The Works of Samuel Johnson. A New Edition in Six Volumes. With An Essay on His Life and Genius, By Arthur Murphy. Dublin: Luke White, 1793.
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A lovely example of an early edition of the collected works of Samuel Johnson, including the first Irish printing of the Arthur Murphy essay on his life and genius following the London printing one year prior upon which the text of this edition is based. This set also features a fantastic frontispiece portrait of Johnson after Joshua Reynolds' famous original painting of him.
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Size: 135 x 217 mm (approx., each)
Condition:
[vi, pp.1-136, pp.[1]-440]; [vii, pp.1-608], [viii, pp.1-547]; [vii, pp.1-550]; [iv, pp.1-574]; [v, pp.1-576]
Bindings rubbed, worn, and dry, and would benefit from the application of a leather conditioner. Uniform full calf with gilt compartments to each spine with worn tooled labels reading "Johnson's Works" with loss. Shelf wear. All boards securely attached with rubbing across joints but with all joints secure and uncracked. Some minor wormholing affecting some leaves throughout. Old library ink stamp to verso of frontis, verso of title pages, and at the foot of the final leaf of each volume, occasionally found elsewhere too with some leak through to verso pages. Bookplate to front pastedowns of the Newport Reference Library (the same as the stamps). Largely clean through the text blocks and internally very good overall.
[Lowndes pp.1218, ESTC T126667].
