Ambrogio Calepino (1435–1511)

From a bookseller's description:
Popular Colloquia and Dictionary in 8 languages, Latin, French, Dutch, German, Spanish, Italian, English, and Portugese, printed in that order in parallel columns over two opposite pages, in four different types to each page, respectively Roman, Italic, Gothic, and Civilite types. According to Claes, Verdeyen, and Van Loonen the first edition, in French and Dutch only, had been published in about 1530, and had been composed by an Antwerp schoolteacher, Noel de Barlaimont. Since then it had been continuously added to and published in a varying numbers of languages, up till the present eight languages. The present edition starts with explaining to the students the importance of language-study, not only for merchants and travellers, but also for the people at court or in the army, and assures the students that they will be taught to speak and write in all the major languages in an easy and inexpensive way, for which they otherwise would have had to pay several expensive language teachers. The book itself is divided in two main parts, the first part containing, in 8 chapters, dialogues in various situations, at the dinner-table, when bying and selling, when pressing for payment, asking for travelling directions and other informations, at an inn, on rising, opening-hours etc., on merchandizing, and writing reports, contracts, receipts of payment etc. The second part then contains a vocabulary of words most in use, also in 8 languages, the alphabet arranged after the Dutch. At the end a short treatise on pronunciation of the French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch language is added.… (más)