Lot 5462: WEBSTER, NOAH. 1758-1853.

An American Dictionary of the English Language. New York: S. Converse, 1828. 2 volumes. Engraved portrait frontispiece by A.B. Durand after S.F.B. Morse. Text in three columns. With the "Additions and Corrections" leaf. 4to (279 x 217 mm). Period half diced russia and marbled boards. Slight foxing to portrait and vol 1 prelims else internally clean; spines abraded, covers detached, endpapers worn and foxed.

First edition of the dictionary "which almost at once became, and has remained, the standard English dictionary in the United States" (PMM) and the "most ambitious publication ever undertaken, up to that time, upon American soil" (Grolier). Webster's was more extensive than any previous dictionary, at 70,000 words; Webster wrote each definition himself and the great majority have stood the test of time. Grolier, American, 36; PMM 291; Sabin 102335.
See illustration.