Books

First issue with "give" for "give" in the uncorrected state (line 10 on p. 135 in Volume I) and all of the errata uncorrected. Two quarto volumes (10 3/4 x 8 7/16 inches; 274 x 216 mm.). vii, [1, blank], [ix-xii], [16, "Table of Contents" and "Corrections and Additions"], 516; [2], 588 [i.e. 586] pp. Engraved frontispiece by James Heath from a portrait of Johnson by Sir Joshua Reynolds in Volume I, two engraved facsimile plates in Volume II. ("Round Robin." facing p. 92 and "Fac Similes of Dr. Johnson's hand writing" facing p. 588). Together with [at the end of volume II]: BOSWELL, James. The Principal Corrections and Additions to the first edition of Mr. Boswell's Life of Dr. Johnson. London: Printed by Henry Baldwin for Charles Dilly, 1793. [Title, verso blank], 42 pp. Bound by Rivière & Son ca. 1910 in full mottled calf, covers with triple gilt rules. Spines with five raised bands, decoratively tooled in gilt in compartments, red and brown morocco labels lettered in gilt, gilt ruled board edges, decorative gilt turn-ins, marbled end-papers, all edges gilt. Expertly rebacked and corners strengthened (over fifty years ago) with original spines laid down. Occasional light foxing or staining to a few leaves, otherwise a fine copy of the first issue with the exceptionally rare Principal Corrections and Additions bound in at the end of volume two. "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" (Macaulay). Indeed, drawing on his close and longstanding collaboration with Johnson as well as Johnson's own diary, James Boswell released a book that was a popular success and helped to establish the modern genre of biography. Still considered an important resource on the life and times of the famed memoirist and dictionary compiler, Boswell's Life of Johnson breathes vivid life into one of the most important British figures of the century. "We know of him not as he was known to men of his generation, but as he was known to men whose fathers he might have been.and long after his works may be forgotten, he will be remembered through Boswell's Life" (Macaulay). This was Boswell's last publication before his death in 1795. "The work [The Principal Corrections and Additions] is now difficult to obtain; when it turns up it is almost invariably bound in with a copy of the first edition of the Life" (Pottle). Regarding the 'give' or 'give' question: 'give' is the earlier state. "The first proof shows the word correctly spelled, but the lines are punctuated as follows: 'Short, O short! then be thy reign, And give us to the world again.' Boswell passed this in the proof, but in the revise (both proof and revise are in the possession of Mr. Adam) he directed the printer to remove the exclamation point in the first line and substitute it for the first period at the end of the second, which is in fact the punctuation of the printed text. When the changes were made the 'i' dropped out, and the printer, not noticing what had happened, filled up the line by inserting a space between 'give' and 'us'. After a considerable part of the edition had been printed, the error was discovered and corrected in the press." (Pottle) The correct first issue as here reads: "Short, O short then be thy reign, And give us to the world again!" Courtney & Nichol Smith, pp. 172-3. Grolier, 100 English, 65. Pottle 79 & 113. Rothschild 464 & 466. Sterling 71. Tinker 338. Near Fine.

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.