Johnson's Dictionary

Samuel Johnson’s 'A Dictionary of the English Language' was first published in 1755, representing a monumental effort to standardize English orthography and grammar during the Enlightenment. The work was commissioned by a group of London booksellers who sought a definitive reference to compete with the French Académie française, ultimately cementing Johnson's reputation as a literary authority of the eighteenth century.

The edition edited by Henry John Todd, first appearing in the early nineteenth century, serves as an essential expansion of Johnson’s original text. Todd integrated numerous words that had emerged in the intervening decades, providing updated etymologies and scholarly annotations that refined the dictionary's utility for Victorian-era readers. This version is widely regarded by bibliographers as the most comprehensive development of the original Johnsonian project.