John de Monins Johnson

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John de Monins Johnson (1882 – 1956) was an English papyrologist, printer of the Oxford English Dictionary, and collector.

[edit] Biography

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.

Johnson 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, and 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.