The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. Comprehending an Account of his Studies and Works, in Chronological Order; a Series of his Epistolary Correspondence, Conversations with many Eminent Persons; and Original Pieces of his Composition: The Whole exhibiting a View of Literature and Literary Men in Great Britain, for near Half a Century during which he Flourished.With Malone's Notes and Illustrations; and, for the First Time, Piozzi's Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson.

BOSWELL, James.

Published by LondonPrinted for Baynes and Son et al. ., 1826

About this Item

4 vols. 8vo. (21.25 x 13 cm). Contemporary navy half calf over marbled boards, spines with raised bands and gilt-decorated compartments, two red morocco labels to each spine, marbled endpapers and edges. Engraved portrait frontispiece and one folding Round Robin plate and a double-page facsimile of Johnson's handwriting. Some light rubbing to boards, contents with some occasional light toning and light spotting to endpapers, overall a very good set. "This edition in four volumes large octavo is the most beautiful that has yet appeared. The editor was Francis Pearson Walesby (1798-1858) Fellow of Lincoln College and afterwards (1829-34) Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford who in the previous year had edited the edition of Johnson's works in the Oxford English Classics, with which this edition of the Life is uniform This is the first edition of the Life to include a portrait of Boswell as a frontispiece" (Pottle). The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. ( first published in 1791) by James Boswell is a biography of English writer Dr. Samuel Johnson. Boswell's personal acquaintance with his subject began in 1763, when Johnson was 54 years old, and Boswell covered the entirety of Johnson's life by means of additional research. The work was from the beginning a critical and popular success, and represents a landmark in the development of the modern genre of biography, and many have called it the greatest biography written in English. (Keynes, p. 54; Pottle 90).

Seller Inventory # 65705

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. Comprehending an Account of his Studies and Works, in Chronological Order; a Series of his Epistolary Correspondence, Conversations with many Eminent Persons; and Original Pieces of his Composition: The Whole exhibiting a View of Literature and Literary Men in Great Britain, for near Half a Century during which he Flourished.With Malone's Notes and Illustrations; and, for the First Time, Piozzi's Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson.
• Publisher: LondonPrinted for Baynes and Son et al. .
• Publication Date: 1826
• Binding: Hardcover
• Seller catalogs:
  • BINDINGS & SETS
  • ENGLISH LITERATURE