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JOHNSON, SAMUEL. A Dictionary of the English Language. London: W. Strahan for J. and P. Knapton, T. and T. Longman, [et al.], 1755. 2 vols., folio, 407 x 256 mm. (16 x 10 1/16 in.), 18th or 19th century sheep(?), rebacked, covers very worn, leather flaking, vol. 1 title laid down on heavy paper, marginally stained and torn, first 3 leaves of Preface and last few leaves in vol. 2 a bit creased and frayed, upper corner of vol. 2 title torn away, some discoloration and foxing throughout. FIRST EDITION, titles printed in red and black, sheet 19D in Todd's first setting, sheet 24O in his second setting, woodcut tailpieces. Grolier English 50; Rothschild 1237; William B. Todd, "Note 242: Variants in Johnson's Dictionary, 1755", in The Book Collector, 14, Summer 1965, pp. 212-214. PMM 201 ("Dr. Johnson performed with his Dictionary the most amazing, enduring and endearing one-man feat in the field of lexicography... the dictionary... justifies Noah Webster's statement that 'Johnson's writings had, in philology, the effect that Newton's discoveries had in mathematics'") (2)
Details
JOHNSON, SAMUEL. A Dictionary of the English Language. London: W. Strahan for J. and P. Knapton, T. and T. Longman, [et al.], 1755. 2 vols., folio, 407 x 256 mm. (16 x 10 1/16 in.), 18th or 19th century sheep(?), rebacked, covers very worn, leather flaking, vol. 1 title laid down on heavy paper, marginally stained and torn, first 3 leaves of Preface and last few leaves in vol. 2 a bit creased and frayed, upper corner of vol. 2 title torn away, some discoloration and foxing throughout. FIRST EDITION, titles printed in red and black, sheet 19D in Todd's first setting, sheet 24O in his second setting, woodcut tailpieces. Grolier English 50; Rothschild 1237; William B. Todd, "Note 242: Variants in Johnson's Dictionary, 1755", in The Book Collector, 14, Summer 1965, pp. 212-214. PMM 201 ("Dr. Johnson performed with his Dictionary the most amazing, enduring and endearing one-man feat in the field of lexicography... the dictionary... justifies Noah Webster's statement that 'Johnson's writings had, in philology, the effect that Newton's discoveries had in mathematics'") (2)