483

James Boswell

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:2,500.00 - 3,500.00 USD
James Boswell

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Auction Date:2018 Dec 05 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Desirable book: The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., by James Boswell, in two volumes. First edition, second state (with "give" corrected on page 135 of the first volume). London: Printed by Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, 1791. Hardcover with paper spine labels, 9.5 x 12, 516 and 588 uncut pages. The first volume features a frontispiece by James Heath from a portrait of Johnson by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and the second volume features two engraved facsimile plates, facing pages 91 ("Round Robin") and 588 ("Facsimiles of Dr. Johnson's Handwriting"). Book condition: VG-/None, with toning and staining to boards, cracked joints, separation to spine cloth, some mottled foxing and staining to textblock, and oval "Estelle Doheny" bookplates affixed to front pastedowns. Accompanied by a custom-made slipcase.

Boswell's Life of Johnson marked an important milestone in the development of the modern genre of biography, and stands as an important work chronicling the life of a great English intellectual. Johnson is best remembered for compiling A Dictionary of the English Language, which featured the important innovations of illustrating meaning through literary quotation and providing notes on usage. Johnson's dictionary codified the English lexicon and the genius of his work remains impressive today. Boswell's great biography was published on May 16, 1791, and achieved immediate critical acclaim and popular success.