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Noah Webster

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:2,500.00 - 3,500.00 USD
Noah Webster

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Auction Date:2014 Apr 16 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Author and lexicographer (1758–1843) who published the first comprehensive dictionary of American English. ALS signed “N. Webster,” one page both sides, 7.5 x 9.75, October 5, 1841. Handwritten copy of a letter to T. N. Whiting. In part: “I have your letter of the 30th. I regret to hear of your illness & inability to visit this place. The account for the plates & advances will, I believe, stand thus. T. N. Whiting to N. Webster, to a set of plates…to premium on 500 copies printed at 4 cents…my expenses of concocting plates…$162.64. In this statement I have not allowed you interest on the 40 dollars you sent me last winter, the time I do not exactly recollect. But you may pay me $160. By a note at 6 months. I send with the dictionary in two boxes a number of Bibles & Testaments on sale. The Bibles a dollar single & 75 cents to the trade—The Testament 20 cents single, & 15 cents to the trade. I send a great number of Pamphlets for extensive distribution gratis, with recommendations of my books, which you may use for your benefit as you see fit. The dictionaries are partly in sheep & partly in calf & well bound. The consequence of your taking a large number, I put them to you at half a dollar each, less than our customary price & set those in calf & sheep at the same price. We have sold a few to friends at 15 dollars in calf & 14 in sheep, but we find booksellers sell them at 14. You will set your own price in Columbus. The two sums for which you are to give me a note at 6 months amount to $412.00.” On the second integral page, Webster writes out another invoice for $252.00, to “Mr. T. N. Whiting Bot of N. Webster, 25 sets of American Dictionary,” and a second account for the sale of Bibles for $26.10. On the reverse of the second integral page, Webster has docketed the letter, “Copy of a Letter to T. N. Whiting, Columbus Ohio.” In fine condition, with intersecting folds, one through a single letter of letter’s signature, and another passing through a single letter of another signature, and a brush to a single letter of text on second page. Accompanied by a full letter of authenticity from PSA/DNA.

After publishing his first dictionary in 1806, Webster immediately began work on an expanded version, which would grow to over 70,000 entries—many of which had never appeared in any dictionary before—and take 26 years to complete. Plagued by debt from the relative failure of the first edition, which sold only 2,500 copies and forced him to mortgage his home, it was crucial that the second edition succeed. A year prior to this letter, 82-year-old Webster finally published the new edition to a much wider and more receptive audience. Boasting three signatures and excellent content regarding the much-needed sales of his masterful work, this is a remarkable piece from the man who helped shape and document the evolving American English language.