Johnson's Dictionary

• Johnson's dictionary changed the lexicographic landscape

• Many of the features of his Dictionary - the illustrative quotations, the numbered multiple senses, the breadth of lexis and inclusion of common words - were copied from some earlier text

• Encompassing the best of previous innovations, it introduced some new practices and organised the whole entry in ways which remained standard for over a century

• For these reasons Johnson's Dictionary has become an iconic text: it seems to represent both a pinnacle of achievement and a perfection in origin like Homer in poetry or Shakespeare in English drama

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