The Life of Samuel Johnson (1924)
Description
The Life of Samuel Johnson (1924)
by James Boswell, Esq.
9 ¼ x 6. In English. This edition was printed by The Riverside Free Press Ltd., Edinburgh, from type especially cast, and 2,000 copies were printed on paper of fine quality made for The Navarre Society, Limited, 23 New Oxford Street, W.C., 1924. Three Volumes. Complete. Beautifully bound in full marbleized polished calf leather. A few very light scratches to read board of Volume I and minor blemish to front board of Volume III. Hand-bound and stamp-signed by Morrell. Two contrasting leather spine labels. Extremely elaborate gilt designs on spines. Gorgeous volumes with marvelous display appeal. Publication date gilt stamped to foot of spine. Scrolling decorative gilt floral borders on front and back boards. Elaborate gilt dentelles. Marbleized endpapers. Bindings are solid. Text is generally white, clean and crisp. Title page printed in red and black. Offsetting from frontispiece portrait in Volume I. Woven paper. Gloriously wide margins. A worthy and splendid private press edition of this classic work. (The color images of the author we included on our website are NOT in the book.)
Although Johnson was regarded as the foremost literary figure of his era, subsequently many would assign that title to Boswell for his writings about Johnson. Samuel Johnson (1709 – 84) was an English author. Beginning as a Grub Street journalist, he made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, novelist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. Johnson has been described as arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history. He is also the subject of the most famous single work of biographical art in the whole of literature: James Boswell's 'Life of Samuel Johnson'. James Boswell (1740 – 95) was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland. 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' is regarded as an important stage in the development of the modern genre of biography. Many have claimed it as the greatest biography written in English. While Boswell's personal acquaintance with his subject only began in 1763, when Johnson was in his 54th year, Boswell covered the entirety of Johnson's life by means of additional research. The most admired and best remembered portions of the book though are Boswell's first-hand accounts of Johnson from the last twenty-one years of the subject's life. This limited edition masterfully echoes the First Edition, 1791, reprinted verbatim with the appendix, “The Principal Corrections and Additions,” 1793, illustrated with 20 photogravure plates and frontispieces, 50 half-tone plates, and a facsimile letter.
Price: $1,195
Shipping: FREE via USPS Priority Mail
Inventory Number: 51270
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