A Dictionary of the Mahratta Language.

First edition of the first English-Marathi dictionary, containing over 9,500 entries in Devanagari script with English translations. Produced to accompany Carey's grammar of Marathi published in 1805.

William Carey (1761-1810) was the founder of the Baptist Mission Society, the Mission in Serampore and its press in 1799, and is today known as the Father of the Baptist Missions in Asia. Alongside William Ward and Joshua Marshman he translated the New and Old Testaments into Bengali, and parts of the bible into Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, and Urdu. In total, during Carey's lifetime, the mission printed and distributed the Bible in whole or part in 44 languages and dialects. To coincide with their great Biblical output, the Serampore press produced dictionaries and grammars in Sanskrit, Punjabi, and Telugu as well as Marathi. Carey was also eager in producing English translations of Hindu classics such as the Ramayana, being an early advocate of their literary merits.

Scarce. Only in 5 UK libraries (BL, Oxford, Cambridge, SOAS, RAS, Glasgow).

First edition; 8vo (18.5 x 12 cm); a little water stained to margins only, not affecting legibility, library stamp to title; nineteenth-century half calf, marbled boards, spine in six compartments with gilt lettering piece, upper inner hinge starting, extremities worn but still a very good copy; vii, 652pp.