‎RASK, RASMUS.‎
‎Forsøg til en videnskabelig dansk Retskrivningslære med Hensyn til Stamsproget og Nabosproget. - [ASSOCIATION COPY.]‎

‎København, Popp, 1826. 8vo. Bound in a contemporary half calf binding with gilt spine. Gilt title to spine. Boards and edges slightly rubbed. Long handwritten note on front free endpaper from Rask's half-brother H. K. Rask. Few scattered brownspots and contemporary underlinings in text, otherwise clean. (2),16,339,(1) + 1 engraved plate.‎

Reference : 60518

‎A magnificent association copy of the first edition of Rask's seminal 'Danish Orthography'. The main point propounded in Rask's comprehensive treatise of Danish orthography is that the spelling ought to correspond as closely as possible with the pronunciation. For instance, Rask suggests new spellings of a large group of loanwords: 'direktør' instead of 'directeur', 'affære' instead of 'affaire' and so forth. Although many of Rask's contemporaries opposed his orthografical ideas, his work constitutes a main work on Danish orthography, and several of his suggestions were ultimately adopted and are still in use today. The present copy carries a long handwritten note in the hand of Rasmus Rask's half-brother, H. K. Rask, stating that the copy was given by Rask to Hans Hansa and was then passed on to H. K. Rask. H. K. then mentions how he perused the book with great pleasure and goes on to defend the proposals for change in Danish orthography presented in the book.‎