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. First American edition of Johnson's dictionary, here printed in abridged 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 vertically creased causing looseness to one or two internal leaves, otherwise very good and sound. 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 page, 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. Item #26441
Price: $950.00
