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In 1828, at the age of 70, Noah Webster published his American Dictionary of the English Language in two quarto volumes containing 70,000 entries, as against the 58,000 of any previous dictionaries.

There were 2,500 copies printed, at $20 for the two volumes. At first the set sold poorly. When he lowered the price to $15, its sales improved, and by 1836 that edition was exhausted.

Not all copies were bound at the same time; the book also appeared in publisher's boards; other original bindings of a later date are not unknown.

 

Building Great Collections, One Fine Book at a Time…. BlindHorseBooks.com

 

#NoahWebster; #TodayInLiteraryHistory #OnThisDay

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