Author: James Boswell

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2016-11-18

Total Pages: 624

ISBN-13: 9781334322297

Excerpt from The Life of Samuel Johnson, Vol. 1: 1709-March 18, 1776 Anecdotes of Johnson, both in 1785, the year following Johnson's death, and Sir John Hawkins's Life of Johnson, in 1787. Johnson, who was aware of Boswell's intention to write his life, had read the ms. Of the Journal of a Tour in the Hebrides, and had expressed himself as satisfied with Boswell as a chronicler. Boswell was not sparing in expressing his contempt for Mrs. Piozzi's lively book, and Sir John's heavy, but not unreadable biography. His scorn for these two far from worthless, but somewhat inaccurate, works, was no doubt due to jealousy of long standing. The high regard that Johnson had for Mrs. Thrale, and the compliment that he paid to his Old friend Hawkins in asking him to become his literary executor must have exasperated if not provoked his jealousy. Boswell anticipated a great success for his book, and wisely protected his interests by entering at Stationers' Hall as distinct publications, Johnson's famous letter to Lord Chesterfield, and his conversation with George III, thus placing these passages beyond the reach of the book-making pirates of the day. Boswell's hopes were entirely realized - the Life was completely successful from the first, but its author raised a veritable hornet's nest by the freedom with which he dealt with persons still living. Its publication was signalized by the appearance of a host Of lampoons, satirical verses and caricatures: Peter Pindar, a Grub Street satirist, joined forces with Rowlandson in an amusing brochure entitled Bozzy and Piozzi. The book, however, was still in a process of crystallization: to the original two volumes quarto published in 1791 a supplementary volume was added in 1794, followed almost immediately by a second edition in three volumes octavo, but in this edition the new material was badly arranged. Boswell was preparing a third edition when he died. Edmund Malone, the author's friend and literary adviser, who had revised the Tour in the Hebrides and the first edition of the Life, then took up the work, and following Boswell's plan published in 1799 a new (and third) edition in four octavo volumes. This edition was a vast improvement on the preceding ones, as it was revised and contained a number of new notes and some additional letters. In the fourth edition, issued in 1804, the book may be said to have practically assumed the form in which it is now known. Two more editions were issued by Malone, namely, the fifth, published in 1807, just a century ago, from which the present reprint has been made, and the Sixth, revised by the author's son, James Boswell, Jun., published in 1811, a year before Malone's death. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.