I held Samuel Johnson’s 1755 dictionary in my hands
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Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Last night I got to see some rare first editions in a private library, including a copy of Samuel Johnson's first 1755 dictionary. I held it in my two hands and flipped through the pages. Very exciting! We also saw a copy of the wire service roll recording the teletypes sent out on the day Kennedy was assassinated, a copy of the Beatles biography signed by all four men, an original Monty Python movie script with handwritten annotations, and I don't know what all. Brilliant.
I think I know how you felt.
When I visited the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz and saw one of his original Bibles, I got quite choked-up with awe.
I tried to explain to a local friend that this book changed the world in ways that kings and emperors and presidents couldn’t even dream of, and it _deserved_ a response, damnit!
I don’t think she got it, though.
Posted by Ian Mackereth on 06/15 at 07:49 AM
This is the personal weblog of Grant Barrett, editor of the Double-Tongued Dictionary, a collection of words from the fringes of English. More about this site...
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