“Speaking to commercial men”: practical issues and portable shape in T. Mortimer’s late modern lexicography

The aim of this study is to analyse a selection of entries taken from Thomas Mortimer’s lexicographic production through decades, from his A New and Complete Dictionary of Trade and Commerce (1766) to the first edition of his portable A general dictionary of commerce, trade and manufactures (1810), to conclude with the second and third editions of the preceding work, revised and issued posthumously by William Dickinson, Esq., as A general commercial dictionary (1819 and 1823). These reference works provide an interesting perspective on late modern commercial lexicography and the huge ongoing changes in British commercial practice between the second half of the eighteenth century and the first decades of the nineteenth. Thomas Mortimer (London 1730-1810) wrote extensively on economic issues of his times (e.g. Every Man his Own Broker, 1761; The Elements of Commerce, Politics, and Finance, 1772) and, since the publication of his first dictionary in 1766, he distinguished himself from his predecessors, Malachy Postlethwayt and Richard Rolt, for some lexicographic choices. The introduction of very practical information and headwords, along with nomenclatures in various modern languages, especially in his later works, established his approach focused on everyday trading issues, and on the needs of mercantile men, political speculators, men of business and inquisitive persons (1810, Preface, pp. 1-2, not numbered). The comparison of selected entries and sections will highlight his choices, his outlook, and, ultimately, the evolution of his ‘practical lexicography’ over time.