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William Dwight Whitney (1827-94) was the foremost American philologist and Sanskrit scholar of the nineteenth century. This 1875 study of the development of languages shows how evolutionary theory was applied to other branches of academic study. Whitney concludes with a discussion of philological research methods.

Amassed over a forty-year career, first with the East India Company in Sumatra and later with the Admiralty as its First Secretary, William Marsden's library, as revealed in this catalogue of 1827, was an invaluable collection. An expert in Asian languages, Marsden (1754-1836) published his catalogue to provide a basis for study into comparative linguistics and oriental literature. This work provides an insight into both the practice of book-collecting in the period, and the variety of works published throughout the world. It lists texts on travel, medicine and linguistics, as well as works of literature and religion, including some extremely rare Bibles, and a possibly unique copy of the Book of Genesis in the Algonquin language. The library itself was donated to King's College, London, in 1835 and is now shared by King's College and the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.

August Schleicher (1821-68) paved the way for modern historical linguistics with his 'family tree' model of language relationships and his early reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European. This abridged English translation of the third edition of Schleicher's 1861-2 Compendium appeared in 1874-7, and focuses on Indo-European and the classical languages.

Published in 1887 with the aim of promoting interest in the Cornish language, this was the first resource to provide Cornish translations for English words and phrases. Compiled by Frederick W. P. Jago (1817-92), it also contains literal translations of biblical texts, such as Genesis and the Ten Commandments.

Henry Sweet's work on the sounds of English was first published in 1874, and in this revised version in 1888. Originally intended as a monograph on two sounds only, it ended up as a much broader book, including an investigation of dialects and medieval and modern English sounds.

The work of Henry Sweet (1845-1912), the renowned philologist and phonetician, revolutionised the study of linguistics in Britain and Europe. This two-volume work, published 1892-8, was the first scientific grammar of English. Volume 1 contains the first study of English phonology alongside accidence and the history of English.

Together with companion lectures (also reissued), this popular textbook won Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) a reputation as one of the foremost grammarians of his time. Unlike many comparable works, it assumes no knowledge of Latin, championing usage above all other linguistic standards. This second edition first appeared in 1769.

The polymath Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) delivered this lecture series in 1762, arguing that the purpose of rhetoric is moral formation. First published in 1777, and reissued here in its 1781 printing, the work draws on the theory of psychological associationism as developed by John Locke and David Hartley.

The Bohemian scholar Joseph Dobrowsky (1753-1829) first published this work in 1792. Reissued here is the revised and expanded edition of 1818, outlining the development of the Czech language and listing the most important Bohemian theological and literary writings from the sixth to the sixteenth century.

Henry Sweet (1845-1912) was a philologist whose work was regarded as seminal. His textbooks on Old English remain standard works. The present work, first published in 1877, inspired European interest in phonetic studies. Sweet presents a general theory of phonetics, illustrated by examples of transcription from various languages.

Johan Ludwig Krapf (1810-81), a German-born missionary in Africa, is considered the father of Swahili studies in Europe. He created the first Swahili dictionary, which was published posthumously in 1882. This important lexicon also contains notes on Swahili culture and customs, together with an introduction to Swahili grammar.

Heymann Steinthal (1823-99) was a German philologist and university professor who insisted that the development of linguistics could be properly understood only when viewed within a general cultural and philosophical framework. This 1863 work explores Greek and Roman philology and philosophy and their relationship to logic.

The twentieth-century revival of interest in the Cornish language sprang from the efforts of activists like Henry Jenner (1848-1934), who published this Handbook in 1904, while employed at the British Museum. The book introduces the history of Cornish, its grammar, and topics including literature, names, dates and swearing.

William Marsden (1754-1836) was a pioneer in the study of oriental languages, in particular those of modern-day Malaysia and Indonesia, where he lived for nine years. Published in 1796, this work helped fuel the growing interest in languages and philology at the turn of the nineteenth century.

Produced in 1800 by a lieutenant of the East India Company for newcomers to India, this was the first glossary of Indian terms widely used by the English in daily life and administrative situations. While promoting communication, it was not designed for the formal study of Indian languages.

Described by Ken Hale as 'nothing less than a masterpiece' and by P. H. Matthews as 'absolutely clear, astonishingly complete, factually fascinating', The Languages of Australia (1980) was a landmark in Australian linguistics. Its opening chapters provide a non-technical introduction to over two hundred languages forming this extraordinary linguistic heritage.

The eight volumes of the Grammatici Latini, edited by Heinrich Keil (1822-1894) and published by Teubner between 1855 and 1880, are an outstanding monument of nineteenth-century German philology. The first volume contains the work of Charisius and Diomedes.

This 1892 dictionary lists loan words from European languages which entered mainstream English after 1470, together with loans from further afield. It shows how the English lexicon was dramatically expanded by these borrowings. Each entry includes the meaning of the word in its original language and historical examples of usage.

In this 1925 work, philologist D. S. Blondheim (1884-1934) proves that from antiquity to the Middle Ages Jews translated the Greek Bible into Old Latin. He thereby sheds light on the influence of Jewish speech on the Vulgate, the English Bible and the Romance languages.

A respected folklorist and medievalist, Thomas Wright (1810-77) wrote prolifically on a wide range of subjects. This two-volume dictionary, published in 1857, aimed to help readers to navigate unfamiliar vocabulary in historical literature and gives definitions, etymologies and illustrative examples. Volume 1 covers letters A-F.

British-born biologist Sir Baldwin Spencer, and his fieldwork partner, F. J. Gillen, an advocate of Aboriginal rights, carried out innovative in-depth studies on the native tribes of Central Australia. Volume 1 describes the region's topography, and the customs and beliefs of the Arunta Aborigines.

Beitrage zur Ethnographie (1867) is the German scientist Carl von Martius' colourful and personal memoir of his early travels to Brazil in the years 1817-1820. He focuses on the indigenous peoples of America and in particular of Brazil, and addresses a wide range of ethnographic and linguistic topics.

Volume 1 of the monumental comparative grammar of the Indo-European languages by Karl Brugmann (1849-1919) is devoted to phonology. It focuses in turn on each Proto-Indo-European sound and its reflexes in the earliest attested languages of each language family, and also discusses Ablaut and sound changes.

Theodor Koch-Grunberg (1872-1924) was director of Berlin's Ethnographical Museum. This two-volume work documents his expedition to North-West Brazil in 1903-1905. Though aimed at a lay readership, his account provides a wealth of information on the area and its indigenous tribes, their languages and customs.

Berthold Delbruck's three volumes on Indo-European syntax were written to complete Karl Brugmann's monumental comparative grammar. They were first published between 1893 and 1900, and remain the fullest treatment of the subject. This, the second volume, discusses the verb, providing thorough coverage of tense, mood, infinitives and participles.

A Slovenian citizen of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Miklosich (1813-91) extended the comparative method of analysis across the whole Slavonic language family. This four-volume comparative grammar of the Slavonic languages (1852-74) ranks among his most influential works. Volume 4 is reissued in the 1868-74 edition.

This three-volume work by Hugo Schuchardt (1842-1927), first published between 1866 and 1868, explores the development of Vulgar Latin, the language of the general population, as opposed to the classical, literary variety. The work focuses on the distinctive vowel changes that took place in Romance vernaculars over many centuries.

First published in 1872, this three-volume comparative grammar of the Indo-Aryan languages was written by the British civil servant John Beames (1837-1902). Volume 1 focuses on phonetics and phonology, exploring the languages' vowel and consonant systems, and how their phonology has changed over time.

Hermann Osthoff (1847-1909) and Karl Brugmann (1849-1919) were prominent members of the Neogrammarian school of linguistics. This six-volume work, published between 1878 and 1910, develops the theory that European languages, together with certain languages of central and southern Asia, have a common origin in a prehistoric Indo-European language.

This monumental work by the German linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835), published posthumously in 1836-9, analyses the classical literary language of Java. Volume 1 includes Humboldt's 1836 essay on language and a preface by his brother Alexander, and discusses Sanskrit and Buddhist influences on Javan language and society.