Description

Franklin Library leather edition of James Boswell's "The Life of Dr. Samuel Johnson, LL.D.," Volumes 1 and 2," LIMITED editions of a three-volume set, Edited by R.W. Chapman, Revised by J.D. Fleeman, Illustrated with Portraits of Leading Figures of Dr. Johnson's Day, one of the 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GREAT BOOKS OF the WESTERN WORLD series, published in 1983. Bound in deep hunter green leather, the books have taupe French moire silk end leaves, acid-free paper, Symth-sewn binding, a satin book marker, hubbed spine, gold gilding on three edges---in near FINE condition---except for fading on edges of moire silk and Volume one is PRINTED UPSIDE DOWN---a rarity. James Boswell, who lived from 1740-1795, was the 9th Laird of Auchinleck and a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer in Edinburgh. Samuel Johnson, lived from 1709---1784. An English writer, Johnson made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The OXFORD DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY calls him "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history." Johnson was a devout Anglican and a committed Tory. Though tall and robust, he displayed gestures and tics that disconcerted some on meeting him. His infamous "Dictionary" was published in 1755. Johnson's object was to produce a dictionary of our English language by which its purity would be preserved, its use ascertained, and its duration lengthened. The dictionary was remarkable for the definitions of the meanings of words, and for the quotations in illustrations of their use. Five editions of the Dictionary were published in Johnson's lifetime---and made Johnson one of the best known and revered writers of the 18th century. In 1762, Johnson was given a pension of 300 pounds and the next year, he met James Boswell. Together they formed the CLUB, a literary group that included Garrick, Burke, Reynolds, Goldsmith, and C.J. Fox. In 1773, Johnson undertook a journey with Boswell to the Scottish Highlands and Hebrides. Boswell informed Johnson that he had collected materials for a biography since he met him in 1763. After Johnson's death in 1784, Boswell began incorporated conversations that he had noted for his journals. He also included more personal and human details. The reader learns that Johnson's father died in 1731 and left the family in poverty. Johnson attended Pembroke College, Oxford where he spent fourteen months but took no degree. Johnson married Mrs. Elizabeth Porter, a widow who was twice his age, without money and not physically attractive. He started a school in Edial, near Lichfield. This was not successful, and in 1737, accompanied by one of his students, DAVID GARRICK, he set out for London. There he began publishing poems, including "London" "Life of Mr. Richard Savage," and "The Patriot," "Prayers and Meditations," "Taxation no Tyranny," a critical review of Goldsmith's "Traveller," translations into Latin verse of Pope's "Messiah," and various pamphlets and two volumes of sermons. With Garrick he produced his tragedy "Irene." In 1750, he began "The Rambler," a periodical written almost entirely by himself. When Dr. Johnson died he was buried in the floor of Westminster Abbey and a monument was erected to him at St. Paul's. Johnson's Dictionary had far-reaching effects on Modern English and was pre-eminent until the arrival of the "Oxford English Dictionary" 150 years later. Boswell's "Life" was selected by Johnson's biographer Walter Jackson Bate as "the most famous single work of biographical art in the whole of literature." Volumes one and two have 1016 pages. I offer combined shipping.