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Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
A Short Scheme for a New Dictionary
London, 1746

In 2004 I came to Houghton Library as a cataloger working on the newly arrived Donald and Mary Hyde Collection of Dr. Samuel Johnson, and today I have the honor to serve as the curator of that collection. Working with these materials for more than a decade has been both an education and a great pleasure. This fragile document written in Johnson’s hand represents the origin of his great and enduring intellectual achievement, A Dictionary of the English Language. It is an awesome responsibility, in all senses of the word, to be its temporary caretaker.

MS Hyde 50 (38), Bequest of Mary Hyde Eccles, 2003