A dictionary of the English language: in which the words are deduced from their originals … to which are prefixed a history of the language, and an English grammar … First American, from the eleventh London edition.
Philadelphia: published by Moses Thomas, J. Maxwell, printer, 1818. First complete American edition, 2 volumes, thick quartos, complete with the half-titles and the engraved frontis portrait of Johnson after Reynolds; vol. I: [124] & unpaginated lexicon in triple column, collating [*1-*2], b1-d2, e1-r2, A1-6X4; vol. II: [2] & unpaginated lexicon, collating [*1-*2], B1-7D2; recent quarter brown calf antique, red morocco labels on gilt-paneled spines; some dampstaining in the fore-margins of the second volume, a number of leaves with small, neat paper repairs to the corners, otherwise generally fine and sound. Another issue of the same date but from different plates and in 4 volumes octavo is decidedly later. Heavily abridged versions in miniature format and bearing no resemblance to Johnson's original had appeared in America as early as 1804, but the full text did not appear until it was undertaken by Moses Thomas in Philadelphia in 1818. This event "was the last straw in [his] financial downfall. His Catalogue of English Books, Philadelphia 1817, enlarges over the problems on the sale of this work" (Fleeman). Alston V, p. 40; American Imprints, 44473; Courtney & Smith, p. 58; Fleeman 55.4D/21a. Item #44489
Price: $3,250.00
