Richardson

1844 · 132153 — London: William Pickering 1844. 1st edition. Nice set. quarto. full leather 1184 1185-2223 125pp. ÔThe most substantial lexicographical undertaking in England between that of Samuel Johnson and the O.E.D.Õ "First published as part of the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana 1818-37 it consisted of a great many illustrative quotations drawn from literature but with relatively few and brief definitions Richardson's approach was based on the notion that quotations alone if sufficient in number could serve to elucidate 'true etymological meaning.' He went far beyond Johnson in collecting quotations beginning at the fourteenth century Johnson went back only to the end of the 16th century Richardson sought by his vast collection of quotations to justify the preposterous theory of John Horne Tooke that each word had a single immutable meaning. In his own work each word and its derivatives were given one etymology and one meaning. His etymologies were as preposterous as his theories but his dictionary was of great interest to lexicographers because it foreshadowed the historical collections of quotations that were later to form the basis of the Oxford English Dictionary" Landau Dictionaries p. 66Volume I: A-K & Volume II: L-Z both bound in calf with later spines of tooled leather & bright gilt titling; all edges marbled & marbled end papers. Supplement in original worn boards. Some sporadic foxing in text but generally a very nice very attractive set William Pickering hardcover