Noah Webster produced many an English Dictionary. His intent was to create the first dictionary of American English. A brief chronology thereof would be :
- 1758 : Noah Webster is born
- 1783 : A Grammatical Institute of the English Language: Part I
- 1788 : A Grammatical Institute renamed The American Spelling Book and nicknamed The Blue-Backed Speller.
24 million copies sold.
- 1806 : A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language. pp 408 + xxiii. 355 of dictionary. 37,000 entries.
- 1828 : An American Dictionary of the English Language (70,000 entries) ($20 new)
- 1841 : An American Dictionary of the English Language, Corrected and Enlarged ($15 new)
- 1843 : Noah Webster dies. G&C Merriam buys rights to his stuff
- 1847 : An American Dictionary of the English Language, New Revised Edition (80,000+ entries) ($6 new)
- 1859 : Revised and Enlarged Edition of An American Dictionary of the English Language (added pictorial illustrations)
- 1864 : An American Dictionary of the English Language, Royal Quarto Edition, Unabridged.
(a.k.a. Webster's Unabridged) (119,000 entries)
- 1878 : Webster's Unabridged (1864) + biographical dictionary + 4600 word suppliment
- 1884 : Webster's Unabridged (1878) + dictionary of place names
- 1890 : Webster's International Dictionary, Unabridged. (175,000 entries)
- 1898 : Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (much abridged).
- 1900 : Webster's International plus 25,000 word, 283 page, supppliment.
- 1909 : Webster's New International Dictionary (400,000 entries)
- 1910 : Webster's Collegiate Dictionary Second Edition.
- 1916 : Webster's Collegiate Dictionary Third Edition.
- 1931 : Webster's Collegiate Dictionary Fourth Edition.
- 1934 : Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition (550,000 to 600,000 entries)
- 1936 : Webster's Collegiate Dictionary Fifth Edition.
- 1949 : Webster's Collegiate Dictionary Sixth Edition.
- 1961 : Webster's Third New International Dictionary
(500,000+ entries)
- 1963 : Webster's Collegiate Dictionary Seventh Edition.
- 1982 : G&C Merriam co. renamed Merriam-Webster Inc.
- 20XX : Fourth New International Dictionary