Johnson's Dictionary categorized : a selection for eighteenth-century studies

Abstract

While there are a number of conditions which have contributed to the continued neglect of Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language (1755), perhaps the major one is the sheer magnitude of material to be found in its two large folio volumes. Only the dedicated Johnsonian is likely to read the entire Dictionary. Therefore a judicious selection from Johnson's Dictionary is needed to provide students and scholars with a useful epitome of its contents. "Johnson's Dictionary Categorized" is a contribution toward achieving that goal. First, it contains a general introduction which outlines the background, editions and revisions (with special emphasis in the abridgements), and major criticisms of the Dictionary along with a discussion of the neglect it has suffered and an account of the methods and procedures employed in producing this categorized selection. Secondly, it contains a survey of the contents of the first edition of Johnson's Dictionary presented in introductions to ten general categories into which the words of the Dictionary were arranged: "Language," "Literature," "Rhetoric," "The Fine Arts," "Science," "Philosophy," "Religion," "Law, Politics, and Government," "The Social Background," and "Johnsonisms." The introduction to each category includes a survey of the history of its subject in the eighteenth century, a list of the major sources Johnson consulted for definitions and illustrations of words in that category, and an analysis of the material which it contains..