Descrizione

"A New Edition" and being an early edition presented in one volume and being thoroughly revised and with much additional matter included by J. W. Croker. With a frontispiece showing six engraved portraits of Johnson, engraved title-page featuring a sketch of James Boswell, and with ten full-page engraved plates being portraits and a view. Thick royal 8vo, contemporary three-quarter red calf over purple cloth covered boards, the spine divided into six compartments separated by gilt hatched raised bands, one compartment lettered in gilt on a green morocco label gilt trimmed, all edges red. xxiv, 874 pp. A very handsome copy in pleasing binding, a tight, clean and crisp copy, the text and plates all bright and especially fresh, the binding strong, solid and very attractive with light evidence of age.

Edizione: a very handsome copy of two of the great books of the age. celebrated for its intimacy and vividness, boswell's life of johnson "is one of the best books in the world. it is assuredly a great, very great work. homer is not more decidedly the first of heroic poets,--shakespeare is not more decidedly the first of dramatists,--demosthenes is not more decidedly the first of orators, than boswell is the first of biographers." (macauley, in the edinburgh review, 1831). boswell learned a great deal about the art of biography from his subject, and brought to his task boundless curiosity, persistence, and zest.<br> the tour proved to be inspirational for both men. johnson published a journey to the western islands of scotland in 1775 and boswell, in addition to this work, used his notes from the tour extensively in his life of johnson, published in 1791. "as a narrative of personal adventures, boswell's account is to be preferred to johnson's. naturally such a work, as was true of everything concerning dr. johnson, aroused great interest, which was heightened by boswell's frankness in expressing opinions about his hosts as well as by his naiveté in relating incidents that did not reflect credit to himself" (cox).<br> this is a very handsomely bound and readable copy of these two masterworks and includes important contributions mr. malone's and mr. boswell's advertisements as well as a significant number of the thrale letters and others.