To James Madison from Sherman Converse, 3 March 1826
From Sherman Converse
New Haven March 3d 1826
Sir,
I beg leave to enclose you for inspection a copy of Mr Websters prospectus of his Large Dictionary1 and a small printed specimen of the Lexicography of the Work.2 Mr W. has devoted nearly 30 years of laborious application to the Compilation of this Dictionary, and I have the opinions of some of the first scholars of our Country that for phylological research and decided merit, it excels every other English Lexicon hitherto published. The work will be published in 3. large 8vo. or one large royal quarto volume, at 20 Dolls, in Bds. The Learned and Oriental words will be printed in their proper Characters—founts of Oriental types having already been ordered from Leipsic. For the publication of so heavy a work it is necessary to obtain a subscription beforehand to warrant the undertaking and to do this successfully I have addressed copies of the enclosed, to several of the most distinguished gentlemen of our country, for their countenance and recommendations from some of whom I have already received returns as favourable as I could wish. It can not be expected that from so imperfect means, an adequate opinion can be formed of the work, but if you are willing to give me such an opinion as the means will allow you to form, and in such form as will enable me to publish it, with the Prospectus it will aid me essentially in obtaining the requisite patronage to ensure the publication of it. The magnitude and importance of the work, I hope Sir, will ensure a sufficient apology for giving you the trouble of this letter.
If the Dictionary can be published, I have no dout it will reflect great credit on Mr Webster, and lasting honour on his Country. I am Sir with very great Respect Your Obdnt Servt
Sherman Converse3
A speedy reply is solicited as I wish to issue proposals immediately.
RC and enclosures (DLC). Cover docketed by JM. For enclosures, see nn. 1–2.
1. The enclosure (3 pp.) is a manuscript “Prospectus of an American Dictionary of the English Language, with a Synopsis of words formed on the same, or on cognate radical letters; in Twenty Languages, By Noah Webster, L L.D.” The prospectus includes a list of eleven improvements that Webster had made to existing dictionaries.
2. Noah Webster, The Following Is a Specimen of the Lexicography of Webster’s Dictionary; but Not of the Type, Paper and Printing—the Type and Paper Not Being Yet Procured […] (n.p., 1826; 27588). JM’s copy is in the Madison Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress.
3. Sherman Converse (1790–1873), born in Thompson, Connecticut, was an 1813 graduate of Yale College. From 1817 to 1826 he was the editor of the New Haven Connecticut Journal and publisher of the city’s American Journal of Arts and Sciences. In 1826 he moved to New York City, where he continued as a printer, publishing Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language […] (2 vols.; New York, 1828). He lived in Quebec, 1838–44, and subsequently returned to New York. A rheumatic attack in 1850 left him an invalid, and he died at his son’s home in Boston Highlands, Massachusetts (Dexter, Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College, 6:509, 536–37).