In a message dated 05/20/2001 8:42:33 AM Mountain Daylight Time, martee@citlink.net writes: > I would not disagree, however I know of no dictionaries before that > of Samuel Johnson, written not long before 1755, > > Paul's right on this. The earliest dictionaries/encyclopedias were 18th cent. France-- > England was big on dictionaries, but only AFTER mid-1700s--and the major > ones were a century later (OED, etc). It seemed like a good idea when > Brownie first mentioned it--since James Mason also owned "a parcel of > books," but it won't work. What kind of TOOLS might be designated "search" > ? A dowsing stick occurred to me, but I find the description, "one old > Search" odd for that. Were any pieces of furniture or chests dubbed > Searches? The items around it are mostly furniture. > aren

Thank you, Karen. I have studied, collected and restored antique furniture for 40+ years, and can think of NO piece of such that might appear in 18th century English as the word "Search." ???? ----- Original Message ----- From: <KDale60909@aol.com> To: <VA-SOUTHSIDE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, May 20, 2001 1:45 PM Subject: Re: [VA-SOUTHSIDE-L] More mystery inventory items > In a message dated 05/20/2001 8:42:33 AM Mountain Daylight Time, > martee@citlink.net writes: > > .... earliest dictionaries/encyclopedias were 18th cent. > France--