Gazophylacium Anglicanum: containing the derivation of English words, proper and common; each in an alphabet distinct; proving the Dutch and the Saxon to be the prime fountains ... Fitted to the capacity of the English reader, that may be curious to know the original of his mother tongue

London: printed by E. H[olt]. and W. H[orton]. and are to be sold by Randall Taylor, near Stationers Hall, and by most booksellers in London and Westminster, 1689. First edition, small 8vo, pp. [558]; contemporary calf with an early 20th-century rebacking, gilt-lettered direct on spine; extremities rubbed and worn, small crack at the bottom of the spine, small strip snipped from the top of the title page to remove an owner's name and with loss to the printed border, front hinge with an early reinforcement; a good, sound copy. A British Library duplicate, with stamps marked "released" on the verso of the title page. Ownership signature at the top of the (truncated) title page of "Thos. Trotter," possibly the Scottish naval physician and author (1760-1832). An etymological dictionary of English, written in English, based on Stephen Skinner's Latin Etymologicon Linguae Anglicanae (1671). Contains an Etymologicon Onomasticon; or an etymological explication of the proper names of men and women now commonly used, coming from the Hebrew, Greek and Latin. Also with an unsigned Preface and a Saxon alphabet. The editor, Richard Hogarth, was the father of William Hogarth, the artist. "Richard's hopes ... had rested on his scholarship, but he had no university to provide networks and contracts, no private income, no aristocratic patrons. He was independent, outspoken, with a streak of dogmatism, lightened by brusque humour. All these traits show in the book he published in May 1689, an introduction to Latin, Greek and English, Thesaurum Trilingue Publicum. It was aimed at children or, as his friend Thomas Noble said in an introductory letter, to correct `the infinite mistakes that occur thro bad spelling, which is so common, even in these days, especially amongst women, and those that are more ignorant'. Richard was inventive and lively. He split words into syllables to aid spelling and used games and puns as well as rules... "Six months later Richard published Gazophylacium Anglicanum, an abridgement of an English dictionary of 1671. In the preface he made it clear he was a good classicist but was deliberately avoiding Latinate words because they made such books high-flown (and high-priced). But, as if embarrassed, he explained that he undertook this task 'to save my Time from being worse employed', apologized for the book's unevenness, due to it being squeezed between 'my other more necessary Business', and claimed it was printed from a 'foul copy'. A touchy pride, very like his son's, sounded in his plea that the 'discreet reader' would overlook faults without carping: 'and as for the Ignorant and Envious, I value not their Censures'" (Uglow, Hogarth: A Life and a World, 1997). Alston V, 75; Kennedy 6191; Wing G426. See Starnes & Noyes, all of chapter VIII. (Inventory #: 64524)