Description: A pride of any collector/scholar of Emily Dickinson would be to find a set of the same Webster Dictionary he used so often. It is well documented that Emily read the dictionary…as her “breviary”…and even she said in a letter to Thomas Higginson that her “Lexicon” was one of her only friends. Family members said the large two volume set was often at the dining table.. Emily adored words and used them handily in her poetry.Emily’s copy of Webster was an 1844 set “bound” by J.S. & C. Adams of Amherst. Emily knew them, as they also had a bookshop besides being publishers. But technically Adams did NOT publish this 1844.. What happened is….in 1841 Noah Webster published his final dictionary, updated…his greatest work.. He was excited and wanted to start with just over 3,000 copies. But the Dictionary was prices around $15…a huge sum in 1941….the family stopped him and while he did “print” just over 3,000 copies….he only “bound up” about 1,700. Sadly, they sold poorly at that high cost.In 1843 Webster died and his family then sold the 1,700 or so UNBOUND printed sheets to J.S. & C Adams in Amherst. It is at this time Edward Dickinson bought TWO copies. One for Emily and one for the family. Today one set is at Harvard and Emily’s copy is at Amherst College…Only ONE other set is known…and that is at the New Haven CT Historical Society My research concludes that Adams only bound up” less than 80 copies….because withing a few short months he too saw they would not sell at $15…so Adams SOLD all the rest of the unbound 1841 sheets they had to G & C Merriam of Springfield MASS….but along with the unbound sheets, they (unlike Adams() also acquired from tke Webster family ALL remaining rights to the Webster Dictionary…not just the “unbound sheets” of the 1841 printing. And thus, The Merriam-Webster Dictionary was born.The Merriam’s found the SAME fate as both Adams in 1844 and Webster in 1841. The dictionary did NOT sell at $15. My guess is Merriam saw this quickly and he too bound very few copies up. But now that he owned 100% of the “rights” Merriam edited a new version…printed it up in a more cost effective “stereotype”…and reduced the size to one single volume…and the prices was dropped to about $5 - $6.00. So this is the 1848 new updated edition and it sold very well…and thus the Merriam Webster Dictionary was born.What I offer here is a two volume set , G & C Merriam 1845. But in truth, it is only the title page that is different, with the Merriam, Springfield name. Same as the Adams, Amherst. All of them are just unbound printed sheets of the 1841 Webster Dictionary!The 1841 Webster is rare…when available they can run $2,500 to over $7,000. Only two are offered worldwide today. See pic. The 1844 Amherst print does not exist…I’d say less than 80 were bound up. Only three copies are known, and two of them are the Dickinson’s copies. The 1845 (here) is similarly rare…in 25 years of collecting Emily Dickinson, this is only the SECOND set I have ever seen. This is a spare I offer now.For a Dickinson collector, owning any set of the 1841, 1844 or 1845…will give you an exact match of the pages, words and layout as Emily read them herself. Once she was given this set by her father, in 1844 (costing $15)…it was Emily’s main dictionary for the rest of her life.. The printed sheets in the 1844 are exactly the same as in this copy of the 1845 binding.This 1845 is a large two volume, octavo. Volume One has Webster’s engraving. Amazingly, all the pages are bright..there is no foxing or spotting….. There are no markings inside. Vol. One is 944 pages. Vol. two is 1,020 pages. The only issue is that the set was rebound a long time ago….with buckram covers. I’ve handled numerous early Webster’s and many are in poor condition simply because they were so well used, very heavy and the spine and boards are often off or near off. I think that is what happened on this set…but the rebind protected it superbly. I was going to have my Binder re-do to a period leather binding….but it is better to let the next owner decide. There is a tiny stamp in upper R of the title page….says” C.F. Bradford 8/33”. I do not believe this is the owner, but rather the name of the firm that did the rebind and the date….August 1933 (8/33)…the binding looks 90 year old, and it did the job of preserving the book. There are NO library or other types of marks.PHEW, thanks for reading this far. The 1841 is rare…the 1844 does not exist…and the 1845 here is very rare too….Merriam bound up very few….they would not sell at $15.If you want Emily’s dictionary - as she read and saw these same pages…this will be the only affordable way you can. It is my spare second set after 25 years seeking such. I keep my other for my collection.I offer this 1845 G & C Merriam, Springfield….Webster dictionary for a Buy-It-Now of $485.00 and $12.88 shipping. It may be ship but I will pay the balance and I pay insurance.If you care to read more, here is what WIKI says…basically what I say above:“1841 printingIn 1841, 82-year-old Noah Webster published a second edition of his lexicographical masterpiece with the help of his son, William G. Webster. Its title page does not claim the status of second edition, merely noting that this new edition was the "first edition in octavo" in contrast to the quarto format of the first edition of 1828. Again in two volumes, the title page proclaimed that the Dictionary contained "the whole vocabulary of the quarto, with corrections, improvements and several thousand additional words: to which is prefixed an introductory dissertation on the origin, history and connection of the languages of western Asia and Europe, with an explanation of the principles on which languages are formed. B. L. Hamlen of New Haven, Connecticut, prepared the 1841 printing of the second edition. 1844 printingWhen Webster died, in 1843, his heirs sold unbound sheets of his 1841 revision American Dictionary of the English Language to the firm of J. S. & C. Adams of Amherst, Massachusetts. This firm bound and published a small number of copies in 1844 – the same edition that Emily Dickinson used as a tool for her poetic composition. However, a $15 (adjusted for inflation: $512.78) price tag on the book made it too expensive to sell easily, so the Amherst firm decided to sell out. Merriam acquired rights from Adams, as well as signing a contract with Webster's heirs for sole rights. 1845 printingThe third printing of the second edition was by George and Charles Merriam of Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1845. This was the first Webster's Dictionary with a Merriam imprint.
Price: 489 USD
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona
End Time: 2024-11-20T23:50:38.000Z
Shipping Cost: 12.88 USD
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