Samuel Johnson's Dictionary: Selections from the 1755 Work That Defined the English Language

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Summary: A necessity for historical reading
Review: Madison warned us in the 1810s to be careful of the change in the use of words that had occured since the Founding, consider then how significant the changes have been from the founding till today. David McCullough kept an original copy of the dictionary close as he wrote his excellent book on Adam's.
In order to gain a more precise understanding of our heritage we have to remove the prism of viewing those times from our perspectives, and of course our use of language. We have never experienced, for example, a Baptist Minister being jailed in Virginia for the crime of preaching and not being an Anglican; Madison lived in a time when he could only hope for such a perspective. The education of many of the Founders was classical, hence their usage of words stayed closer to their original meanings, rather than the evolved usages we are fimiliar with. This excellent work, although containing selections, gives us a better view of what they were expressing.

In Federalist 37, Madison wrote:

.."Perspicuity,therefore, requires not only that the ideas should be distinctly formed, but that they should be expressed by words distinctly and exclusively appropriate to them."

Their effort to be precise having been noted, then this book offers us a clearer view of their intentions. If not we run the risk of being ill informed do to our pervicaciousness.

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Summary: An all-star book available again for browsing
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In the 18th century, dictionaries weren't just consulted, they were browsed. That was largely thanks to Samuel Johnson's mammoth 1755 achievement, wherein he defined not just the difficult words, but also common words found in everyday speech; to their definitions, he added illustrative quotations from the finest works -- creating a volume that was a pleasure to read, an education, and one which provoked the reader down long paths. If you have the AMS reprint of Johnson's Dictionary (reprinted in the 1970's) you know it's a heavy volume, and not easy to sit in your lap. But Jack Lynch has extracted over 3,000 of the entries into a volume you can not only hold in your lap, but enjoy reading: the print is not tiny, so it's no strain. And it's a pleasure to read.

Jack Lynch has also provided an informative, breezy introduction, which puts Johnson's Dictionary in the context or prior efforts and those that followed, describes Johnson's task and process, and tells you the impact that Johnson had. A wonderful addition is in the back, wherein there are some great footnotes (such as, Johnson's definition of war was part of a US Supreme Court decision regarding the US decision to bomb Kosovo) and a reverse index of the types of words to be found... Jack Lynch ALSO provides a special Shakespearean index -- so you can look up which words Johnson supported with quotations from The Bard.

I already had the 1970s reprint, as well as the Cambridge CD-ROM, and wasn't sure I needed this. But I'm glad I bought it, it's wonderful to have, even for me.(By the way, I am not related to Jack Lynch, so it's not like I'm a family member trying to boost his sales.)

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Summary: Still a Masterpiece, Just Wish This Ed Had More "Selections"
Review: Though at heart I'm strictly an OED man, and at work I tend to use the more practical Merriam-Webster's, I've always had a special place in my heart for Samuel Johnson's masterpiece, and I've cherished my facsimile copy (never had the $10,000 an original copy would set me back).

I'm a huge fan of the quirky charm and literary excellence that went into this unabashedly biased dictionary, so I giddily anticipated this new edition. After flipping through it at the bookstore, however, I was a little disappointed that it didn't offer much over my old facsimile copy. Though the new edition does include Johnson's original "Plan of a Dictionary of the English Language," I have that printed in another volume, and the reduction of the book to "selections" really cuts the book too short to warrant my buying it again.

That said, the entries that made the cut are still fabulous. You have to love a lexicographer ("a writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge") who had the courage, interest, and patience to write an entire dictionary by himself but also had the modesty to admit that any mistakes were due to "ignorance, Madam, pure ignorance."