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London : Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 1843. Fifth edition. A clearly-written and long-popular study of the language in general and the alphabet, with separate chapters on noun, article, pronoun, adjective, verb, participle, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection, with a second section on syntax and the canons of criticism. Compiled by the Scottish schoolmaster and minister, the Reverend Doctor Alexander Crombie and originally published in 1802.
Demy 8vo (215 x 131mm). Bound in an attractive near-contemporary half tan calf, banded and prettily gilt; paste-paper sides; marbled edges; silk ribbon; very lightly rubbed; some very minor and occasional spotting and browning; label removed from front pastedown, but overall a very good, sound and handsome copy.

SOLD

London : John Camden Hotten, 1859. First edition. An extraordinary compilation from the mercurial bookseller, publisher, rogue and antiquary, John Camden Hotten. Alongside an extensive dictionary of some 3,000 words unknown to other dictionaries (covering the slang of the universities, the rookeries, parliament and the court, as well as the London streets) there is an absorbing history of the subject, plus glossaries of two secret languages – the back-slang of the costermongers and the rhyming-slang of the chaunters and patterers (the first authoritative account of either), as well as an extensive bibliography.
Foolscap 8vo (18cm). [6],x,lxxvi,[2],160,[ii]pp. Frontispiece map – A Cadger’s Map of a Begging District, with an explanation of the vagabonds’ chalk marks. Original red-brown cloth, lettered in gilt and decorated in blind, by Bone & Son, with their ticket; recased, strengthened and refurbished; some fading, a few internal spots and mild browning, but a sound and serviceable copy. Contemporary ownership inscriptions, of which only the name Jessie Westall is legible.

SOLD

London : Priory Press, 1910. First edition. Beginning as a spirited defence of the much derided Cockney dialect (in fact the first standard and the first written English), MacBride goes on to explore its origins and then the importance of dialects in general, with much on the dialects of other parts of the country.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 62,[iv]pp. Original wrappers; wrappers lightly tanned, slightly marked and a little creased; a handful of internal spots, but a good copy of a fragile item.

£15

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London : Pedigree Books (Edwin Self), (1961). First edition. “Here, for the first time, is a serious book written about teenagers, by a teenager and in a language that has delighted teenagers in America and Britain. It is written mainly in the now famous Kookie-talk” – the story of Fenella the clinker from way out – “Orbit strictly unknown. Destination nowhere!” – a cult classic of the beat generation, with a seven-page glossary of Kookie-talk for “Bods from Squaresville”.
Crown 8vo (18cm). (160)pp. Original pictorial wrappers – a design by M. Atkinson; wrappers rubbed, lightly worn, slightly creased and a little split; minor discolouration in places, but a reasonable copy. Just a single copy (British Library) located in major UK libraries.

£50

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London : Richard Bentley, 1864. First edition. An interesting early work on the theory of language learning, recently reprinted in the Foundations of Foreign Language Teaching series. Prendergast analyses how children acquire language and draws lessons and techniques. He had formerly been a civil servant in Madras and part of the work relates to the structure of Hindustani.
Demy 8vo (24cm). [2],(xii),262,[ii]pp. Folding table. Right of translation slip. Original cloth, by Edmonds & Remnants, with their ticket; externally a little worn and dulled, but internally clean and largely unopened. With the 1900 armorial bookplate of William Arthur Cavendish-Bentinck, Sixth Duke of Portland (1857-1943).

£40

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London : Simpkin, Marshall & Co.; Hamilton, Adams & Co., [etc]., 1850. Eighth edition. “Designed to inspire young persons with a taste for that useful branch of education” – Little Lucy Harcourt is brought up to the mark in grammar – “though she sometimes betrayed a little impatience, ill-humour, and carelessness, yet if we look over these little faults, she was tolerably good”. Intended for use both at home and in schools, but although the work evidently enjoyed a considerable nineteenth-century vogue, being first published in about 1827 (the date of the preface) and reaching a tenth edition in 1865, we are unable to trace any edition earlier than the 1841 (sixth) in the British Library – and no copy of the present edition in any major library worldwide.
Post 12mo (19cm). 204pp. Original blind-stamped cloth, lettered in gilt; a touch sunned; small and faint band of uneven colour across spine, but a very good copy. Impenetrable contemporary ownership inscription.

£40

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