[Rarebooks] fa: NATHAN BAILEY - UNIVERSAL ETYMOLOGICAL ENGLISH DICTIONARY 1721

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, September 28. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/nkezzuv

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.


N[athan] Bailey An Universal Etymological English Dictionary: Comprehending The Derivations of the Generality of Words in the English Tongue, either Antient or Modern, from the Antient British, Saxon, Danish, Norman and Modern French, Teutonic, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew Languages, each in their Proper Characters… London: Printed for E. Bell, J. Darby, A. Bettesworth [et al], 1721. FIRST EDITION. Thick 8vo in early/period paneled calf; unpaginated but ca. 968 pp. Alston V 94.

Lacking front end-papers (the title-page is the first leaf) and the last leaf of the text (provided in facsimile). Both boards detached, spine worn and weakened; title-page somewhat worn and darkened, loosening from the gutter; soiling to the edges of the text block, toning and scattered spots to the leaves, a few corners bumped or creased, else generally clean and sound. First edition of Bailey's monumental achievement, one of the greatest of English dictionaries, a precursor to, and later a competitor of, Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language. Bailey's was the most popular English dictionary of the 18th century, going through thirty editions by 1802.