Selected Essays (Paperback)

This volume contains a generous selection from the essays Johnson published twice weekly as "The Rambler" in the early 1750s. It was here that he first created the literary character and forged the distinctive prose style that established him as a public figure. Also included here is the best of Johnson's later journalism, including essays from the periodicals "The Adventurer" and "The Idler."

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Samuel Johnson (1709-84) was an English poet, novelist, critic, lexicographer, biographer, and editor. But it was his essays that made him a dominant figure in 18th century English literary life.

David Womersley is a lecturer in English at Jesus College, Oxford. He edited the authoritative three-volume edition of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, as well as the one-volume abridged edition, for Penguin Classics.