WHAT:
English Language Dictionary
WHERE:
17 Gough Square, London, EC4A 3DE, UK
LOCATION:
WHEN:
15th April 1755
WHO:
Samuel Johnson
DETAILS:
There was dissatisfaction with the dictionaries of the period, so in June 1746 a group of London booksellers contracted Johnson to write a dictionary for the sum of 1,500 guineas, equivalent to about £310,000 in 2025. Johnson took seven years to complete the work, although he had claimed he could finish it in three. He did so single-handedly, with only clerical assistance to copy the illustrative quotations that he had marked in books. Johnson produced several revised editions during his life. Until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary 173 years later, Johnson’s was viewed as the pre-eminent English dictionary.
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