Books

Last Malone edition, 4 volumes, 8vo, pp. [4], xxxvii, [1], 464; [2], 496; [2], 482; [2], 530; engraved frontispiece portrait by Baker after Reynolds, folding engraved facsimile of Johnson's handwriting, folding engraved Round Robin plate; contemporary full mottled calf, gilt-decorated spines, black morocco labels; front joint on vol. 1 cracked, but generally a very good set. "This edition was the one most frequently reprinted in the 19th century, and is often spoken of as 'the best of the pre-Crokerian editions'. The more general critical tendency now, however, seems to be to return to the text of the third, as being more nearly that which the author himself approved" (Pottle). Pottle 86.

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.