This was the first American edition of Lempriere's Biblioteca Classica (1788), which the British Museum annotator described as "the first of a new kind of manual: the rendering of a body of knowledge not easily accessible in any other form into a system of alphabetical articles for the use of those who lack the time or the learning to seek out the original sources; the 'Oxford Companion' series is a distinguished descendant." [PMM] Lempriere's Dictionary has special fame as a source of inspiration to Keats.