.jpg?w=1)
Details
JOHNSON, Samuel (1709-1784). A Dictionary of the English Language. London: W. Strahan for J. and P. Knapton, T. and T. Longman, C. Hitch and L. Hawes, A. Millar, and R. and J. Dodsley, 1755.
2 volumes bound in 3, 2o (435 x 264 mm). Titles in red and black, woodcut tail-pieces. UNCUT IN ORIGINAL HALF SHEEP AND COMB-MARBLED BOARDS, spines in seven compartments with raised bands, second and third compartments lettered in gilt (rubbed, joints cracked, gilt faded on spines, marbled paper scuffed or partly torn away on vols. II and III); quarter morocco folding cases. Provenance: early shelf-marks -- collation note signed 'J.M. 14/7/37' at rear of vol. I -- purchased from Scribner Rare Books, New York, 6 October 1969.
FIRST EDITION, RARE IN ORIGINAL BOARDS WITH FINE DECKLE EDGES, AND EXTREMELY RARE BOUND ORIGINALLY IN THREE VOLUMES. Johnson's monumental work, which drew on all the best ideas and aspects of earlier dictionaries, was published on 15 April 1755 in an edition of 2000 copies. The price was the high one of £4 10s, or £3 10s to the trade. The group of publishers whose names appear in the imprint were joint proprietors, having paid Johnson £1575 in installments for copy which took him eight years to complete, although in the final months publication was held back for the granting of his Oxford M.A. (20 February, 1755). Some of Johnson's advance was used to rent the well-known house in 17 Gough Square, where the garret became his "dictionary work-shop." He called on the assistance of six amanuenses, five of whom, Boswell proudly records, were Scotsmen, and who were almost derelict when he hired them. "With no real library at hand, Johnson wrote the definitions of over 40,000 words ... illustrating the senses in which these words could be used by including about 114,000 quotations drawn from English writing in every field of learning during the two centuries from the middle of the Elizabethan period down to his own time" (W. Jackson Bate Samuel Johnson, New York, 1977, p. 247).
The Dictionary was issued with two title-pages, identifying the volumes as "I" and "II," and is usually divided betweeen the letters "K" and "L." In this copy, the first volume runs from "A-F," the second from "G-P" and the third, without title, from "Q-Z." Although Fleeman estimates that "more than half" of the 2000 copies survive, their condition is extremely variable. According to Fleeman, "few copies survive in booksellers' boards, and all such have restored spines, for when standing upright, the contents are too heavy for the binding cords." Despite wear to the spines and marbled paper, THIS COPY IS IN REMARKABLE ORIGINAL CONDITION. Courtney and Smith p. 54; Chapman and Hazen p. 137; Fleeman 55.4D/1a; Grolier English 50; PMM 201; Rothschild 1237. (3)
2 volumes bound in 3, 2o (435 x 264 mm). Titles in red and black, woodcut tail-pieces. UNCUT IN ORIGINAL HALF SHEEP AND COMB-MARBLED BOARDS, spines in seven compartments with raised bands, second and third compartments lettered in gilt (rubbed, joints cracked, gilt faded on spines, marbled paper scuffed or partly torn away on vols. II and III); quarter morocco folding cases. Provenance: early shelf-marks -- collation note signed 'J.M. 14/7/37' at rear of vol. I -- purchased from Scribner Rare Books, New York, 6 October 1969.
FIRST EDITION, RARE IN ORIGINAL BOARDS WITH FINE DECKLE EDGES, AND EXTREMELY RARE BOUND ORIGINALLY IN THREE VOLUMES. Johnson's monumental work, which drew on all the best ideas and aspects of earlier dictionaries, was published on 15 April 1755 in an edition of 2000 copies. The price was the high one of £4 10s, or £3 10s to the trade. The group of publishers whose names appear in the imprint were joint proprietors, having paid Johnson £1575 in installments for copy which took him eight years to complete, although in the final months publication was held back for the granting of his Oxford M.A. (20 February, 1755). Some of Johnson's advance was used to rent the well-known house in 17 Gough Square, where the garret became his "dictionary work-shop." He called on the assistance of six amanuenses, five of whom, Boswell proudly records, were Scotsmen, and who were almost derelict when he hired them. "With no real library at hand, Johnson wrote the definitions of over 40,000 words ... illustrating the senses in which these words could be used by including about 114,000 quotations drawn from English writing in every field of learning during the two centuries from the middle of the Elizabethan period down to his own time" (W. Jackson Bate Samuel Johnson, New York, 1977, p. 247).
The Dictionary was issued with two title-pages, identifying the volumes as "I" and "II," and is usually divided betweeen the letters "K" and "L." In this copy, the first volume runs from "A-F," the second from "G-P" and the third, without title, from "Q-Z." Although Fleeman estimates that "more than half" of the 2000 copies survive, their condition is extremely variable. According to Fleeman, "few copies survive in booksellers' boards, and all such have restored spines, for when standing upright, the contents are too heavy for the binding cords." Despite wear to the spines and marbled paper, THIS COPY IS IN REMARKABLE ORIGINAL CONDITION. Courtney and Smith p. 54; Chapman and Hazen p. 137; Fleeman 55.4D/1a; Grolier English 50; PMM 201; Rothschild 1237. (3)