The Life of Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

HAWKINS Sir John 1719-1789

Published by Chamberlain, Colles, Burnet, Wogan, Exshaw, White, Byrne, Whitestone, Moore, and Jones., Dublin, 1787

VG, 1st ed, 1787. Published the same year as the 1st London edition. In full contemporary speckled calf, corners & edges lightly bumped & worn, couple of small spots to front and 1 to rear. Spine, worn, gilt title to red calf label, gilt tooling, edges bumped. Internally, [2], [1], 2-533 pp, [1], [18] index, attractive bookseller label to fpd (Richard Butler, Dublin), ink name to titlepage (Stephen Radcliff) and intro (Sarah Cowper). A very nice copy. There was a 2nd edition published in the same year. (209*126 mm). (ESTC T110273. Lowndes 1014 for the London edition). Hawkins, music scholar and lawyer of whom various accounts survive of how he subsequently came to be asked to write a biography of Johnson: Laetitia-Matilda (L.-M. Hawkins, Memoirs, 1.155) states that Johnson himself entrusted it to Hawkins, and that this was backed up by Hawkins being commissioned by a consortium of London booksellers. James Boswell, whose own life of Johnson appeared in 1791, and George Steevens (Hawkins's old enemy) attempted to discredit Hawkins's biography. See ODNB for a full Bio. Seller Inventory # 003694

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Life of Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
Publisher: Chamberlain, Colles, Burnet, Wogan, Exshaw, White, Byrne, Whitestone, Moore, and Jones., Dublin
Publication Date: 1787
Binding: Hardcover
Illustrator: MALTON L. FORD J.
Condition: Very Good
Edition: First Edition