Beschreibung:

BOSWELL, James. The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. Comprehending an Account of his Studies and Numerous Works, London: Henry Baldwin for Charles Dilly, 1791. 2 volumes, 4° (270 x 220mm). Engraved portrait frontispiece after Joshua Reynolds facsimile plate. (Small hole in margin of Gg 2, title of vol. II lightly spotted, some light staining). Contemporary speckled calf (covers detached or detaching, rubbed). Provenance : Matthew Lewis (armorial bookplate); Lord W. Kerr (library label); early textual amendments on pp. 136, 195, 329 and 374 of volume one. FIRST EDITION. Courtney & Smith (supplement) p.172; Lowndes I, 242. The textual amendments in volume one correct errors or expand upon Boswell's text. For example, the amendment on page 195, commenting on the attribution of an Irish edition of Akenside's Pleasures of the Imagination , reads: "I have had Enquiry made in Ireland, as to the truth of this story; but I do not find it recollected there. I give it on the authority of Dr. Johnson, to which may be added that of "The Biographical Dictionary ..." The remainder of the gloss is unfortunately cropped. (2)