Les Origines Francoise with separately printed title-p. and prelims; full contemporary calf, gilt spine; joints starting, top and bottom of spine chipped, internally clean, binding sound. First published in 1650 in 4to, and enlarged to folio in 1694.
Menage (1613-1692), “a man of vast erudition and keen intuition, ” was one of the few in his day who had firsthand knowledge of Old French and the early stages of other Romance languages (which he had gleaned from his studies of law and early legal documents) and was uniquely qualified to carry out such an etymological undertaking. But his sarcasm lead to his expulsion from the French Academy; he had many enemies and “suffered under the satire of Moliere and Boileau” (see Holmes, History of the French Language, 1938, p. 90; and EB-11).
396. MERINO, P. ANDRES. Escuela paleographica, ó de leer letras antiguas, desde la entrade de los Godos en España hasta nuestro tiempos. Madrid: Juan Antonio Lozano, 1780. $2, 950
First edition, folio, pp. [36], [3]-443; added engraved title-p. (Escuela de leer letras cursivas antiguas y modernas); engraved headpiece, 4 illustrations in the text and 59 engraved palaeographic specimens (included in the pagination); front flyleaf missing but still a very nice copy in full contemporary speckled calf, elaborate gilt borders on covers, red morocco label on gilt-decorated spine, a.e.g. Preliminaries include a list of some 650 subscribers.
Instruction in the reading of ancient scripts in Spain, from the coming of the Goths to the 17th century. The text mostly concerns documents in Latin and Spanish, although Portuguese, Valencian and Catalan are included in an appendix.
Brunet III, 1652; Graesse IV, 497; Palau 165667.
397. MERITT, HERBERT DEAN. Old English glosses (a collection). New York: Modern Language Assn. of America; London: Oxford University Press, 1945. $150
First edition, 8vo, pp. xx, 135, [1]; original black cloth lettered in gilt on spine (gilt dull). Robert W. Burchfield’s copy with his penciled ownership signature dated 30.3.55 on the front free endpaper. Burchfield was the editor of the OED Supplements.
398. [MEYER, JEAN.] Ord-Bog over Danske ordsprog, paa Fransk oversatte … Dictionnaire des proverbes Danois, traduits en Francois. Copenhagen: Ludolphe-Henri Lillie, 1757. $300
First edition, 4to, [2], 16 & 568pp., parallel text in double column, contemporary quarter tan calf gilt over speckled boards, extremities rubbed, spine scuffed, occasional paper flaws, stain on last page of text and endpaper, very good.
Dictionary of Danish proverbs, with French translation. The proverbs were probably collected by Jean Meyer.
399. MEYER, ROLAND. Cours de langue Laotienne. Vientiane: Imprimerie du Government, 1924. $375
First edition, 4to, pp. [4], 303; later full red calf gilt-lettered direct on spine; title-p. and last 3 leaves with damage to fore- and bottom margins, and with fore-margins considerably shortened, but with neat and effective tape repair; last leaf laid down; occasional loss of a letter or two, but sense remains clear; pages browned, but not brittle; all else quite good.
After a “Notice Ethnographique” the book is divided into four parts, the first is a brief synopsis of the Laotian alphabet and a grammar; the second consists of 30 vocabulary lessons, with text in triple columns showing words and phrases in French, with the Laotian equivalents and phonetic renderings; the third consists of 30 Laotian texts with French translations; and the fourth is a French-Laotian lexicon. The vocabulary lessons and the lexicon constitute about two-thirds of the book. The author also wrote a similar book on the Cambodian language published in Phnom Penh in 1929.
Not in Vancil, NUC, Collison, or Zaunmüller; but 9 in OCLC (only 3 in the U.S.).
400. MICHAELIS, CHRISTIAN BENEDICT. Syriasmus, id est, Grammatica linguae Syriacae, cum fundamentis necessariis, tum, paradigmatibus plenioribus, tum denique vbere syntaxi, et idiomatibus linguae, instructa. Halae Magdeburgicae: Impensis Orphanotrophei, 1741. $250
First edition, small 4to, pp. [8], 176; engraved vignette title-p., title printed in red and black, woodcut headpieces, grammatical tables in the text; bound with: Isenbiehl, Joannes Laurentius, Beobachtungen von dem gebrauche des syrischen puncti diacritici bey den verbis. Göttingen, Gedruckt bey J.A. Barmeier, 1773, pp. [2], 30, 2 leaves of tables; two unusual works on the Syriac language, together in old half vellum over boards, a little rubbed and foxed.
Of the second title only 3 in OCLC and only of these, Univ. of Chicago, is in the U.S.
Catalogue 138
Page 1, Items 1-100
Page 2, Items 101-200
Page 3, Items 201-300
Page 4, Items 301-400
Page 5, Items 401-500
Page 6, Items 501-600
Page 7, Items 601-670
Page 8, Barnhart Dictionary Archive
Page 9, A Note on Condition
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