Dictionaries & encyclopedias
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JOHNSON, Samuel.
A Dictionary of the English Language: 1755
£17,500
First edition of this most famous of English dictionaries. This work has at various times been called "the most important British cultural monument of the eighteenth century"...
2 volumes, folio (415 × 257 mm). Sometime rebound to style in half calf, red and black morocco labels, raised bands, old marbled paper sides. Paper restoration... Read more
SMITH, John.
The Sea-Man's Grammar and Dictionary, 1692
£4,500
Inevitably less well-known than his descriptive and prescriptive works of colonization, Smith's guidelines to seafarers are of equal importance within their field. Described by...
Small quarto (184 × 140 mm). Later dark blue half calf on marbled boards, title gilt longitudinally to spine. Folding plate of "a ship with all her tackling",... Read more
![[Greek title.] De ratione examinandae orationis libellus. Ex bibliotheca regia.](/content/store/products/23386/2/29449.jpg)
MOSCHOPULOS, Manuel.
[Greek title.] De ratione examinandae orationis libellus. Ex bibliotheca regia. 1545
£3,500
Editio princeps. The Byzantine scholar Manuel Moschopulus (fl. Constantinople 1282-1328) had been a student of Maximus Planudes; this grammar formed the basis of the later works by...
Quarto (245 × 164 mm). Nineteenth-century blind-stamped vellum over pasteboards, spine neatly lettered in manuscript, old shelf-mark at foot. Greek type;... Read more
![[A Dictionary of the English Language]](/content/store/products/1906/2/3142.jpg)
JOHNSON, Samuel.
[A Dictionary of the English Language] 1786
£3,000
First Harrison edition. James Harrison was one of a number of Harrisons with premises in Paternoster Row and nearby. His edition has his own prefatory life of Johnson, the original...
Large folio (425 × 266 mm). Contemporary tree calf, sides with gilt roll border, skilfully rebacked to style. Engraved portrait of Johnson by Heath after Opie as... Read more
JOHNSON, Samuel [spurious].
The new English dictionary, or complete library of grammatical knowledge: 1792
£2,500
First edition thus, an extraordinary piece of Paternoster Row piracy. This dictionary was first published as The New Royal English Dictionary; or, Complete Library of Grammatical...
2 volumes bound in one, quarto (257 × 210 mm). Rebound to style in half calf, black morocco label, double gilt rules either side of raised bands, marbled... Read more
REES, Abraham.
The Cyclopaedia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature. 1819-20.
£2,500
Originally published in parts, from 1802 to 1819, this is one of the best sources for social, economic and technical information of the period. Rees wrote much of the contents...
31 volumes, quarto. Contemporary tan half calf, titles and decorations to spines gilt, raised bands, marbled boards and edgers. Some foxing and stainging to plates,... Read more
(BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY)
A New and General Biographical Dictionary; 1798
£2,500
First thus. An excellent set in a handsome, perhaps provincial, contemporary binding. All front pastedowns with the ownership of S. Brough, dated 1804, and the armorial bookplates of...
15 volumes, octavo (208 × 121 mm). Contemporary streaked calf, flat spines, black morocco title-pieces to the second compartment, red morocco roundel... Read more
JOHNSON, Samuel.
A Dictionary of the English Language: 1785
£2,000
First one-volume folio edition, and the seventh and last of the authorized folio editions of the Dictionary, issued the year after Johnson's death. The text is as in the fourth...
Large folio (439 × 283 mm). Rebound to style in English panelled calf, red morocco label, spine with double gilt rules either side of raised bands and date in... Read more
JOHNSON, Samuel.
A Dictionary of the English Language 1785
£1,850
First authorized quarto edition, preceded by a pirate Dublin edition the previous year. This edition was issued following Johnson's death in 1784.
2 volumes, quarto (273 × 212mm). Recent sprinkled calf to style with double fillet gilt border, red and black morocco labels, five raised bands, green sprinkled... Read more
BOURDÉ [DE VILLEHUET, Jacques].
Manuel des Marins, ou Explication des Termes de Marine. 1773
£1,800
First Edition. Born in St. Malo in 1732, Bourdé spent his entire career in the employ of the Compagnie des Indes based at Lorient. His reputation was made by the publication in...
2 volumes, octavo (200 × 124 mm). Contemporary mottled sheep trade binding, title gilt direct to spine, floral and arabesque devices in compartments formed by a... Read more
[CURTIS, Thomas]
The London Encyclopaedia, 1829
£1,750
First edition. Thomas Curtis had been involved in plans for the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge as the original proposed editor, but the venture failed when...
22 volumes, octavo. Contemporary half calf by Preston of Nottingham, titles to spines gilt, marbled boards. With black and white illustrations throughout. Some light... Read more
COMENIUS, Jan Amos.
Lexicon Atriale Latino-Latinum, 1647
£1,500
First edition of this lexicon by Comenius, part of his complex educational project, issued concurrently with his Opera didactica omnia, also published in Amsterdam. It remains an...
Small octavo (158 × 92 mm). Contemporary limp vellum, spine titled in manuscript at head, publication date (now faded) later added at foot. Vellum just splitting... Read more
[DICTIONARIES: Pocket Editions]
Geographical Dictionary, Geographical Grammar, Biographical Dictionary, French & English Dictionary, English Dictionary. 1802–4
£1,500
A fine collection of pocket dictionaries in a beautiful early 18th century red morocco.
5 volumes, 12mo. Finely bound in contemporary full red straight grained morocco, titles and extra decoration to spines gilt, decorative rule to boards gilt, marbled... Read more
JOHNSON, Samuel.
A Dictionary of the English Language: 1785
£1,500
First authorized quarto edition and the sixth edition overall, preceded by a pirate Dublin edition the previous year and issued following Johnson's death in 1784.
2 volumes, quarto (270 × 210 mm). Diced brown calf, rebacked in the early 20th-century with brown morocco, spines gilt in compartments, ruling to boards gilt,... Read more
GROSE, Francis.
A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. 1785
£1,250
First edition of what was then the largest assemblage of "non-standard" words or meanings omitted from Johnson's Dictionary. Grose's long military career was probably of great use to...
Octavo. Early nineteenth-century quarter calf, apparently French though the morocco spine label is lettered in English, flat spine gilt in compartments, mottled paper... Read more
GUILLET DE SAINT-GEORGES, George.
The Gentleman's Dictionary: in Three Parts. 1705
£750
First edition in English, originally published as Les arts de l'homme d'épée, ou, Le Dictionnaire du Gentilhomme, Paris, 1678. A splendid pocket guide which seeks to teach...
Octavo (170 × 115 mm). Contemporary Cambridge panelled calf, rebacked, preserved in a plain cloth slip-case. Half-title bound in, 3 folding plates, numerous... Read more
BARCLAY, James.
A Complete and Universal Dictionary of the English Language. 1812–13
£750
Quarto. Contemporary full tree calf, rebacked to style with smooth spine gilt in compartments. Engraved frontispiece, title, and 48 plates and maps, of which 21 are hand-tinted maps...
Quarto. Contemporary full tree calf, rebacked to style with smooth spine gilt in compartments. Engraved frontispiece, title, and 48 plates and maps, of which 21 are... Read more
JOHNSON, Samuel.
A Dictionary of the English Language: 1816
£750
Eleventh edition in quarto format of Johnson's dictionary.
2 volumes, quarto (275 × 215 mm). Near-contemporary black polished calf, red morocco labels, wide raised bands, covers with gilt scroll borders and central... Read more
MOSCONAS, Demetrius.
English & Arabic Dictionary. 1884
£650
First (and only?) edition, dedicated "To those Brave Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers & Men of the British Army who took part in the Egyptian Campaign of 1882 and the Soudan...
Small octavo. (160 × 100 mm). Contemporary local sheep-backed marbled boards. Marginally browned, but overall very good, binding a little rubbed at the... Read more
(JOHNSON, Samuel) LATHAM, Robert Gordon.
A Dictionary of the English Language. 1870-72
£450
4 vols. Quarto. Contemporary red half morocco with red boards, titles to spines gilt. Spines faded to brown, boards unevenly faded otherwise a nice solid set.
4 vols. Quarto. Contemporary red half morocco with red boards, titles to spines gilt. Spines faded to brown, boards unevenly faded otherwise a nice solid set. Read more
(GAZETTEER).
A Gazetteer of the World [c.1860]
£375
A bright and attractive set.
7 volumes, octavo (252 × 165 mm). Contemporary blue half calf, crimson morocco label, elaborate decoration to spines in compartments separated by raised bands,... Read more
JONES, William.
A Grammar of the Persian Language. 1775
£350
Second edition, expanded by the addition of a new Persian–English glossary at the end; first published in 1771. This was the first lexicography of the leading English...
Quarto. Contemporary calf, rebacked with spine attractively gilt in compartments laid down, Signet Library copy with gilt arms on both covers. A few contemporary... Read more
(ENCYCLOPAEDIC DICTIONARY)
The Encyclopaedic Dictionary 1909-1910
£275
Includes the supplementary volume and the Atlas. A handsome set.
9 volumes, quarto (257 × 182 mm). Contemporary dark green quarter morocco, titles to spines, raised bands, green cloth boards, plain cream endpapers. With 76... Read more
WALLER, John Francis (ed.)
The Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography: [c.1880].
£250
A handsomely bound set.
3 volumes, octavo (265 × 182 mm). Contemporary green half morocco, titles and elaborate decoration to spines in compartments, raised bands, green pebble-grained... Read more
PARTRIDGE, Eric.
A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. 1961
£250
Fifth edition with the supplement much enlarged. With the author's initialled presentation inscription on the front free endpaper of each volume in the year of publication. Franklyn...
2 volumes, quarto. Original blue cloth, titles to spines gilt, top edges stained blue. With the dust jackets. A fine set in excellent dust jackets. Read more
