Just noticed that 16 Oct was Dictionary Day, or at least it was in the US, where the Day was declared to honour the birth of Noah Webster, author of the first American Dictionary. Reading the comments of the OUP historical piece on various lexicographers, I came across a site dedicated to the 300th anninversary of the birth of Samuel Johnson, creator of the dictionary, A Dictionary of the English Language, which was considered the authoritative dictionary until the publication of the OED a century or two later.