The Smallest English Dictionary in the World, (c. 1900)
1 1/8 x 7/8 in.
2.9 x 2.2 cm.
2.9 x 2.2 cm.
Glasgow: David Bryce & Son
37
384pp. Frontispiece portrait of the dictionary's influential author, Dr. Samuel Johnson. This is one of a number of miniature books published by Bryce using photo-reproduction. A particularly unusual copy, bound...
384pp. Frontispiece portrait of the dictionary's influential author, Dr. Samuel Johnson. This is one of a number of miniature books published by Bryce using photo-reproduction. A particularly unusual copy, bound in the customary red leather wrappers but with "Dixon's Dictionary" stamped at lower cover, rather than the oft-recorded "Pears" in reference to Pears Soap. The endpapers reveal the Dixon in question to be a purveyor of graphite based in Jersey City, New Jersey. At the rearmost advertisement, the copy cleverly calls the volume a "Dixonary." An odd marriage of book and commerce, especially since the copy bears the Bryce imprint, rather than the American analogue, Stokes. Mild rubbing and soiling, else near fine in metal case with magnifying glass.