Webster's 1828 Dictionary Would Cost $13,904 Today

In 1828 it took a Blue-collar worker 400 hours to earn the money to buy a good dictionary.

Noah Webster published his first dictionary of the English language in 1806. He then spent the next 22 years working to make it fully comprehensive and published An American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828 at the age of 70. It contained 70,000 words, of which about 12,000 had never appeared in a dictionary before. There were 2,500 copies printed, and listed for sale at $20. Blue-collar wages in 1828 were 5 cents an hour. That would put the time price at 400 hours. Today blue-collar compensation (wages and benefits) is $34.76 an hour. Without innovation a dictionary would be $13,904.

He later published a one volume version with 1,452 pages and sold it for $6. This would have still cost 120 hours in 1828.

Dictionaries are basically free today. Not only does everyone get 400 hours to do something else, we have unlimited access to the foundation knowledge of civilization.

Tip of the Hat: Brian Roemmele

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You can learn more about these economic facts and ideas in our new book, Superabundance, available at Amazon. Jordan Peterson calls it a “profoundly optimistic book.”

Gale Pooley is a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute and a board member at Human Progress.