Ashgate Critical Essays on Early English Lexicographers

The eighteenth century is renowned for the publication of Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language which reference sources still call the first English dictionary. This collection demonstrates the inaccuracy of that claim but its tenacity in the public mind testifies to how decisively Johnson formed our sense of what a dictionary is. The essays and articles in this volume examine the already flourishing tradition of English lexicography from which Johnson drew as represented by Kersey Bailey and Martin as well as the flourishing contemporary trade in encyclopedic technical pronunciation and bilingual lexicons.