7.21.09 websters 1.jpgIt is difficult for us to write about this new publication without using the words awesome, amazing and amazingly awesome. Our knee-jerk reaction when we learned of this book was not to use our grown-up words in a measured display of genuine interest. No, we pretty much freaked out. The Pictorial Webster's is a compendium of over 1,500 original engravings from 19th century Webster's dictionaries. Allow us to attempt to control ourselves for a moment longer to give you more information...

7.21.09 websters 2.jpgJohn M. Carrera, a fine-press bookmaker, has compiled these engravings, restoring and cleaning them, into this gorgeous historical record. The Pictorial Webster's, published by Chronicle Books, is an unusual visual reference that ranges "from Acorns to Zebras, Bell Jars to Velocipedes." Arranged alphabetically, this volume attempts to "illustrate the items deemed important to the Victorian mind." Yes, please.

So as we researched this Dictionary of Curiosities further, fully expecting to open a small savings account in which to tuck away money so that one day we might be able to purchase a copy, we discovered that a hardcover 5"x7" volume is available for $35.00! We, of course, entered to win the fine press edition (hand-bound in leather with an engraved cover and letter-press interior) here, as well.

We must go, now, and tell others of this amazingly awesome amazingness.

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