Second Edition of Johnson's Remarkable and Authoritative A Dictionary of the English Language

Samuel Johnson. 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. (2) volumes (complete). London: Printed by W. Strahan, For J. and P. Knapton; T. and T. Longman; C. Hitch and L. Hawes; A. Millar; and R. and J. Dodsley, 1755-56. Second edition. Full speckled calf, spines with gilt-decorated compartments, gilt-lettered labels, and raised bands, and with all edges stained. Folio; Preface, The History of the English Language, A Grammar of the English Tongue, and A-K (Vol. I); L-Z (Vol. II). Title pages printed in red and black; text in two columns. PMM 201; Courtney and Smith, p. 54-55; Alston V 178; ESTC T14931.

Each 17 x 10 5/8 in.

From a Private California Collection

Armorial bookplate of Fras. Warden Esq. Butlers Green

Per John Carter in Printing and the Mind of Man, "Dr Johnson performed with his Dictionary the most amazing, enduring and endearing one-man feat in the field of lexicography." Notably, he "introduced into English lexicography principles which had already been accepted in Europe but were quite novel in mid-eighteenth-century England. He codified the spelling of English words; he gave full and lucid definitions of their meanings..." (PMM p. 121). Even more celebratory of Johnson's efforts, Courtney and Smith stated that "Nothing like it, nothing within measurable distance of it, had hitherto appeared in the English language. We should all bow down before such a monument of industry and talent, and the world at large did make its obeisance unto the author as the king of English literature. . . . No similar dictionary has passed through so many editions...and it remained for a century the unrivaled authority for the English language" (p. 54).

Binding with significant overall wear; joints and hinges cracked with boards loose but attached; vol. I with duplicate of final text leaf bound in after D2, and free endpapers, title, and first preface leaf frayed with other general wear and detached but present; vol. II first free endpaper detached but present, occasional wormholes in lower margins, and a few small stains; the majority of the leaves in both volumes are clean and fresh for their age with (mostly) mild foxing and toning, and occasional expected mild handling wear. Overall good condition.