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John de Monins Johnson

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John de Monins Johnson ( 18821956 ), papyrologist, printer of the Oxford English Dictionary, and collector.

  • Johnson was born in Lincolnshire in England, the second son of John Henry Johnson and Anna Braithwaite.
  • He attended Magdalen College at the University of Oxford.
  • He received a scholarship to Exeter College, Oxford.
  • He studied the classics and Arabic in preparation for a career in the Egyptian Civil Service.
  • In Egypt, he became a papyrologist, discovering a papyrus by Theocritus, 900 years older than any such previously discovered manuscript.
  • He returned to Oxford during World War I, physically unfit for military service.
  • He became Assistant Secretary to the Delegates of Oxford University Press.
  • In 1918 he married Dorothea, the daughter of his supervisor Charles Cannan.
  • They had a son named Charles, and a daughter name Paulla.
  • In 1925 Johnson became Printer to the University at Oxford.
  • In 1928 he was awarded an Hon D.Litt for his work on the Oxford English Dictionary.
  • During World War II, in addition to his printing responsibilities, he became responsible for security at Oxford University Press, living on site until his retirement in 1946.
  • During this time he became a collector of what he called "Printed Ephemera", establishing "The Constance Meade Collection of Ephemeral Printing" at Oxford University Press. Johnson's definition of printed ephemera was: "Everything which would ordinarily go into the waste paper basket after use, everything printed which is not actually a book."
  • He continued to work on the collection until his death.
  • His collection is currently held at the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford.


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