Search Results: High Spots from Charles Agvent

New Haven, CT: Published by the author, 1841. First Octavo Edition. Hardcover. Light, scattered foxing; stain at bottom margin of first volume not affecting text. Covers rubbed with some loss of leather and staining to first volume; binding tight and firm. Very Good. Two royal octavo (7" x 10-1/2") volumes in contemporary calf leather with gilt-lettered black morocco spine labels, marbled edges and endpapers. Illustrated with a frontispiece portrait. Webster's groundbreaking dictionary was originally published in New York in 1828 in a slightly larger format. Laid in is the Preface to the Revised Edition of 1847. PRINTING AND THE MIND OF MAN 291: "Webster was an ardent nationalist and he wanted to stress the political separation from Britain by the cultivation of a separate American language. Under the influence of his friend Benjamin Franklin he turned his attention to 'a reformed mode of spelling,' and although he rejected the radical phonetic innovations proposed by Franklin, he went far enough to… Read More

London: W. Strahan for J. Knapton et al., 1755. First Edition. Hardcover. Volume 1 title page with small paper repair to upper fore-edge; volume 2 title page damp-stained; occasional light spotting, the second volume with occasional light marginal damp-staining. Near Fine, attractive copy. Two tall, thick folio (10-1/2" x 17") volumes, each with a title page, in contemporary calf leather neatly rebacked with the original spines with contrasting red and black morocco spine labels. The true First Edition of Johnson's great literary labor, “a monument of industry and talent [and] the unrivalled authority for the English language” (COURTNEY AND SMITH, page 54) and “the most amazing, enduring and endearing one-man feat in the field of lexicography” (PRINTING AND THE MIND OF MAN). SLATE contributor Adam Kirsch in a 2003 NPR broadcast said this about Johnson's DICTIONARY: "The modern dictionary's ideal reader is a Martian scientist: someone with no background knowledge who wants a unique definition for… Read More

London: J. F. and C. Rivington, et al., 1785. Seventh Edition. Hardcover. Armorial bookplate and stamped family coat of arms of Alexander Peckover Doyle Penrose on the front pastedown of each volume along with the bookplate of defunct Upsala College which closed in 1995. The only other library marking is a small, unobtrusive ink stamp on the verso of the title page of the first volume. Attractive, clean, Near Fine. The First Unabridged Single Folio Volume edition, here bound in two tall folio (11-1/4" x 17-3/4") volumes, each with a title page, in contemporary tree calf leather neatly rebacked with the original gilt-decorated spines with matching red morocco spine labels; with engraved portrait frontispiece of Johnson dated 1787. Printed immediately following Johnson's death in 1784. SLATE contributor Adam Kirsch in a 2003 NPR broadcast said this about Johnson's DICTIONARY: "The modern dictionary's ideal reader is a Martian scientist: someone with no background knowledge who wants a unique… Read More

New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, (1943). First Edition. Hardcover. Some soiling, little wear to corners, spine dull; lengthy inscription in an unknown hand on the front free endpaper with scattered pencil checks in the text. In what is now acknowledged to be the first issue dustwrapper with a $2.00 price and nine titles listed at rear. Very Good in a Near Fine dustwrapper. One of only 788 copies of the first impression with the words "first American edition" on the copyright page. The scarce true first edition of a seminal collection as most of the printing run was destroyed due to poor quality. Gallup A43a; Connolly, One Hundred Modern Books 92.

London: A. Millar, 1749. Second Edition. Hardcover. Light, scattered foxing. Rubbing to joints, covers firm. Near Fine in a handsome Charles Lewis binding. Six volumes bound in early full paneled calf leather with gilt-decorated boards and elaborately gilt-decorated spines with contrasting morocco spine labels: lxiii, [i], 214; [2] 324; [2] 370; [2] 312; [2] 294; [2] 304 pages. Binding with the small leather label on the front pastedown of Charles Lewis, one of the best bookbinders of the early 19th century and employer of Francis Bedford, who took over Lewis's shop after his death. Considered to be the first true novel in English. Second edition, printed from reset type of the first edition, correcting a number of minor mistakes. Cross III, pages 316-317. Often mistakenly referred to as the second issue of the first edition. Probably printed on 13 April 1749, the first edition having been printed only about a month prior, with the errata corrected and the table of contents for all six volumes… Read More

Philadelphia: Frederick W. Greenbough, 1838. First Edition. Hardcover. Some rubbing to the binding; plates clean and bright. About Fine. The first volume of this magnificent three-volume set. Folio (14-3/4" x 21") bound in contemporary half red morocco leather with matching corners and marbled boards, gilt-decorated spine with six raised bands and matching black morocco spine labels. Illustrated with 48 beautiful hand-colored lithographs of Native Americans based on original oil portraits painted from life in the studio of Charles Bird King, to whom McKenney brought many of the subjects. The rest were copied from watercolors executed in the field by a young frontier artist named James Otto Lewis. The finished portraits were housed in the Smithsonian where all but four were destroyed in a fire in 1865. Their appearance here is not only the best but in many cases the only likenesses of many of the most prominent Indian leaders of the nineteenth century. Bennett, p. 79; BAL 6934; Field 992; Howes M129:… Read More