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xii, [16] contents & errata, 516pp; [2], 588 [i.e. 586]pp, engraved portrait frontispiece of Johnson by J. Heath after Joshua Reynolds, two engraved plates, one with facsimiles of Johnson's handwriting, the other a 'Round Robin' plate also with facsimile signatures. 4to. Some foxing, mainly to titlepages, first & final leaves, & frontispiece, name erased from head of each titlepage with sl. hole. Expertly bound in recent sprinkled half calf, marbled boards, gilt banded spines, red morocco labels. The first edition, with the uncorrected spelling 'gve' in vol. I, page 135. All other points are in first issue state. ['dele out' in errata page; 'upon' repeated, p.48, line 8 from the foot; 'reollection' p.115, line 8 from foot; 'exhihited' p.117, line 2 from foot; 'condescente' p.275, line 2 from foot; 'Harvey' p.291, line 9 from foot. In vol. II there are the errors in pagination on pages 229, 408, 497, 504, & 584-7. The following typographical errors in the text as noted by Pottle are uncorrected: vol. I, 'composition' wrongly noted as 'Imposition' in the errata; 'mother tongue' (i.e. not hyphenated) p.562, line 3 from foot. The error 'Wlliam' p.275, line 12, has been corrected. Vol. II, 'painted' vs. 'printed' p.78, line 23; 'MDCCLXXXIV' vs. 'MDCCLXXIV' p.92, line 6; 'us' omitted before 'enquire' p.352, line 11.

James Boswell's 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' is regarded as one of the greatest biographies written in the English language. It provides an in-depth and vivid recounting of the life of Samuel Johnson, a writer and critic who was a towering figure in 18th-century British literature.