The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. Comprehending An Account of His Studies and Numerous Works in Chronological Order; […]. In Three Volumes. The Second Edition. By James Boswell. London: Henry Baldwin for Charles Dilly, 1793.
A FANTASTIC EXAMPLE OF THE IMPORTANT & RARE SECOND EDITION OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BIOGRAPHY OF ALL TIME WITH ASSOCIATION PROVENANCE TO SAMUEL JOHNSON!
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"The Life of Johnson was no single book miraculously produced by an inexperienced author. It was the crowning achievement of an artist who for more than twenty-five years had been deliberately disciplining himself for such a task" (Pottle, pp.xxi).
The first edition was issued in 1,750 copies on the 16th of May 1791 and was fast to sell out and was an immediate commercial success, with new editions following quickly. It paved the way for the modern biography and is undoubtedly the most significant biography ever published in the genre. This second edition sold out similarly quickly and so copies are scarcely encountered, especially in contemporary bindings as with this set.
Even the work's most famous critic, Thomas Macaulay, said of it that "The Life of Samuel Johnson is assuredly a great, a very great work. Homer is not more decidedly the first of heroic poets, Shakespeare is not more decidedly the first of dramatists, Demosthenes is not more decidedly the first of orators, than Boswell is the first of biographers. He has no second. He has distanced all his competitors so decidedly that it is not worth while to place them."
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Provenance:
Without internal reference, but from the aristocratic Sandys collection at Ombersley Court. This is significant as the Sandys were very good friends with Samuel Johnson and he visited the house where this set was kept (obviously prior to it being at the house) in September 1774. Fantastic association provenance! This is the first time this set has come to the open market, having been in the same collection since the original purchase.
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Size: 138 x 220 mm (approx., each)
Condition:
[(2), frontis, t.p., xviii, 1ff, *i-*xxxi, xvii-xxxix, i, *xxxiii-*xxxviii, 603pp, (2)]; [(2), t.p., 634pp, (2)]: [(2), t.p., 711pp, (2)]
A lovely attractive set of this important second edition. Contemporary full calf, each volume retaining its tooled red morocco label. Bindings rubbed as typical, but remaining attractive, gilt loss to bindings. Top page edges uniformly dulled as typical. Joints rubbed, starting, but with all boards attached, bindings secure, and without shelf lean. Without any attached bookplates or ownership inscriptions. Text blocks generally extremely clean throughout, mildly toned. Collates as complete with the various foldouts, some bound in atypical locations compared to the normal copy, but present. A fantastic example with association provenance.
