JOHNSON, Samuel.
Rare books by and about Samuel Johnson, including first editions and copies in fine bindings of the English Dictionary, and handsome sets of his collected works.
JOHNSON, Samuel. A Dictionary of the English Language:London : 1755
First edition of this most famous of English dictionaries. "The Dictionary left an immense mark on its age. It soon became recognized as a work of classical standing, and in spite of some minor blemishes it has never lost its historical importance as the first great endeavour of its kind" (ODNB).
Begun in 1746, the Dictionary was Johnson's...Learn More
JOHNSON, Samuel. A Dictionary of the English Language:London : 1755
First edition of this most famous of English dictionaries. This work has at various times been called "the most important British cultural monument of the eighteenth century" (Hitchings); "the only dictionary [of the English language] compiled by a writer of the first rank" (Robert Burchfield); "the most amazing, enduring and endearing one-man...Learn More
JOHNSON, Samuel. The Beauties of Johnson: Consisting of Maxims and Observations.London : 1782
Fifth edition. An alphabetical collection of thoughtful and occasionally wry observations, taken from the writings of one of England's most distinguished men of letters. Johnson's insight gives his "beauties" the character of aphorisms. For example, under "Credulity", he proffers "We are inclined to believe those whom we do not know, because they...Learn More
JOHNSON, Samuel. A Dictionary of the English LanguageLondon : 1810
Fourth quarto edition, and tenth overall, of this most famous of English dictionaries. Johnson's magnum opus "left an immense mark on its age. It soon became recognized as a work of classical standing, and in spite of some minor blemishes it has never lost its historical importance as the first great endeavour of its kind" (ODNB).
First...Learn More
JOHNSON, Samuel. Rasselas.London : 1819
An attractively bound copy of the author's sole novel with the celebrated illustrations of Robert Smirke. Boswell remarked that none of Jonhson's "writings has been so extensively diffused over Europe" (Boswell, p. 185).
This work was originally published in 1759, under the title The Prince of Abissinia: A Tale. Johnson purportedly...Learn More
JOHNSON, Samuel. The Works.Dublin : 1793
A well-preserved copy in original boards of Johnson's collected works, the text following the 1792 London edition. It includes the first Irish printing of the essay on Johnson by his close friend Arthur Murphy, first published in London in 1792.Learn More
JOHNSON, Samuel. The Works.Oxford & London : 1825 & 1826
Pickering's Oxford English Classics edition, large paper issues, of Johnson's complete works paired with Boswell's biography, respectively one of 75 and one of 50 sets.
This edition of the Works was superintended by Francis Pearson Walesby (1798-1858), professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Oxford. Initially intended as a nine...Learn More![A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of the Late Samuel Johnson, with Notes; [bound with] Bozzy and Piozzi, or, the British Biographers, a Town Eclogue.](/image.pl?url=https%3a%2f%2fd3dzzbbvj9im7s.cloudfront.net%2fmedia%2fcatalog%2fproduct%2fcache%2feddd32ef720e909fecec8d69051e6d0d%2f1%2f5%2f158957.jpg&f=jpg&w=240)
JOHNSON, Samuel - COURTENAY, John; WOLCOT, John. A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of the Late Samuel Johnson, with Notes; [bound with] Bozzy and Piozzi, or, the British Biographers, a Town Eclogue.Dublin : 1786
First Dublin editions of these two long poems issued shortly after the death of Samuel Johnson in 1784; the first a sympathetic biography from an admirer, the second a biting work of satire, mocking "Bozzy" Boswell for setting out to write the Life (1791) and Hester Thrale Piozzi for writing Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson (1786).
John...Learn More
JOHNSON, Samuel. The Prince of Abissinia: A Tale. [Rasselas.]London : 1759
First edition of Johnson's only novel, with appealing provenance, from the library of Mary Hill, Marchioness of Downshire and Baroness Sandys of Ombersley in her own right, elegantly bound to her house style of half calf and marbled boards, and gilt coronet and monogram stamped on the head of the spines.
Though now better known as Rasselas,...Learn More
JOHNSON, Samuel. A Dictionary of the English LanguageLondon : 1784
First published in 1755, this is the last lifetime edition (Johnson died later that year) of one of the most famous books in the English language, the last of the initial sequence of editions in the original folio format.
The text is that of the fourth edition, Johnson's only major revision of his text, with the unabridged entries and...Learn More
JOHNSON, Samuel. A Dictionary of the English Language:London : 1755
First edition, in entirely unrestored contemporary condition. Finding a Johnson's Dictionary that has not even been rebacked has become something of an impossible quest in the last two decades; a superior copy, this set also has sheets 19D and 24O both in the first state, which Todd notes is highly uncommon.
The creation of the dictionary...Learn More
JOHNSON, Samuel. A Dictionary of the English Language.London : 1765
Third edition of the most famous of all dictionaries, following the first edition of 1755, in the same imposing double-folio format as its predecessor.
The creation of the dictionary was Johnson's greatest literary labour. Helped by a succession of needy amanuenses who worked in the surprisingly spacious garret of his house in Gough Square,...Learn More
JOHNSON, Samuel. The Works.Oxford : 1825
A handsomely bound set of Samuel Johnson's works, part of Pickering's Oxford English Classics series. The edition was superintended by Francis Pearson Walesby (1798-1858), professor of Anglo-Saxon in the University of Oxford. The work was initially intended as a nine volume series; a supplementary two volumes of Johnson's debates brought the total...Learn More
JOHNSON, Samuel. The Works.London : 1820
A beautifully bound set of an attractive edition, printed in a large legible type. Arthur Murphy's "Essay on the Life and Genius of Samuel Johnson" was first published in 1792.
The set has an appealing Scottish provenance, with the ownership inscription at the head of the title pages of "Mrs Forbes, Echt House", Aberdeenshire. This was the...Learn More
