Item #22403 A Collection Of English Words Not Generally Used; with their Significations and Original, in two Alphabetical Catalogues, The One of such as are proper to the Northern, the other to the Southern Counties, With Catalogues of English Birds and Fishes: An an Account of the preparing and refining such Metals and Minerals as are gotten in England. John Ray.

A Collection Of English Words Not Generally Used; with their Significations and Original, in two Alphabetical Catalogues, The One of such as are proper to the Northern, the other to the Southern Counties, With Catalogues of English Birds and Fishes: An an Account of the preparing and refining such Metals and Minerals as are gotten in England

London: H. Bruges, 1674. First edition. Hardcover. 15.5 x 10 cm. A4, B8-K8-L2 (without the first and final blanks). Title page printed in red and black. First edition, this issue with comma after "Ray" but not "words" of the title page, without continuous test despite irregular pagination. The "Country Words" portion of the volume notable for the etymological explanations many resting in French and Latin. W.W. Skeat in his introduction to the 1874 edition of Ray's work noted: "It may be very safely be said that on the whole, Ray's is the most important book ever published on the subjects of English dialects with the sole exception of such publications as belong to the present century." Ray was the first person to produce a biological definition of species, in his 1686 History of Plants. His classification of plants in his Historia Plantarum, was an important step towards modern taxonomy. ESTC R5328. A few marginal pencil notations, text generally clean, rubbing to extremities and surfaces. Later half sheep and marbled boards.Very good. Item #22403

Price: $1,100.00

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