John Stephen Farmer

John Stephen Farmer (7 March 1854 – 18 January 1916) also known as J. S. Farmer was a British lexicographer, spiritualist and writer. He was most well known for his seven volume dictionary of slang.

John Stephen Farmer
Born	7 March 1854
Died	18 January 1916 (1916-01-19) (aged 61)
Occupations	Lexicographer, spiritualist

Career

Farmer was born in Bedford. His lifetime work was Slang and its Analogues published in seven volumes (1890–1904) with William Ernest Henley.^[1][2]

Farmer took interest in psychical research and spiritualism. He was the first editor for the spiritualist journal Light.^[3] From 1878, he also edited the Psychological Review, a spiritualist periodical.^[4] Farmer was a member of the London Spiritualist Alliance.^[5]

Farmer defended the medium William Eglinton from accusations of fraud and in 1886 wrote a biography about Eglinton.^[6]

Publications

• Spiritualism as a New Basis of Belief (1880)
• A New Basis of Belief in Immortality (1882)
• How to Investigate Spiritualism (1883)
• Twixt Two Worlds: A Narrative of the Life and Work of William Eglinton (1886)
• Americanisms, Old and New. A Dictionary of Words, Phrases, and Colloquialisms peculiar to the United States, British America, the West Indies, &c., &c., Their Derivation, Meaning, and Application, together with numerous Anecdotal, Historical, Explanatory, and Folk-lore Notes (1889)
• Slang and its Analogues Past and Present: A Dictionary, Historical and Comparative, of the Heterodox Speech of All Classes of Society for more than Three Hundred Years With Synonyms in English, French, German, Italian, Etc (Seven volumes, 1890–1904) [with William Ernest Henley]