DICTIONARY OF THE FRENCH ACADEMY, THE. Dedicated... Lot 10

DICTIONARY OF THE FRENCH ACADEMY, THE. Dedicated to the King. Paris, vve de Jean-Baptiste Coignard; Jean-Baptiste Coignard, 1694; 2 vols. in-folio, contemporary bindings in speckled calf, spines with six nerves decorated with gilt designs, spines restored. First edition of the first dictionary of the Academy. In 1638, four years after the foundation of the institution and at the invitation of Richelieu, the academicians decided to write a dictionary in order to "cleanse the language" of the impurities it had contracted in the mouths of the people or in the world of the palace or by the misuse of ignorant courtiers, and to establish "a certain use of words". Brunet wrote in 1860: "It is still being sought after and copies are, moreover, rather difficult to find" (Manuel, II, 693-694). Frontispiece by Jean-Baptiste Corneille engraved by Jean Mariette.