PANCKOUCKE (Sous la direction de Charles Joseph), GUYOT - CH - Lot 504

PANCKOUCKE (Sous la direction de Charles Joseph), GUYOT - CHAMFORT - DUCHEMAIN DE LA CHESNAYE - Le Grand vocabulaire françois, par une société de gens de lettres. Paris, Chez Panckoucke, 1767; in-4, approx. 600 pp. per volume, contemporary bindings in full marbled calf, 5-rib spines, red-painted edges, beige morocco titles. In the history of French language dictionaries, the Grand Vocabulaire François published between 1767 and 1774 by Charles-Joseph Panckoucke has gone almost unnoticed. Yet the work consists of no fewer than 30 volumes in in-4° format, making it one of the largest lexicographical undertakings of its time. At once a universal dictionary, a language dictionary and a grammatical dictionary, the Grand Vocabulaire François is a repertory endowed with genuine scientific originality. By introducing proper nouns, providing a diachronic description of the language and proposing, before Abbé Féraud, a systematization of the prosodic and phonetic indications of the lexicon, this monument to French lexicography defends itself against accusations of plagiarism and establishes itself as an untapped link in the development of knowledge about the language.