A new dictionary, Spanish and English, and English and Spanish, much more copious than any other hitherto extant. Laying down the true etymology of words ... Diccionario nuevo español y ingles...
London: J. Darby, A. Bettsworth [et al.], 1726. First quarto edition (first published as a folio in 1705-06), and second edition overall; pp. vii, [1], [806], [1] ads; title-p. printed in red and black; lexicon in triple column; title toned lengthwise along the gutter, prelims trimmed close at the top, but never affecting letterpress, recent quarter brown calf, new label on spine lettered in gilt (not quite aligned), all else very good in a new binding. Stevens, "probably an Irishman" (DNB) was an officer in the English army with some military experience in Ireland, and perhaps Portugal; his father was purportedly on the staff of the English ambassador to Spain. "This 1726 edition is the first dictionary in the history of Spanish and English bilingual lexicography not to share the volume in which it is contained with some other work, such as a grammar or dialogues ... Because of the uncritical methods of borrowing from Minsheu, Oudin, Aldrete, Covarrubias, and sundry reference works, because of the long-winded definitions, and because of the failure to show the gender of Spanish vocabulary noun entries, while Minsheu furnished a perfectly adequate treatment of them, one would be hard put to say that much of a lexicographical advance had been made during the 106 years between Minsheu's dictionary and Stevens' " (Steiner, Two Centuries of Spanish and English Bilingual Lexicography, p. 58 ff.). Item #42866
Price: $475.00
