A new general English dictionary; peculiarly calculated for the use and improvement of such as are unacquainted with the learned languages

London: printed for Catherine and Richard Ware, at the Bible and Sun on Ludgate-Hill, 1765. Twelfth edition, 8vo, unpaged; text in double columns; modern half calf over marbled boards, gilt spine in 6 compartments, raised bands; text block fore-edge a bit ink-stained, else fine. Because this dictionary stressed departments not found in Bailey, Dyche & Pardon were able to grab a small, loyal share of the growing dictionary market. Their dictionary, aimed at a less educated class than Bailey's, stressed proper accentuation and pronunciation (it was the first of many dictionaries to stress pronunciation); and, anticipating Webster, suggested several (truncated) improvements in spelling which were subsequently adopted ("physick" to "physic," for example). Etymology is omitted. The dictionary was begun by Dyche, a schoolmaster, who had two previous non-dictionaries to his credit, A Guide to the English Tongue (1709; 48th ed. by 1774); and, A Dictionary of all the Words Commonly Us'd in the English Tongue (1723), both of which stressed spelling and pronunciation, but gave no definitions. Of William Pardon little is known. The New General English Dictionary is, however, "so different in character from the earlier Dyche works that we are naturally tempted to visit its eccentricities on the unknown Pardon" (see Starnes & Noyes, chapt. XVII). The book incorporates the names and descriptions of hundreds of English and Welsh towns, with their market-days, government, manufactures, distances from London, etc. It was partially due to this gazetteer-like entry that the work remained popular with the public. Alston V, 157; Kennedy 6225; Vancil, p. 76. (Inventory #: 64351)