John Richardson (1740/41–1795),
FAS of
Wadham College,
Oxford, was the editor of the first Persian-Arabic-English dictionary in 1778–1780.[1] His seminal work on Persian grammar, written in collaboration with Sir
William Jones, was noteworthy amongst the early works on this subject; and it remains significant in the context of that
philological foundation from which all subsequent grammatical studies were to evolve.[2]
Richardson's scholarly compilation was organized in a format similar to
Mesgnien-Meninski's Thesaurus Linguarum Orientalis, Turcicæ, Arabicæ, Persicæ (1680).[1]
Each book in the two-volume set was sold separately; many more of the first part (the Persian-Arabic-English volume) were sold than the second part (the English-Persian-Arabic volume). When booksellers found themselves with an overstock of first edition broken sets, a greater number of copies of the second edition's first book were printed.[1]
Richardson's ground-breaking scholarship was more broadly disseminated in
Charles Wilkins' several revised versions of the dictionary.[3] Subsequent work by the 19th century philologists
Francis Johnson,
Francis Joseph Steingass and others ensured that Richardson's name continued to be well known as an orientalist and as a scholar.
Selected works
Richardson's reputation has been burnished by the work of subsequent lexicographers who have revised and extended his work.
Johnson, Francis, ed. (1852).
A Dictionary, Persian, Arabic, and English. London:
W. H. Allen. [OCLC: 29094740] -- "The original compilation of Meninski, based upon native lexicons, and amplified and corrected from the same by Mr. Richardson and Sir Charles Wilkins, is the acknowledged groundwork of the author's labours"
Lieber, Francis, E. Wigglesworth and Thomas Gamaliel Bradford. (1835). "Persian Language, Literature and Religion",
Encyclopædia Americana, Vol X. Philadelphia: Desilver, Thomas & Co. [OCLC: 830181]