Boswell

1785 · 34031 — London: printed by Henry Baldwin for Charles Dilly 1785. First edition 8vo pp. vii 1 524 1; E3 E4 and M4 are cancels as usual; leaves I5 Q7 and U6 are in Pottle's second state; beneath the list of errata at the end is a notice for Boswell's Life of Johnson "preparing for the press" which did not appear for another 6 years; contemporary mottled calf neatly rebacked in tan calf gilt-paneled spine red morocco label; a very good sound copy. "Though the Life is a vaster and richer piece of work no one will maintain that it displays Boswell's unique gift for biography better than the Tour. Indeed most lovers of Boswell will agree that the Tour as a whole is more consistently good than the Life; that is that nowhere in the Life could one find so many consecutive first-class pages as those that compose this book" Pottle. The book published is almost the same as the actual journal that was kept in 1773. When Johnson's death made it possible for Boswell to publish the manuscript he only added an introduction and a conclusion before giving it to the printer. Pottle 57; Rothschild 456. <br/><br/> printed by Henry Baldwin for Charles Dilly unknown books