[Title page missing] "An American Dictionary of the English Language; containing the Whole Vocabulary of the first edition in two volumes quarto [bound as one]; the entire corrections and improvements of the second edition in two volumes royal octavo; to which is prefixed and introductory dissertation on the origin, history, and connection of the languages ... Revised and enlarged by Chauncey A. Goodrich

[Springfield, Massachusetts]: C. & G. Merriam. Good. 1847. First Edition Thus. Hardcover. Full tan buckram -- a stout and very sturdy library binding in heavy tan buckram with a coarse weave, executed in the style of a law book. The spine has a pair of labels in red and black: "WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY" and "1847 EDITION." (These labels are now somewhat crazed and abraded). At the foot of the spine, there is a stamped triangular ownership insignia reading "Department of Justice Library" -- below this is a paper label with the printed note: "Reference" and a shelf number. [AG5 .W43]. Has required "Surplus - Duplicate" stamp on bookplate on pastedown endpaper. Surviving copies of this first heavily revised "Merriam" Webster's dictionary often show signs of heavy wear and tear over the course of 175 years. Alas, this copy is not an exception. In addition to missing the title page, our copy also lacks the engraved portrait of Noah Webster, the single leaf: "ADVERTISEMENT" (with a Table of Contents at the foot; verso blank, and pp. iii & iv of the preliminaries -- the first two pages of the "Preface to the Revised Edition. By the Editor [Chauncey A. Goodrich]. Our copy has repairs using translucent paper archival tape to the fore-edges of the first several preliminary leaves [pp. v-xxvi]. The first two leaves have been strengthened by a full-length application of the tape; the second of these leaves has a bit of paper missing with the loss of a couple of words or parts thereof on p. viii]. The subsequent nine leaves have archival tape applied only to the lower halves of the fore-edge to each; the text in all of these leaves shows through the tape and is clearly readable.Our pages xxix - lxxxiv are clean and integral, with no damage or tears. But there is one curious exception. Someone has neatly clipped out just two lines of tiny type in the section on pronunciation on p. lxxx. The excised text should read: "The vowel i, in the termination ive, is always short; as in motive, relative, pronounced motiv, relativ." [Did the tiny slip thus cut away take an assisted dive into the circular files in the Attourney General's office? Perhaps a critical early user of our copy thought it would thrive without these two lines of text having been allowed to survive]. Also the main text block is clean and free from tears or stains. The final three leaves have had applications of archival tape. These range from a tiny strip along the (blank) fore-edge of the antipenultimate leaf, to larger applicatons on each of the final pair of leaves. No text is lost, or impossible to read. The provenance of this copy raises interesting questions. Tthe bookplate of the Library of the United States Department of Justice is mounted to the front paste-down endpaper. The third preliminary blank leaf has a pencilled substitute (and abbreviated) title page, and this leaf also has the tiny perforated stamp: "DJ" on the last of the (modern) blank leaves added at the time of binding. The U.S. Department of Justice was not established until the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant. Since it does not seem to make sense that the newly formed Department of Justice would seek a 1847 edition of Webster's Dictionary for utility, especially considering that there was a compelling alternative available published just a handful of years previously. In 1864, G. & C. Merriam & Co. -- perhaps prompted by a major dictionary published by their avowed rival Joseph Worcester in 1860 -- issued an edition extensively rewritten from any previous effort. That newer edition was edited by Yale University professor Noah Porter and contained 114,000 entries. With good reason, the Merriam firm refered to it as "unabridged." Especially considering one fact, it seems to us more likely that the Justice Department inheirited this copy from the office of the Attorney General. James K. Polk is known to have been a fervent admirer of the 1847 Webster Dictionary -- published during his single, but eventful term in office. The Merriam company still mentions President Polk's support of this historic dictionary in its promotional material on the internet to this day. Does it strain credulity that President Polk might have seen to it that each of his Cabinet officers had copies of the 1847 dictionary at hand for use? Attorneys-General and Presidential Cabinets grew and waned in power and influence under the various Presidents. Some of the occupants of the office of Attorney General took the position relatively lightly, even to the point of considering the position a part-time job. By Statute, the Attorney General had a slightly lower salary than the other main Cabinet officers. But James K. Polk took his cabinet seriously, meeting with his appointed advisors twice per week. Polk's Attorney General at the time of publication was Nathan Clifford [1803-81]. Before Polk's appointment, Clifford had already been a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the first district of Maine. Clifford departed the Polk cabinet to serve as Polk's Ambassador to Mexico, serving from October 2 1848 to September 6, 1849. It was a sensitive posting, to say the least, considering the recently concluded Mexican War. During this term, Clifford negotiated and signed the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo -- the treaty of peace with Mexico which led to a vast enlargement of the territory of the United States. Nearly a decade later, President James Buchanan appointed Clifford to the Supreme Court of the United States -- on which he served as an Associate Justice from January 21, 1858 until his death, July 25, 1881. Consequently, Nathan Clifford is one of a small group of Americans to have served at a high level in all three branches of the U.S. Federal government. An interesting copy of a significant classic of American lexicography. The 1847 edition appears to be a rare book now, although it is recorded as having been immediately succesful upon first publication by the Merriam on September 24, 1847. We cannot find any copy recorded in OCLC with that 1847 date on its title page; nor does one appear in the LC catalogue. There are copies with 1848 title pages which have text concluding with page 1367; these are almost certainly printed from the stereotyped plates prepared for the 1847 edition. .