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WEBSTER'S NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: SECOND EDITION, UNABRIDGED, LEATHERBOUND WITH REPAIRED ORIGINAL BOX; India-Paper Style Author: Webster, Noah Title: WEBSTER'S NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: SECOND EDITION, UNABRIDGED, LEATHERBOUND WITH REPAIRED ORIGINAL BOX; India-Paper Style Publication: NEW YORK: Merriam-Webster, 1949 Edition: Second Edition Description: Leather-bound. Size 12 3/8 9 3/4 x 3 inches. Weight 9 1/2 lbs. Brown pebbled cowhide, sprinkled edges, tab indexed of bright gilt on black. The India-Paper Style (very thin),ccx reduced the thickness and weight of the Regular Style dictionary, which weighed 16 1/2 lbs., by almost one-half. Contains 600,000 Entries; 12,000 Terms Illustrated; 13,000 Geographical Entries. The Box is a heavily restored (rather crudely, we sadly admit) measuring 12 1/2 in. x 10 in. x 3 in. with original top label centered upon a built-up top surface, remnants of the original lid ends also mounted onto build-up or replacement, and the two long ends of the lid, completely replaced. The bottom portion of the box, while built up along seams, is entirely original. In more than thirty years of being in business and handling several dozen copies of "The Magnificent Second", we have never seen an original box. NOTE: This particular dictionary was MARRIED to this box; it did not originally come with this box Book begins with full-color tissue-guarded charts of the U.S. Flags, Great Seals of the United States and Territories, State Flags of the United States, Arms of Various Nations, Arms and Flags of The British Empire, Flags of Various Nations (including the Nazi Flag); and House Flags of Steamship Lines. Then,an introduction and actual photographs of every single special editor or editorial staff member who contributed to this massive and gorgeous pinnacle of scholarship; a nearly-sixty-page guide to pronounciation; a section on Orthography; and a Brief History of The English Language. Dictionary itself runs from Page 1 through Page 2987 (this page has a 2 inch closed tear), and includes numerous pages of photographs, full-color plates (Representative Orchids, Gems, Poisonous Plants, State Flowers, to name most). Following the conclusion of the last entry, Zyzzogeton, there follows: Charts of Abbreviations; Arbitrary Signs and Symbols; Pronouncing Gazeteer and Pronouncing Biographical Dictionary ("containing more than 13,500 names of noteworthy persons, their nationality, their station, their profession or occupation, and the dates of their birth and death"). This is the 1949 printing of Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, First issued in 1934 and last printed in 1960 before giving way (in 1961) to the Third Edition. India Paper edition, Leatherbound. Magnificent in its precise balance between utility and elegance. With not a drop of hyperbole, one of the most important books, containing enough knowledge for survivors to begin the world anew, should they be given the chance. A tool in the broadest and deepest sense. If this magnificient, inconceivably beautiful tool is for you, or for s/he to whom you wish to give it as a gift, they'll KNOW, and they'll LET you know! VERY GOOD PLUS. India Paper Edition. This 1949 printing of Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, last printed in 1960 before giving way to the Third Edition. Its makers write: "Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition is the culmination of a century's experience in dictionary making. For more than 100 years the work of the editorial staff has been continuous... 207 special editors labored ten years to make this a comprehensive, authoritative and up-to-date reference work to serve today's needs" In (it) "the consultant will find answers to all questions, not only about meanings, but also about spelling, hyphenation, preferred forms, the part of speech to which a word belongs, pronunciation, etymology, synonyms, and multitudes of other problems..." "A Work of Which America Should Be Proud'' says William Lyon Phelps Why this Second Edition is considered FAR preferable to the newer Third Edition? The Second Edition, (which is THIS book) we've been told, is widely preferred by scholars over the Third Edition, due to its strict adherence to correct English, its purportedly greater etymological/philological detail reflecting deeper entry-by-entry scholarship,its superior aesthetic and design sense "(Garry Wills in the National Review opined that the new (i.e., the THIRD EDITION) dictionary 'has all the modern virtues. It is big, expensive, and ugly. It should be a great success')" Edited by Philip Babcock Gove, the Third encompassed radical changes which some found unacceptable: "...To make room for 100,000 new words, Gove now made sweeping deletions, dropping 250,000 entries. He eliminated the 'nonlexical matter' that more properly belongs to an encyclopaedia, including all names of people and places (which had filled two appendices). There were no more mythological, biblical, and fictional names, nor the names of buildings, historical events, or art works. Thirty picture plates were dropped. The rationale was that, while useful, these are not strictly about language... Also removed were words which had been virtually out of use for over two hundred years (except those found in major literature such as Shakespeare), rare variants, reformed spellings, self-explanatory combination words, and other items considered of little value to the general reader. The number of small text illustrations was reduced, page size increased, and print size reduced by one-twelfth, from six point to agate (5.5 point) type. All this was considered necessary because of the large amount of new material..." "In the early 1960s, Webster's Third came under attack for its "permissiveness" and its failure to tell people what proper English was. ...as conservatives detected yet another symbol of the permissiveness of society as a whole and the decline of authority, as represented by the Second Edition.[19] As historian Herbert Morton explained, "Webster's Second was more than respected. It was accepted as the ultimate authority on meaning and usage and its preeminence was virtually unchallenged in the United States. It did not provoke controversies, it settled them." Critics charged that the dictionary was reluctant to defend standard English, for example entirely eliminating the labels "colloquial", "correct", "incorrect", "proper", "improper", "erroneous", "humorous", "jocular", "poetic", and "contemptuous", among others..." Further, "...The consensus held that the Third was a "marvelous achievement, a monument of scholarship and accuracy". They did come up with some specific criticisms, including typographic unattractiveness (the type is too small and hard to read); non-use of capital letters (only "God" was capitalized; the goal was to save space); excessive use of citations, giving misspellings as legitimate variants, dropping too many obsolete words, the lack of usage labels, and deliberate omission of biographical and geographical entries. Seller ID: 88537 Subject: Reference Aardvark Rare Books Eugene, OR We work hard to make your Bookbuying Experience safe, easy and fun. Aardvark Books is a proud member of the ABAA (Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America) and IOBA, Independent Online Booksellers Association. Ezra is also an accredited and Qualified Appraiser of Books and Manuscripts, with a designation from the ASA (American Society of Appraisers), with considerable Archive experience as well. Shipping All books shipped to US destinations are sent via the US Postal Service. Faster shipping is available, please ask before paying. We will combine shipping on items purchased at the same time in order to help reduce costs. International shipping is also available. Please inquire for a shipping quote before ordering. This listing was created by Bibliopolis.