Webster, backed by advertising money from the Merriams (the very successful publishers of editions of the Bible), was a brash man whose dictionaries were somewhat inferior to those of Worcester; but Webster prevailed. The dictionaries of Worcester, more scholarly and written by a more genteel man, were less well funded and slowly faded from prominence.
Another Websterian book is the Salesman's Manual for Use in the Sale of Webster's New International Dictionary with Reference History of the World, an octavo manual written by E. H. Norton, Manager of the Subscription Department, and published by G. & C. Merriam in 1916. Each of the manuals was numbered and (one can assume) logged. Each copy was supposed to have been returned when a salesman no longer had ties with the company. There are thorough chapters on selling techniques to be used, elaborating methods of persuasion and calling attention to notable features of the book to be stressed when trying to win over to a potential buyer. Facing page 1 is a photograph of "A Group of New International Dictionary Salesmen" at a dinner together.
Le Dictionnaire des Halles is a vellum-bound 12mo. written by a man named Artaud in "Bruxelles" [i.e., Paris] in 1696. It attempts to debunk the reputation of the French Academy's dictionary for purity, refinement, and high-mindedness by collecting homely folk proverbs excerpted from the celebrated work which are decidedly not pure and genteel. Examples are: "On dit d'un homme extrèmmement glorieux, qu'il est glorieux comme un pet" and "Cette homme a chié dans ma malle: pour dire, il a fait á moy, je ne me fieray plus á luy." As Artaud's preface points out, the French Academy fails to exclude indelicate language: both proverbs are cited in the Academy's work twice, each in two separate entries.
Another European work is a 1779 late edition, in 8vo., of a well-known book written in the idiom of Spanish thieves and containing a dictionary of their language. It is Romances de Germanía ...con el Vocabulario, which first appeared in 1609. The author's popular name, Juan Hidalgo, is the pseudonym of one Cristóbal de Chaves.
Another European production on thieves' language is the Viennese Wörterbuch der Diebs- , Gauner- , oder Kochmersprache.... Appearing in 1854, this slender quarto was from a division of their police department, the Central-Evidenz-Bureau.
An American book, by George W. Matsell, the first municipal chief of police of New York City, written to familiarize his men with criminal slang, is the Vocabulum; or, the Rogue's Lexicon, which appeared in 12mo. in 1859. Among the few copies in this collection are two signed by Matsell, one of them presented to General Abram Duryee, who became police commissioner in 1875.
Last in this brief survey are two very different books. The first, Sling Lingo, written by Elizabeth Woodward and undated is a colorful, charming rendition of the language we would today call that of teenage girls. Then, these girls were called "sub-debs," and this is their lingo, ca. 1940s. The book is an illustrated quarto published by the Ladies Home Journal--in hopes that the sub-debs would buy sub-deb clothing from department stores.
A much less frivolous work ends the list. It is a 1758 12mo. entitled Table Alphabetique des Dictionnaires. The author's name does not appear on the title page, but the book was written by the distinguished and celebrated French bibliographer Jacques Bernard Durey de Noinville. It is the earliest printed bibliography of dictionaries known to me. The author's lovely heraldic bookplate is affixed to the front pastedown, and the half-title bears his presentation to Canon John Belin "Ex dono authoris."Madeline Kripke Greenwich Village
Leland Little, May 21: Signed Artist Proof of the Monumental G.O.A.T.: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali.
Leland Little, May 21: Assorted Rare Publications Related to H.P. Lovecraft, Including The Recluse Signed by Vincent Starrett.
Leland Little, May 21: Two Issues of The Vagrant, Including the First Appearance of H.P. Lovecraft's "Dagon" in Number Eleven.
Leland Little, May 21: Rare First Printing of Anne of Green Gables, With ALS from the Author.
Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, In First Issue Jacket.
Leland Little, May 21: The Limited Paumanok Edition of The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman.
Leland Little, May 21: Beautifully Bound Limited Flaubert Edition of The Works of Guy de Maupassant.
Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Bonaparte's Celebrated American Ornithology, With Spectacular Hand-Colored Plates.
Leland Little, May 21: A Rare Complete Set of Jardine's The Naturalist's Library, With Hand-Colored Plates.
Leland Little, May 21: Invitation to the Lincoln-Johnson National Inaugural Ball, March 4th, 1865.
Leland Little, May 21: A Scarce Inscribed First Edition of James Baldwin's Nobody Knows My Name.
Leland Little, May 21: Picasso's Le Goût du Bonheur, Limited Edition.
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli: Pietro Aquila, Psyche and Proserpina,1690. Starting price 140€
Gonnelli: Jacques Gamelin, Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris, 1779. Starting price 300€
Gonnelli: Giorgio Ghisi, The final Judgement, 1680. Starting price 480€
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 €
Gonnelli: Domenico Peruzzini, Long bearded old man, 1660. Starting price 2200€
Gonnelli: Enea Vico, Leda and the Swan,1542. Starting price 140€
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli: Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€
Gonnelli: Carlo Maratta, Virgin Mary and Jesus, 1660. Starting Price 1200€
Gonnelli: Louis Brion de La Tour, Sphére de Copernic Sphere de Ptolemée / Le Systême de Ptolemée. Le Systême de Ticho-Brahe…, 1766. Starting price 180€
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli: Marc’Antonio Dal Re, Ville di Delizia o Siano Palaggi Camparecci nello Stato di Milano Divise in Sei Tomi Con espressevi le Piante…, Tomo Primo, 1726. Starting price 7000€
Gonnelli: Katsushika Hokusai, Bird on a branch, 1843. Starting price 100€
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
Ketterer, May 26:Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
Ketterer, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
Ketterer, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
Ketterer, May 26:PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
Ketterer, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
Ketterer, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. First edition in first issue jacket. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
Ketterer, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
Ketterer, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000
![Gonnelli: Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/dc0b1dc0-f7c8-40b6-a5a6-870689484c07.jpg "<b>Gonnelli:</b> Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€")
