The Making of Johnson's Dictionary 1746–1773

This second edition of the acclaimed study of Johnson's Dictionary incorporates new commentary and scholarship.

Allen Reddick (Author)

9780521568388, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 26 January 1996

284 pages, 6 b/w illus.
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.414 kg

'… a landmark study.' Eighteenth-Century Studies '… a fascinating and wonderful piece of scholarly detective work.' The Age of Johnson

Following the discovery of manuscript materials, including hundreds of unpublished additions and changes, for Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language, Allen Reddick describes the conception, composition, writing, and subsequent revision of the first great English dictionary, and the only dictionary created by a great writer. In this second edition of his acclaimed study, Reddick incorporates new commentary and scholarship, and situates The Making of Johnson's Dictionary in current critical and scholarly debate.

Preface
1. Introduction: Johnson's 'Mind … on the stretch': A Dictionary of the English Language
2. 'The plan of my undertaking': the composition and purpose of the Plan of a Dictionary
3. 'I can do it in three years': a false start on the Dictionary
4. 'Ended, though not completed': the first edition published
5. 'I know not how to get loose': the fourth edition
6. 'Unexpected truth': the use of poetical authorities
7. 'Factious in a factious age': theology and politics in the fourth edition
8. 'The world must, at present, take it as it is': Johnson's Dictionary after 1773
Appendices
Notes
Revised and expanded index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD]