Lexicon Tetraglotton, an English-French-Italian-Spanish Dictionary. London: Printed by J.G. for Samuel Thomson, 1660.
Folio (337 x 214 mm). Half title and title printed in red and black. Section titles for Proverbs. Dictionary text in 3 columns. Engraved allegorical frontispiece. Period calf. Intermittent minor browining, pastedowns lacking, endpapers worn and with 2 pp manuscript notes on Howell pasted in, board edges worn.

FIRST EDITION, RARE WITH FRONTISPIECE. In addition to the dictionary proper (which takes up only about half of the total work), Howell provides some wonderful supplements: epistles and poems on lexicography, characterizations of most letters of the alphabet, vocabulary lists organized in 52 sections (anatomy, chemistry, women's clothing, a library, etc), Proverbs collected by Howell in each of the four tongues, old Cambrian proverbs newly translated into English, and finally "Divers Centuries of New Sayings which may serve for Proverbs to Posterity." A century on, Benjamin Franklin lifted a section of Howell's proverbs for Poor Richard's Almanac. Wing H-3088.