Desks, Drudgery and the Dictionary: Samuel Johnson’s Garret Lexicography

This summer, visit our exhibition showcasing new aspects of Johnson's garret lexicography, exploring why the garret was so important in Johnson's move to Gough Square. We'll also be exploring how Johnson and his assistants worked on the Dictionary before it was published in 1755. As part of this, we'll be presenting the history – and mystery – of Johnson’s 'Dictionary Desk'.

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The star attraction of this exhibition is Johnson’s ‘dictionary desk’, currently at Pembroke College, Oxford, which will be returned to the garret for the first time since the dictionary was written here. This exhibition charts the journey of the desk of the past 250 years, and how the dictionary was compiled. Join us to explore the desk's links to Charles Dickens, Thomas Carlyle, and Johnson's lost godchildren.

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This exhibition is the result of a collaborative project funded by TORCH at Oxford University: ‘Rethinking Johnson's House of Words’. The research project redirects attention to the garret in which Samuel Johnson completed his English dictionary in 1755 as a writerly and collaborative space, and the birthplace of a book of international cultural significance. It is a close collaboration between Celine Luppo McDaid, the Director and Curator of Dr Johnson's House, and Prof. Lynda Mugglestone, professor of English Language at Pembroke College, Oxford, and will reunite physical space and lexicographical practice