THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D.

London: Printed by Henry Baldwin for Charles Dilly, in the Poultry, 1791. Very good plus.. First edition, first state, of this landmark work in the history of biography, an engaging and humanizing account of the great critic, lexicographer, and author of the Georgian era. Samuel Johnson's dictionary was without precedent in English in scale and depth of research. Johnson also used the dictionary as an opportunity to editorialize and reinforce his reputation; as did Boswell in his LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON. Boswell carefully selected (and sometimes censored) the anecdotes, diary entries, and correspondence that make up this biography in order to position Johnson as a moral and almost mythological figure - a practice that would later move to the forefront of historiography as the Great Man theory. A clean copy of a benchmark in modern literature and biography. Two quarto volumes, 10.75'' x 8.75'' each. Full contemporary tree calf, sympathetically rebacked and recornered. Volume 1 illustrated with engraved frontispiece of Johnson, volume 2 with 2 engraved plates. Typographical error "gve" on page I.135. xii, [16], 516; 588 pages, collated complete. Scattered pencil marginal marks. Bindings with expert repairs to edges, mild rubbing. Leaves with scattered foxing, largely confined to margins; a couple leaves with tiny closed tears. Firm and clean.