[Rarebooks] fa: BIBLIOGRAPHICAL LIST OF WORKS ILLUSTRATIVE OF VARIOUS DIALECTS IN ENGLISH 1877 - w/ ALS from the editor of the English Dialect Dictionary

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, September 27. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/pf4qolm

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain

Walter W. Skeat and J. H. Nodal, eds.: English Dialect Society. A Bibliographical List of the Works that have been Published, or are Known to Exist in MS., Illustrative of the Various Dialects of English. London: Printed for the English Dialect Society by Trübner and Co., 1877. First edition; 8vo (22 cm) in early/original half navy blue calf and pebbled cloth; 201 pp.

Tipped in to the front free-endpaper is an autograph letter, signed, from Joseph Wright ("J. Wright"), editor of The English Dialect Dictionary, stating that he has been unable to find the book A Parish on Wheels ("my bookseller says it is out of print") and explaining that if the letter's unnamed recipient "would kindly lend me your copy of the book for a week or so… I will slip the book myself." (Like the Oxford English Dictionary, the English Dialect Dictionary relied on voluntary "readers" to find quotations and extracts illustrative of the meanings and usage of words, and then to copy out these extracts on slips of paper and forward them to the dictionary's editor.) Also tipped into this volume are "Directions to Readers for the English Dialect Dictionary" (one leaf, printed on both sides) explaining in precise detail the process for filling out these "slips" and providing an example. A Homeric undertaking eventually running to  more than 70,000 entries, and largely funded by Wright himself, the Dialect Dictionary was published by the Oxford University Press in six volumes between 1898 and 1905 and is still considered the standard work on the subject.

Binding with rubbing and wear to the spine, joints and extremities, a little bumped at the corners, else very good. An early owner, presumably the recipient of Wright's letter, has made neat ink annotations to the table of contents and the "Directions to Readers." Several old booksellers' catalog entries have been clipped and affixed to the paste-downs and extremities.