Samuel Johnson Jr. (March 10, 1757 – August 20, 1836) was the author of the first English dictionary compiled by an American, "A school dictionary: being a compendium of the latest and most improved dictionaries". It was printed in

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, in 1798, by Edward O'Brien. Martha Jane Gibson, from Yale University, sees Johnson Jr. as America's first lexicographer. He was a schoolteacher, born in the town of

Guilford, Connecticut Guilford is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, that borders Madison, Branford, North Branford and Durham, and is situated on I-95 and the Connecticut seacoast. The population was 22,073 at the 2020 census. History Guilfo ...

. Although he was a contemporary of British lexicographer Dr.

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

, they were not related in any way. The coincidence of names leads many people to believe that this last one was the author of the dictionary. Rather, Johnson Jr. was from an old Guilford family; his father was a clothier, and his great uncle was the Rev. Dr.

(1696–1772), noted theologian, and first President of King's College (now

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

). (The ''New York Times'' has Johnson Jr. as the son of the theologian, though this seems less likely.) Also according to the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', "the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

has a copy presumably perfect;

Yale University Library The Yale University Library is the library system of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Originating in 1701 with the gift of several dozen books to a new "Collegiate School," the library's collection now contains approximately 14.9 milli ...

has the Brinley copy, which lacks pages 157-168 out of 198, the total number. No other copies seem to be known".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Samuel Jr. 1757 births 1836 deaths American lexicographers