A Dictionary of the English Language

What it is

This is A Dictionary of the English Language, written by Samuel Johnson and published in 1755. Johnson worked on it for years, largely alone, with only clerks to copy out quotations he had marked in books.

Why it matters

Before Johnson, English dictionaries were patchy and incomplete. Johnson's was the first to thoroughly document the language as it was actually used, combining definitions with quotations from literature. It remained the leading English dictionary until the Oxford English Dictionary appeared more than a century later, and it shows Johnson's enormous scholarship, patience, and sharp personal wit.

Look closer

• Why might a dictionary need quotations from other books, not just definitions?
• What does it take, in time and effort, for one person to try to capture a whole language?
• What might Johnson's choice of quotations reveal about his own opinions?