Johann Severin Vater (1771-1826) was professor of theology and Oriental languages at Halle, but his wide-ranging linguistic interests included Slavonic and Native North American languages (the latter classified using data provided by Alexander von Humboldt). This book, first published in 1815, describes itself as a bibliography pertaining to 'all the languages of the world'. It is a monument to late eighteenth-century research into languages and linguistics,...