Plan and Preface to a Dictionary of the English Language - Samuel Johnson
The published dictionary was a huge book: with pages nearly 1Β½ feet tall and 20 inches wide, it contained 42,773 words; it also sold for the huge price of Β£4/10s. ($400?). It would be years before "Johnson's Dictionary", as it came to be known, would ever turn a profit; authors' royalties being unknown at that time, Johnson, once his contract to deliver the book was fulfilled, received no further monies connected to the book.
Johnson, once again a freelance writer, albeit now a famous one, faced a grim hand-to-mouth existence; however, in July 1762 the twenty-four year old King George III granted Johnson an annual pension of Β£300. While not making Johnson rich, it allowed him a modest yet comfortable independence for the remaining thirty years of his life. (Summary from Wikipedia).
