Courtesy of the Library of Congress

collections, The Rambler (1750–52) and The Adventurer (1753–54). He also continued work on a dictionary of the English language, a project he had begun in 1746 with the help of six assistants. The project was finally completed in 1755. Although he received help from others, Johnson's Dictionary is probably the most personal work of its kind that will ever be put together. His own definition of lexicographer was a "writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge," yet the work bears his personal stamp: it is notable for its precise definitions and for its examples, which draw on Johnson's reading of two hundred years of English literature.