Description:

THE FIRST AMERICAN-PRINTED DICTIONARY, COMPLETE
Very rare first edition of the first dictionary printed in America, William Perry''s "Royal Standard ENGLISH DICTIONARY (Being the FIRST Work of the Kind printed in AMERICA), printed by and for Isaiah Thomas at Worcester, 1788. 596pp. 5 1/2" x 5 1/2". The author was an English lexicographer who first published this work at Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1775. It become immensely popular, having "an extensive circulation both in Great Britain and in the United States." (See Vizetelly''s "The Development of The Dictionary of The English Language"). Printer Isaiah Thomas (1749-1831) was a noted American patriot who performed the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence in Massachusetts and reported the first account of the battles of Lexington and Concord. In very good condition, bound in contemporary full calf with black spine label remnant; cover worn, ownership inscription to verso of front cover, front flyleaf lacking, title page stained with edge chipping, scattered toning, staining, minor spotting, edge wear and tearing, etc. WorldCat locates only three known complete copies of this first edition, all institutionally held in the U.S. and with at least one of these copies being markedly ''deficient.'' (See Evans 21385; Sabin 95400).

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December 10, 2016 11:00 AM EST
Wilmington, DE, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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