Exhibition Talk - Professor Lynda Mugglestone Thursday 17 October
6pm - 8.00pm
£15 (booking fee)
Explore the on-going mysteries and history of Samuel Johnson's dictionary desk with Professor Lynda Mugglestone
The writer's desk is often seen as the most talismanic of objects, the site of composition and literary industry and, in Johnson's case, of the great dictionary he wrote in the dictionary garret in Gough Square.
This talk will explore the on-going mysteries and history of Samuel Johnson's dictionary desk, from the deal desk he definitely used in Gough Square, to that apparently preserved as a treasured Johnsonian relic, and revealed by Johnson's goddaughter, Anne Lowe, to the writers Thomas Carlyle and Charles Dickens in 1855. Whether the desk that returned to Gough Square in the summer of 2024 is, in fact, the real deal deal desk, or whether Anne Lowe is at the heart of a compelling act of fakery and disinformation, prompted by poverty and desperation, are just two of the strands that Professor Mugglestone will invite you to consider.
Ticket includes wine and chance to view our exhibition Desks, Drudgery and the Dictionary: Samuel Johnson’s Garret Lexicography.
Lynda Mugglestone
Lynda Mugglestone is Professor of the History of English at Oxford University, and a Fellow of Pembroke College. She has published widely on the history of English, with particular reference to historical phonology as well as lexicography and lexical history. Publications include Lost for Words: The Hidden History of the Oxford English Dictionary, Dictionaries: A Very Short Introduction, The Oxford History of English, Samuel Johnson: the Arc of the Pendulum OUP, and Samuel Johnson and the Journey into Words, as well as many articles and book chapters, and an edited collection on the OED.
She has recently been awarded a Knowledge Exchange Fellowship in association with Dr Johnson’s House museum in London, resulting in the exhibition Desks, Drudgery and the Dictionary (open July 2024 onwards). She also sits as a Governor on Dr Johnson's House Trust. She will be taking up a Houghton Library Fellowship at Harvard next year to continue work on Samuel Johnson for a new book on Samuel Johnson’s garret lexicography.
Accessibility
There is regrettably no step-free access to Dr Johnson's House.
There are seven steps to access the entrance (with a handrail).
The building is a four-storey townhouse with a staircase between each floor.
There are handrails on each side of the staircase and visitor seating in every room.
Toilets are located down a steep set of stairs.
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