A new dictionary of the terms ancient and modern of the canting crew. In its several tribes, of gypsies, beggars, thieves, cheats, &c. With an addition of some proverbs, phrases, figurative speeches, &c. Useful for all sorts of people, (especially foreigners) to secure their money and preserve their lives... By B.E., gent

London: printed for W. Hawes at the Rose in Ludgate-street, P. Gilbourne at the corner of Chancery-lane in Fleet-street, and W. Davis at the Black Bull in Cornhill, n.d., 1698. First edition of the first separately printed dictionary of slang, unpaginated, collating A⁴, B-M⁸, without the two leaves of ads at the back which are found in some copies; the text lightly spotted but generally a very nice copy in nicely blind-stamped ear5ly 19th-century sheep, neatly rebacked with blindstamped spine laid down; very good and sound. Another edition appeared in 1699 - see Coleman, A History of Slang and Cant Dictionaries, I, p. 76ff citing Maurizio Gotti's The (truncated) Language of Thieves and Vagabonds (Tubingen, 1999) where the two editions are discussed and 1698 date explained. Coleman also notes that B. E.'s dictionary "is the most substantial and the most original work discussed in this volume ... The value of original material in B. E.'s dictionary cannot be overstated. He made considerable contributions to the history of English in general as well as its slang." "The most complete glossary of cant to have appeared by the end of the 17th century" and also "the first dictionary to record ordinary slang as such" (Partridge, History of Slang, p. 62). "This dictionary is perhaps the most important dictionary of slang ever printed, since it had such an influence on later compilations ... Nothing is known of B.E., gent. From his dictionary one gathers that he was an antiquary. Some of his words and definitions bear no relation to slang or cant, but merely gratify his whim for curiosa. He may have known Rochester, D'Urfey, and the Earl of Dorset, and a close study of their literary remains may give a clue as to his identity ... The New Canting Dictionary, Bacchus and Venus, The Scoundrel's Dictionary, the canting dictionary appended to Nathan Bailey's Dictionary, Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue - all are based on B.E., gent." (Burke, The Literature of Slang, p. 65). Coleman, A History of Slang and Cant Dictionaries, vol. I, pp. 76ff.; Kennedy 11881; Starnes, p. 221-223; Wing E5; Alston IX, 268; Vancil, p. 77. (Inventory #: 64339)