The Guide into the Tongues

John Minsheu

The Guide into the Tongues

London

John Haviland

1625

2d ed.

Remember Minsheu (first case), with his connections to the Spanish Armada? This Guide into Tongues was the first multilingual dictionary with English headwords, surveying 11 languages. To help him, Minsheu employed native speakers of many languages. After securing endorsements from Oxford academics, he became an itinerant peddler of the book throughout England.  Though he plagiarized with abandon, Minsheu produced a colossal work that successors used for generations. The English headwords have made the book valuable in the study of early 17th-century English.

Ex coll. Karolyne & Bryan A. Garner. HHD no. 12