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Biography of Samuel Johnson, 18th Century Writer and Lexicographer

Reinvented literary criticism and created the first English dictionary

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Samuel Johnson (September 18, 1709—December 13, 1784) was an English writer, critic, and all-around literary celebrity in the 18th century. While his poetry and works of fiction—though certainly accomplished and well-received—are not generally regarded among the great works of his time, his contributions to the English language and the field of literary criticism are extremely notable.

Also notable is Johnson’s celebrity; he is one of the first examples of a modern writer achieving great fame, in large part for his personality and personal style, as well as the massive posthumous biography published by his friend and acolyte James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson .

Fast Facts: Samuel Johnson

• Known For: English writer, poet, lexicographer, literary critic
• Also Known As: Dr. Johnson (pen name)
• Born: September 18, 1709 in Staffordshire, England
• Parents: Michael and Sarah Johnson
• Died: December 13, 1784 in London, England
• Education: Pembroke College, Oxford (did not obtain a degree). Oxford conferred a Master's degree on him after the publication of A Dictionary of the English Language.
• Selected Works: "Irene" (1749), "The Vanity of Human Wishes" (1749), "A Dictionary of the English Language" (1755), The Annotated Plays of William Shakespeare " (1765), A Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland" (1775)
• Spouse: Elizabeth Porter
• Notable Quote: "The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."

Early Years

Johnson was born in 1704 in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. His father owned a bookshop and the Johnsons initially enjoyed a comfortable middle-class lifestyle. Johnson’s mother was 40 years of age when he was born, at the time considered an incredibly advanced age for pregnancy. Johnson was born underweight and appeared quite weak, and the family did not think he would survive.

His early years were marked by illness. He suffered from mycobacterial cervical lymphadenitis. When treatments were ineffective, Johnson underwent an operation and was left permanently scarred. Nonetheless, he grew into a highly intelligent boy; his parents often prompted him to perform feats of memory to amuse and astound their friends.

The family's financial situation deteriorated and Johnson began to write poetry and to translate works into English while working as a tutor. The death of a cousin and a subsequent inheritance allowed him to attend Pembroke College at Oxford, though he did not graduate because of his family’s chronic lack of money.

From a young age, Johnson was plagued by a variety of tics, gestures, and exclamations—apparently beyond his direct control—that disturbed and alarmed the people around him. Although undiagnosed at the time, the descriptions of these tics have led many to believe that Johnson suffered from Tourette Syndrome. However, his quick wit and charming personality ensured that he was never ostracized for his behavior; in fact, these tics became part of Johnson’s growing legend when his literary fame was established.

Early Writing Career (1726-1744)

• A Voyage to Abyssinia (1735)
• London (1738)
• Life of Mr. Richard Savage (1744)

Johnson began work on his only play, Irene , in 1726. He would work on the play for the next two decades, finally seeing it performed in 1749. Johnson described the play as his "greatest failure" despite the fact that the production was profitable. Later critical assessment agreed with Johnson’s opinion that Irene is competent but not particularly brilliant.

After leaving school, the family’s financial situation worsened until Johnson’s father died in 1731. Johnson sought work as a teacher, but his lack of a degree held him back. At the same time, he began working on a translation of Jerónimo Lobo's account of the Abyssinians, which he dictated to his friend Edmund Hector. The work was published by his friend Thomas Warren in the Birmingham Journal as A Voyage to Abyssinia in 1735. After several years working on a few translation works which found little success, Johnson secured a position in London writing for The Gentleman’s Magazine in 1737.

It was his work for The Gentleman’s Magazine that first brought Johnson fame, and shortly afterwards he published his first major work of poetry, "London." As with many of Johnson’s works, "London" was based on an older work, Juvenal’s Satire III , and describes a man named Thales fleeing London’s many problems for a better life in rural Wales. Johnson did not think much of his own work and published it anonymously, which sparked curiosity and interest from the literary set of the time, although it took 15 years for the author’s identity to be discovered.

Johnson continued to seek work as a teacher and many of his friends in the literary establishment, including Alexander Pope , attempted to use their influence to have a degree awarded to Johnson, to no avail. Penniless, Johnson began to spend most of his time with the poet Richard Savage, who was jailed for his debts in 1743. Johnson wrote Life of Mr. Richard Savage and published it in 1744 to much acclaim.

Innovations in Biography

At a time when biography chiefly dealt with famous figures from the distant past, observed with appropriate seriousness and poetic distance, Johnson believed biographies should be written by people who knew their subjects, who had, in fact, shared meals and other activities with them. Life of Mr. Richard Savage was in that sense the first true biography, as Johnson made little effort to distance himself from Savage, and in fact, his closeness to his subject was very much the point. This innovative approach to the form, portraying a contemporary in intimate terms, was highly successful and changed how biographies were approached. This set off an evolution leading to our modern-day concept of the biography as intimate, personal, and contemporaneous.

A Dictionary of the English Language (1746-1755)

• Irene (1749)
• The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749)
• The Rambler (1750)
• A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)
• The Idler (1758)

At this point in history, there existed no codified dictionary of the English language regarded as satisfactory, and Johnson was approached in 1746 and offered a contract to create such a reference. He spent the next eight years working on what would become the most widely-used dictionary for the next century and a half, eventually supplanted by the Oxford English Dictionary. Johnson’s dictionary is imperfect and far from comprehensive, but it was very influential for the way Johnson and his assistants added commentary on individual words and their usage. In this way, Johnson's dictionary serves as a glimpse into 18th-century thinking and language use in a way that other texts do not.

Johnson put immense effort into his dictionary. He wrote a lengthy planning document setting out his approach and hired many assistants to perform much of the labor involved. The Dictionary published in 1755, and the University of Oxford conferred a Master’s degree on Johnson as a result of his work. The dictionary is still regarded highly as a work of linguistic scholarship and is frequently quoted in dictionaries to this day. One of the major innovations that Johnson introduced to the dictionary format was the inclusion of famous quotes from literature and other sources to demonstrate the meaning and use of words in context.

The Rambler, The Universal Chronicle, and The Idler (1750-1760)

Johnson wrote his poem "The Vanity of Human Wishes" while working on the dictionary. The poem, published in 1749, is again based on a work by Juvenal. The poem did not sell well, but its reputation rose in the years after Johnson’s death, and is now regarded as one of his best works of original verse.

Johnson began publishing a series of essays under the title of The Rambler in 1750, eventually producing 208 articles. Johnson intended these essays to be educational for the up-and-coming middle class in England at the time, noting that this relatively new class of people had economic affluence but none of the traditional education of the upper classes. The Rambler was marketed to them as a way of buffing their understanding of the subjects often brought up in society.

In 1758, Johnson revived the format under the title The Idler , which appeared as a feature in the weekly magazine The Universal Chronicle. These essays were less formal than The Rambler's, and were frequently composed shortly before his deadlines; some suspected he used The Idler as an excuse to avoid his other work commitments. This informality combined with Johnson’s great wit made them extremely popular, to the point where other publications began reprinting them without permission. Johnson eventually produced 103 of these essays.

Later Works (1765-1775)

• The Plays of William Shakespeare (1765)
• A Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland (1775)

In his later life, still plagued by chronic poverty, Johnson worked on a literary magazine and published The Plays of William Shakespeare in 1765 after working on it for 20 years. Johnson believed that many early editions of Shakespeare’s plays had been poorly edited and noted that different editions of the plays often had glaring discrepancies in vocabulary and other aspects of the language, and he sought to revise them correctly. Johnson also introduced annotations throughout the plays where he explained aspects of the plays that might not be obvious to modern audiences. This was the first time anyone had attempted to determine an "authoritative" version of the text, a practice that is common today.

Johnson met James Boswell, a Scottish lawyer and aristocrat, in 1763. Boswell was 31 years younger than Johnson, but the two men became very close friends in a very short time and remained in touch after Boswell returned home to Scotland. In 1773, Johnson visited his friend to tour the highlands, which were regarded as a rough and uncivilized territory, and in 1775 published an account of the trip, A Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland . There was in England at the time a deep interest in Scotland, and the book was a relative success for Johnson, who had been awarded a small pension by the king by this time and was living much more comfortably.

Personal Life

Johnson lived with a close friend named Harry Porter for a time in the early 1730s; when Porter passed away after an illness in 1734, he left behind his widow, Elizabeth, known as "Tetty." The woman was older (she was 46 and Johnson 25) and relatively wealthy; they married in 1735. That year Johnson opened his own school using Tetty’s money, but the school was a failure and cost the Johnsons a great deal of her wealth. His guilt over being supported by his wife and costing her so much money ultimately drove him to live apart from her with Richard Savage for a time in the 1740s.

When Tetty passed away in 1752, Johnson was wracked with guilt for the impoverished life he had given her, and often wrote in his diary about his regrets. Many scholars believe that providing for his wife was a major inspiration for Johnson’s work; after her death, it became increasingly difficult for Johnson to complete projects, and he became almost as famous for missing deadlines as he did for his work.

Johnson suffered from gout, and in 1783 he had a stroke. When he had somewhat recovered, he traveled to London for the express purpose of dying there, but later left for Islington to stay with a friend. On December 13, 1784 he was visited by a teacher named Francesco Sastres, who reported Johnson’s last words as " Iam moriturus ," Latin for "I am about to die." He fell into a coma and died a few hours later.

Johnson’s own poetry and other works of original writing were well-regarded but would have slid into relative obscurity if not for his contributions to literary criticism and the language itself. His works describing what constituted "good" writing remain incredibly influential. His work on biographies rejected the traditional view that a biography should celebrate the subject and instead sought to render an accurate portrait, transforming the genre forever. The innovations in his Dictionary and his critical work on Shakespeare shaped what we have come to know as literary criticism. He is thusly remembered as a transformative figure in English literature.

In 1791, Boswell published The Life of Samuel Johnson , which followed Johnson’s own thoughts on what a biography would be, and recorded from Boswell’s memory many things that Johnson actually said or did. Despite being subjective to a fault and larded with Boswell’s obvious admiration for Johnson, it is regarded as one of the most important works of biography ever written, and elevated Johnson’s posthumous celebrity to incredible levels, making him an early literary celebrity who was as famous for his quips and wit as he was for his work.

• Adams, Michael, et al. “What Samuel Johnson Really Did.” National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) , https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2009/septemberoctober/feature/what-samuel-johnson-really-did.
• Martin, Peter. “Escaping Samuel Johnson.” The Paris Review , 30 May 2019, https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/05/30/escaping-samuel-johnson/.
• George H. Smith Facebook. “Samuel Johnson: Hack Writer Extraordinaire.” Libertarianism.org , https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/samuel-johnson-hack-writer-extraordinaire.
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Biography Online

Samuel Johnson Biography

Samuel Johnson (usually known as Dr Johnson) (18 September 1709– 13 December 1784) was an English author, poet, moralist and literary critic. One of Dr Johnson’s greatest contributions was publishing, in 1747, The Dictionary of the English Language .

“Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it.”

— Samuel Johnson

Short Bio of Samuel Johnson

He was educated at Lichfield Grammar School before going to Pembroke College, Oxford. However, due to a lack of funds, he left after a year – never completing his degree. After Oxford, he worked as a teacher in Market Bosworth and Birmingham. In 1735, he married Elizabeth Porter, a widow 20 years older than him. Together they opened a school at Edial near Lichfield, but it later closed due to a lack of money. The Johnson’s then left for London, where he began spending more time working as a writer.

He made a living writing for the Gentleman’s Magazine – a report on Parliament. He also wrote a tragedy, Irene , and some attempts at poetry.

Johnson was also employed to catalogue the extensive library of Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford. This gave Johnson the opportunity to indulge his great love of reading and the English language. He was inspired to start working on a comprehensive dictionary of the English language. It would take him eight years, but it was considered to be his finest achievement. Though other dictionaries were in existence, the ‘Johnson Dictionary of the English language’ was a huge step forward in its comprehensiveness and quality.

Johnson was a prolific writer. For two years he almost single-handedly wrote a journal – ‘ The Rambler’ full of moral essays.

In 1752, his wife ‘Tetty’ died, plunging him into depression, which proved difficult for him to escape during the rest of his life.

After the publication of his dictionary in 1755, he began to be more appreciated by literary society. He was awarded an honorary degree by Oxford University, and in 1760 was given a pension of £300 a year from George III. This enabled him to engage in more social and cultural activities. He was friends with many of the leading cultural figures of the day, such as Sir Joshua Reynolds a painter, and the writer Oliver Goldsmith.

In 1764, he met the young Scot, James Boswell who would become his celebrated biographer. Together they toured the Hebrides, which Johnson wrote about in ‘A Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland’, (1775) James Boswell wrote about Johnson in great detail, including information on Johnson’s unusual mannerisms, such as odd gestures and tics (which may have been a form of Tourette’s syndrome)

Johnson also embarked on an ambitious project – “Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets” (10 vols) and an influential edition of Shakespeare’s plays.

“Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.”

– Samuel Johnson

Towards the end of his life, Johnson was resentful after his housemaid, and friend Hester Thrale left him and married an Italian musician. After a series of illnesses, he died in 1784.

After his death, his contributions to English literature were increasingly admired. He had left a great body of work and was credited with being England’s finest literary critic of his time.

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan . “ Biography of Samuel Johnson ”, Oxford, UK www.biographyonline.net , 22nd Jan 2013

Samuel Johnson: The Major Works

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Johnson Dictionary

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Samuel Johnson: Biography of the Renowned 18th Century English Writer

• by history tools
• November 19, 2023

Full Name: Samuel Johnson Also Known As: Dr. Johnson

Birthday: September 18, 1709 Birthplace: Lichfield, Staffordshire, England Death Date: December 13, 1784 (aged 75)

Resting Place: Westminster Abbey, London Occupation: Essayist, lexicographer, biographer, poet, critic

Samuel Johnson, affectionately known as Dr. Johnson, was a prominent English writer who lived during the early 18th century. He was a legendary literary figure in his own lifetime who made lasting contributions as a poet, biographer, lexicographer, and one of the greatest critics in the history of English literature. Johnson is considered by many to be the most distinguished man of letters in British history.

Born on September 18, 1709 in Lichfield, Staffordshire, Johnson faced significant health problems growing up, including scrofula and near blindness. Thanks to the support of a wealthy patron, he attended Oxford University, but financial struggles forced him to leave without a degree. After working as a schoolteacher, Johnson eventually moved to London in 1737 to pursue a career in writing.

Through his early journalism and poetry, Johnson gained respect among London‘s literary circles. His most iconic work, the Dictionary of the English Language , was published in 1755 and immediately became the standard reference for English vocabulary and spelling. As Virginia Woolf later declared, "With the dictionary, Johnson set standards for the language which endured for over a century."

Beyond his dictionary, Johnson made major contributions across several genres. His periodical essays in The Rambler established his reputation as a moral thinker and innovative prose stylist. As a critic and biographer, he helped define the modern principles of journalism and biography that we still rely on today. By the end of his life, Johnson had become a legendary figure, honored even by King George III. He died in London on December 13, 1784 at the age of 75.

Here is a more in-depth look at the fascinating life and diverse literary accomplishments that make Samuel Johnson such an icon of English literature:

Early Life and Education

Samuel Johnson was born on September 18, 1709 in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. His father Michael Johnson was a bookseller, and his mother Sarah Ford was 40 years old when she gave birth to Samuel. He was plagued by health issues as a child, including scrofula and near blindness that left him scarred and affected his vision his entire life.

Johnson attended Lichfield Grammar School but always felt self-conscious about his disfigured face and impoverished background. However, his brilliance was clear from an early age. A wealthy patron named Andrew Corbett funded Johnson‘s further education, allowing him to attend Oxford University‘s Pembroke College in 1728.

At Oxford, the boisterous Johnson was unimpressed by the university‘s pretentious intellectualism. He left Oxford in 1729 unable to afford the tuition. This early experience shaped his view of "ivory tower" academics disconnected from the real world.

Move to London and Literary Success

Unable to complete his degree, Johnson took on schoolteacher positions in the Birmingham area during the 1730s. Finding little opportunity there, he decided to pursue his passion for writing by moving to London in 1737.

Johnson lived in poverty early in his London years, writing frequently for The Gentleman‘s Magazine to make ends meet. Despite physical ailments and depression, Johnson immersed himself in the city‘s thriving literary community. He befriended luminaries like painter Joshua Reynolds and poet-adventurer Richard Savage.

Johnson‘s first major work was his satirical poem London in 1738, which critiqued urban life. The same year, he published a philosophical novella The Prince of Abissinia . This established his reputation as an innovative moral thinker attuned to modernity.

Johnson‘s breakthrough work was his comprehensive Dictionary of the English Language , published in 1755. It catalogued over 40,000 words with detailed definitions and literary examples, bringing order and elegance to the unruly English language. The dictionary was a huge success, earning Johnson widespread fame.

Prolific Output in Later Years

Now a bona fide celebrity, Johnson entered his most productive period. His groundbreaking essays in The Rambler (1750-1752) pioneered a new informal, conversational prose style that influenced essayists for generations.

From 1759-1762, Johnson published the innovative fictional work Rasselas , along with scholarly editions of Shakespeare‘s plays that remain influential today. His moral fable The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia marked his creative high point as a fiction writer.

In the 1770s and 1780s, Johnson applied his critical eye to biography in works like The Lives of the Poets , his renowned series of biographical essays on giants of English poetry. He also published thoughtful travelogues and social commentary, like his Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland .

Johnson continued working tirelessly almost until his death in London at age 75 on December 13, 1784. His close friend James Boswell‘s famous biography The Life of Samuel Johnson cemented the writer‘s legacy for generations to come.

Legacy and Influence

Few writers have left as broad an imprint on English literature as Samuel Johnson. His dictionary standardized the English language for over a century. His literary criticism and biographical essays established models for modern journalism and non-fiction. As a poet and moral thinker, he conveyed timeless insights in a new conversational style.

From Charles Dickens to Virginia Woolf, Johnson‘s influence can be seen across all eras of English literature after him. His penetrating intellect and vast contributions proved that a life wholly dedicated to the arts could leave an enduring cultural legacy. For any lover of literature and language, Johnson remains both an inspirational model and a writer who deserves to be rediscovered by each new generation.

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Biography of Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson, one of the most prolific and esteemed essayists, critics, and lexicographers in English history, was born to a bookseller and his wife in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England in 1709. Johnson was a brilliant child but suffered from the enmity between his parents and poverty. His time at Oxford University was truncated when money could not be procured to finish his degree. An attempt to found a teaching academy also failed, and Johnson moved to London in 1737 to try his hand at professional writing.

He wrote for and eventually edited the Gentleman’s Magazine ; he contributed poetry, notices, biographies, political articles, and more. His existence in London was also characterized by indebtedness, and some critics trace his radical political stance to his quality of life. He was very critical of the Whig government, and excoriated their corruption, censorship, and lapses in justice.

In 1746 Johnson turned to a project that would help alleviate the malaise brought about by journalistic writing – compiling a dictionary. The resulting Dictionary of the English Language , completed in 1755, features over 40,000 entries accompanied by 116,000 quotes. It secured Johnson’s fame and was the most notable reference work until the Oxford English Dictionary many years later.

While working on the dictionary, Johnson published two notable works: Irene (1749) and The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749). The former, now less popular, is a heroic tragedy, and the latter, still read frequently today, is a drama and satire. T.S. Eliot considered Vanity Johnson’s ticket to the pantheon of great poets.

In 1750 Johnson began writing essays for The Rambler . Two years later he ceased, having written 208 essays. The essays are noted for their refinement of the English language. He comprised a novel, The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia , in 1759, and received critical and popular approbation.

He continued writing essays into the early 1760s, and received a government pension in 1763 which alleviated his financial duress. He stopped writing as frequently, but founded the Literary Club. The Club was attended by illustrious personages like Adam Smith, Oliver Goldsmith, and Edmund Burke.

Johnson was also the subject of one of the most famous biographies of all time – James Boswell’s The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), which gives scholars insights into the last period of his life. He wrote many political pamphlets and published a piece of travel writing on visiting Scotland. His last major work was his Lives of the Poets ; the longest entries were on Dryden, Milton, Swift, and Pope. The volume is lauded for its grasp of literary history, style, keenness of critical opinion, and intuition.

In his last years, Johnson suffered from a stroke and other illnesses. He died on September 13th, 1784. He is buried at Westminster Abbey. Boswell wrote, "His death has made a chasm, which not only nothing can fill up, but which nothing has a tendency to fill up. Johnson is dead. Let us go to the next best—there is nobody; no man can be said to put you in mind of Johnson."

Study Guides on Works by Samuel Johnson

The history of rasselas: prince of abissinia samuel johnson.

The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia is one of Samuel Johnson’s most famous works and his only novel. Styled as a parable or essay as much as a novel (it has been referred to, at times, as a “moral fable,” a “philosophical romance,” and a...

• Study Guide

A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson, more widely known as Dr Johnson published his book "A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland", in 1775. The book was the journal of a three month trip to Scotland that he took with his dear friend and biographer, James Boswell,...

Lives of the Poets Samuel Johnson

A canonical work that lifted the genre of critical engagement and analysis to nearly the same level as works of pure creativity, Samuel Johnson’s The Lives of the Poets was at one time known as The Lives of the English Poets and originally carried...

Samuel Johnson: Poems Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson, also known as "Dr. Johnson," was born in 1709. His father, Michael Johnson, was a poor bookseller. He was born ill with tuberculosis. He faced many physical illnesses, such as being almost blind in one eye and deaf in one ear....

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Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson was born on 18th September 1709 in Litchfield, Staffordshire. His long-lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, biographer, editor, essayist, moralist and lexicographer make him ‘arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history’. Johnson attended the Litchfield Grammar School and then King Edward VI Grammar School at Stourbridge. He studied at Pembroke College only for a year before he had to leave due to lack of finance. Even though Samuel was a very weak child, his intelligent mind made up for it. Johnson had to face financial problems for a very long time in his life. He was forced to leave academic institutions because he could not pay the fees.

His life between 1729 and 1731 was as miserable as could be. He lived with his parents. He was physically sick with Tourette syndrome and many other health problems. His father who was deep in debt died in 1731 and the burden of taking care of the family lay on Johnson alone. He finally got the job of under master at a school where he was permitted to teach despite the fact that he did not have a degree. Johnson could not continue at this job for long due to a quarrel between him and the school owner. Samuel Johnson started on Poliziano’s poems and ‘Proposal’ was in the process of being printed when again deficiency of money terminated the task.

Johnson married Elizabeth, who was his friend’s widow, in July 1735. She was 21 years older than him and even though her children and her family were against this marriage, Elizabeth promised to help Johnson with his financial problems. After being turned down from another school for a teaching position, Samuel Johnson decided to open up his own school. This project failed, costing Elizabeth a lot of money, as the school managed to attract only three students.

Johnson began working on his first work which was called ‘ Irene ’. Because of Tourette syndrome, Samuel Johnson could not hold any public jobs for long so writing was most suitable for him as it was an ‘invisible’ career. He worked on many minor pieces for various magazines as well as writing a proposal to translate ‘The History of the Council Trent’ (1619) which was accepted by Edward Cave after much time. His work ‘London’ was published in May 1738. His friendship with Richard Savge inspired him to write one of his most ‘moving’ works; ‘Life of Mr. Richard Savge’ (1744).

Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary was published in 1755. While working on the dictionary he also wrote several essays, poems and sermons. His major works include ‘ The Rambler ’ (1750-52), ‘The False Alarm’ (1770), ‘ The Patriot ’ (1774) and ‘The Beauties of Johnson’ (1781). Some of his most famous poetic works are ‘Miscellaneous Observations on the Tragedy of Macbeth’ (1745), ‘Life of Browne’ (1756) and ‘Lives of the Poets’ (1779-81).

Johnson led a very difficult life yet he inspires many today with his brilliant works. According to Steven Lynn he was ‘more than a well-known writer and scholar, he was a celebrity’. Many societies are formed and many conferences were held featuring his works, pictures and other memorabilia dedicated to his life and work. Samuel Johnson died on 13th December 1784 at the age of 75 in London, England.

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Samuel Johnson: Literary Giant of the 18th Century

The famous "Blinking Sam" portrait of Samuel Johnson, painted by his friend Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1775. © Huntington Library.

Samuel Johnson (far right) converses with his friend James Boswell (center) and author Oliver Goldsmith in an engraving titled "The Mitre Tavern," 1880. Courtesy of Loren Rothschild.

A first edition of Johnson's famous Dictionary of the English Language , published in 1755 in two volumes. Courtesy of Loren Rothschild.

New exhibition celebrates Samuel Johnson, author of the first English dictionary

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)—one of the greatest moralists, poets, biographers, critics, essayists, and correspondents of all time—so dominated literary and intellectual life in the last half of the 18th century that the era is frequently referred to as the “Age of Johnson.” As a conversationalist and writer he was so insightful and adept in the use of language that only Shakespeare and the Bible are quoted more often.

Samuel Johnson: Literary Giant of the 18th Century , a new exhibition opening May 23 and continuing through Sept. 21 in the West Hall of the Library, tells the story of Johnson’s life and achievements through a display of rare books, manuscripts, and portraits drawn from The Huntington’s holdings and from the Loren and Frances Rothschild Collection. The exhibition is curated by noted Johnson scholar O. M. “Skip” Brack, professor emeritus of English at Arizona State University.

One of the earliest English authors to make his living solely by his writings, Johnson spent his early years, after arriving in London in 1737, writing mostly for the Grub Street booksellers. Needing a large project that would produce a steady income, he accepted a commission to write an English dictionary. On April 15, 1755, after Johnson had labored over it for nine years, a consortium of London booksellers published, in two large volumes, A Dictionary of the English Language: In which the Words are Deduced from their Originals, and Illustrated in their Different Significations by Examples from the Best Writers . This colossal achievement brought Johnson fame not only in England but across Europe.

A first edition of the Dictionary in its original binding will be one of the highlights of the exhibition. Other treasures to be displayed are the famous “Blinking Sam” portrait of Johnson by his friend Sir Joshua Reynolds, a portion of one of Johnson’s diaries, and a number of personal letters.

Johnson’s prolific output as a writer included his famous poem The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749), more than 200 essays for his twice-weekly publication, The Rambler (1750–52), and the allegorical fable Rasselas: The Prince of Abyssinia (1759). His edition of Shakespeare (1765) and the Lives of the Poets (1779–81) secured his fame as a literary critic and biographer.

Brack notes that while Johnson could occasionally be difficult and argumentative, his work reveals a deeply compassionate nature. “All of Johnson’s writings, although not often personal in an autobiographical sense, have the touch of his humanity—an essential understanding of the trials and joys of life that we all share.”

SUGGESTED READING LIST

Editions of Johnson’s Works The Essays Of Samuel Johnson: Selected From The Rambler, 1750–52 ; The Adventurer, 1753 ; And The Idler, 1758–60 . Kessinger Publishing, 2007. The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia . Various publishers. Johnson’s Dictionary: A Modern Selection . Dover Books, 2005. Letters of Samuel Johnson, edited by Bruce Redford. Princeton University Press, 1992–94. Lives of the Poets: A Selection . Oxford University Press, 2009. Samuel Johnson: The Major Works . Oxford University Press, 2009. Samuel Johnson , edited by Donald Greene. Oxford University Press. Various editions. Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson . Yale University Press. 1958–2004.

Works about Johnson W. Jackson Bate, Life of Samuel Johnson . Harcourt Brace, 1977. James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson . Various publishers. Sir John Hawkins, The Life of Samuel Johnson . University of GeorgiaPress, 2009. Peter Martin, Samuel Johnson: A Biography . Belknap Press, 2008. Jeffrey Meyers, Samuel Johnson: The Struggle . Basic Books, 2008. John Wain, Samuel Johnson . Viking Press, 1975.

RELATED EVENTS

Lecture: “Samuel Johnson and His Famous Dictionary” May 27 (Wednesday) 7:30 p.m. Loren Rothschild, a noted collector of the works of Samuel Johnson, will talk about how Johnson created his great dictionary.

Lecture: “Johnson Agonistes: Portraying Samuel Johnson” June 8 (Monday) 7:30 p.m. Richard Wendorf, Stanford Calderwood Director and Librarian of the Boston Athenaeum, will survey all of the known portraits of Johnson, including the famous portrait by Reynolds now at The Huntington.

Lecture: “Sam and Jamie: ‘No Theory Please, We’re British’” Sept. 9 (Wednesday) 7:30 p.m. Paul Ruxin, a corporate lawyer and Johnson collector, will discuss the famous relationship between Samuel Johnson and James Boswell.

All lectures take place in Friends’ Hall and are free to the public. No reservations required.

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Samuel Johnson

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Samuel Johnson (usually known as Dr Johnson) (Sept. 18, 1709, Lichfield, Staffordshire, Eng.— Dec. 13, 1784, London) was an English author, poet, moralist and literary critic. One of Dr Johnson’s greatest contributions was publishing, in 1747, The Dictionary of the English Language.

Johnson was born in Lichfield, Staffordshire to a family of pooer booksellers. He was educated at Lichfield Grammar School before going to Pembroke College, Oxford. However, due to a lack of funds, he left after a year – never completing his degree. After Oxford, he worked as a teacher in Market Bosworth and Birmingham. In 1735, he married Elizabeth Porter, a widow 20 years older than him. Together they opened a school at Edial near Lichfield, but it later closed due to a lack of money. The Johnson’s then left for London, where he began spending more time working as a writer.

He made a living writing for the Gentleman’s Magazine – a report on Parliament. He also wrote a tragedy, Irene , and some attempts at poetry.

Johnson was also employed to catalogue the extensive library of Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford. This gave Johnson the opportunity to indulge his great love of reading and the English language. He was inspired to start working on a comprehensive dictionary of the English language. It would take him eight years, but it was considered to be his finest achievement. Though other dictionaries were in existence, the ‘Johnson Dictionary of the English language’ was a huge step forward in its comprehensiveness and quality.

Johnson was a prolific writer. For two years he almost single-handedly wrote a journal – ‘ The Rambler’ full of moral essays.

In 1752, his wife ‘Tetty’ died, plunging him into depression, which proved difficult for him to escape during the rest of his life.

After the publication of his dictionary in 1755, he began to be more appreciated by literary society. He was awarded an honorary degree by Oxford University, and in 1760 was given a pension of £300 a year from George III. This enabled him to engage in more social and cultural activities. He was friends with many of the leading cultural figures of the day, such as Sir Joshua Reynolds a painter, and the writer Oliver Goldsmith.

In 1764, he met the young Scot, James Boswell who would become his celebrated biographer. Together they toured the Hebrides, which Johnson wrote about in ‘A Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland’, (1775) James Boswell wrote about Johnson in great detail, including information on Johnson’s unusual mannerisms, such as odd gestures and tics (which may have been a form of Tourette’s syndrome)

Johnson also embarked on an ambitious project – “Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets” (10 vols) and an influential edition of Shakespeare’s plays.

Essays by Samuel Johnson

• A Letter to Lord Chesterfield
• A Plan of The English Dictionary
• A Preface to A Dictionary of the English Language
• Life of Cowley
• Preface to Shakespeare
• Rasselas Prince of Abyssinia

Poems by Samuel Johnson

• A Short Song Of Congratulation
• Anacreon: Ode 9
• Drury-Lane Prologue Spoken By Mr. Garrick
• Epitaph On Sir Thomas Hanmer, Bart.
• Evening Ode
• From Boethius
• From Boethius: De Consolatione Philosophiae; Book Ii. Metre 2.
• From Boethius: De Consolatione Philosophiae; Book Ii. Metre 4.
• From Boethius: De Consolatione Philosophiae; Book Iii. Metre 5
• From The Medea Of Euripides
• from The Vanity of Human Wishes
• Gnothi Seauton
• Horace: Book 1, Ode 22
• Horace: Book Ii. Ode 9
• Horace: Book Iv. Ode 7
• Inspiration
• London – In Imitation Of The Third Satire Of Juvenal
• On Hearing Miss Thrale Consulting With A Friend About A Gown And Hat
• On Lyce – An Elderly Lady
• On Seeing A Bust Of Mrs. Montague
• On the Death of Dr. Robert Levet
• On The Death Of Stephen Grey, F.R.S.
• One And Twenty
• Parody Of A Translation From The Medea Of Euripides
• Part Of The Dialogue Between Hector And Andromache
• Stella In Mourning
• The City Of God
• The Natural Beauty
• The Vanity Of Human Wishes
• The Vanity Of Wealth
• The Winter’s Walk
• The Young Author
• To A Young Lady, On Her Birthday
• To Lady Firebrace
• To Miss Hickman, Playing The Spinet
• To Miss—,
• To Mrs. Thrale On Her Completing Her Thirty-Fifth Year
• To Myrtilis – The New Year’s Offering
• Translation Of A Speech Of Aquileio In The Adriano Of Metastasio
• Written At The Request Of A Gentleman To Whom A Lady Had Given A Sprig Of Myrtle

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Samuel Johnson

• Biography of Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) , oft-quoted biographer, poet and lexicographer wrote A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), published in two folio volumes. In his time it was the most comprehensive English language dictionary ever compiled and remained the standard reference for over a century. The first edition included a “Grammar and History of the English Language” and thousands of quotations from such authors as John Dryden , William Shakespeare and John Milton to illustrate the use of the over 42,000 words it contained—many more were added in subsequent editions. At a time when literacy rates were improving and the realm of print media was expanding at a rapid pace, pamphlets, newspapers and magazines were becoming available at a reasonable cost. So, standard spellings, uses and meanings of words such as ‘Cough: A convulsion of the lungs, vellicated by some sharp serosity. It is pronounced coff’ was required among printing houses. Johnson was hired by a group of London booksellers and paid a little over £1500 to create this ambitious work. Having outlined his A Plan of an English Dictionary in 1747 Johnson, not without his sense of humour added several bon mots to the dictionary including ‘Lexicographer: a writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge.’ The undertaking took almost nine years to complete.

I have protracted my work till most of those whom I wished to please have sunk into the grave, and success and miscarriage are empty sounds: I therefore dismiss it with frigid tranquillity, having little to fear or hope from censure or from praise. ( A Dictionary , Preface)

By the time it was completed, Johnson was tired of it all and felt snubbed and forgotten. As well as the few advances from the publishing group, Lord Chesterfield patronised him with the paltry sum of £10 for his efforts. However, when the publication date was nearing Chesterfield publicly praised it hoping for a dedication. This resulted in Johnson’s scathing letter, positing many questions including ‘Is not a Patron, my Lord, one who looks with unconcern on a Man struggling for Life in the water and when he has reached ground encumbers him with help?’ Johnson’s bitterness is noted in several of his definitions including that of Patron: ‘One who countenances, supports or protects. Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence and is paid with flattery.’

While often plagued by the ‘black dog’ of melancholia, anxiety and loneliness, financial difficulties and self-doubt, Johnson found his voice in the written word—little did he know it would still be heard over two centuries later. From humble beginnings as the son of a bookseller, Johnson became one of the most widely respected 18th century scholars. Like his father he was a High Churchman and showed tolerance to those outside of his faith. From Oxford University he was awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree in 1755 and a Doctor of Laws degree in 1775; Trinity College, Dublin bestowed upon him with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1765. He wrote fiction and non—his works covering subjects as varied as theatre, biography, politics, religion, and travel as well as French, Latin, Greek, and Italian translations. Upon the successful publication of his Dictionary Johnson enjoyed the esteem of London’s literary circle and became great friends with many other prominent men of the time including Adam Smith , Sir Joshua Reynolds, Edmund Burke, and Oliver Goldsmith with whom he founded the “Club”, later known as the Literary Club. During the course of their friendship, Scottish lawyer and author James Boswell (1740-1795) wrote the definitive biography of his friend titled The Life of Johnson (1791).

As I had the honour and happiness of enjoying his friendship for upwards of twenty years....I have spared no pains in obtaining materials concerning him....and have been favoured with the most liberal communications by his friends.... I trust, I shall not be accused of affectation, when I declare, that I find myself unable to express all that I felt upon the loss of such a ‘Guide, Philosopher, and Friend.’ I shall, therefore, not say one word of my own, but adopt those of an eminent friend, which he uttered with an abrupt felicity, superior to all studied compositions:— He has made a chasm, which not only nothing can fill up, but which nothing has a tendency to fill up. Johnson is dead. Let us go to the next best:—there is nobody; no man can be said to put you in mind of Johnson . (ibid.)

Doctor Samuel Johnson LL.D. was born on 18 September 1709 at the home his father built (now the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum) which also housed his father’s bookshop. It stands at the corner of Breadmarket Street and Market Square in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. Samuel was the first son born to Sarah Ford (1699-1759) and Michael Johnson (1657-1731). His brother Nathaniel was born in 1712 (d.1737). The early years for young Samuel and his family were difficult—his father, a well-read and respected businessman also served as Magistrate of Lichfield for a time but suffered financial woes and Samuel had been born a rather sickly child. After being sent to a wet nurse he suffered a bout of scrophula or tuberculosis of the lymph nodes, then later smallpox, which caused physical disfigurements. Sarah, who believed as so many others did at the time that the royal touch had healing powers, brought her son to London to be touched by Queen Anne. However, off and on for the rest of his life various ailments including tics, poor hearing and eyesight, and depression plagued Johnson. He often went on long walks or went swimming or horseback riding to alleviate his gloomy moods.

Johnson found much enjoyment reading the numerous books lining the shelves of his father’s store, and his interest in literature further developed whilst attending the Lichfield and Stourbridge grammar schools where he studied the classics. At the age of nineteen he entered Pembroke College at Oxford to study languages and law but had to leave in 1731 due to financial constraints. After his father Michael’s death the same year, Johnson continued to seek his place in the world; impoverished and with no completed formal training, he listlessly travelled about trying to obtain a position as teacher. While he did do some teaching and tutoring none of his positions held long-term. He could be an impatient man with occasional angry outbursts, but overall he was known for being kind to those less fortunate than he, sometimes to his great expense. Residing in Birmingham in the West Midlands with this friend Edmund Hector, Johnson turned his hand to writing. A Voyage to Abyssinia , his translation from the Portuguese of Jesuit Father Jerome Lobo’s travels was published in 1735.

On 9 July 1735 at St. Werburgh’s Church in Derby, East Midlands, Johnson married the widowed Elizabeth ‘Tetty’ Jervis née Porter (1689-1752), twenty years his senior. Although the couple did not have children Elizabeth had three from her previous marriage. Boswell notes that Johnson ‘became the fervent admirer of Mrs. Porter, after her first husband’s death’ and relates Miss [Lucy, Elizabeth's daughter] Porter’s first impression of him;

....his appearance was very forbidding: he was then lean and lank, so that his immense structure of bones was hideously striking to the eye, and the scars of the scrophula were deeply visible. He also wore his hair, which was straight and stiff, and separated behind: and he often had, seemingly, convulsive starts and odd gesticulations, which tended to excite at once surprize and ridicule. ( The Life of Johnson )

Boswell goes on to say;

Mrs. Porter was so much engaged by his conversation that she overlooked all these external disadvantages, and said to her daughter, ‘this is the most sensible man that I ever saw in my life.’(ibid.)

Boswell also tells us of David Garrick’s (1717-1779) not so flattering impressions of Tetty. Whether she was of florid and coarse appearance and provincial airs or not, Samuel said ‘it was a love marriage on both sides.’ (ibid.) Tetty was plump and outgoing, ‘fantastick in her dress’ (ibid.) and tended to the ‘liberal use of cordials.’ (ibid.) Samuel loved her for her beauty, patience and devotion to him. She was supportive of him in his pursuits, emotionally and financially, as in when he attempted to establish a school at Edial, just outside of Lichfield where the Johnsons had settled. The undertaking lasted just over a year. Garrick was one of the three pupils who had enrolled and would become a famous actor and friend to Johnson. With the schools closure Samuel was again faced with the need to make a major decision in his life regarding occupation. Leaving Elizabeth behind temporarily and with the intention of furthering his education and studying law, he travelled to London. He had little money in his pocket but with the encouragement of friends and making the acquaintance of genteel company he gathered his resources to establish himself. He wrote to Gentlemen’s Magazine publisher Edward Cave hoping to garner interest in his writing, for while he was working on his play Irene (1737) [which Garrick produced in 1749] Johnson had also started to write theatre and book reviews, essays, and news items. When he was hired by Cave in 1738 as a journalist he also turned his pen to politics. Included in the many subjects he wrote of were America, censorship, taxation, and slavery. With notes from a collaborator who attended the debates, Johnson evokes Jonathan Swift ’s (1667-1745) Gulliver’s Travels in his series of Parliamentary Reports disguised as from “The Senate of Lilliput”. The debates were kept under secrecy from the public at the time and it was illegal to reproduce them in print, hence it was a true test of Johnson’s ability to craft imaginative and satiric works. Other magazines he contributed to were The Adventurer (between the years 1752 and 1754) and The Idler (from 1758-1760).

After a time Elizabeth joined him in London where they both lived for the rest of their lives although they maintained a house in Lichfield. Johnson’s “London: A Poem in Imitation of the Third Satire of Juvenal”— ‘Of all the Griefs that harrass the Distrest, Sure the most bitter is a scornful Jest’ was printed in Gentlemen’s Magazine in May of 1738. He was paid ten guineas and it earned him notable recognition from fellow writers including he ‘who then filled the poetical throne without a rival’ ( Life of Johnson ) Alexander Pope. Although he was now earning a fairly regular income from Gentlemen’s money was still tight at times and he never forgot the financial straits and degradations he went through just a few years earlier. His biography of fellow writer and friend Richard Savage (c.1697-1743) Life of Savage was published in 1744 and illuminates the desperate struggle and oftentimes disappointing life of a writer in London. Other works written during this period include A Complete Vindication of the Licensers of the Stage (1739) and The Life of Admiral Blake (1740).

In 1748 and now living comfortably with their servant Mr. Francis Barber (c.1735-1801) at 17 Gough Square just off of Fleet Street (now known as the Dr. Johnson’s House Museum), Johnson set to the formidable task of compiling his Dictionary . While it took much of his time, probably to take a break from the mundane aspect of it he worked on other writing projects and assisted other writers. The Vanity of Human Wishes: The Tenth Satire of Juvenal was published in 1749, The Life of Edward Cave in 1752. He also produced a number of essays published in his own periodical The Rambler between the years 1850-1852. On 28 March 1752 his beloved Tetty died; she now rests at the Bromley Parish Church cemetery in Kent County. Near the end of his life Johnson had her gravestone inscribed thus; ‘Hic conduntur reliquiæ Elizabethæ antiquâ Jarvisiorum gente, Peatlingæ apud Leicestrienses ortæ, formosæ, cultæ, ingeniosæ, piæ, uxoris primis nuptiis Henrici Porter, secundis Samuelis Johnson, qui multúm amatam diuque defletam hoc lapide contexit. Obiit Londini, mense Mart. A. D. 1753.’ ( Dr. Johnson’s Works: Life, Poems, and Tales, Volume 1 ) Johnson’s grief was profound yet he could not bear to attend her funeral; for the rest of his life he kept her wedding ring close at hand in a special wooden box.

In 1759 Johnson’s mother Sarah died, the same year his satirical Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia was published. Other works to follow were The Life of Ascham (1761), Notes to Shakespeare (1765) and The Fountains: A Fairy Tale (1766). In 1762 he was granted an annual government pension of £300. Around the time Johnson met Boswell he also made the acquaintance of Henry and Hester Thrale who became good friends and support to the now widowed Johnson. Throughout the 70’s he continued writing on politics including The False Alarm (1770), Thoughts on the Late Transactions Respecting Falkland’s Islands (1771), The Patriot (1774), and Taxation No Tyranny (1775). Based on his travels in Scotland with Boswell, Johnson wrote A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1773). Prayers and Meditations was published in 1785. His series Lives of the Poets published in 3 volumes between 1779 and 1781 earned much acclaim. Included are biographies of William Congreve , Sir John Denham, John Dryden , David Mallet, John Milton , Thomas Otway, Jonathan Swift , and Alexander Pope.

Samuel Johnson died on 13 December 1784 and now rests in Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey, London, England.

“This recommendation of steadiness and uniformity does not proceed from an opinion, that particular combinations of letters have much influence on human happiness; or that truth may not be successfully taught by modes of spelling fanciful and erroneous: I am not yet so lost in lexicography, as to forget that words are the daughters of earth, and that things are the sons of heaven .” (from his Preface to A Dictionary of the English Language )

Biography written by C. D. Merriman for Jalic Inc. Copyright Jalic Inc. 2007. All Rights Reserved.

The above biography is copyrighted. Do not republish it without permission.

Recent Forum Posts on Samuel Johnson

Dr johnson's house.

I recently had the pleasure to visit Dr Johnson's house while in London. It lays in the part of London called "The City" a district now occupied with financial offices and international companies, tucked away in a courtyard off the main road is Gough Square (Dr. Johnson spelled it G-o-f-f). Gough Square is a plain place unadorned by the brilliant architecture that is present in London, but indicative of the more business minded area The City. The walls of office buildings loom on either side and, as you wined your way towards the mecca that is 17 Gough Square, through alleyways, passing the backs of restaurants with cooks gazing at you and your camera as you pass them, the smoke of their cig...

Posted By Ashurbanipal in Johnson, Samuel || 1 Reply

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• Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia
• A Grammar of the English Tongue
• Johnson's Lives of the Poets: Vol 1
• Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland
• Notes to Shakespeare: Comedies
• Notes to Shakespeare: Tragedies
• Irene: A Historical Tragedy
• Poetical Works
• A Letter to Lord Chesterfield
• A Plan of The English Dictionary
• A Preface to A Dictionary of the English Language
• The Vanity of Human Wishes
• Quiz: Samuel Johnson 20 questions

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Samuel Johnson

This is a disambiguation page . It lists works that share the same title. If an article link referred you here, please consider editing it to point directly to the intended page.

• Samuel Johnson: the Leslie Stephen lecture (1907), a lecture by Walter Alexander Raleigh
• Samuel Johnson (1911) edited by Alice Meynell and G. K. Chesterton
• Samuel Johnson , a biographical essay by Richard Claverhouse Jebb
• Samuel Johnson , a biography in the English Men of Letters series by Leslie Stephen

Biographical works [ edit ]

• " Johnson, Samuel (1649-1703) ," in Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900 , London: Smith, Elder, & Co. (1885–1900) in 63 vols.
• " Johnson, Samuel (1691-1773) ," in Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900 , London: Smith, Elder, & Co. (1885–1900) in 63 vols.
• " Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784) ," in Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900 , London: Smith, Elder, & Co. (1885–1900) in 63 vols.
• " Johnson, Samuel (essayist) ," in A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature , by John William Cousin , London: J. M. Dent & Sons (1910)
• " Johnson, Samuel (political writer) ," in A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature , by John William Cousin , London: J. M. Dent & Sons (1910)
• " Johnson, Samuel (college president) ," in The Encyclopedia Americana , New York: The Encyclopedia Americana Corporation (1920)
• " Johnson, Samuel (man of letters) ," in The Encyclopedia Americana , New York: The Encyclopedia Americana Corporation (1920)
• " Johnson, Samuel (preacher) ," in The Encyclopedia Americana , New York: The Encyclopedia Americana Corporation (1920)
• " Johnson, Samuel (clergyman) ," in The New International Encyclopædia , New York: Dodd, Mead and Co. (1905)
• " Johnson, Samuel (lexicographer) ," in The New International Encyclopædia , New York: Dodd, Mead and Co. (1905)
• " Johnson, Samuel ," in Collier's New Encyclopedia , New York: P. F. Collier & Son Co. (1921)
• " Johnson, Samuel ," in Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed., 1911)

Authors [ edit ]

• Samuel Johnson (1649-1703) , English divine and political writer
• Samuel Johnson (1691-1773) , English dancing-master and dramatist
• Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) , English poet, essayist, biographer, and lexicographer
• Samuel Johnson (1822-1882) , a U. S. scholar specializing in religions of India and China
• Samuel Johnson (1846-1901) , Nigerian historian and priest

• Mainspace disambiguation pages

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