Fragments of History Prior to Two Editions of the Dictionary by Lewis Chambaud, a Rival of Abel Boyer

The major bilingual opus by lexicographer Abel Boyer, the Royal Dictionary. In Two Parts. First, French and English. Secondly, English and French, became an immediate success at the beginning of the eighteenth century and remained in use until the end of the nineteenth century. This remarkable lifespan, however, was naturally punctuated by highs and lows, with the latter often taking the form of acrimonious criticism. There were two main ways to remedy shortcomings in a dictionary. The first was to improve the existing work in a new edition. The second, more radical, way was to publish a rival dictionary that was completely independent of the one criticized. Boyer’s dictionary was well served by the first method. Over the years, in a world where piracy was current practice, some people appear to have been serious about improving the original material; this was the case for David Durand, among others. But Boyer’s dictionary also faced competition from ‘new’ dictionaries such as the one published by Lewis Chambaud in 1761. What do we know about this author and the circumstances of his publication of A Dictionary, French and English? The research for this article throws some light on bilingual lexicography between 1729, the year Abel Boyer died, and 1776, the year of Lewis Chambaud’s death. ‘Bonaparte n’étudiait pas beaucoup; il lisait avec attention tous les journaux qu’on lui apportait. Mais on le voyait pendant des heures entières occupé à parcourir page par page le Dictionnaire de Chambaud1.’ (Monkhouse 1822: 357)

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