Massive dictionary with text and definitions from the inimitable Dr. Johnson: bound in leather with a repaired front hinge come loose, writing and bookplates inside front: best bookplate ever has odd bird, looks like a dodo to me and a banner saying “contempis loris” (which google translate assures me is “scorning straps” and I am sure some clever soul will correct me on) over the name Charles Francis Wyatt of Broughton Rectory, Oxon., and on the facing page is the bookplate of Margaret Huntingdon of initials framed with a crown above. Also penciled notes in the corner above telling of various sources for more information about the writing of this dictionary. Grand portrait of Johnson as frontispiece with a little paper loss at the bottom of the page and foxing throughout.
Acceptable: Folio(17” X 10 1/2” X3”): Leather binding: front board off with scuffs and dings: amazing spine: banded and ridged with gilt decorations accented by black with a red background to the second band down with the title “Johnson’s Dictionary” in gilt: Frontispiece Portrait of Johnson: Johnson in oval surmounting a pedestal with a reading figure to Johnson’s right and what might just be Mercury to his left: foxing throughout: “Dictionary of the English Language: in which the Words are deduced from their Originals and Illustrated in their different Significations by Examples from the best Writers to which are prefixed a History of the Language and an English Grammar” by Samuel Johnson, LL. D. 7th Edition: London: J.F. And C. Rivington, et al: 1785.
RAREB1785PSTA