A GENERAL DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. One main object of which is, to establish a plain and permanent standard of pronunciation. To which is prefixed a Rhetorical Grammar. By Thomas Sheridan, A.M. Dedicated to the Volunteers of Ireland.

SHERIDAN, Thomas.

Edité par Dublin: printed by P. Wogan no. 23 at the Old Bridge and P. Byrne no. 35 College-Green, 1784

A propos de cet article

8vo, pp. [iv], [xv] list of subscribers, [i] blank, [v]-lxix preface, [i] blank, [838]; some minor wormtracks in the text, and a little browning; else a good solid copy in contemporary calf, joints a little cracked, corners and head of spine a bit worn; morocco label, plain endpapers. First Dublin edition, and second edition in all, following the first London edition of 1780. This is an interesting dictionary, designed (as the title page explains) to standardise pronunciation. This part of the work is presumably by Sheridan himself, but the definitions are not a note towards the end of the preface states that 'In the explanatory part he has chiefly followed Dr. Johnson; only sometimes making use of plainer words, more adapted to the capacity of English readers'. Sheridan (1719-88) was the son of the friend of Swift (also Thomas), and father of the playwright and politician. His General Dictionary is one of his most notable works, but it was not widely reprinted under this title: it is better known under its revised title (after the author's death) as A Complete Dictionary of the English Language. The dedication in this second edition is entirely original and clearly did not appear in the London edition: it is signed by 'the Editors' i.e., presumably, the publishers Wogan and Byrne. This is a most interesting dedication, in which the dedicators praise the Volunteer Associations (here mis-spelt 'Assosiations') for 'restoring your Fellow-subjects to Civil, Religious, and Commercial Liberty. Under your Guardianship, that Constitution cannot be annoyed by extraneous Power, nor undermined by domestic Treachery'. The list of subscribers includes several Irish names of distinction such as Henry Brooke, Daniel Delany (son of Patrick and Mary), and various Sheridans such as James, Edward and Charlotte. More surprising, perhaps, to find here are two of the most famous of all Americans: Benjamin Franklin ('Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of North America', who put his name down for 20 copies) and George Washington ('Commander in Chief of all the Forces of the United States of North America'). Pollard shows that the Dictionary was advertised for sale on 8 April, at a price of 8s. 8d, and that over 3000 copies were subscribed for. Sheridan protested that it was a pirated edition, and that it had been badly printed in small type, but Wogan and Byrne replied in the Dublin Journal (13 July 1784), with a defence of Irish reprints and cheap editions. According to Pollard, there was an issue with the added imprint of Barrois in Paris, but no copy is recorded by ESTC. References. Alston V 313; see Pollard, Dictionary of the members of the Dublin book trade, p. 633. Not listed by Fleeman, Bibliography of Samuel Johnson, although the explicit debt of Sheridan to Johnson should surely have entitled it to a place. Provenance. Early inscription 'Chr. Salmon' at the head of the first page of the Dictionary proper (I2r): he does not appear in the list of subscribers, but he might be related to the 'Francis M. Salmon, Printer' who is listed there. By the 19th century, the book was in England: it carries the rather unusual inscription of 'James Cain, Chimney Sweep, Fleetwood', written twice on the pastedown and free endpaper. Fleetwood is a small town in Lancashire, on the coast a few miles north of Blackpool.

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Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: A GENERAL DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. One main object of which is, to establish a plain and permanent standard of pronunciation. To which is prefixed a Rhetorical Grammar. By Thomas Sheridan, A.M. Dedicated to the Volunteers of Ireland.
• Éditeur: Dublin: printed by P. Wogan no. 23 at the Old Bridge and P. Byrne no. 35 College-Green
• Date de parution: 1784
• Reliure: Couverture souple
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Dictionaries etc