Exhibitions
Desks, Drudgery and the Dictionary: Samuel Johnson’s Garret Lexicography
Free with admission
This exhibition showcases new aspects of Johnson's garret lexicography, exploring why the garret was so important in Johnson's move to Gough Square and how Johnson and his assistants worked on the Dictionary before it was published in 1755. The exhibition also presents the history – and mystery – of Johnson’s 'Dictionary Desk'.
The star attraction is Johnson’s ‘dictionary desk’, which has returned to the garret from Pembroke College, Oxford for the first time since the dictionary was written here. The exhibition charts the journey of the desk over the past 250 years and its links to Charles Dickens, Thomas Carlyle, and Johnson's lost godchildren.
The 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.
"You can make a poem walking in the fields or lying in bed. But, in every case, composing a Dictionary requires books and a desk"
Johnson
Supported by:
In-kind support was also received for this exhibition from Mace and Lucas UK.
Past Exhibitions
Dr Johnson's House stages regular exhibitions, often involving artistic, theatrical or scholarly commissions. We have worked in collaboration with universities such as Oxford, Glasgow, and Aberystwyth as well as cultural organisations such as the Arab British Centre and St Bride Foundation.
