Autograph Letter Signed.
American newspaper editor who took part in the famed Brook Farm utopian experiment (1841-46), managed Horace Greeley's "New York Tribune" (1847-62) and owned and edited the "New York Sun" (1868-97). Item #15089
ALS, 2pp, 5" X 8", New York, NY, 1868 September 1. Addressed to Mr. Hall. Very good. On "Office of the New-York Sun" letterhead, Dana recommends various French dictionaries at length: "The prince of all dictionaries is Littres. I would almost rather have it for general philology, than Grimm's German dictionary. It is a little more than half published, & will take 18 months to finish. It is to be in four parts to be bound either in 2 or 4 vols. The two anterior parts cost unbound $22.50 & the others will cost as much or $45 for the whole. I get 10 per cent disct on this price. But it is a great book. No other Fr. Dict. approaches it in value. The Dict. de l'academie 3 vols. costs bound $40. The Dict. of Langlais 2 vols small 4to costs $27. The Dict. of Bescherelle 2 vols bound, costs $30. These are all first class works. If you want a simple French dictionary of a common sort, all in French, I can buy you a good enough secondhand one, I suppose for $5. But every such scholar as you ought to have Littre...." Most interesting -- Dana was clearly quite the lingual connoisseur.
Price: $95.00