Johnson's Dictionary

by Samuel Johnson

Dr Johnson's Dictionary remains a major resource for and cornerstone of the English language, its key editions being those of 1755 and 1773 (the First and Fourth Edition, respectively).

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction, Language, Classics

832 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1755

About the author

People note British writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson, known as "Doctor Johnson," for his Dictionary of the English Language (1755), for Lives of the Poets (1781), and for his series of essays, published under the titles The Rambler (1752) and The Idler (1758).

Samuel Johnson used the first consistent Universal Etymological English Dictionary , first published in 1721, of British lexicographer Nathan Bailey as a reference.

Beginning as a journalist on Grub street, this English author made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, novelist, literary critic, biographer, and editor. People described Johnson as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history." James Boswell subjected him to Life of Samuel Johnson , one of the most celebrated biographies in English. This biography alongside other biographies, documented behavior and mannerisms of Johnson in such detail that they informed the posthumous diagnosis of Tourette syndrome (TS), a condition unknown to 18th-century physicians. He presented a tall and robust figure, but his odd gestures and tics confused some persons on their first encounters.

Johnson attended Pembroke college, Oxford for a year before his lack of funds compelled him to leave. After working as a teacher, he moved to London, where he began to write essays for The Gentleman's Magazine. His early works include the biography The Life of Richard Savage and the poem " The Vanity of Human Wishes ." Christian morality permeated works of Johnson, a devout and compassionate man. He, a conservative Anglican, nevertheless respected persons of other denominations that demonstrated a commitment to teachings of Christ.

After nine years of work, people in 1755 published his preeminent Dictionary of the English Language, bringing him popularity and success until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary in 1905, a century and a half later. In the following years, he published essays, an influential annotated edition of plays of William Shakespeare, and the well-read novel Rasselas . In 1763, he befriended James Boswell, with whom he later travelled to Scotland; A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland , travel narrative of Johnson, described the journey. Towards the end of his life, he produced the massive and influential Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets , which includes biographies and evaluations of 17th- and 18th-century poets.

After a series of illnesses, Johnson died on the evening; people buried his body in Westminster abbey. In the years following death, people began to recognize a lasting effect of Samuel Johnson on literary criticism even as the only great critic of English literature.

Reviews

[Jeff Crompton · Rating 4 out of 5]

For years, when my wife asked me what I wanted for my birthday or Christmas, I would jokingly say, "The first or fourth edition of Johnson's Dictionary." She never came through, and I don't know why - those editions only cost around $10,000 U.S. Over the years I've toyed with buying a facsimile edition or a CD-ROM edition, but even those are priced in the hundreds of dollars.

But lo and behold, there is now a cheap Kindle version. And while it's not perfect, I'm pretty thrilled to be able to carry Johnson's Dictionary around with me. The Kindle version is based on the fourth edition, the last edition to which Johnson made significant additions and corrections. But when an entry appeared only in the first edition, it's also included.

Johnson's Dictionary is more than just a book; it's a monument in the history of English literature. Warts and all, it was the standard English dictionary for at least a hundred years. As Henry Hitchings points out in his book about the Dictionary, Johnson's use of quotes to illustrate the meanings of words makes the Dictionary an anthology of English writing up to Johnson's time. Johnson's definitions range from on-point to humorous to off-base to just odd, but the passages he chooses to quote are fascinating. Up to now I've only had access to selections from Johnson's Dictionary, and didn't realize that there were so many illustrative passages - the quotes take up much more room than the definitions.

I've marked this as "read," which, of course, is just ridiculous; I just didn't want it to show in my "currently reading" list for the rest of my life. Although a few notable figures (like Nathaniel Hawthorne) read it from cover to cover, this is a book to skip around and get lost in. I'll find myself curious about what Johnson has to say about a certain word, but before I get to that word, I'll get sidetracked a dozen times.

My rating of four, rather than five stars is a reflection of the weaknesses of the Kindle edition. The line breaks in the quotations are sometimes weird, but it's not really too hard to figure out what was intended. And navigation is not as awkward as you might expect in a work like this, but it's still not always easy, depending on what word you want to look up. There are many "jumping off" points marked in the table of contents, but if you pick a word halfway between two of those points, you may have a lot of scrolling to do.

It's amazing to think that this mammoth achievement was the work of one man. It's flawed, incomplete, and dated, but still amazing.

[Tom · Rating 1 out of 5]

My one star rating is for the frustrating 1994 Barnes&Noble edition of the Dictionary, which is missing significant chunks of the original. For example, it jumps from ITSELF to JUB, and omits the U words section entirely. What else might be missing? Get yourself a different edition.

[Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just read Johnson's preface to his Dictionary (in the Harvard Classics, 1st edition, a gift of my wonderful wife). When you think about his having created a dictionary BY HIMSELF, the magnitude of the accomplishment overwhelms. His Preface describes his method. Here is truly one of the great intellects of all time.

[Moe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Left out the word 'sausage'

[Mackay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't honestly say I "finished," because one never finishes a dictionary, and this one offers endless delights and curiosities...how the English language has altered in a couple of centuries! Some of Johnson's entries are very, very funny, and some (to a modern reader) are head-scratchy. Great to dip in and out of. The introductory material by Jack Lynch is very good and informative about both Johnson, his times, and the dictionary itself, and well worth the price of the book.