An English Dictionary (1676): Explaining the Difficult Terms That are Used in Divinity, Husbandry, Physick, Phylosophy, Law, Navigation, Mathematicks, ... Places) More Than are in Any Other English Di

Coles, Elisha [1640?-1680].
An English Dictionary: Explaining the Difficult Terms That are Used in Divinity, Husbandry, Physick, Phylosophy, Law, Navigation, Mathematicks, and Other Arts and Sciences. Containing Many Thousands of Hard Words (and Proper Names of Places) More Than are in Any Other English Dictionary or Expositor. Together with the Etymological Derivation of Them from Their Proper Fountains, Whether Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, or Any Other Language. In a Method More Comprehensive, Than Any That is Extant.
London: Printed for Samuel Crouch, 1676. Unpaginated. Main text printed in triple columns. Reprinted 2006 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. Hardcover. New. $39.95

* Reprint of the first edition. Containing around 25,000 definitions, many of them dealing with legal topics, this was the largest dictionary of its day. An innovative work, it was the first to recognize the importance of slang. In addition, Coles offers lists of dialect and obsolete terms. He also includes the names of market towns and European cities and discusses the proper names and histories of classical figures.