Queen Anna's new world of words - 1611

              This revised and expanded edition of Florio's World of Words has been rededicated to Queen Anne, and includes both new prefatory materials and many new entries in the dictionary itself. This edition also includes more Italian material in its front matter, with the dedications and poems to the Queen appearing in both English and Italian. The list of works consulted by Florio is also much longer in this edition, accounting for the many new entries. Existing entries have also been changed and updated. The educative function of the book and the role it is meant to play for its users is set out at the end of the preface by Florio: “To be a Reader, requires understanding, to be a Critike judgement. A Dictionarie gives armes to that, and takes no harme of this, if it mistake not. I wish thee both, but feare neither; for I still rest - Resolute John Florio.”

Organization:

Text is in three columns, with three letter headings. Columns are usually labelled with the set of letters that describes the bulk of the column, not the beginning. Alphabetical by Italian. Italian words are set in roman type, English words in the definitions are in italics. Both italic and roman typefaces are used in the signature marking.

Bibliographic Information

Condition

Leather binding. Flower hand-drawn on flyleaf. Engraved title page. Portrait ¶8v.

Provenance

Donated to CRRS by Larry Pfaff (2008/01/31).

Collation

Folio: ¶⁸  (2 and 3 signed), A-3E⁶ ($3), 3F-3Q⁴ ($2, -3G1) 3Q4 wanting. Signature 3Q has been sewn to final flyleaf.

Page numbers begin on A1r.

Misnumbered pages: 95 (F3r) as “65,” 163 (I4r) as “153,” 181 (Q1r) as “184,” 220 (T2v) as “221,” 221 (T3r) as “222” numbers continue sequentially until T5v and T6r are both labelled “227.” Both 2A2v and 2A3r are numbered “280” and the numbering continues until 283 (2A4v) then skips 284, and 2A5r is “285.” 587 (3C6r) labelled “575.” 3H1r labelled “629” follows 622, followed by 3H1v as “622”, 3H2r is “625” and this continues to 3H4v. 3H4v would be 630, but labelled “636.” 3O2r is 673, then 3O2v is labelled “666,” 3O3r “667” and 3O3v returns to “676.”

Contents

¶1r – Title page

¶2r – Dedication to Queen Anna (Italian)

¶2v – Dedication to Queen Anna (English)

¶3r – To all readers, by John Florio (English); Poem for Queen Anna by Alberico Gentili (Italian)

¶3v – Poems To Florio and “our sacred Mistris” (Queen Anna), by Il Cándido (English and Italian)

¶4r - Poems to Florio, by Samuel Daniel (English), Anonymous, I. Thorys (English and Italian)

¶5v – The names of the Authors and Books that have been read of purpose for the collecting of this Dictionarie

A1r-3G1v – Dictionary

3G2r-3Q3 – Grammar