Samuel Johnson, 1755

JOHNSON, Samuel (1709-1784). A Dictionary of the English Language. London: W. Strahan for J. and P. Knapton; T. and T. Longman; C. Hitch and L. Hawes; A. Millar; and R. and J. Dodsley, 1755.

First edition of Johnson’s landmark achievement. After presented by a consortium of booksellers led by Robert Dodsley with the idea for an intervention into the progress of English dictionaries, Johnson would take nine years to compile not only tens of thousands of lemmata and definitions but also over 100,000 illustrative quotations, earning him his first university degree having left his undergraduate studies aged 20. “My book is now coming in luminis oras,” Johnson writes one month after its publication in April 1755, borrowing a phrase which Lucretius uses to describe new lives coming into the world—“into the shores of light”—before continuing, “what will be its fate I know not” (Letters, ed. Redford, I.101). The work’s initial run of 2,000 copies (of which at least half are estimated to survive) was quickly acclaimed and set new standards for our study of language, with Johnson’s project forging a viviv and irreplaceable outlook on the English language as it entered its fourteenth century of existence. The present copy has Todd’s variant “b” setting of 19D (with press-mark fig. 1^r-5) and the “a” setting of 24O (1^v-2). William B. Todd, “Note 242: Variants in Johnson's Dictionary, 1755”, The Book Collector, 14 (Summer 1965), pp. 212-214. Courtney & Nichol Smith, pp. 54-55; Fleeman 55.4D/1a; Rothschild 1237.

Two volumes, folio (412 x 254mm). Title-pages printed in red and black (both title-pages laid down; vol. II title-page bottom margin renewed, soiling and creases; some dampstaining and small tears generally towards beginning and end of text blocks, scattered minor stains and ink splatters throughout; πB with repairs to torn fore-edges marginally affecting text; minor adhesion to 5Q1 and 9Z1; wants press-mark fig. on 19Q2 due to 3mm tear). Later calf preserving contemporary marbled calf on covers (chipping to extremities, joints splitting, corners bumped); slipcases.