A dictionary of the English language... With numerous corrections, and with the addition of several thousand words... By the Rev. H.J. Todd.
London: printed for Longman, Rees [et al.], 1818. First edition, first issue, of the first revision of Johnson's Dictionary, 5 volumes, 4to, engraved portrait after Reynolds, text in double column; full contemporary tree calf rebacked, old spines laid down, new red and green morocco labels; early owners' signatures and annotations on endpapers; a good, firm, useable set, with the half-titles. The first (5 volume) issue is far scarcer than the 4-volume issue of the same year. In it, volume 5, beginning with the letter T, contains the addition of a drop title at the top of leaf B1. B1 here corresponds to 6L3 in the 4-volume issue. In the 4-volume issue the pagination is continuous through the end of the fourth volume, but is paginated separately. Leaf 6L3 is signed "Vol. IV 6L3 - Vol. V. B." On the title-pp. of the 5-volume version is the statement "In Five Volumes," as opposed to "In Four Volumes" in the 4-volume issue. "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 (4 volumes); Fleeman 55.4D/20a; Vancil, p. 126 (4 and 5 volumes). Item #30826
Price: $2,000.00
