[Rarebooks] fa: 18th-CENTURY DICTIONARIES

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, a handful of lexicographical works from the Age of Johnson  
(and just prior), auctions ending Sunday, Feb. 7. Details and images  
can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name  
arch_in_la.

http://shop.ebay.com/arch_in_la/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340
OR
http://tinyurl.com/yhk74ma

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A., CA USA

THOMAS DYCHE - NEW GENERAL ENGLISH DICTIONARY - 1740
An important forerunner of Johnson's Dictionary of the English  
Language (1755), Thomas Dyche's dictionary was first issued 1735,  
though he had published several other works on the English language  
before this, most importantly A Guide to the English Tongue (1709),  
believed to be the first book in English published in Asia. His  
English dictionary (finished by Pardon, Dyche having died ca. 1733) is  
significant for being the first to stress pronunciation and for  
suggesting improvements in spelling, most of which were subsequently  
adopted. The addition of the exhaustive gazeteer of English and Welsh  
market towns makes this third edition particularly appealing.

SAMUEL JOHNSON: DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 1793 (2 VOLS. IN 1)
ESTC states that the London imprint is false and that this edition was  
possibly printed in Edinburgh. Not in Alston's bibliography and  
apparently rather uncommon: ESTC finds only one copy in U.S. libraries  
and institutions (Essex Institute).

NOUVEAU DICTIONNAIRE SUISSE - 2 vols in 1 - VELLUM -1754
An important 18th-century French-German/German-French dictionary —  
COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME (sometimes found bound in two): all 1,246  
pages, from "A" to "ZYZIPHE." A solid example.

BELL'S NEW PANTHEON Large 4to w/ ENGRAVINGS - v.I 1790
John Bell: Bell’s New Pantheon; or, Historical Dictionary of the Gods,  
Demi-Gods, Heroes, and Fabulous Personages of Antiquity... First  
edition. Volume 1 (of 2) only. The first volume of this handsomely  
printed encyclopedia of mythology, with 13 copper-engraved plates.