A dictionary of the first, or oldest words in the English language: from the semi-Saxon period of A.D. 1250 to 1300. Containing an alphabetical inventory of every word found in the printed English literature of the 13th century

Coleridge, Herbert

Published by John Camden Hotten, London, 1863

About this Item

First edition under this title; slim 8vo, pp. vii, [1], 102, [2]; original green morocco-backed marbled boards, gilt-lettered direct on spine, t.e.g.; extremities rubbed and worn, boards faded, spine ends chipped; a good copy. The text was first published in 1859 as A Glossarial Index to the Printed English Literature of the Thirteenth Century. Herbert Coleridge (1830-1861) was elected to the Philological Society in 1857, when the society "was engaged on a proposal for remedying the acknowledged deficiencies of the two standard dictionaries of Johnson and Richardson . which soon developed into a scheme for a complete new English dictionary. Into this project, Coleridge threw himself with characteristic enthusiasm, and was appointed Hon. Secretary of a special committee formed for the purpose of collecting words and idioms hitherto unregistered, a post for which he was well fitted by his learning and literary facility, no less than by his methodical habits. "His new duties, practically constituting a new general editorship of the work, involved a large correspondence with the numerous volunteer helpers. The results of his researches are embodied in his Glossarial Index which he describes as the foundation stone of the proposed English dictionary. This scheme developed into The New English Dictionary published by the Clarendon Press," (DNB) now familiarly known as the OED.

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: A dictionary of the first, or oldest words in the English language: from the semi-Saxon period of A.D. 1250 to 1300. Containing an alphabetical inventory of every word found in the printed English literature of the 13th century
• Publisher: John Camden Hotten, London
• Publication Date: 1863
• Edition: 1st Edition
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