Lot 250

Johnson, Samuel








Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 4 May 2016 at 12:00 BST
Description
A Dictionary of the English Language. London: W. Strahan for J. & P. Knapton [& others], 1755. First edition, 2 volumes, folio (409 x 245mm.), title-pages printed in red and black, woodcut tailpieces, contemporary mottled calf, neatly rebacked, preserving the original gilt panelled spines, red morocco labels, a few neat repairs to bindings
Footnote
Note: "The most amazing, enduring and endearing one-man performance in the field of lexicography. Johnson's lucid and often idiosyncratic definitions have kept their freshness, and the Dictionary may still be consulted for instruction or pleasure" (Printing and the Mind of Man).
Johnson and his successive amanuenses took nine years to complete the Dictionary which was published on 15 April, 1755, in an edition of 2000 copies. The passages provided for the elucidation of each definition are drawn mainly from the works of Bacon, Dryden, Locke, Pope, Milton, Swift, etc., and, of course, several thousand quotations from Shakespeare, resulting in a highly entertaining, as well as a most scholarly reference work.







