'… a major contribution to Johnsonian studies sure to endure the test of time … a methodological model that will doubtless influence future scholarship well beyond eighteenth-century or lexicographical studies … surely a landmark study.' British Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies

• Preface; 1. Introduction: Johnson's 'Mind … on the stretch': A Dictionary of the English Language; 2. 'The plan of my undertaking': the composition and purpose of the Plan of a Dictionary; 3. 'I can do it in three years': a false start on the Dictionary; 4. 'Ended, though not completed': the first edition published; 5. 'I know not how to get loose': the fourth edition; 6. 'Unexpected truth': the use of poetical authorities; 7. 'Factious in a factious age': theology and politics in the fourth edition; 8. 'The world must, at present, take it as it is': Johnson's Dictionary after 1773; Appendices; Notes; Revised and expanded index.