Books

Full leather with elegant gilt decorations within the compartments on the spine. First Edition, First Issue with "gve" on p. 135. Provenance: On the title pages of both volumes is: ?P W Baker Ranston 1793.? The signer was Peter William Baker, a man of cultivated tastes who purchased Ranston House at Iwerne Courtney (Dorset). The books were probably inherited by his son, Sir Edward Baker Littlehales, who rose through the military ranks to become secretary to Lord Cornwallis and wrote about a trip to Detroit in the United States, but no evidence reflects that although small bookplates have been removed from inside the front cover. Inside the cover of both volumes can be found the armorial bookplates of Sir Edward Baker, the son of Sir Edward Baker Littlehales. Most recently the books were purchased from the library of notable book collector Sydney Ross. Boswell?s Johnson has often been called the finest biography in the English language. Very Good.

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.