A New Dictionary of the English Language: Containing, Not only the Explanation of Words, with their Orthography, Etymology, and Idiomatical Use in Writing; but likewise, Their Orthoepia �.

London:: John and Francis Rivington, William Johnston, Thomas Longman, and Thomas Cadell, 1773.. 4to. [8], viii, 57, [1 blank], [724] pp. Errata � dictionary text printed in double columns; title-page with small upper margin tear and related gutter staining, outer edges to leaves somewhat browned. Later quarter brown cloth over contemporary calf, gilt-stamped black leather spine label, 5 raised bands; leather worn, later end-papers. Library paper spine label. Title-page signature of Andrew Law. Title-page and last few pages blind-stamp of Hartford Theological Seminary. Good. FIRST edition of Kenrick�s dictionary, �the first to indicate pronunciation with diacritical marks and to divide words according to their syllables� (Wikip.). However, Joan C. Beal points out that Kenrick�s �system involves even less interference with the traditional orthography than [Samuel] Johnson�s: indeed his system can hardly be called one of �transcription� at all.� � Beal. Johnson�s Dictionary (1755) relies on those persons who are considered elegant speakers for giving proper pronunciation. Kenrick �used a series of numbers placed over syllables to indicate the precise quality of the vowels� This is certainly not a �phonetic� system, even though the numeral always indicates the same sound�� (Beal). � Kenrick �was an English novelist, playwright, translator and satirist, who spent much of his career libelling and lampooning his fellow writers. � [He] has been described as one of London�s most despised, drunken, and morally degenerate hack writers in the later eighteenth century� (Wikip.). PROVENANCE: Although it is impossible to determine absolutely, since the book was owned by the Hartford Theological Seminary in Connecticut, it is likely that the Andrew Law who owned it was the famous 19th-century Connecticut composer who lived from 1749-1821. Law �was an American composer, preacher and singing teacher. He was born in Milford, Connecticut. Law wrote mostly simple hymn tunes and arranged tunes of other composers. His works include Select Harmony (1778) and a Collection of Best Tunes and Anthems (1779). He was among the first American composers to put the melody in the soprano instead of the tenor part, and was also one of the first Americans to write about music. Andrew Law also pioneered the FASOLA system of musical notation that simplified lessons in reading music during the Singing School era of New England music. He published Essays on Music in 1814� (Wikip.). REFERENCES: Alston, Robin C., A Bibliography of the English Language from the Invention of Printing to the Year 1800, (1966), V, 283; Holmberg, Boerje, On the Concept of Standard English and the History of Modern English Pronunciation, (1964) p. 29; Kennedy 6276; Courtney, William P., A Bibliography of Samuel Johnson, IV, p. 68; DNB; ESTC T114319; John Hart, ?Bror Danielsson, Works on English orthography and pronunciation, (1963), p. 20;. See: Joan C. Beal, English Pronunciation in the Eighteenth Century: Thomas Spence�s Grand Repository of the English Language, Oxford University Press, (1999), 4.1.2, pp. 72-73; Ronald A. Wells, Dictionaries and the Authoritarian Tradition: Study in English Usage and Lexicography, (1973), pp. 24, 45, 124. FULL TITLE: A New Dictionary of the English Language: Containing, Not only the Explanation of Words, with their Orthography, Etymology, and Idiomatical Use in Writing; but likewise, Their Orthoepia or Pronunciation in Speech, according to the present Practice of polished Speakers in the Metropolis�. (Inventory #: LV2104)