Seller Image More images A dictionary of the English language: in which the words are deduced from their originals . abstracted from the folio edition by the author . to which are prefixed a grammar of the English language, and the preface to the folio edition

Philadelphia: Jacob Johnson, 1805. First US edition. hardcover. Good. First American edition of Johnson's dictionary, here printed in abridged (but not miniature) form, and based on the London octavos; thick 8vo, pp. xl, [2], unpaginated lexicon in double column; full contemporary calf, red morocco label on spine; sound; a good copy, or better. Contains the first appearance in the western hemisphere of Johnson's famous Preface and Grammar. The entries have been abbreviated, but bear considerable resemblance to the originals, and there are also brief etymologies; sources are cited, but citations are not. The first complete American edition did not appear until the 2-volume quarto edition of Philadelphia, 1818. (Inventory #: 2007004)