First quarto ed of Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language, 1785, 2 volumes

1st QUARTO Edition. - Samuel JOHNSON (1709-1784).

A Dictionary of the English Language: in Which the Words are Deduced from Their Originals, and Illustrated in Their Different Significations by Examples from the Best Writers…. To which are prefixed a history of the language, and English Grammar. London: published by Moses Thomas, J. Maxwell printer, 1785. 2 volumes, large quarto (10 ¾ x 8 5/8 inches; 273 x 219mm). Engraved portrait of Johnson at the front of vol.I, the lexicon in triple columns with pages unpaginated. (Toned and spotted). Contemporary calf, spines gilt (worn, spines damaged, joints split, inner hinges with old repairs using cloth). Provenance: Robert Kelham Kelham (armorial bookplates).

The first quarto edition. The Dictionary was first published in two folio volumes in 1755.

"More enduringly significant than the European influence of the Dictionary was its influence across the Atlantic. The American adoption of the Dictionary was a momentous event not just in its history, but in the history of lexicography. For Americans in the second half of the eighteenth century, Johnson was the seminal authority on language, and the subsequent development of American lexicography was coloured by his fame." (Henry Hitchings, Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr Johnson's Dictionary, [2005], p. 244).