A Compleat English Dictionary, oder vollständiges Englisch-Deutsches Wörterbuch; together with Neues Deutsch-Englisches Wörterbuch
Leipzig and Züllichau: Buchhandlung des Waysenhauses, bey Nathanael Sigismund Frommann, 1761. Third Edition, Enlarged. Two Volumes in One. Octavo, [12], 808, 583, [7] pages, bound in period full leather. With the dated ownership inscription of Benjamin A. Metz of Towamencin Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, recording his purchase of the volume at the sale of Solomon Schneider on March 21, 1900, for the sum of one cent. Metz was evidently Benjamin Alderfer Metz (1860–1931), a member of the longstanding Metz family of Towamencin and a Mennonite farmer in the Mainland area.
Now housed in an archival box. An important eighteenth-century English-German and German-English lexicographical work, based upon Nathan Bailey’s influential English dictionary and substantially enlarged and adapted for German readers by Theodor Arnold. This third edition reflects the growing importance of English-language study in the German-speaking world and is notable for the breadth of its entries, which incorporate pronunciation, etymology, English paraphrase, multilingual explanation in French, Latin, and German, idiomatic expressions, and proverbs. The second part, Arnold’s *Neues Deutsch-Englisches Wörterbuch*, complements the first to form a substantial bilingual reference work intended for both linguistic study and practical use. Bailey was one of the most important English lexicographers of the generation preceding Samuel Johnson, and Arnold’s adaptation became one of the most successful English-German dictionaries of the eighteenth century. This copy is especially appealing for its engraved portrait of Nathan Bailey, embellished with early hand-coloring, with additional hand-colored ornamentation at the beginning of the second work. Some rubbing and wear, formerly an institutionally held copy with some of the typical markings, a few tears to the frontispiece, the hinges are a little weak, some discoloration and foxing, else in very good condition. Item #596
Price: $800.00