A Dictionary of the English Language

The census claim is CORRECT: the London 1755 two-volume folio is the true first, and the census is also right that format triage is the key step. No UK/US or original-language precedence question arises — Johnson wrote in English, the work was published in London, and no American folio competes. The critical distinction to state plainly is folio-vs-octavo: the 1756 abridgment (two much smaller OCTAVO volumes, January 1756, its title-page announcing the text as abstracted from the folio edition by the author) is a different book, prepared by Johnson but not the first edition of the Dictionary. The second edition is likewise not a rival first: it was issued in 165 weekly numbers beginning within weeks of the folio and completed in 1756.