The Plan of a Dictionary - photo 1

The Plan of a Dictionary

Lot 99
06.10.2022 12:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Sold
$ 4 032
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 813778
Lot 99 | The Plan of a Dictionary
Estimate value
$ 2 500 – 3 500
The Plan of a Dictionary

Samuel Johnson, 1747

JOHNSON, Samuel (1709-1784). The Plan of a Dictionary of the English Language. London: J. and P. Knapton, T. Longman and T. Shewell, C. Hitch, A. Millar, and R. Dodsley, 1747.



The first edition of Johnson’s 1747 plan for the dictionary. A handsome and finely bound copy. Johnson drafted "A Short Scheme for compiling a new Dictionary of the English Language" in April 1746 and sent it to a reader who was probably his close friend Dr. John Taylor. The "Scheme" was enlarged into the "Plan" at some point during the winter of 1746-47, and Johnson then had a copy made and sent to at least five readers, including Taylor and Lord Chesterfield. More revisions followed at proof stage before the work was published in early August 1747. The present copy is the second state, without Chesterfield’s name on A1 and without the extra “the” preceding “mazes” on E1v. Courtney & Smith 20, Fleeman 47.8PD/1b.



Quarto (230 x 167mm). (Stab holes to left margin, title page lightly toned at outer edge.) Mottled calf by Riviere, red morocco label, all edges gilt. Provenance: G.D. L. Horsburgh (bookplate; Sotheby & Co., 29 October 1970, lot 90).

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