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| The Entertainment Review |
| By: John M. Carrera Publisher: Chronicle Books |
Anyone that has anything to do with literature will know the name Noah Webster as the man that created the
dictionary series that carries his name. However, many don’t realize that one of the first dictionaries that he created
was actually collection of pictures with the name of the item. “Pictorial Webster’s: A Visual Dictionary of Curiosities,”
by John M. Carrera offers readers more than 1,500 engravings that originally made their way onto the pages of the
19th century Webster’s dictionaries.
Inspired by a 19th century family dictionary discovered at his grandparents’ house, Carrera set out to learn more
about the history and making of the American Dictionary of the English Language, originally complied by Noah
Webster, and published in illustrated editions by the Merriam-Webster Company of Springfield, MA, starting in 1859.
His research led him to Yale University Library, the recipient of a gift from the Merriam-Webster Company in 1977.
Archival and manuscript materials relating to the several editions of the dictionary are housed at the Beinecke Rare
Book and Manuscript Library. Wood engravings and copper electrotypes used to print the illustrations for the
dictionary are housed at the Arts of the Book Collection, Arts Library.
Carrera identified the images by checking for their inclusion in the illustrated editions of 1859, 1864, and 1890. He
then alphabetized the images according to the dictionary entry they illustrated and printed, directly from the original
blocks, his artist’s rendition, which is over 400 pages.
When first picking of this book and paging through it, it is obvious that this isn’t the type of book one would pick up to
read through on a warm summer day. Instead this title is aimed more towards art lovers, designers and anyone that
have an interest in visual history.
By flipping through the pages, those that have an interest in the before mentioned areas, will be extremely impressed
with the engravings that have been carefully cleaned and restored by bookmaker John M. Carrera. The engravings
in this book range from acorns to zebras, among a variety of other amazing engravings to view.
Readers sometimes think of pictures as more direct than words, because of the fact that they can plainly show
readers what words sometimes struggle to get across. It seems a simpler intellectual transaction, and that is
probably why it is easier to get someone to watch a television show rather than read a book. However, pictures do
have their limits, and when taken away from words, they can spur on greater mysteries than originally intended, which
many not necessarily be a bad thing in some cases.
This is an amazing and unusual visual reference for those that have an interest in the visual history of the dictionary.
Again, like most books of this type, the audience is very specialized and not everyone will want to spend the $35 to
their hands on this piece of art that is a great conversation starter. However, as stated before, anyone that works
with visual design in any way will want to get their hands on this book in order to see the amazing engravings done at
the time that this book was originally created.
dictionary series that carries his name. However, many don’t realize that one of the first dictionaries that he created
was actually collection of pictures with the name of the item. “Pictorial Webster’s: A Visual Dictionary of Curiosities,”
by John M. Carrera offers readers more than 1,500 engravings that originally made their way onto the pages of the
19th century Webster’s dictionaries.
Inspired by a 19th century family dictionary discovered at his grandparents’ house, Carrera set out to learn more
about the history and making of the American Dictionary of the English Language, originally complied by Noah
Webster, and published in illustrated editions by the Merriam-Webster Company of Springfield, MA, starting in 1859.
His research led him to Yale University Library, the recipient of a gift from the Merriam-Webster Company in 1977.
Archival and manuscript materials relating to the several editions of the dictionary are housed at the Beinecke Rare
Book and Manuscript Library. Wood engravings and copper electrotypes used to print the illustrations for the
dictionary are housed at the Arts of the Book Collection, Arts Library.
Carrera identified the images by checking for their inclusion in the illustrated editions of 1859, 1864, and 1890. He
then alphabetized the images according to the dictionary entry they illustrated and printed, directly from the original
blocks, his artist’s rendition, which is over 400 pages.
When first picking of this book and paging through it, it is obvious that this isn’t the type of book one would pick up to
read through on a warm summer day. Instead this title is aimed more towards art lovers, designers and anyone that
have an interest in visual history.
By flipping through the pages, those that have an interest in the before mentioned areas, will be extremely impressed
with the engravings that have been carefully cleaned and restored by bookmaker John M. Carrera. The engravings
in this book range from acorns to zebras, among a variety of other amazing engravings to view.
Readers sometimes think of pictures as more direct than words, because of the fact that they can plainly show
readers what words sometimes struggle to get across. It seems a simpler intellectual transaction, and that is
probably why it is easier to get someone to watch a television show rather than read a book. However, pictures do
have their limits, and when taken away from words, they can spur on greater mysteries than originally intended, which
many not necessarily be a bad thing in some cases.
This is an amazing and unusual visual reference for those that have an interest in the visual history of the dictionary.
Again, like most books of this type, the audience is very specialized and not everyone will want to spend the $35 to
their hands on this piece of art that is a great conversation starter. However, as stated before, anyone that works
with visual design in any way will want to get their hands on this book in order to see the amazing engravings done at
the time that this book was originally created.
