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The book provides an initial insight into the history of the creation of Johann Jakob Spreng's Allgemeines deutsches Glossarium (around 1743 to 1768), the only completely preserved German dictionary manuscript from the Early Modern period. Gabriel Schaffter conducts important foundational research: he situates the work within the history of German-language lexicography and demonstrates how it fits into the life of the Basel scholar and language critic. At the same time, he examines the unique, "fragmented" dictionary manuscript regarding its own book and creation history, revealing the practices of dictionary work and early modern knowledge production in general. In doing so, the author succeeds in breathing life into a manuscript that has been forgotten for over 250 years – one can almost look over Spreng's shoulder as he tirelessly works on his dictionary.