A Dictionary of the English language ... By Noah Webster … Reprinted by E.H. Barker ... from a copy communicated by the Author

Daniel WEBSTER (1758-1843).

A Dictionary of the English language: intended to exhibit I. The origin and affinities of every English word. II. The orthography and the pronunciation of words. III. Accurate and discriminating definitions. To which are prefixed an introductory dissertation on the origin, history, and connection of the languages of western Asia and of Europe; and a concise grammar … By Noah Webster … Reprinted by E.H. Barker, Esq. of Thetford, from a copy communicated by the Author, and containing many manuscript corrections and additions. With an appendix by the Editor. London, England: [Printed by Richard Taylor] published by Black, Young, and Young, 1831 – 1832.

2 volumes, quarto (10 1/2 x 8 3/8in; 267 x 213mm). Pp. [i-]iv-viii, [i-]ii- civ, [1-910]; [i-ii, 1-926].  Condition of contents: without the publisher's advertisements noted by Skeel (as often), and otherwise excellent.

Contemporary polished calf, covers with decorative roll-tool border in blind, spines in six compartments with semi-raised bands, ‘jaune’ morocco lettering-piece in the second compartment, red/brown morocco in the fourth, dark brown sugar-paper endpapers, lightly speckled edges.Condition of bindings: scuffed, rubbed and bumped, repairs to head and tail of joints, some remaining small splits to joints, some surface damage to leather, but still attractive (see images).

Provenance: Canon Arthur Gordon Westwood Paget (1893-1989 , of Hedenham Rectory, 20th-century inscriptions noting the gift of the work by F.E. Manley).

First English Edition of Webster’s ‘magnum opus’ – it is worth noting that, according to Skeel the text of the lexicon itself "was reworked by the English editor and was not merely a reprinting."

Skeel 589A; cf. Grolier Hundred 36; cf. Printing and the Mind of Man 291; cf. Sabin 102335