Index: graphspell/ibdawg.py
==================================================================
--- graphspell/ibdawg.py
+++ graphspell/ibdawg.py
@@ -171,10 +171,11 @@
 
     def _initJSON (self):
         "initialize with a JSON text file"
         self.__dict__.update(json.loads(self.by.decode("utf-8")))
         #self.__dict__.update(json.loads(self.by))                  # In Python 3.6, can read directly binary strings
+        self.byDic = binascii.unhexlify(self.sByDic)
 
     def getInfo (self):
         return  "  Language: {0.sLangName}   Lang code: {0.sLangCode}   Dictionary name: {0.sDicName}" \
                 "  Compression method: {0.nCompressionMethod:>2}   Date: {0.sDate}   Stemming: {0.cStemming}FX\n" \
                 "  Arcs values:  {0.nArcVal:>10,} = {0.nChar:>5,} characters,  {0.nAff:>6,} affixes,  {0.nTag:>6,} tags\n" \