Plan and Preface to a Dictionary of the English Language
Author: first_name: Samuel
last_name: Johnson
Language: English
Year: 1755

The published dictionary was a huge book: with pages nearly 1½ feet tall and 20 inches wide, it contained 42,773 words; it also sold for the huge price of £4/10s. ($400?). It would be years before "Johnson's Dictionary", as it came to be known, would ever turn a profit; authors' royalties being unknown at that time, Johnson, once his contract to deliver the book was fulfilled, received no further monies connected to the book.<br><br> Johnson, once again a freelance writer, albeit now a famous on