The royal English dictionary; or, A treasury of the English language ... to which is prefixed a comprehensive grammar of the English tongue

London: printed for L. Hawes, and Co. T. Caslon, S. Crowder, Robinson and Roberts, B. Collins, and A. Hamilton, jun, 1771. The fourth edition improved, 8vo, pp. viii, 24, [968]; a8 B-3O8 lexicon in double column; full contemporary unadorned calf, gilt-ruled spine in 6 compartments, raised bands; boards rubbed, hinges cracked; bookplate of Sir Edmund Antrobus on front pastedown, contemporary ownership signature of John Antrobus, dated 1774, on front free endpaper; contemporary British bookseller's ink manuscript price at top of front flyleaf; occasional spotting throughout, else textblock about fine. With the approbation leaf in which George III (to whom the book is dedicated) grants Fenning a license to print his dictionary for a period of 14 years. Little is known of Fenning. He was a compiler of several school texts, including an arithmetic, a geography, and a speller, the last of which had notable popularity in America before Webster. Webster himself was no doubt well acquainted with Fenning's speller, which in London made a 71st edition in 1823. This dictionary contains terms used in mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, architecture, printing, natural history and navigation, with "each word followed by an initial letter to denote the part of speech" -the first time I believe in a dictionary. A competent, trustworthy dictionary on "so extensive a plan as to unite the different excellencies of all other English dictionaries." Alston V, 230; Kennedy 6257; Vancil, p. 89.