Books

First Edition. 4to. Two volumes. Contemporary attractive speckled calf, spine in 6 compartments with 5 raised bands gilt, red and black leather lettering-pieces gilt (re-backed preserving original boards. FIRST EDITION, second issue of the most celebrated biography in the English language, with �give� on p.135 of Vol. I, the initial blank in vol. II, and all 7 cancels. Engraved portrait frontispiece of Johnson by James Heath after Sir Joshua Reynolds, 2 engraved plates of facsimiles by H. Shepherd. (Vol. I title-page reinforced at gutter, some light soiling, a few tiny mostly marginal wormholes, marginal tear with loss not affecting text to [X3] in vol. II.), joints cracking, some light chipping); brown cloth slipcase. A splendid copy of a significant book.

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.