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This was not the first dictionary but there was dissatisfaction with the earlier ones so in 1746 a group of London booksellers paid Johnson 1500 guineas (the equivalent of £300,000 in today’s money) to compile a new one. Johnson thought he would need three years but in the event it took him nine. He did it all himself with one assistant who copied out the texts from other sources that first established the use of each word.