Unheard voices, unseen hands; rethinking the making of Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language (1755)

Book section : Chapter

The magnitude of Samuel Johnson’s single-handed achievement has long been a commonplace in comment on his Dictionary of the English Language (1st ed., 1755) where it is variously underpins discourses of national triumph, as well as individual exceptionalism. This article will, in contrast, use new evidence on the Dictionary’s making to re-examine the ‘hidden voices’ and ‘unseen hands’ of Johnson’s dictionary assistants or amanuenses, and the contributions that they really made in relation to data collection, definition, and especially in the choice of headwords and illustrative citations). Refocussing attention on the community of practice in Johnson’s dictionary garret, alongside anterior evidence of both text and makers, it presents a range of revisionist insights into the real labours of lexicography, and the Dictionary’s existence as a collective project in more ways than one.

Authors: Mugglestone, L

• Publication status: Accepted
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
• Host title: Expanding the database of Late Modern English: Unheard Voices, New Data, Other Perspectives
• Place of publication: Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Language: English
• Subtype: Chapter