First edition. Comprising: title page, dedication, and Errata, 36 pages of Preface and Subscribers, then 320 pages. The book is bound in late eighteenth or early nineteenth century full calf, lettered and decorated in gilt, sympathetically yet robustly re-backed onto similarly toned calf, preserving the original spine strip and with repairs to the corners, also retaining the marbled endpapers front and rear, with repairs to the gutters. The text block is marbled to all edges. The repair work looks fairly recent, probably late twentieth century, the original leather is slightly rubbed, toned and marked. The text block is slightly toned and marked, with occasional spots of foxing. To the front pastedown is the armorial bookplate of Gulielmus Powell, showing the Latin motto of the Powell family: "Anima in amicis una", and there are other later annotations in pencil to the text. A large handsome book, expensively produced, with the alphabets arranged alphabetically, printed in large clear type and well-spaced, apparently the result of 16 years of research on the part of Fry.