Browse Items (19 total)
Sort by:
An American Dictionary of the English Language; first edition in octavo. 2 vols
Webster horrified his family by mortgaging his house to self-publish this book. All his ventures had proved disastrous, and this one was no different. Webster printed 3,000 copies; when he died, 1,420 lay in unbound sheets. Webster tried promotions.…
Letter to Abel Chandler, printer, of Concord, Massachusetts, inquiring about technical terminology
In 1832, Abel Chandler received a patent on his stereotyped printing blocks. A year later, he printed Webster’s Primary School Dictionary. This letter illustrates a lexicographer’s attempt to enlist an ally. Lexicographers habitually call on…
A Critical Review of the Orthography of Dr. Webster’s Series of Books for Systematick Instruction in the English Language
The feisty Lyman Cobb became fixated on Webster’s many flip-flops in spelling—caused in part by Worcester’s influence in the 1829 abridgment, which contradicted Webster. Cobb’s marginal strictures in his copy of the 1828 Webster resulted in this…
Cobb’s Abridgment of J. Walker’s Critical Pronouncing Dictionary, and Expositor of the English Language
The feisty Lyman Cobb became fixated on Webster’s many flip-flops in spelling—caused in part by Worcester’s influence in the 1829 abridgment, which contradicted Webster. Cobb’s marginal strictures in his copy of the 1828 Webster resulted in this…
Copyright certificate for Worcester’s abridgment of Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language.
This is Webster’s own copy of an infuriating document: a copyright jointly held with his nemesis, Worcester. The handwriting is Chauncey Goodrich’s. Not that he was a schemer, but Goodrich soon procured from Worcester a written disclaimer of any…
A Comprehensive Pronouncing and Explanatory Dictionary of the English Language.
Three years—1828 to 1830—saw the most prolific output ever by a lexicographer: Joseph E. Worcester. First came his abridgment of Johnson’s Dictionary. Converse then approached him to abridge Webster’s masterwork. Worcester declined, but when Converse…
An American Dictionary of the English Language . . . By Noah Webster, LL.D
Three years—1828 to 1830—saw the most prolific output ever by a lexicographer: Joseph E. Worcester. First came his abridgment of Johnson’s Dictionary. Converse then approached him to abridge Webster’s masterwork. Worcester declined, but when Converse…
Johnson’s English Dictionary . . . with Walker’s Pronouncing Dictionary, combined
Three years—1828 to 1830—saw the most prolific output ever by a lexicographer: Joseph E. Worcester. First came his abridgment of Johnson’s Dictionary. Converse then approached him to abridge Webster’s masterwork. Worcester declined, but when Converse…