[Rarebooks] FS: Webster's 1828 Masterpiece. Important provenance

[Clare Murphy]

New acquisition. Photos available.

WEBSTER, NOAH, 1758-.   AN AMERICAN DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: INTENDED TO EXHIBIT... New York: S. Converse, 1828. Illustrated by an engraved portrait of Noah Webster by A.B. Durand after S.F.B. Morse . First edition. 2 volumes. Original card boards with paper spine labels, as they were issued by the publisher in 1828. Square 4to. (12.5 x 10"). Complete title: An American Dictionary of the English Language: intended to exhibit, I. The origin, affinities and primary signification of English words, as far as they have been ascertained. II. The genuine orthography and pronunciation of words, according to general usage, or to just principles of analogy. III. Accurate and discriminating definitions, with numerous authorities and illustrations. To which are prefixed, an introductory dissertation on the origin, history and connection of the languages of Western Asia and of Europe, and a concise grammar of the English language. Two volume quarto edition. This copy is from the library of Thomas Handasyd Perkins, the fabulously wealthy merchant and Boston Brahmin who spent his early years amassing several fortunes in the slave trade in Haiti, then the fur trade in the Northwest of America and finally as a major smuggler and seller of Turkish opium to China. He then spent much of his later life giving away some of the wealth he had so ignominiously garnered. He was a major benefactor and founder of many Boston institutions, including the Boston Athenaeum, The Massachusetts General Hospital and The Perkins School for the Blind.Each of the two volumes has his bookplate affixed to the pastedowns. The "Additions and Corrections" leaf is present.Volume I has both boards loose ; Volume II has upper board loose. All boards have some staining. Cloth covering spine is very worn. There is some foxing and minor staining to preliminary blanks and pastedowns. One signature has come loose. Contents complete and in very good condition with wide margins and untrimmed edges. This magnificent set has been waiting 188 years to shed its temporary publisher's binding and to be properly adorned in a binding to match its importance. Sabin 102335; Skeel 583.  $15,000.00


Clare Murphy
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