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Boswell's Life of Johnston. In Two Volumes.

Boswell's Life of Johnston. In Two Volumes.

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Boswell's Life of Johnston. In Two Volumes.

by James Boswell

  • Used
  • Fine
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Fine
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Scarborough , North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
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About This Item

1741. First edition. Fine. 23 28 4. Tan leather binding with red title plate, gilt banding and lettering on the spine. Dimensions are for one volume. Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, writer, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. He was a devout Anglican, and a committed Tory. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography calls him "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history". James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson was selected by Walter Jackson Bate as "the most famous single work of biographical art in the whole of literature". Born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, he attended Pembroke College, Oxford until lack of funds forced him to leave. After work as a teacher, he moved to London and began writing for The Gentleman's Magazine. Early works include Life of Mr Richard Savage, the poems London and The Vanity of Human Wishes and the play Irene. After nine years' effort, Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language appeared in 1755 with far-reaching effects on Modern English, acclaimed as "one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship". Until the arrival of the Oxford English Dictionary 150 years later, Johnson's was pre-eminent. Later work included essays, an annotated The Plays of William Shakespeare and The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia. In 1763 he befriended James Boswell, with whom he travelled to Scotland, as Johnson described in A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. Near the end of his life came a massive, influential Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets of 17th and 18th centuries. Tall and robust, his gestures and tics disconcerted some on meeting him. Boswell's Life along with other biographies, documented Johnson's behaviour in a detail that allows a posthumous diagnosis of Tourette syndrome, a condition then undefined. After several illnesses, he died on the evening of 13 December 1784 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Thereafter he was increasingly seen to have had a lasting effect on literary criticism and even claimed to be the one truly great critic of English literature. James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (29 October 1740  – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of his friend and older contemporary the English writer Samuel Johnson, which is commonly said to be the greatest biography written in the English language. A great mass of Boswell's diaries, letters and private papers were recovered from the 1920s to the 1950s, and their ongoing publication by Yale University has transformed his reputation.

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Details

Bookseller
Martin Frost GB (GB)
Bookseller's Inventory #
FB250 (1 & 2) /4D
Title
Boswell's Life of Johnston. In Two Volumes.
Author
James Boswell
Book Condition
Used - Fine
Quantity Available
1
Edition
First edition
Binding
Hardcover
Date Published
1741
Size
23 28 4
Weight
0.00 lbs
Note
May be a multi-volume set and require additional postage.

Terms of Sale

Martin Frost

30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.

About the Seller

Martin Frost

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2024
Scarborough , North Yorkshire

About Martin Frost

Rare and antique books

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Gilt
The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
First Edition
In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
Plate
Full page illustration or photograph. Plates are printed separately from the text of the book, and bound in at production. I.e.,...
Spine
The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
Fine
A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...

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