Jack Lynch: The First English Dictionary?

Sponsored by The Caxton Club

Here’s a little quiz: Who was the second person to walk on the moon? What is Milorad Čavić’s distinction? Are you ready to Buzz in and name Buzz Aldrin as the second human being to step down onto the lunar surface? Or did you think of the one one-hundredth of a second that was the difference between Čavić’s Olympic silver medal in the 100 meter butterfly and Michael Phelps’s seventh gold? We tend to think of firsts first. When it comes to dictionaries, Samuel Johnson – a towering and highly quotable figure – is often thought to have broken the tape. But did he? Or is his remarkable contribution to the history of lexicography much more than just being first to the printer? Join us as Jack Lynch explores the history of the books that often have a home right on our desks … or linger in the background on our computers, regularly interrupting to auto-correct even when it makes us scream, “No! Don’t do that. I meant that!” Jack is a distinguished professor of English at Rutgers University-Newark and a noted Johnson scholar. Much published, he is the author of The Age of Elizabeth in the Age of Johnson (Cambridge University Press) and has written and edited a host of other academic and trade works about Samuel Johnson. Here’s your chance to be first! Touch the wall, break the tape, raise dust on the moon, and register now for this entertaining and generously illustrated program!

Midday program Friday, October 9, 2026

Zoom only

12:00 PM CT/1:00 PM ET.

Preregistration required via website: https://caxtonclub.org/event-6813938

Zoom presentation

is free and open to all.