Samuel Johnson's Dictionary Book

Two volumes thick and 2,300 pages long, Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, published in 1755, marked a milestone in a language that, as Jonathan Swift and other writers had long lamented, was in desperate need of standards. The work of a great reader and writer, and an earnest compiler, it was the first English dictionary to devote so much space to everyday words; to be so resoundingly thorough in its definitions; and to illustrate usage by quoting from Shakespeare and other great writers. For the next 150 years, the Dictionary would define the language until the arrival of the Oxford English Dictionary. Johnson's was the dictionary for Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, Wordsworth and Coleridge, the Brontes and the Brownings, Thomas Hardy and Oscar Wilde. Modern dictionaries owe much to Johnson's work. This new edition, created by Levenger Press, contains more than 3,100 selections faithfully adapted from the original. Etymology, definitions, and illustrative passages appear in their entirety and are preserved in their original spelling. Bristling with quotations, the Dictionary offers a treasury of memorable passages on subjects ranging from books and critics to dreams and ethics. It also features three helpful new indexes created out of entries in this edition: Words found in Shakespeare's works; words from other great literary works; and piquant terms used in eighteenth-century discussions of such topics as law, medicine, and the sexes. Finally, Johnson's "The Plan of a Dictionary of the English Language," which he wrote eight years before the Dictionary and which is seldom seen in print, is reproduced in its entirety. To create his Dictionary, Johnson worked with the help of only six scribes and without benefit of a committee. Learned, curmudgeonly, passionate, and disciplined, he infused his work with a distinctive mix of scholarship, authority, and wit. For those who appreciate literature and love language, it is a browser's delight: An encyclopedia of the age and a dictionary for the ages.Read More