Johnson in Defense of Henry Thrale: The Aftermath of the Massacre in St. George's Fields
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: privately printed for The Johnsonians & The Samuel Johnson Society of the West
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Poughkeepsie
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
editors: Person
  surname: Laws
  given name: George
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Piozzi
date: 2018
language: en
short title: Johnson in Defense of Henry Thrale

Night in the North Sea and the Feasibility of Samuel Johnson's London
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Enlightenment by Night: Essays on After-Dark Culture in the Long Eighteenth Century
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-404-64859-6
publisher: AMS Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Jenkins
  given name: H. J. K.
editors: Person
  surname: Soupel
  given name: Serge
editors: Person
  surname: Cope
  given name: Kevin L.
editors: Person
  surname: Pettit
  given name: Alexander
subject: Johnson
subject: Locations
date: 2010
language: en
pages: 197–215

Boswell's Big Adventures: London, Scotland, London
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Adventure: An Eighteenth-Century Idiom: Essays on the Daring and the Bold as a Pre-Modern Medium
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-404-64858-9
publisher: AMS Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Ingram
  given name: Allan
editors: Person
  surname: Soupel
  given name: Serge
editors: Person
  surname: Cope
  given name: Kevin L.
editors: Person
  surname: Pettit
  given name: Alexander
editors: Person
  surname: Wood
  given name: Laura Thomason
subject: 18th
subject: Boswell
subject: London
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
date: 2009
language: en
pages: 3–22

Boswell and the Extraordinary Adventures of Prince Charles Edward Stuart in the Hebrides
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Adventure: An Eighteenth-Century Idiom: Essays on the Daring and the Bold as a Pre-Modern Medium
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-404-64858-9
publisher: AMS Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Carboni
  given name: Pierre
editors: Person
  surname: Soupel
  given name: Serge
editors: Person
  surname: Cope
  given name: Kevin L.
editors: Person
  surname: Pettit
  given name: Alexander
editors: Person
  surname: Wood
  given name: Laura Thomason
subject: 18th
subject: Boswell
subject: History
subject: Jacobitism
subject: Johnson
subject: Locations
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
date: 2009
language: en
pages: 211–220

item 145
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Printed by H. Baldwin & Son, for Charles Dilly, in the Poultry
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
contributors: Person
  surname: Malone
  given name: Edmond
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Conversation
title: The life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: comprehending an account of his studies, and numerous works, in chronological order: a series of his epistolary correspondence and conversations with many eminent persons: and various original pieces of his composition, never before published: the whole exhibiting a view of literature and literary men in Great-Britain, for near half a century during which he flourished
abstract: The third London edition of The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. appeared on 18 May 1799 in four octavo volumes, the first posthumous publication following Boswell's May 1795 death. Malone, one of Boswell's literary executors, oversaw the preparation, dating his Advertisement 8 April 1799. Malone later supervised the subsequent 1804, 1807, and 1811 editions. This 1799 issue corrected the second edition's disorder by integrating previously separated corrections and additions, like Johnson's argument for the slave Knight, into their proper chronological places. Malone ensured the text faithfully preserved Boswell's late revisions and marginal notes. The edition also incorporated minor notes from various contributors, including Burney and Blakeway. Priced at £1. 8s. in boards, the third edition successfully launched a series of consistently edited issues and served as the textual basis for the eventual standard Hill–Powell edition. Malone remained modest, allowing only his Advertisement, not his name, to appear on the title page.
date: 1799
language: en
short title: The life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.
subject: PR3533 .B6
number of volumes: 4
edition: 3rd ed., revised and augmented

The General Correspondence of James Boswell, 1766–1769
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell: Research Edition: Correspondence
publisher: Edinburgh University Press & Yale University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Edinburgh & New Haven
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Cole
  given name: Richard Cargill
editors: Person
  surname: Baker
  given name: Peter S.
editors: Person
  surname: McClellan
  given name: Rachel
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Correspondence
subject: Law
abstract: The editors chart Boswell's life after his Grand Tour, detailing his initiation into law practice and his focus on literary fame. This period marked his publication of Account of Corsica (1768), a major success. Johnson wrote to Boswell in 1768, prompted by the book, establishing a connection absent since 1766. The letters document Boswell's activities, including his vigorous legal work in the Douglas Cause and his attempt to gain political attention from Chatham. Volume 2 finds Boswell writing to over 120 correspondents, providing varied voices that enrich the understanding of the Anglo-Scottish milieu. The documentation, supported by extensive annotation, sheds light on the history of this crucial phase, complementing the narrative of his journals. This resource provides valuable source material for biographical study and political analysis.
date: 1993
language: en
subject: PR3325 .A83 1993
number of volumes: 2
identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-184120-0
num pages: 1

Who's Who in Boswell?
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Shakespeare Head Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Smith-Dampier
  given name: J. L.
is referenced by: CGV entry 5:233.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 124. Provides 365 brief biographical essays on the various individuals who appear in the 'Life of Johnson'.
is referenced by: Reprinted by Russell & Russell in 1970.
subject: 18th
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Reference
date: 1935
language: en
subject: PR3533.B7 S6
num pages: 366

CGV entry 5:233.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 124. Provides 365 brief biographical essays on the various individuals who appear in the 'Life of Johnson'.
type: Memo

Reprinted by Russell & Russell in 1970.
type: Memo

Literary Form in Factual Narrative: The Example of Boswell's Johnson
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Essays in Eighteenth-Century Biography
publisher: Indiana University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Bloomington
authors: Person
  surname: Rader
  given name: Ralph W.
editors: Person
  surname: Daghlian
  given name: Philip B.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:207.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 208.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Rader argues that the "Life of Johnson" transcends the factual narrative genre to become literature by representing its subject as a "concrete, self-intelligible cause of emotion." Rader disputes the "tape recorder" myth, asserting that Boswell used a "single dynamic image" of Johnson as a selective and controlling principle to vivify "innumerable detached particulars." He characterizes the work as an emotive narrative rather than an explanatory one, where Boswell’s dramatic talent creates "epiphanies" of character independent of literal memory. Rader analyzes the Wilkes episode as a "comic action" where Boswell adjusts the facts to ensure Johnson’s triumph of sophistication over "surly virtue." The abstract image of Johnson’s "majestic frame" serves as the functional core of the work, allowing Boswell to "order experience concretely and memorably." Rader concludes that the biography's permanent value lies in displaying Johnson as a "concrete universal" that frees the reader from "conventional impotence" through imaginative sympathy.
date: 1968
language: en
pages: 3–42

CGV entry 4:207.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 208.
type: Memo

The Suppressed Agenda of Boswell's Tour
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: University of South Florida
authors: Person
  surname: Looney
  given name: Barbara A.
subject: 18th
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
date: 1992
language: en
type: PhD thesis

The Social Symbolism of Contractions and Colloquialisms in Contemporary Accounts of Dr. Samuel Johnson: Bozzy, Piozzi, and the Authority of Intimacy
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Historical Sociolinguistics and Sociohistorical Linguistics
authors: Person
  surname: Percy
  given name: Carol
subject: 18th
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Piozzi
subject: Style
date: 2002
language: en

Historical Sociolinguistics and Sociohistorical Linguistics
type: Journal
volume: 2
identifier: ISSN 1877-9069

Boswell's Johnson: A Preface to the 'Life'
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Madison
authors: Person
  surname: Schwartz
  given name: Richard B.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:248.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 246.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Philosophy
subject: Science
abstract: Schwartz challenges the long-standing status of the Life of Johnson as a model of objective biography by analyzing the tension between Boswell's quasi-scientific gathering of facts and his subjective artistic shaping. Schwartz argues that Boswell’s methodology mimics seventeenth-century scientific empiricism, yet fails to provide a sophisticated image of Johnson due to Boswell’s reliance on superficial categories and personal prejudices. By comparing the Life to Johnson's own biographical theories and self-portraits, Schwartz demonstrates that Boswell often imposes a Boswellian setting—marked by romantic conservatism and social London—onto his subject, thereby falsifying Johnson’s actual religious, political, and intellectual complexities. Schwartz disputes the notion that Boswell followed the Johnsonian formula, noting that Johnson prioritized empathy and domestic instruction while Boswell focused on the accumulation of authentic specimens. The study identifies the Life as primarily an autobiographical achievement rather than a definitive biography, suggesting that its primary value lies in recording Johnson’s impact on a single, self-absorbed individual. Schwartz encourages readers to use Johnson's own works to recover a more accurate image of the subject, characterized by the Christian paradox of pride and humility as seen in the parable of the talents. Schwartz concludes that the book requires searching criticism to discourage improper uses and to promote a balanced view of both the author and the subject. Chapter 1, "The Life-Writer's Task," contrasts the artistic and scientific requirements of biography, arguing that late-modern theories better elucidate Boswell’s methodology than the empathic, hortatory principles articulated by his contemporaries or Johnson himself. Chapter 2, "The Scientific Analogy," posits that the biography mimics eighteenth-century scientific methodology, prioritizing a rigorous, data-driven accumulation of specimens over a sophisticate…
date: 1978
language: en
short title: Boswell's Johnson
subject: PR3533.B7 S3
identifier: ISBN 978-0-299-07630-6
num pages: 127

CGV entry 4:248.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 246.
type: Memo

Boswell's Hebridean Journal and the Ordeal of Dr. Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly
authors: Person
  surname: Finney
  given name: Brian
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:264.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 323.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Journals
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: Because Boswell allowed Johnson to read most of his Hebridean Journal as it was being written, the form of this biography, unlike the Life, reflects the growth in their relationship. It also constitutes a secondary form of discourse between them, the resulting subtleties of which make it a unique contribution to the history of biography.
date: 1982
language: en
pages: 319–334

Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly
type: Journal
volume: 5
identifier: DOI 10.1353/bio.2010.0863
number: 4
alternative: Biography
identifier: ISSN 0162-4962

CGV entry 4:264.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 323.
type: Memo

James Boswell and Rousseau in Môtiers: Re-inscribing Childhood and Its (Auto)biographical Prospects
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Romanticism, Rousseau, Switzerland: New Prospects
  type: Book
  is part of: Palgrave Studies in the Enlightenment, Romanticism, and Cultures of Print
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-137-47585-5 (hbk.)
  identifier: DOI 10.1057/9781137475862
publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Basingstoke
authors: Person
  surname: Turnbull
  given name: Gordon
editors: Person
  surname: Esterhammer
  given name: Angela
editors: Person
  surname: Piccitto
  given name: Diane
editors: Person
  surname: Vincent
  given name: Patrick
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 101–116

Dancing and Romancing: The Obstacle of the Beach and the Threshold of the Past
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Thinking on Thresholds: The Poetics of Transitive Spaces
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-85728-665-9
publisher: Anthem
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Lamb
  given name: Jonathan
editors: Person
  surname: Mukherji
  given name: Subha
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Anthropology
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
abstract: On the challenge of historical truth in ethnography, focusing on the metaphorical "beach" where cultures meet. Johnson was contemptuous of South Seas travel accounts and told Boswell that savages could offer no knowledge of the past or invisible. He rejected the idea of a "state of pure nature" as conjectural. However, Johnson's own Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland encounters a similar "conundrum" to Pacific ethnographers, ultimately accepting local testimony and "second sight," suggesting he began to "dance and romance."
date: 2011
language: en
pages: 113–127

Samuel Johnson
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Dryden, Pope, Johnson, Malone: Great Shakespeareans
  type: Book
  volume: 1
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-8264-2086-2
publisher: Continuum
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Johnston
  given name: Freya
editors: Person
  surname: Rawson
  given name: Claude
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Shakespeare
subject: Abstract
abstract: Johnston examines Johnson’s deep engagement with Shakespeare, specifically during his tour of Scotland and his final illness. The text details Johnson reciting Macbeth on "classic ground" near Fores, a recitation Reynolds described as "grand and affecting." Johnston analyzes how Shakespearean language provided Johnson with a "sweet oblivious antidote" to the "rooted sorrow" of his "mind diseas'd." The text highlights Johnson’s "parody of the All-hail of the witches" addressed to Boswell, illustrating the "condescension" and humor present in their relationship. Johnston argues that Shakespeare remained a vital presence for Johnson, offering a means to "cleanse the stuff'd bosom" while acknowledging that the "patient must minister to himself."
date: 2010
language: en
pages: 115–159

The Originality of Boswell's Version of Johnson's Quarrel with Lord Chesterfield
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: New Light on Boswell: Critical and Historical Essays on the Occasion of the Bicentenary of 'The Life of Johnson'
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Burke
  given name: John J., Jr.
editors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Burke analyzes Boswell's celebrated account of Johnson’s quarrel with Lord Chesterfield, arguing for its "originality" as a constructed narrative. The essay demonstrates that Boswell did not merely report the facts of the famous letter but artfully staged the confrontation to heroize Johnson. By carefully selecting, editing, and framing the evidence, Boswell transformed the episode into a powerful, symbolic drama about literary independence triumphing over aristocratic patronage. Burke uses manuscript evidence from the Yale collection to illustrate Boswell's deliberate authorial choices and his skill in biographical representation.
date: 1991
language: en
pages: 143–161

Samuel Johnson's Houses
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Lives of Houses
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-691-19366-3 (hbk.)
publisher: Princeton University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Princeton
authors: Person
  surname: Bullard
  given name: Rebecca
editors: Person
  surname: Kennedy
  given name: Kate
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Hermione
subject: Johnson
subject: Piozzi
subject: Locations
subject: Abstract
abstract: Bullard investigates the intersection of Johnson’s physical domesticity and his literary labor. The chapter focuses on 17 Gough Square, analyzing how its architectural features, specifically the "Dictionary Garret," facilitated the collaborative efforts of Johnson and his amanuenses. Bullard contrasts the urban, scholarly "hive" of Gough Square with the opulent, conversational milieu of the Thrales’ residence at Streatham Park. The author argues that Johnson’s houses were not merely shelters but active participants in his "way of life," shaping his social identity and the anecdotal traditions recorded by James Boswell and Hester Lynch Piozzi. Finally, Bullard addresses the nineteenth-century preservation movement, which transformed these domestic sites into secular shrines for Johnsonian enthusiasts.
date: 2020
language: en
pages: 133–146

Boswell and the Text of Johnson's Logia
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
authors: Person
  surname: Burke
  given name: John J., Jr.
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: Burke challenges Donald Greene's arguments that Boswell fabricated or altered many of Johnson’s famous sayings, or logia, to present a flawed portrait. Burke counters the assertion that the Life of Johnson is unreliable, arguing that Greene's skepticism—inspired by biblical studies on the historicity of Jesus's words—is overly aggressive and often draws unwarranted conclusions from minor inconsistencies. Burke maintains that in cases of discrepancy between Boswell's journal and the Life (such as the Lady Diana Spencer remark), alternative explanations like a "second crop of memory" are more plausible than fraud. Burke concludes that the oral nature of Johnson's talk means an act of faith, supported by contemporary testimony, is necessary to believe in the record's authenticity.
date: 1998
language: en
pages: 25–46

The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
type: Journal
volume: 9
alternative: AJ
identifier: ISSN 0884-5816

'Old Plutarch at Auchinleck': Boswell's Muse of Corsica
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Philological Quarterly
authors: Person
  surname: Brodwin
  given name: Stanley
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 340.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Travel
abstract: On Boswell's profound debt to Plutarch in An Account of Corsica and his portrait of Pascal Paoli. The Corsican adventure, framed by Boswell's personal preoccupation with liberty and the conflicting influences of Rousseau and Johnson, served as a Plutarchan "revelation." Boswell used Plutarch's structural patterns and ideals, particularly political arete, to depict Paoli as a synthesis of Rousseauistic (liberty) and Johnsonian (virtue/law) qualities, fulfilling Boswell's ambition to create a contemporary Plutarchan hero.
date: 1983/1983 Winter
language: en
pages: 69–93

Philological Quarterly
type: Journal
volume: 62
number: 1
alternative: PQ
identifier: ISSN 0031-7977

Cochrane entry 340.
type: Memo

Boswell's Notes toward a Supreme Fiction: From London Journal to Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Modern Language Quarterly
authors: Person
  surname: Bell
  given name: Robert H.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:240.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 631.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
abstract: Bell contrasts Boswell's autobiographical London Journal with his Life of Johnson, arguing that the former reveals a "Humean" self engaged in a futile search for a consistent identity. The Journal's narrator is unreliable, trapped in a histrionic, unreflective posture, as seen in the Louisa episode, and lacks the necessary aesthetic distance to analyze his experiences fully. Conversely, the Life achieves coherence and mastery by subordinating Boswell's "wretched changefulness" and using his "double consciousness" to magnify Johnson's monumental stability and "philosophick heroism." The mature Boswell successfully transformed his personal conflicts into a symbolic vision for the biography.
date: 1977
language: en
pages: 132–148

Modern Language Quarterly
type: Journal
volume: 38
alternative: MLQ
identifier: ISSN 0026-7929

CGV entry 4:240.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 631.
type: Memo

Boswell's Anatomy of Folly
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Sewanee Review
authors: Person
  surname: Bell
  given name: Robert H.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Bell explores Boswell as both a "Prince of Biographers" and "court jester." The article examines how Boswell uses "strategic separation" and folly to display Johnson’s wit. Bell notes Boswell "Boswellizes" Johnson to defend himself, often placing the "Johnsonian ridiculous next to the Johnsonian sublime." He concludes that Boswell’s "amazing temerity" and vanity enable the unique achievement of the Life.
date: 2003-10
language: en
pages: 578–594

Sewanee Review
type: Journal
volume: 111
number: 4
identifier: ISSN 0037-3052

A French Provincial City and Three English Writers: Montpellier as Seen in the 1760s by Sterne, Smollett, and Boswell
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Life
authors: Person
  surname: Baker
  given name: Van R.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 402. Uses comments from Boswell's journal, alongside those of Sterne and Smollett, to offer a glimpse into 18th-century urban life in Montpellier, France.
subject: 18th
subject: Boswell
date: 1976
language: en
pages: 54–58

Eighteenth-Century Life
type: Journal
volume: 2
alternative: ECL
identifier: ISSN 0098-2601

Cochrane entry 402. Uses comments from Boswell's journal, alongside those of Sterne and Smollett, to offer a glimpse into 18th-century urban life in Montpellier, France.
type: Memo

Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Yale University Library Gazette
authors: Person
  surname: Adams
  given name: Sarah F.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:156.
is referenced by: Cites Life: 3:406
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 168.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Bibliography
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
abstract: Adams describes a recently acquired first edition of Boswell’s biography of Johnson featuring two uncanceled leaves from the second volume. These rare leaves reveal drastic revisions regarding James Grainger and Johnson’s views on marital fidelity. In the original text, Boswell included a critical account of Grainger’s failed medical practice and personal life, which he later replaced with a brief reference at the likely request of Thomas Percy. The second uncanceled leaf contains Johnson’s candid, indiscreet remarks on conjugal infidelity, which Boswell ultimately condensed and softened with an apologetic footnote to ensure Johnson did not appear to encourage irregular conduct.
date: 1954
language: en
pages: 35–36

Yale University Library Gazette
type: Journal
volume: 29
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 0044-0175

CGV entry 4:156.
type: Memo

Cites Life: 3:406
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 168.
type: Memo

Defining the Johnsonian Canon: Authority, Intuition, and the Uses of Evidence
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Modern Language Studies
authors: Person
  surname: Abbott
  given name: John L.
is referenced by: Cites Life 1:310, 1:140, 1:148, 4:76, 4:77.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Authorship
subject: Canon
subject: Johnson
abstract: Addresses the challenges of defining Johnson's canon, arguing that its assessment must break free from the primacy of Boswell's biographical caricature. Since Johnson died without a complete list of his writings, scholars must rely on a combination of three methodologies, initially articulated by Boswell: Authority, Intuition (stylistic evidence), and External Evidence. Abbott acknowledges that intuition, rooted in recognizing a distinct "Johnsonian composition," is subjective and risky but persists in modern scholarship like Allen Hazen's. Abbott insists that a strong paradigm of attribution requires the corroboration of all three methodologies to assign texts to Johnson with confidence, exemplified by combining stylistic analysis of Saunders Welch’s pamphlet with Royal Society records showing Johnson’s committee work with Welch.
date: 1988 Winter
language: en
pages: 89–98

Modern Language Studies
type: Journal
volume: 18
identifier: DOI 10.2307/3194703
number: 1
alternative: MLS
identifier: ISSN 0047-7729

Cites Life 1:310, 1:140, 1:148, 4:76, 4:77.
type: Memo

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1859-12-10
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:08:43
pages: 480

Notes and Queries
type: Journal
is part of: 2nd series
volume: 8
number: 206
alternative: N&Q
identifier: ISSN 1471-6941

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  is part of: 2nd series
  volume: 8
  number: 189
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 1471-6941
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1859-08-13
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:08:41
pages: 139

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  is part of: 2nd series
  volume: 8
  number: 185
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 1471-6941
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1859-07-16
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:08:40
pages: 60

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  is part of: 2nd series
  volume: 7
  number: 180
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 1471-6941
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1859-06-11
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:08:39
pages: 487

Boswell's Reference to Erasmus on His Fear of Death
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
authors: Person
  surname: Walker
  given name: Robert G.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Correspondence
subject: Death
subject: History
subject: Journalism
subject: Renaissance
subject: Scholarship
abstract: Walker solves an annotative mystery from Paul Tankard's edition of Boswell's journalism, Facts and Inventions. In Boswell's "Sentimental Essay on Death," he refers to a letter where Erasmus confesses to an early fear of death. Walker identifies the passage in a 1518 letter from Erasmus to Beatus Rhenanus. The relevant quote, "When I was a young man, I remember how I used to tremble even at the mere name of death," appears in the letter. Walker suggests Boswell may have encountered this passage in an eighteenth-century English biography of Erasmus by Samuel Knight, which was in his father's library and contains the quote in both Latin and English.
date: 2015-06
language: en
pages: 302

Notes and Queries
type: Journal
volume: 62 [260]
identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjv033
number: 2
alternative: N&Q
identifier: ISSN 0029-3970

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
subject: Religion
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:35:03
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

A Note on Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  is part of: 5th series
  volume: 12
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/s5-XII.309.433b
  number: 309
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Rule
  given name: Frederick
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1879-11-29
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:05:19
pages: 433

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:24:20
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 191
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/191.3.62c
  number: 3
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Powell
  given name: L. F.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Powell requests the identity of the scholar referred to as "Mr. Sympson of Gainsborough," who served as a co-editor for the ten-volume 1750 edition of Beaumont and Fletcher’s works. While biographical details for the other editors, Theobald and Seward, are well-documented, Sympson’s history remains obscure. Powell notes that Sympson oversaw the printing of volumes five through eight and a portion of volume nine, seeking to clarify his background and connection to the Johnsonian literary circle.
date: 1946-08-10
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:05:34
pages: 62

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:25:20
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 190
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/190.12.260b
  number: 12
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Powell
  given name: L. F.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1946-06-15
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:05:26
pages: 260

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:24:45
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Mistaken Saint: A Note to Hypochondriack No. 47
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 58 [256]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjr132
  number: 3
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Walker
  given name: Robert G.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Family
abstract: Walker addresses Boswell's error in Hypochondriack 47 (1781) where he attributes the legend of a saint creating a woman of snow to combat temptation to Saint Anthony of Egypt. The legend actually belongs to Saint Francis of Assisi, who is said to have made snow figures of a wife and family. This St. Francis legend was commonly found in eighteenth-century texts, such as Misson's New Voyage to Italy and Butler's Hudibras. Boswell's misattribution to Anthony, combined with the context of the desert, misled his early editor. Walker suggests Boswell was likely confused but notes that the century's literary figures often treated such allusions loosely.
date: 2011-09
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:32:06
pages: 425–427

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 184
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/184.9.257c
  number: 9
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Powell
  given name: L. F.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1943-04-24
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:06:00
pages: 257–258

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:27:52
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 184
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/184.11.318b
  number: 11
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Powell
  given name: L. F.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Powell clarifies the identity and genealogy of Charles Feilding, referenced in Boswell's narrative. Powell identifies Feilding as the second son of the sixth Earl of Denbigh and a contributor to Lady Miller’s 1775 collection of poetry at the age of eleven. The entry corrects biographical details regarding Feilding’s parentage and notes his unmarried status, while highlighting a lack of recorded information concerning his date of death in standard reference works.
date: 1943-05-22
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:05:56
pages: 318

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:27:36
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell: Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 184
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/184.2.46d
  number: 2
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Powell
  given name: L. F.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1943-01-16
language: en
short title: Boswell
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:04:50
pages: 46

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:24:09
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 182
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/182.13.176d
  number: 13
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Powell
  given name: L. F.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Powell provides biographical clarifications for several minor figures in Boswell’s narrative. The entry establishes genealogical and death data for Lady Sydney Beauclerk and explores the identity of James Bennet, the nominal editor of Ascham’s works actually edited by Johnson. Powell questions Bennet’s clerical status and academic credentials. Further notes identify the Reverend Beresford, the Reverend Edmund Bettesworth, the Irish politician Richard Bettesworth, and Charles Blackstone, confirming their relationships to Johnson’s circle or scholarly editions.
date: 1942-03-28
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:05:46
pages: 176–177

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:26:53
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

A New Johnson Self-Quotation in the Dictionary
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 65 [263]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjy023
  number: 2
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
is referenced by: Noted by Steven Scherwatzky in The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats 52
link: Full Text PDF
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: In 1948, William and Margaret Wimsatt added sixteen examples of Samuel Johnson quoting from his own works in the Dictionary to the thirty-three previously identified. Less than a decade later, William Keast supplied three more entries, bringing to a total fifty-two self-quotations of this kind. Recently, while searching the Dictionary for quite different purposes, I detected another one, one that enlarges the list to fifty-three items.
date: 2018-06
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:38:43
pages: 247–250

Noted by Steven Scherwatzky in The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats 52
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:45:19
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 182
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/182.11.147a
  number: 11
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Powell
  given name: L. F.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: On the identity of Backwell, a 1764 dinner host in Northampton, and the marital history of Frances Bagnall, whom Boswell considered as a potential spouse in 1791. Additionally, Powell seeks to confirm the genealogical connection of Letitia Barnston, met by Boswell in 1779, to the Barnston family of Crewe Hill.
date: 1942-03-14
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:05:43
pages: 147

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:26:39
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 182
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/182.19.260c
  number: 19
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Powell
  given name: L. F.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1942-05-09
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:05:29
pages: 260

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:24:57
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson: Translations
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 178
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/178.3.50g
  number: 3
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:130.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 136.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Pottle surveys the incomplete translation history of Boswell's biography, noting the absence of a full foreign-language version. He identifies three partial attempts: Liebeskind’s 1797 German abridgement, Druzhinin’s 1851 Russian essay-translation, and Heyman’s 1926–1930 Swedish edition. Pottle highlights the scholarly value of Heyman’s heavily annotated but financially truncated four-volume set. He refers readers to his own Literary Career of James Boswell for a more exhaustive bibliographical analysis of these international receptions.
date: 1940-01-20
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:05:53
pages: 50–51

CGV entry 4:130.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 136.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:27:21
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson: Translations
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 177
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/177.20.351g
  number: 20
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: H.
  given name: O. N.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 133.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: A brief query: "Into how many foreign languages has Boswell's 'Johnson' been translated? I should be glad to learn names of translators, and dates of publication of the earliest, the latest and the most esteemed in any language. Has the book, or any part of it, been rendered into any Oriental language?"
date: 1939-11-11
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:05:50
pages: 351

Cochrane entry 133.
type: Memo

Boswell's "Life of Johnson," First edition
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 149
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/CXLIX.jul11.34c
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Tregaskis
  given name: James
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1925-07-11
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:06:10
pages: 34

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:28:41
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's "Life of Johnson," First edition
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 148
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/CXLVIII.jun27.458a
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Pierpoint
  given name: Robert
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1925-06-27
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:06:04
pages: 458

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:28:09
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's "Life of Johnson," First edition
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 149
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/CXLIX.jul11.34e
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Gibbs
  given name: G. A.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1925-07-11
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:06:13
pages: 34

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:28:58
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  is part of: 7th series
  volume: 7
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/s7-VII.183.513a
  number: 183
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Buckley
  given name: W. E.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1889-06-29
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:05:22
pages: 513

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:24:33
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's 'Life of Johnson': New Questions, New Answers
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 34 [232]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/ns-34.4.548
  number: 4
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Clayton
  given name: Paul
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Vance
  given name: John A.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
abstract: Clayton evaluates this collection of twelve essays as a coherent debate concerning the biographical accuracy and literary merit of Boswell's narrative. Vance and Schwartz frame "The Boswell Problem," while Siebenschuh applies cognitive theory to Boswell's memory. Woods and Vance argue that Boswell’s insensitivity to humor skewed his portraits of Goldsmith and Johnson. The volume features a central confrontation between Greene and Pottle regarding the historical Johnson versus Boswell’s construct. Clayton notes the absence of draft revision studies but praises the book for balancing "anti-Boswellian" critiques with appreciation for Boswell’s artistry.
date: 1987-12
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:05:40
pages: 548–549

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:26:25
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Samuel Johnson: A Life
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Faber; Henry Holt
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London; New York
authors: Person
  surname: Nokes
  given name: David
is referenced by: item_174471
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Death
subject: Johnson
abstract: Nokes offers a detailed biography of Johnson, guided by Johnson’s own maxim in 'Rambler' 60 that the biographer should 'lead the thoughts into domestick privacies' rather than focus on 'vulgar greatness'. The text traces Johnson's trajectory from his 'wretched' Lichfield origins—marked by scrofula, poverty, and a 'fierce attachment to independence'—through his aborted Oxford education to his eventual status as London's preeminent literary figure. Nokes explores Johnson's psychological struggles, particularly his 'obsessive fears of insanity' and 'morbid melancholy', viewing his relentless conversational and literary output as a means to 'escape from himself'. Central to the narrative are Johnson's complex personal relationships, including his 'singular' marriage to Elizabeth 'Tetty' Porter, his 'rapturous' attachment to Molly Aston, and his long-term intimacy with Hester Thrale at Streatham Park. Nokes provides scholarly accounts of Johnson's professional milestones, such as the 'Dictionary', 'The Rambler', his edition of Shakespeare, and 'The Lives of the Poets', while also highlighting his 'constitutional indolence' and his household of dependants, most notably his manservant and principal legatee, Francis Barber. The biography addresses the 'distinction between Johnson fact and Johnson the biographer's fancy', critically examining the legacies of Boswell, Piozzi, and Hawkins. Nokes concludes with a narrative of Johnson’s physical decline and his 'perfect resignation' in death, presenting a man whose 'unfailing benevolence' and 'majestic intelligence' were inseparable from his physical infirmities and private anxieties. Chapter 1, 'Lichfield,' addresses the foundational influence of Samuel Johnson’s early environment, examining how physical infirmities like scrofula and a discordant home life with his socially ambitious but financially unstable father, Michael, forged his complex and melancholy temperament. Chapter 2, 'Oxford,' chronicles Johnson’s brief and pover…
date: 2009
language: en
subject: PR3533 .N55 2010
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8050-8651-5
num pages: 419

item_174471
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Jonathan Bate, Sunday Telegraph (London), October 18, 2009; Harold Bloom, NYT, November 8, 2009; John Carey, Sunday Times (London), September 13, 2009; Contemporary Review 292, no. 1697 (2010): 264; Daniel Cook, CQ 39, no. 2 (2010): 186–95; Robert DeMaria Jr., JNL 61, no. 1 (2010): 73–77; Helen Deutsch, LRB 34, no. 3 (2012): 31–33; George Eaton, New Statesman, October 12, 2009; Mary Foster, Associated Press, November 9, 2009; Carol Gladstein, Library Journal 134, no. 16 (2009): 77; Christopher Hirst, The Independent, August 5, 2010; Christopher Howse, Daily Telegraph (London), September 19, 2009; Kathryn Hughes, The Guardian, October 3, 2009; Kirkus Reviews (September 1, 2009); Michael D. Langan, Buffalo News, December 6, 2009; Peter Lewis, Daily Mail (London), September 18, 2009; Nicholas Lezard, Evening Standard (London), September 17, 2009; Northern Echo (December 5, 2009); Eliza O’Brien, YWES 90, no. 1 (2011): 556–57; Ray Olson, Booklist 106, no. 6 (2009): 9; Ian Pindar, The Guardian, July 24, 2010; Henry Power, TLS, nos. 5568, 5569 (December 2009): 18; Publishers Weekly (September 28, 2009); Trevor Royle, The Herald (Glasgow), September 12, 2009; Edward Short, Weekly Standard, November 9, 2009; Ian Thomson, Irish Times, October 10, 2009; Boyd Tonkin, The Independent, September 11, 2009; David F. Venturo, AJ 21 (2011): 364.

The Philosophical Biographer: Doubt and Dialectic in Johnson's 'Lives of the Poets'
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Georgia Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Athens
authors: Person
  surname: Maner
  given name: Martin
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Lives
subject: Philosophy
subject: Poetry
abstract: Maner challenges the traditional view of Johnson as a dogmatic generalizer, presenting him instead as a "philosophical biographer" whose work is rooted in the transition from deductive certainty to inductive probability. Linking Johnson’s "bisociative" habits of mind to the "constructive skepticism" of seventeenth-century Anglican apologists and Lockean empiricism, Maner contends that Johnson employs a "rhetoric of doubt" to keep his inferential procedures visible. The study examines how Johnson’s "characterological style"—marked by the tensions of obsessive-compulsive scrupulosity—manifests in his prose through syntactical antitheses and "epistemological doublets" that force the reader to weigh opposing interpretations. Through close readings of the Life of Savage, the Life of Swift, and the Life of Pope, Maner demonstrates how Johnson manipulates audience expectations and emotional responses to cultivate a "constantly active process of judgment." The author highlights Johnson's reliance on Pierre Bayle's critical model to "extirpate errors" and refine the biographical genre into a tool for moral training. Maner positions Johnson as an "Enlightenment" figure whose mastery of "situational irony" and "creative distrust" allows him to mediate between the "fecundity of experience" and the necessity of universal patterns of meaning. Chapter 1, "Introduction," links Johnson’s dialectical methods to seventeenth-century epistemological shifts from deductive certainty toward inductive probability, establishing biography as a primary medium for exercising moral judgment. Chapter 2, "The 'Doubtfulness' of Johnson's Lives," explores the characterological roots of Johnson’s scrupulosity, suggesting that his pathological obsession with doubt was creatively transformed into a rigorous, argumentative biographical style. Chapter 3, "Johnson, Skepticism, and Biography," examines how constructive skepticism and Lockean criteria for evaluating testimony shaped a biographical persona t…
date: 1988
language: en
subject: PR3537.B54 M36 1988
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8203-1038-1
num pages: 187

Samuel Johnson after Deconstruction: Rhetoric and 'The Rambler'
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Carbondale
authors: Person
  surname: Lynn
  given name: Steven
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Essays
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Religion
abstract: Lynn argues that the 208 essays of the Rambler form a coherent whole governed by Johnson's evangelistic aim to promote piety and salvation. By situating Johnson after deconstruction, Lynn demonstrates how the writer anticipates and instructively differs from poststructuralist thought. The study uses Harold Bloom's theory of influence to examine Johnson's strategic misreading of the Spectator, revealing how he creates authorial space by both imitating and negating his predecessors. Lynn disputes the common perception of the essays as hasty or unsystematic, instead presenting them as a sophisticated rhetorical instrument. He explores Johnson's philosophy of language and time, noting a pervasive sense of life's vacuity that leads the reader toward the necessity of faith. The analysis includes close readings of individual essays and sequences, such as the correspondence of Hymenaeus and Tranquilla, to show how Johnson uses unstable binary oppositions and controlled rambling to position the reader on the edge of belief. Ultimately, Lynn contends that Johnson's religious purpose explains the series' diversions and structural complexities, transforming a collection of apparent fragments into a unified symphony of moral exhortation. Chapter 1, 'Introduction: Johnson upon His Bedside, after Deconstruction,' argues that The Rambler is a coherent rhetorical instrument designed to promote piety by exposing the world's inherent vacuity. Chapter 2, '(Mis)Reading The Spectator: The Rambler in Bloom,' uses Harold Bloom’s "anxiety of influence" to analyze how the series establishes its own priority by strategically misreading and displacing its famous precursor. Chapter 3, 'A Difference in Nothing: Johnson and Derrida,' examines how Johnson’s systematic philosophy of language and "cycle of desire" parallels deconstructive skepticism while ultimately grounding a willed turn toward faith. Chapter 4, '"The Order in Which They Stand": (Re)Writing Johnson (Re)Writing,' analyzes individua…
date: 1992
language: en
subject: PR3537.T4 L96 1992
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8093-1770-7
num pages: 191

The Age of Elizabeth in the Age of Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Lynch
  given name: Jack
is referenced by: item_114740
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: History
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Renaissance
abstract: Lynch examines the ideological and scholarly processes by which eighteenth-century writers, led by Johnson, institutionalized the Elizabethan era as a canonical period of English literary history. Lynch argues that Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language (1755) solidified this periodization by establishing Elizabethan authors—specifically Shakespeare, Spenser, Hooker, and Bacon—as the primary authorities for "pure" English. The study analyzes how Johnson used the sixteenth century to ground his prescriptive linguistics and to provide a stable cultural pedigree during a time of national expansion and linguistic flux. Lynch explores the tension in Johnson’s work between acknowledging historical change and seeking a "fixed" linguistic standard derived from the writers of the "Great Age." Furthermore, the monograph details how other scholars, including Thomas Warton and Richard Hurd, contributed to this "invention" of the Elizabethan past through the rise of literary history and antiquarianism. By focusing on Johnson’s Preface to the Dictionary and his edition of Shakespeare, Lynch demonstrates that the "Age of Johnson" was profoundly shaped by its dialectical relationship with a mythologized sixteenth century. Chapter 1, "Struggling to emerge from barbarity: historiography and the idea of the classic," addresses the eighteenth-century adoption of the Renaissance's own "privative" and "corruptive" metaphors for the Middle Ages, arguing that these historiographical models were essential to the creation of a modern canon of English vernacular classics. Chapter 2, "Learning's triumph: historicism and the spirit of the age," explores the pervasive use of the individual ontogeny metaphor to evaluate the "adolescent" culture of the sixteenth century, contending that historicist criticism emerged as a necessary tool to justify the "childish" superstitions and preternatural elements found in the national poet, Shakespeare. Chapter 3, "Call Britannia's glories back to view:…
date: 2003
language: en
subject: DA355 .L96 2003
identifier: ISBN 978-1-107-12609-1
num pages: 224

item_114740
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Martine Watson Brownley, Albion 36, no. 1 (2004): 140–41; Gavin Budge, YWES 84, no. 1 (2005): 551–98; Paul Budra, Renaissance Quarterly 57, no. 2 (2004): 726–27; Brian Cummings, TLS, no. 5237 (August 2003): 23; Rudolf Freiburg, Anglia 123, no. 4 (2005): 742–45; Sayre N. Greenfield, ECI 3 (September 2003): 50–52; E. J. Jenkins, Choice 41, no. 1 (2003): 0531; Barrett Kalter, MP 102, no. 2 (2004): 279–82; Bernice W. Kliman, Medieval & Renaissance Drama in England 18 (2005): 220–22; Thomas G. Olsen, JNL 54, no. 1 (2003): 58–72; Christine Rees, NR, Series E, no. 6 (2002): 76–78; Hannah Smith, Royal Stuart Review, 2006, 20–23; R. D. Stock, AJ 15 (2004): 393–97; R. S. White, N&Q 51, no. 2 (2004): 196–98.

A Bibliography of Johnsonian Studies, 1986–1998
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: AMS Studies in the Eighteenth Century
publisher: AMS Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Lynch
  given name: Jack
contributors: Person
  surname: Korshin
  given name: Paul J.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Bibliography
subject: Abstract
abstract: Lynch provides an exhaustive survey of late twentieth-century scholarship, documenting a significant expansion in the field. The work organizes entries alphabetically by author rather than the traditional topical taxonomy, reflecting modern interdisciplinary shifts toward cultural studies, gender, and postcolonial theory. Lynch includes previously neglected formats such as doctoral dissertations, book reviews, and electronic resources. The preface by Korshin highlights the 'paradoxical' flourishing of Johnsonian studies amidst a contraction in the broader academic profession. Notable trends identified include the impact of the Short-Title Catalogue, the emergence of The Age of Johnson annual, and a burgeoning interest in Johnson’s relationships with women and his attitudes toward race. Lynch effectively maps the 'Great Cham’s' transition into the twenty-first century, recording a 'staggering' volume of scholia that confirms the subject's enduring relevance.
date: 2000
language: en
subject: Z8455.8 PR3533 .L96 2000
identifier: ISBN 978-0-404-63533-6
num pages: 147

Samuel Johnson: The Life of an Author
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Harvard University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge, Mass.
authors: Person
  surname: Lipking
  given name: Lawrence
is referenced by: item_174486
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Authorship
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Lipking traces the evolution of Johnson's professional identity, arguing that he transitioned from a "retired and uncourtly scholar" and anonymous journeyman into a "national man of letters" through a series of deliberate authorial choices. Rather than a standard biography of the man, Lipking examines the "life that he put in his work," beginning with early compositions like "On a Daffodill" and culminating in the "Life of Savage" and "The Vanity of Human Wishes". The narrative highlights the pivotal role of the "Dictionary of the English Language" in forging a new authorial role: a representative of the British people who "holds the language in trust". Lipking analyzes Johnson’s complex relationship with precursors like Joseph Addison and contemporaries like James Boswell and Hester Lynch Piozzi, noting how these associations helped create the "folk-image" of "Dr. Johnson". The text examines Johnson’s transition from private struggle to public "literary dictator," exploring how his work on Shakespeare and the "Lives of the English Poets" institutionalized a unified poetic commonwealth. Lipking concludes that Johnson's authority rests on a "diffusion of responsibility" across vast texts, appealing to the "common sense" of the "common reader" to validate his lasting legacy. Chapter 1, 'The Birth of the Author: The Letter to Chesterfield,' addresses the foundational moment of modern authorship through an analysis of the rhetorical strategies and historical significance of the 1755 missive, arguing that the document represents a revolutionary declaration of independence from aristocratic patronage. Chapter 2, 'First Flowers: Johnson's Beginnings,' examines early juvenile works to reveal a recurring tension between intense ambition and preemptive dejection, a psychological and literary pattern that would inform the development of a unique authorial project designed to provide English prose with a new weight and moral energy. Chapter 3, 'Becoming an Author: London; Life …
date: 1998
language: en
subject: PR3533 .L56 1998
identifier: ISBN 978-0-674-78777-3
num pages: 372

item_174486
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Paul K. Alkon, Review 23 (2001): 175–86; Michael Bundock, NR, Series E, no. 1 (1997): 75–76; Robert DeMaria Jr., MP 98, no. 3 (2001): 495–99; First Things 89 (1999): 63; Stephen Fix, Biography 22, no. 4 (1999): 614–18; Derek Jarrett, NYRB 46, no. 5 (1999): 39–42; Thomas Kaminski, AJ 11 (2000): 333–40; Jonathan Lamb, SEL 41, no. 3 (2001): 646–47; Michael D. Langan, Buffalo News, November 22, 1998; A. F. T. Lurcock, N&Q 47 [245], no. 1 (2000): 131–32; Jack Lynch, Choice 36, no. 7 (1999): 1267; Alan T. McKenzie, ECS 34, no. 3 (2001): 466–70; John Mullan, The Guardian, March 6, 1999; Rex Murphy, Globe and Mail (Toronto), December 12, 1998; Andrew O’Hagan, LRB 22, no. 19 (2000): 7–8; William H. Pritchard, Hudson Review 52, no. 1 (1999): 133–40; Claude Rawson, New Criterion 17, no. 10 (1999): 74–78; Bruce Redford, RES, n.s., 51, no. 201 (2000): 137–38; Christopher Ricks, Boston Globe, November 8, 1998; Richard B. Schwartz, Albion 31, no. 3 (1999): 490–41; Richard B. Schwartz, Biography 23, no. 3 (2000): 604; Michael Shinagel, Harvard Review 16 (1999): 165–66; Clifford Siskin, SEL 39, no. 3 (1999): 630–31; Gerald H. Strauss, Magill’s Literary Annual 2 (1999): 835–39; Michael F. Suarez, TLS, no. 5027 (1999): 8; Virginia Quarterly Review 75, no. 2 (1999): A57; YWES 79, no. 1 (1998): 381–410.

Samuel Johnson in Context
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
editors: Person
  surname: Lynch
  given name: Jack
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Bibliography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
abstract: Lynch provides a comprehensive reference work that situates Johnson within the cultural, intellectual, and social landscapes of the eighteenth century. Forty-seven chapters by leading experts explore the diverse contexts of Johnson's career, ranging from his domestic life and personal correspondence to broader themes of empire, science, and the law. The volume opens with a detailed chronology and investigations into his life and publication history, highlighting how "by necessity an author" Johnson established himself as the era's preeminent man of letters. Contributors examine his critical fortunes, documenting the reception of his works from his own time to the present and analyzing the visual representations that shaped his popular image. The collection emphasizes recent shifts in scholarship that move subjects once considered peripheral, such as slavery and women writers, to the center of Johnsonian studies. Chapters investigate his "pragmatic piety" within Anglicanism and his complex, often hostile, relationship with America and the concept of empire. Lynch presents this work as a vade mecum for understanding how Johnson's "uniquely encyclopedic mind somehow stands for his entire world."
date: 2012
language: en
subject: PR3534 .S26 2012
identifier: ISBN 978-0-521-19010-7
num pages: 440
identifier: DOI 10.1017/CBO9780511974151

Community and Solitude: New Essays on Johnson's Circle
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: History
subject: Johnson
abstract: Lee and his contributors examine Johnson’s social and literary networks, divided into two sections: "Personal Relationships: Letters and Conversation" and "Literary Relationships: Major Texts and Topics." Part I contextualizes Johnson's correspondence with "young dogs" Robert Chambers, Bennet Langton, and James Boswell (John Radner); traces his thirty-year, often argumentative contact with language reformer James Elphinston (Christine Jackson-Holzberg); and uses fresh evidence to analyze the "Hottentot" conversational dispute between Boswell and Reverend John Dun (James J. Caudle). Part II analyzes literary influence and collaboration: James E. May investigates Oliver Goldsmith’s extensive self-revisions to The Traveller; Marilyn Francus explores the conflicting politics of literary celebrity between Johnson and Frances Burney; and Lance Wilcox identifies four distinct narrative personae in the Life of Savage. Further essays address Arthur Murphy’s poetic response to Johnson’s "exalted merit" (Anthony W. Lee); the intersection of Johnson, Edmund Burke, and Boswell within the slavery debate (Elizabeth Lambert); the generational divide over "sensibility" in Johnson’s relationship with Anna Seward (Claudia Thomas Kairoff); and a comparison of Johnson and Thomas Warton’s disparate negotiations with the "popular reader" (Christopher Catanese). Lee concludes that these "parliament of explorations" clarify Johnson's profound cultural influence and his transition from Augustan values to those of sentiment. Critical reception of this collection characterizes it as a high-level scholarly excavation of the "rich community of friendships and antagonisms" surrounding its central subject. Lynch and Walker note that the ten new perspectives effectively transition from archival "minutiae" to major themes such as "literary celebrity" and the "politics of slavery," successfully reminding readers that authorship is rarely a solitary endeavor. Boyd and Saxton praise the exploration of …
date: 2019
language: en
short title: Community and Solitude
subject: PR3533 .A6 2019
identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-023-4 978-1-68448-022-7
num pages: 257

Samuel Johnson Among the Modernists
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Clemson University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Clemson
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: 20th
subject: Abstract
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "Lee and his contributors challenge traditional stereotypes of Johnson as a nostalgic reactionary, instead positioning him as a representative of modernity whose work resonates with the themes and techniques of High Modernism. The volume traces Johnson's influence on and affinities with major figures such as T. S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Ezra Pound, Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Vladimir Nabokov, and Jorge Luis Borges. Individual chapters examine diverse topics: Melvyn New analyzes urban Christianity in Johnson and Eliot; Anthony W. Lee compares Johnson’s and Woolf’s biographical and critical methodologies; Joe Moffett explores Pound’s ambivalent "anxiety of influence" regarding Johnson’s verse; Clement Hawes investigates anti-colonialist "antinomies of progress" across Johnson, Conrad, and Joyce; Jack Lynch discusses Johnson’s role as a cultural touchstone during the Great War; Thomas M. Curley links Johnson’s and Beckett’s shared focus on life’s limitations; Carrie D. Shanafelt delineates aesthetic resistance to empiricism in Nabokov and Johnson; Greg Clingham reflects on Borges’s view of Johnson as the quintessential English writer; and Robert G. Walker triangulates Johnson with the German modernist Ernest Borneman. The collection demonstrates that Johnson’s "empirical temper" and "moral earnestness" align him with Modernism's habit of looking back at tradition while navigating an alienated, technological, and urbanized world." Critics are generally favorable, praising the collection's examination of the subject's impact on the twentieth-century imagination. Kraft's enthusiastic review in Choice commends the volume for reshaping perceptions of literary history, particularly highlighting investigations into urban life, science, and the Great War. Writing in ECL, Boyd emphasizes the insightful connections made between the subject's Christian faith and modernist figures, noting the shared urban pessimism and psychic depression identif…
date: 2019
language: en
subject: PR3537.M57
identifier: ISBN 978-1-942954-67-5
num pages: 290

Dead Masters: Mentoring and Intertextuality in Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Lehigh University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Bethlehem
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
abstract: Lee explores the "darker subtext" of mentoring and intertextuality in Johnson's career, focusing on how "dead masters" such as Dryden, Pope, and Addison shaped his literary identity. Using a "mentoring paradigm," Lee analyzes the "agonistic break" between master and protégé, where the later author seeks to "defy or elide the mentor's authority" to establish independent creative space. The text examines "An Epitaph on Claudy Phillips" as a "minor masterpiece" born from the "agonistic fire" of Johnson's competitive relationship with his pupil Garrick. Lee demonstrates that Johnson's "intertextual" sensibility informs his critical project, noting that "all texts are revisionary rewritings of previous texts." The study investigates Johnson's "mentoring imperative" to instruct others, visible in his fictional characters Dick Minim and Imlac, while also tracing his "darkly agonistic flashes" regarding the "anxiety of influence." Lee argues that Boswell "assimilated and subtly exhibited" this Johnsonian perspective, eventually using the master's lessons to "turn the tables upon him" in the Life. Chapter 1, "Johnson's Symbolic Mentors: Addison, Dryden, and Rambler 86," addresses the psychological and textual influence of literary precursors, specifically examining how agonizing competition with these "dead masters" informed the authorial identity and output. Chapter 2, "The Poetics of Gloom: Samuel Johnson as Intertextual Critic," argues that a pervasive, agonistic intertextuality defines this critical methodology, illustrating how literary "theft" and imitation are deployed as strategic survival mechanisms. Chapter 3, "Between Texts: Intertextual Brackets in Johnson’s Shakespeare and Milton," explores the stabilizing presence of Renaissance masters, analyzing intertextual collations that facilitated a reconciliation with mortality and personal professional legacies.
date: 2011
language: en
subject: PR3537.L5 L44 2011
identifier: ISBN 978-1-61146-075-9
num pages: xvii+243

Johnson After Two Hundred Years
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Philadelphia
editors: Person
  surname: Korshin
  given name: Paul J.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
abstract: Essays from a conference in 1984 marking the bicentennial of Johnson’s death. It addresses the prevailing paradox: Johnson’s literary standing depends more upon Boswell’s narrative than appreciation of his compositions. The papers diminish this effect through revaluation of Johnson’s life and production. They assert biography need not depend solely on Boswell. The collection groups studies on Johnson’s life, his intellectual growth, and interpretations of his writings. It explores Johnson’s lesser works (letters, reviews, essays) showing they guide his intellectual achievement. Essays include analysis of Johnson’s final days (Korshin), biography (Savage, Epstein), lexicography (DeMaria), law (Curley), and epistolary technique (Grundy). The research encourages focus on Johnson’s works within the context of his age’s literary production. Johnson’s reputation holds a unique position, known through both his works and the biographical narrative. Critics call this book a substantial yet methodologically traditional resource that serves as a testament to the flourishing state of modern scholarship. Kolb and Woodruff find the fourteen essays unusually enlightening, providing genuine intellectual pleasure through high-quality biographical and historical investigation. Kay highlights the volume’s success in diminishing ignorance regarding the subject’s unique reputation, specifically praising the new information revealed about historiography and French linguistic skills. Pittock suggests the collection successfully encourages a new valuation of the subject’s complete writings, effectively moving the critical focus away from a purely Boswellian biographical lens. But the reception is not without sharp dissent regarding the book’s cohesion and rigor. Womersley dismisses the collection as a "random" assortment of "low-pressure essays" and "dropsical footnotes" that resemble common-room conversation rather than serious investigation. Similarly, Baron observes that within the "con…
date: 1986
language: en
subject: PR3534 .J63 1986
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8122-8016-6
num pages: 253

'A Neutral Being between the Sexes': Samuel Johnson's Sexual Politics
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Kemmerer
  given name: Kathleen Nulton
is referenced by: item_174505
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Gender
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
abstract: Within the context of Johnson's central preoccupation with human happiness, this study examines his attitudes toward women and important issues such as happiness in marriage, domestic violence, prostitution, and education. In particular, it focuses on Irene, The Rambler, and Rasselas. Reviews are generally favorable, with critics dividing over whether the text relies on unconvincing special pleading or provides an insightful recovery of progressive gender arguments rooted in religious dogma. At stake in the reviews is whether the close textual focus successfully reconfigures a major writer's sexual politics or ignores vital biographical and historical contexts. Basney, in Sewanee Review, praises the clear prose and grasp of how progressive views on male and female equality were derived from the Christian dogma of human equality before God, highlighting the strong reading of the drama and the female self-expression in the periodical essays. In BJECS, Rounce commends the challenge to misogynistic myths, presenting the subject as an open-minded mediator and highlighting the rewarding analysis of the play's power metaphors alongside a successful description of complex sexual politics. Conversely, Lynch's review in Choice identifies significant reservations, dismissing several arguments regarding psychological androgyny as unconvincing special pleading and criticizing the narrow focus that limits itself to a few select texts while ignoring real-life associations and extensive correspondence.
date: 1998
language: en
short title: A neutral being between the sexes
subject: PR3537.F44 K46 1998
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8387-5387-3
num pages: 155

item_174505
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Lionel Basney, Sewanee Review 107, no. 4 (1999): 110–12; Catherine Dille, NR, Series E, no. 1 (1997): 73–74; Jack Lynch, Choice 36, no. 6 (1999): 1065; Adam Rounce, BJECS 22, no. 2 (1999): 228.

A Biographer at Work: Samuel Johnson's Notes for the 'Life of Pope'
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Kirkley
  given name: Harriet
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Bibliography
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Manuscripts
abstract: Kirkley provides a comprehensive edition and interpretation of Johnson’s handwritten notes for the 'Life of Pope', primarily focusing on British Library Add. MS. 5994 and the Dyce MS notes. She disputes the traditional view of Johnson as a cursory, unsystematic reader, arguing instead that his 'economical' reading was characterized by disciplined care and a strong sense of essential detail. The study documents Johnson’s immersive engagement with William Warburton’s 1751 edition of Pope’s 'Works' and Owen Ruffhead’s 1769 biography, while highlighting the importance of the Newcastle MS of Spence’s 'Anecdotes' and interviews with the Earl of Marchmont. Kirkley explains Johnson’s complex system of notation—including horizontal cancellations for reading errors, red diagonal cancels for composed text, and red underlining for intermediate thinking—as evidence of an ongoing, cumulative, and inferential process of 'revolving thoughts'. She argues that Johnson’s most original contributions, such as the history of the publication of Pope’s letters and the analysis of the 1743 'Dunciad', arose from his active effort to fill 'lacunae' in the existing hagiographic tradition. By treating the letters as both personal documents and 'prose epistles', Johnson constructed a 'biographical discordia concors' that interpreted Pope’s life as a series of shifting 'performances'. Kirkley concludes that the notes demonstrate a 'Baconian' model of knowledge generation, where Johnson yoked the roles of editor, critic, and biographer to produce an 'indelible sense of the pain that it was to be Pope'. Chapter 1, 'Description,' addresses the physical characteristics and organizational structure of the handwritten notes found in British Library Add. MS 5994, identifying them as working documents that reflect distinct stages of reading, gathering material, and textual production. Chapter 2, 'Dating the Notes and Manuscript: A Problematic,' explores the chronological evolution of these notes within t…
date: 2002
language: en
subject: PR3633.J63 K57 2002
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8387-5507-5
num pages: 279

The Early Career of Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Kaminski
  given name: Thomas
is referenced by: item_33391
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Jacobitism
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
abstract: Kaminski provides the first systematic investigation of Johnson’s years of obscurity, challenging traditional narratives by analyzing his role as a professional "writer-for-hire." The study focuses on Johnson’s multifaceted relationship with Edward Cave and the 'Gentleman’s Magazine', where Johnson progressed from an occasional contributor to an "actual editor." Kaminski meticulously reconstructs Johnson’s editorial tasks, including the revision of William Guthrie’s Parliamentary debates, the adjudication of poetry prizes, and the orchestration of periodical "wars" against rivals like 'Common Sense'. A central finding is that Johnson’s primary commitment during 1738–1739 was not to the magazine itself but to two massive, ultimately failed scholarly translations: Sarpi’s 'History of the Council of Trent' and Crousaz’s 'Commentary on Pope’s Essay on Man'. Kaminski argues that Johnson’s tenure as editor was a "Sisyphean labor" that "found the magazine amateur and left it professional," introducing biography, economic commentary, and foreign scholarship to raise its intellectual caliber. The author identifies 1741–1743 as an "annus mirabilis" where Johnson authored over 260 pages of copy annually, primarily through the 'Debates in the Senate of Magna Lilliputia'. These debates are interpreted not as realistic reporting but as "consciously artistic" rhetorical exercises based on classical models. Kaminski further explores the ethical and political impact of Johnson's relationship with Richard Savage, interpreting the 1739 political pamphlets as fundamentally conservative attacks on the "new order" of Whig corruption rather than expressions of radical Whiggism. Chapter 1, 'The Road to St. John's Gate', explores the initial period of professional uncertainty following the author's arrival in London, during which repeated failures in teaching and traditional scholarship compelled a reluctant shift toward periodical writing. It argues that the successful publication of Londo…
date: 1987
language: en
subject: PR3533 .K36 1987
identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-504114-9
num pages: 268

item_33391
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Janet Barron, THES, no. 770 (1987): 19; W. B. Carnochan, TLS, no. 4420 (December 1987): 1396; Choice 25 (1987): 475; Thomas M. Curley, AJ 2 (1989): 483–86; Robert Folkenflik, SEL 27, no. 3 (1987): 533–34; Isobel Grundy, London Journal 13, no. 2 (1987): 164; Robert D. Hume, SEL 28, no. 3 (1988): 521–22; A. F. T. Lurcock, N&Q 36, no. 1 (1989): 113–14; John H. Middendorf, JNL 46, no. 2 (1986): 2; Charles E. Pierce, ECS 22, no. 1 (1988): 102–5; Bruce Redford, ECCB 13 (1987): 457; David Womersley, RES, n.s., 40, no. 158 (1989): 274–75; YWES 68, no. 1 (1990): 362.

Samuel Johnson: The Arc of the Pendulum
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
editors: Person
  surname: Johnston
  given name: Freya
editors: Person
  surname: Mugglestone
  given name: Lynda
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Style
abstract: This volume re-evaluates Johnson's life and works by challenging William Hazlitt's characterization of his prose as a mechanical 'pendulum' lacking 'latitude and compromise.' Johnston and Mugglestone argue that eighteenth-century contexts, including Johnson's Dictionary, reveal the pendulum as an image of 'movement, variation, and mutability' rather than rigid oscillation. Individual contributors examine Johnson's 'ability to embrace rival impulses' across his career, from his early biographical work for Cave to the Lives of the Poets. Smallwood explores Johnson's 'moving, and often grief-inducing relationship' to time, while DeMaria identifies a stylistic shift toward 'colloquial ease' in his late biographies. Richetti analyzes the 'moral irresolution' of the essays, which use 'assertions and concessions' to dramatize the search for truthfulness. Further chapters address Johnson's 'powerfully realized personifications,' his use of habit in character formation, and the Dictionary's limited inclusion of female-authored sources. By focusing on 'uses and enjoyments of inconsistency,' the collection disputes the notion of Johnson as a 'complete balance-master' in favor of a more 'dynamic, interactive' figure whose work reflects the 'self-divided human mind' and the 'contradictions and mutability of daily experience.'
date: 2012
language: en
subject: PR3534 .S33 2012
identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-965434-5
num pages: 226

Samuel Johnson and the Making of Modern England
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Hudson
  given name: Nicholas
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Jacobitism
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Poetry
subject: Politics
abstract: Hudson argues that Johnson was not merely a passive symbol of English national identity, a role he largely acquired after his death, but was an active and essential agent in its very creation. The book's central thesis is that Johnson’s personal career, his celebrated ascent from provincial obscurity to becoming the moral and literary dictator of London, directly parallels and intersects with England's own transformation into the world's dominant cultural and political force during the eighteenth century. Hudson’s primary method is to move beyond traditional biographical approaches to apply the lenses of modern cultural criticism to Johnson’s complete body of work. He examines Johnson's writings, conversation, and public persona through what he terms "scarcely explored directions," analyzing his engagement with the politics of social class and subordination, his complex and often surprisingly progressive views on women and feminism, his evolving relationship with party politics (moving from a "patriot" outsider to an establishment defender), his foundational role in shaping the modern "public sphere," and his deeply conflicted attitudes toward English nationalism and the burgeoning British empire. Hudson aims to do more than just illuminate Johnson; it seeks to understand "the nature of English nationhood" itself, using Johnson as its central case study. By exploring the deep relations between Johnson's career and the development of England's modern identity, the book offers new and provocative arguments about his literary achievement. For example, the Dictionary is re-framed not just as a work of lexicography but as a monumental act of cultural nationalism, an attempt to fix and elevate the language of a new imperial power. His Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland is read as a complex negotiation with the "other" within Britain, and his political tracts like Taxation No Tyranny are presented as serious engagements with the core principles of sovereignty and c…
date: 2003
language: en
subject: PR3533 .H79 2003
identifier: ISBN 978-0-521-83125-3
num pages: 290

A Monument More Durable Than Brass: The Donald & Mary Hyde Collection of Dr. Samuel Johnson: An Exhibition
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Houghton Library of Harvard University
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge, Mass.
authors: Person
  surname: Horrocks
  given name: Thomas A
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "To commemorate the tercentenary of the birth of Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), whose influence on his time was as monumental as his legacy is enduring, Harvard University's Houghton Library presents this exhibition catalogue of items drawn from the Donald & Mary Hyde Collection of Dr. Samuel Johnson, bequeathed to the library in 2004 by Mary Hyde Eccles. This copiously illustrated catalogue documents sixty years of assiduous and painstaking effort on the part of Lady Eccles, initially in collaboration with her first husband, Donald F. Hyde, and later with the encouragement and support of her second husband, David, Viscount Eccles, to assemble one of the world's finest collections of eighteenth-century English literature. The catalogue, including essays on Johnson's literary durability and on Donald and Mary Hyde's life as collectors, pays tribute to a great literary icon and to a remarkably generous woman who devoted her life to collecting an astonishing array of books, manuscripts, prints, and other rare artifacts relating to his life and times."
date: 2009
language: en
short title: A Monument More Durable Than Brass
subject: PR3533 .O94 2009
identifier: ISBN 978-0-9818858-2-7

Johnson After Three Centuries: New Light on Texts and Contexts
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Houghton Library of the Harvard College Library
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge, Mass.
editors: Person
  surname: Horrocks
  given name: Thomas A.
editors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
is referenced by: First published as a special issue of Harvard Library Bulletin 20, nos. 3-4 (Sept. 2009).
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Criticism
subject: Abstract
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "Johnson After Three Centuries: New Light on Texts and Contexts examines several aspects of Johnson's career through fresh perspectives and original interpretations by some of the best-known and widely-respected scholars of our time. Included are essays by James Basker, James Engell, Nicholas Hudson, Jack Lynch, and Allen Reddick."
date: 2011
language: en
short title: Johnson After Three Centuries
subject: PR3534 .J627 2011
identifier: ISBN 978-0-9818858-4-1
num pages: v+133

First published as a special issue of Harvard Library Bulletin 20, nos. 3-4 (Sept. 2009).
type: Memo

Samuel Johnson: An Analysis
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: St. Martin's Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Hinnant
  given name: Charles H.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Philosophy
abstract: Hinnant argues that the unifying impulse across Samuel Johnson's diverse and seemingly fragmented literary career is his profound and lifelong preoccupation with the theme of human limitation. The book seeks to provide an overall account of Johnson’s achievement by identifying this "central thread," moving beyond previous critical approaches that Hinnant finds reductive, whether they focus on a single aspect of Johnson’s personality, his psychology, or his mastery of genre. He contends that this vision of limitation is not a simple, pessimistic doctrine but a complex "problem" that Johnson confronts, re-examines, and redefines in each of his major works, adapting its expression to the specific formal constraints of the genre in which he is writing. Proceeding chronologically, Hinnant demonstrates how this central theme provides a coherent framework for understanding Johnson's entire output. Early works establish the theme, while *The Vanity of Human Wishes* and *Irene* explore the tragic limitations of human ambition and choice. In *The Rambler*, Johnson analyzes the psychological and moral limitations that govern everyday life, while *Rasselas* transforms this analysis into a philosophical fable about the futility of seeking perfect happiness in a world of constrained possibilities. The study shows how even Johnson's seemingly non-thematic works are shaped by this concern: the massive *Dictionary of the English Language* becomes an exploration of the inherent limits and instability of language itself, and the edition of Shakespeare is an engagement with a genius who best represents the heights and bounds of human creativity. The political tracts and the *Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland* are interpreted as inquiries into the limitations of social order and civilization. The culmination of this lifelong inquiry is found in the *Lives of the Poets*, which Hinnant presents as Johnson's final, ironic meditation on the vanity of literary wishes and the inescap…
date: 1988
language: en
subject: PR3537.P5 H56 1988
identifier: ISBN 978-0-312-01346-2
num pages: 148

The Politics of Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Georgia Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Athens
authors: Person
  surname: Greene
  given name: Donald J.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Politics
subject: Jacobitism
subject: Abstract
abstract: The second edition differs from the first (1960) in the addition of a highly polemical Introduction to the Second Edition. The original assessments and methodology of the 1960 volume are retained, with Greene standing by his original positions and correcting only a few minor facts and typographical errors. The volume also substitutes the original list of works cited with a Selected Bibliography, which lists works of literary criticism and biography up to 1989, though the political history section remained reliant on the Namierite political history models of the 1950s. The extensive Introduction (pages ix-lxv) was characterized by scholars as spirited and was deemed significant enough to be considered "worth the price of the book." In this new Introduction, Greene forcefully reasserts his view of Johnson as an empirical, skeptical political thinker. The Introduction serves as the opening salvo in a major scholarly controversy, as Greene attacked the recently revived argument that Johnson was a Jacobite and Nonjuror. Greene branded J. C. D. Clark's identification of Johnson as a "Nonjuror" as "nonsense" and the "height of absurdity," and he "savaged" or "shredded" the interpretations advanced by Clark and Howard Erskine-Hill. This direct confrontation within the Introduction launched a prolonged and acrimonious scholarly exchange that continued for decades. Chapter 1, ‘Introduction,’ addresses the historiographical misconceptions of the “Whig interpretation,” arguing that the conventional view of a binary, ideological struggle between Whigs and Tories misrepresents the fluid, personal nature of eighteenth-century politics. Chapter 2, ‘The Midlands Background,’ addresses the formative influence of the Civil War’s local legacy and the complex political landscape of Staffordshire, which provided an education in practical power rather than abstract dogma. Chapter 3, ‘The Young Johnson (1709–1737),’ argues that his early domestic life and religious influences, particularly…
date: 1990
language: en
subject: PR3537.P6 G7 1990
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8203-1204-0 978-0-8203-1206-4
edition: 2nd ed.
num pages: 356

Samuel Johnson and the Scale of Greatness
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Georgia Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Athens
authors: Person
  surname: Grundy
  given name: Isobel
is referenced by: CGV entry 11/9:94.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
abstract: Grundy examines Johnson's career-long preoccupation with the relative nature of human achievement and the moral implications of "worldly greatness." While Christian moralists traditionally advocate for the renunciation of fame, Johnson identifies greatness as a primary driver of human action and maintains that "nothing can be great which is not right." Grundy argues that Johnson uses various "scales of measurement"—physical, moral, and intellectual—to challenge his readers' perceptions of what is important. The monograph traces this theme through his early "Lilliputian" parliamentary reports, his biographical tributes to both unsuccessful and triumphant individuals, and major works such as The Vanity of Human Wishes and The Lives of the Poets. Grundy explores how Johnson balances a "vindication of littleness" in daily life with a stubborn loyalty to a "heroic ideal" that acknowledges human limitation. By analyzing his frequent use of optical metaphors like the telescope and microscope, Grundy demonstrates how Johnson requires readers to observe the "general concatenation of society" where the "great and the mean" remain inextricably linked. Ultimately, Johnson's thought emphasizes that while the search for excellence is laudable, achieved greatness remains "beyond the grasp of humanity" and subject to the "doom of man." Chapter 1, 'Comparison,' addresses the foundational role of comparative judgment in human intellect, asserting that excellence and significance are inherently relative rather than absolute. Chapter 2, 'Scale,' explores the historical obsession with measurement, highlighting the psychological impact of microscopic and telescopic perspectives on the perception of human importance. Chapter 3, 'Swift and the Debates in the Senate of Magna Lilliputia,' examines the early use of Lilliputian satire to diminish political figures, demonstrating how shifts in scale expose the underlying pettiness of public affairs. Chapter 4, 'Vindication of Littleness,' argue…
date: 1986
language: en
subject: PR3537.E8 G78 1986
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8203-0867-8
num pages: 278

CGV entry 11/9:94.
type: Memo

Samuel Johnson as Book Reviewer: A Duty to Examine the Labors of the Learned
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Delaware Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Newark
authors: Person
  surname: Hanley
  given name: Brian
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Science
abstract: Hanley examines Johnson’s neglected output as a journalist and reviewer, identifying forty-seven reviews contributed to the Gentleman's Magazine, the Literary Magazine, and the Critical Review. The study argues that Johnson used the review format not merely for hackwork but as a platform for moral, political, and scientific inquiry. Hanley identifies a consistent reviewing technique characterized by a refusal to make dogmatic pronouncements, a focus on authorial intent, and the artful use of extracts to transform reviews into independent essays. Johnson prioritizes authors demonstrating a beneficent impulse and routinely provides a sympathetic hearing to those facing marketplace hostility. The monograph contextualizes Johnson’s practices against rivals like the Monthly Review and Critical Review, asserting that Johnson viewed reviewing as a modern form of literary patronage designed to support meritorious authors. Hanley explores Johnson’s evaluations across diverse fields, including historical, literary, philosophical, and scientific titles, while addressing authenticity issues within the Johnsonian canon. Salient analysis highlights Johnson’s "telltale restraint" and his conviction that a writer's primary duty is "to make the world better." Hanley demonstrates that these "ephemerae of learning" illustrate the vastness of Johnson’s learning and his deep concern with the mid-eighteenth-century literary marketplace. Chapter 1, 'Samuel Johnson and the Mid-Eighteenth-Century Literary World,' establishes the historical context of a disordered literary marketplace and examines how periodical essays formulated a framework for professional authorial integrity. Chapter 2, 'Johnson as a Reviewer of Historical, Literary, and Philosophical Titles in the Literary Magazine,' analyzes twelve evaluations of humanities texts, emphasizing a cautious critical approach that prioritizes authorial intent over dogmatic judgment. Chapter 3, 'Johnson as a Reviewer of Journalistic Publicati…
date: 2001
language: en
subject: PR3537.L5 H36 2001
identifier: ISBN 978-0-87413-736-1
num pages: 293

This Invisible Riot of the Mind: Samuel Johnson's Psychological Theory
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Philadelphia
authors: Person
  surname: Gross
  given name: Gloria Sybil
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
subject: Psychology
subject: Science
abstract: Gross employs a psychoanalytic framework to analyze Johnson’s pervasive anxiety and his "wretched state" of mental distress. Gross argues that Johnson’s fear of madness was not merely a private obsession but a central theme that animated his moral and creative work, particularly his critique of the dangerous prevalence of imagination. The study examines Johnson’s relationship with his mother and his early experiences of failure and poverty as foundational to his psychological development. Gross analyzes the "invisible riot" in texts such as the Rambler, the Idler, and Rasselas, interpreting the Astronomer’s insanity and Imlac’s observations on the "uncertainty of our condition" as reflections of Johnson’s own psychological volatility. Additionally, Gross explores Johnson’s interactions with his domestic circle, including the Thrales and the varied dependents in his household, as attempts to manage his internal chaos through social structures and aggressive conversation. By situating Johnson within the eighteenth-century context of medical and moral theories of madness, the monograph demonstrates how his literature functions as a therapeutic struggle to achieve self-mastery over a rebellious mind. Chapter 1, "'Make Your Boy Tell You His Dreams': The Intrapsychic Life," addresses the foundational influence of Samuel Johnson’s early childhood and his strained parental relations, arguing that his recurring depression and "vile melancholy" were motivated by complex intrapsychic events and primitive, repressed images of his parents. Chapter 2, "Medical Psychology in the Eighteenth Century," explores Johnson’s engagement with contemporary psychiatric thought, contending that he moved beyond the era’s "moral management" and repressive regimes of rationality to adopt a pioneering, psychodynamic understanding of mental illness based on Lockean empiricism. Chapter 3, "'A Child is Being Beaten': The Early Career," examines Johnson’s early professional struggles and his "Life of…
date: 1992
language: en
subject: PR3537.P8 G7 1992
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8122-3146-5
num pages: 198

Samuel Johnson: New Critical Essays
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Vision; Barnes & Noble
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London; Toronto
editors: Person
  surname: Grundy
  given name: Isobel
is referenced by: item_75203
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Politics
subject: Jacobitism
subject: Abstract
abstract: This collection of nine essays reappraises Johnson on the bicentenary of his death, emphasizing his intellectual range and contemporary relevance. Grundy introduces the volume by examining Johnson’s use of maxims and his reliance on shared human wisdom rather than unique insight. Folkenflik discusses Johnson's extraordinary scope across nineteen genres and his role as a literary dictator. Korshin relates Johnson’s scholarly methods to Renaissance polymaths, while Kinkead-Weekes explores his complex, often critical responses to the rise of the novel and the works of Fielding and Richardson. Giddings and Erskine-Hill analyze Johnson's political character, focusing on his parliamentary reporting for the Gentleman's Magazine and potential Jacobite dimensions in his poetry. Cunningham studies the passions and the human condition in the Rambler, and Woodruff identifies Rasselas as part of the Menippean satire tradition. Lascelles concludes by examining Johnson’s commemorative writing and the transmutation of personal experience into literature. The volume presents Johnson as a figure who resists simplification, whose mind remains a beckoning region for ongoing discovery. Critics are generally favorable, praising the collection of nine essays for its revisionary focus on unfamiliar aspects of the author's intellectual range and contemporary interest. Lipking, in ECS, calls it a lively, genial volume that charts the measurement of greatness against the petty, though he notes the thesis is occasionally pushed too hard. In AJ, Vance evaluates the collection as uneven but notes its best pieces provide fresh perspectives on the author's beckoning mind, particularly lauding the generic classification of his prose fiction as Menippean satire while disputing the originality of the essay on parliamentary reporting. Korshin, in SEL, provides a positive assessment, favoring the publication of these new pieces over the common practice of reprinting older, traditional essays. Lurcock's…
date: 1984
language: en
short title: Samuel Johnson
subject: PR3534 .S3 1984
identifier: ISBN 978-0-389-20534-0
num pages: 208

A Bibliography of Johnsonian Studies, 1970–1985
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: English Literary Studies
publisher: English Literary Studies, University of Victoria
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Victoria, B.C.
authors: Person
  surname: Greene
  given name: Donald J.
authors: Person
  surname: Vance
  given name: John A.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 45. A bibliography listing nearly one hundred editions, books, and articles related to Johnsonian studies that were published between 1968 and 1986.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Bibliography
subject: Boswell
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
abstract: Greene and Vance present a systematic bibliography of scholarship concerning Johnson, covering the period from 1970 to 1985. The work acts as a continuation of the earlier Johnsonian Studies, 1887-1965, and its 1970 supplement. Entries are organized into twenty-five thematic categories, including "Bibliography and Canon," "Biographical Studies," "Political and Social Views," and specific sections for major works such as the Dictionary, Rasselas, and The Lives of the Poets. The editors provide a detailed introduction discussing the "Johnson Industry" and trends in late twentieth-century criticism. The volume includes an index of authors and subject cross-references to facilitate navigation of the 1,832 listed items.
date: 1987
language: en
subject: Z8455.8 PR3533 .G74 1987
identifier: ISBN 978-0-920604-31-1
num pages: 116

Cochrane entry 45. A bibliography listing nearly one hundred editions, books, and articles related to Johnsonian studies that were published between 1968 and 1986.
type: Memo

Johnson and His Age
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Harvard English Studies
publisher: Harvard University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge, Mass.
editors: Person
  surname: Engell
  given name: James
is referenced by: Includes bibliographical references.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Abstract
abstract: This collection of essays, published on the bicentennial of Johnson's death, examines the preeminence of Johnson within the metamorphic and highly varied literary culture of the later eighteenth century. Engell defines the period as one marked by great changes in literary form and a shift from classical authority toward individualistic myths and a new rhetoric of sensibility. Contributions address Johnson's moral philosophy and his multiplicity of powerful consciousness, alongside the roles of Boswell and Piozzi, who bring the age to life through immediate and dramatic textures. Individual studies analyze Johnson's life and thought, his literary criticism, and his relations with contemporaries, including his fraternal kindness and his status as the great Cham of literature. The volume explores how Johnson and his circle engaged with the social and individual life of the time, treating literature as a direct engagement in aesthetic and ethical problems. Critics call this book a significant contribution to modern scholarship that successfully bypasses Boswellian definitions to explore the canon. Abbott and W. H. praise Bond for dismantling images of intolerance by documenting associations with Thomas Hollis. Mary Hyde receives accolades for her absorbing account of American collectors, which Rogers labels the volume’s chief delight. But the critical consensus remains mixed. Rogers and Grundy find the opening sections on the primary subject less rewarding, noting that some scholars perform below their best. Rogers specifically critiques the blunt psychobabble in Page’s analysis of Austen and rejects Riely’s Freudian dismissal of sexual elements in the Piozzi relationship.
date: 1984
language: en
subject: PR3534 .J64 1984
identifier: ISBN 0-674-48075-9
num pages: 574

Includes bibliographical references.
type: Memo

A Preliminary Handlist of Copies of Books Associated with Dr. Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Oxford Bibliographical Society & Bodleian Library
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Fleeman
  given name: J. D.
is referenced by: CGV entry 1/3:32.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Bibliography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
abstract: Fleeman limits his coverage to copies of books associated directly with Samuel Johnson or, in a few specific instances, his immediate family, rather than mere Johnsoniana. He details 285 primary entries, encompassing volumes bearing Johnson's autograph in the form of signatures, signed inscriptions, textual emendations, marginal references to other books, corrections of arithmetic or paginatory errors, or calculations. The text also includes a separate list of forty-four items designated as "Doubtful, Erroneous, and Implausible Associations." By recording provenance (when known) and lamenting the exclusion of fascinating items—such as Lord Chesterfield’s copy of the Dictionary—and noting unlocated items, the Handlist provides critical resources for studying Johnson's reading habits and intellectual endeavors, especially when used in conjunction with the Sale Catalogue of Samuel Johnson’s Library and Donald Greene’s annotated guide.
date: 1984
language: en
subject: Z997.J69 F48 1984
identifier: ISBN 978-0-901420-41-1
num pages: 101

CGV entry 1/3:32.
type: Memo

Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Twayne
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Boston
authors: Person
  surname: Greene
  given name: Donald J.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
date: 1989
language: en
subject: PR3534 .G74 1989
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8057-6962-3
edition: Updated ed.
num pages: xvii + 206

Loving Dr. Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Chicago Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Chicago
authors: Person
  surname: Deutsch
  given name: Helen
is referenced by: item_174507
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Death
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
abstract: Deutsch argues that Samuel Johnson's life and work are best understood through the lens of psychoanalytic theory, specifically focusing on his profound fear of death as the central organizing principle of his personality and creativity. The book presents Johnson not merely as a literary figure but as a complex psychological case study, whose "vile melancholy," tics, obsessive rituals, and intense anxieties stemmed from deep-seated, unresolved psychic conflicts, particularly an overwhelming fear of annihilation. Deutsch contends that Johnson's immense literary output, his moral pronouncements, his religious fervor, and even his famous conversational dominance were all elaborate defense mechanisms constructed to ward off this fundamental terror. His insistence on rationality, order, and moral certainty is interpreted as a bulwark against the chaos of his inner world. The Dictionary becomes an attempt to impose order on language, Rasselas an exploration of the futility of escaping psychic pain, and the Lives of the Poets a final reckoning with mortality through the examination of others' lives. By applying psychoanalytic concepts like repression, sublimation, and transference (especially in relation to figures like his mother and Mrs. Thrale), Deutsch aims to reveal the hidden emotional dynamics beneath Johnson's formidable public persona, ultimately portraying his life as a heroic, lifelong struggle to master his internal demons and find meaning in the face of existential dread. The introduction, “The Beginning, in Which Nothing Is Found,” addresses the author’s "autoptic" desire to account for the enduring, divided legacy of Samuel Johnson as both a clubbable public icon and a private, tortured soul. Chapter 1, “Johnsonian Romance,” argues that the 1784 autopsy of Johnson serves as the foundational event for a secular "author love," creating an imaginative community of medical and literary devotees who seek to reanimate the dead author through his collected physical …
date: 2005
language: en
subject: PR3533 .D46 2005
identifier: ISBN 978-0-226-14382-8
num pages: 322

item_174507
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Daniel Ennis, Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies 7, no. 2 (2007): 109–12; H. J. Jackson, TLS, no. 5353 (November 2005): 3–4; Frank Kermode, NYRB 53, no. 11 (2006): 28–31; Anthony W. Lee, MP 104, no. 4 (2007): 529–59; Devoney Looser, SEL 51, no. 3 (2011); Jack Lynch, Choice 43, no. 11 (2006): 1992; Emma Major, MLR 102, no. 4 (2007): 1142–1142; J. T. Scanlan, AJ 17 (2006): 419–23; Paul Tankard, Biography 30, no. 2 (2007): 220–24; Paul Tankard, JNL 58, no. 1 (2007): 49, 51–54; Blakey Vermeule, MP 105, no. 2 (2007): 377–81.

Language and Logos in Boswell's 'Life of Johnson'
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Princeton University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Princeton
authors: Person
  surname: Dowling
  given name: William C.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:259.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 255.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Criticism
subject: History
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Philosophy
abstract: Dowling argues that Boswell's Life of Johnson challenges and ultimately dismantles conventional models of narrative structure. Rejecting the idea of the Life as a continuous story told by a single mediating narrator, Dowling presents it as a radically discontinuous text composed of multiple, separate "worlds"—including Boswell's narration, Johnson's letters, the dramatic conversation scenes, and the gloomy Prayers and Meditations. Drawing on deconstruction, his central thesis is that these different orders of discourse exist in an "antithetical" relationship, constantly undermining and subverting one another's claims to reality. The stable, unified figure of Samuel Johnson is not a "presence" to be discovered behind the text, but an "absence" at its center. The various idealized or critical portraits of Johnson are merely "fictions of coherence" constructed by the characters and the reader to impose order on the radical discontinuities of Johnson's speech and behavior. The great conversation scenes are analyzed as the primary model for this structure, exposing a world where language itself (logos), not a personality behind it, is the ultimate reality. Therefore, Dowling concludes that the true subject of the Life is not Johnson, but rather the "impossibility of the biographical enterprise" and the text's profound exploration of the relationship between language and reality. Chapter 1, "World and Antiworld," addresses the epistemological challenge posed by the radical discontinuities of the Life, arguing that the work is best understood not as a continuous narrative but as a "galaxy" of autonomous, often antagonistic, orders of discourse that function as separate worlds. Chapter 2, "Structure and Structurality," examines the narrative's internal logic of subversion, contending that Boswell’s anxiety over biographical form reveals a text that continuously undermines its own panegyric norms through the juxtaposition of competing realities. Chapter 3, "Structure and Abs…
date: 1981
language: en
subject: PR3533.B63 D6
identifier: ISBN 978-0-691-06455-0
num pages: xix, 185

CGV entry 4:259.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 255.
type: Memo

In Mind of Johnson: A Study of Johnson the Rambler
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Georgia Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Athens
authors: Person
  surname: Davis
  given name: Philip
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Essays
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
subject: Psychology
subject: Religion
abstract: Davis provides an imaginative study of Johnson's inner life as manifested in his writings, particularly The Rambler and Rasselas. The book seeks to recover the "meaning of the man" by defending "interestedness and personality" as humanizing forces in literature against more clinical or impersonal critical fashions. Davis explores the relationship between Johnson's public authorial voice and his private anxieties, convulsive mannerisms, and religious fears. By examining Johnson alongside figures like Sir Joshua Reynolds, Matthew Arnold, and contemporary novelists, Davis portrays Johnson as a writer who brings "utmost seriousness" to ordinary life. The text argues that Johnson's general style functions as a form of "reminding," bridging his own memory and the reader's experience to provide practical advice on the conduct of existence. Chapter 1, 'The Life of the Author and His Writings', addresses the intricate nexus between personal experience and literary production . It rejects contemporary critical tendencies toward impersonalization, arguing that prose serves as a conduit for practical living . Chapter 2, '“You Tossed and Gored Several Persons”', addresses the tension between eighteenth-century stoic decorum and the aggressive vitality of personal conviction . It posits that such social 'roughness' functions as a defensive maneuver to maintain sanity and principled survival against existential despair. Chapter 3, 'On the Strength of Limitation (1): Johnson’s Realism', addresses the human condition as an 'in-between' state of existence. It argues that recognizing inherent limitations—physical, intellectual, and moral—is the foundational prerequisite for establishing normative conduct and achieving realistic psychological stability . Chapter 4, 'On the Strength of Limitation (2): Johnson’s Practical Art', addresses the role of 'practical thinking' as a temporal response to life's uncertainties. It argues that discursive prose and moral narratives provide essential,…
date: 1989
language: en
subject: PR3534 .D34 1989
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8203-1054-1
num pages: 318

The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Yale University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New Haven
authors: Person
  surname: Damrosch
  given name: Leo
is referenced by: item_174476
subject: Abstract
subject: Alcohol
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Conversation
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
abstract: Damrosch chronicles the intertwined lives of eighteenth-century London's greatest intellectual figures, centering on the celebrated literary society founded by Johnson and Reynolds in 1764. The Club, initially conceived as a therapeutic measure to counter Johnson’s episodes of immobilizing melancholy and guilt, quickly evolved into a powerful social magnet and an engine of intellectual competition. Membership required both professional distinction and conversational prowess, drawing a constellation of self-made men, including the critic Johnson, the biographer Boswell, the orator Burke, the historian Gibbon, and the economist Smith. Johnson's complex personality—a paradoxical blend of physical awkwardness, profound erudition, and moral heroism—forms the book's psychological anchor. His early life was a struggle against poverty and illness, culminating in success as a lexicographer and essayist. His acceptance of a royal pension in 1762 liberated him from Grub Street but exposed him to charges of hypocrisy. His deepest struggles, including lifelong debilitating depression and compulsive physical tics, are framed as a fierce interior battle, a concept Boswell immortalized in his description of Johnson’s judgment as a gladiator combating wild beasts. Boswell emerges as the devoted, yet turbulent, chronicler of the age, transforming conversation into art. His youth was marked by rebellion against his father and a mercurial temperament later recognized as bipolar disorder. His celebrated journal, begun in London, became the raw material for his masterpiece, demonstrating his unique talent for capturing personality, dialogue, and idiosyncratic detail. The friendship between the two men, despite their generational and temperamental gulf, provided Boswell the emotional anchor and intellectual challenge he sought, even as he simultaneously indulged in sexual indiscretions and political fantasies. The study situates The Club within the era's rapidly changing social and politi…
date: 2019
language: en
subject: PN452 .D36 2019
identifier: ISBN 978-0-300-21790-2
num pages: 473

item_174476
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Brooke Allen, Hudson Review 72, no. 1 (2019): 115–21; Aram Bakshian, National Interest, no. 161 (2019): 88–96; Aram Bakshian Jr., Washington Times, May 28, 2019; Bradford Q. Boyd, ECL 47, no. 1 (2023): 102–25; Philip Carter, Journal of Modern History 92, no. 4 (2020): 935–36; Alex Colville, The Spectator, April 27, 2019; Jane Darcy, TLS, no. 6056 (April 2019): 26; Robert DeMaria Jr., JNL 70, no. 2 (2019): 59–62; Michael Dirda, Washington Post, April 17, 2019; Elizabeth Eger, Journal of British Studies 59, no. 1 (2020): 177–78; Joseph Epstein, WSJ, March 22, 2019; Lyndall Gordon, NYTBR, May 12, 2019; Edward Hardiman, Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 47, no. 3 (2024): 336–37; Jacob Heilbrunn, Modern Age 61, no. 2 (2019): 56–58; Henry Hitchings, The Times (London), April 20, 2019; Malcolm Jack, 1650–1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era 26 (2021): 266–69; Emily Jones, Financial Times, May 4, 2019; Thomas Keymer, LRB 41, no. 19 (2019): 17; Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 2019; Elizabeth Lambert, ECI 33, no. 1 (2019): 39–45; Andrew Lambirth, Country Life 213, no. 19 (2019): 120; Anthony W. Lee, Choice 57, no. 1 (2019): 49; Anthony W. Lee, Scriblerian 53, no. 2 (2021): 186–88; Jeffrey Meyers, THES, no. 2404 (April 2019); John J. Miller, National Review 71, no. 8 (2019): 46; Peter Moore, History Today 69, no. 6 (2019): 102–3; Publishers Weekly, February 11, 2019; Bruce Redford, ECS 53, no. 2 (2020): 321–23; Penny Richards, Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Theatre Research 33, no. 1/2 (2021): 151–52; Pat Rogers, New Criterion 37, no. 9 (2019): 16–20; Paul T. Ruxin, JNL 63, no. 2 (2012): 11–22; Teresa Saxton, ECF 34, no. 1 (2021): 110–13; Terry I. Seymour, Eighteenth-Century Scotland 34 (2020): 32–33; Marty Smith, Transactions of the Johnson Society (Lichfield), 2020, 84–86; Jenny Uglow, NYRB 66, no. 9 (2019): 26; Frances Wilson, Sunday Times (London), April 21, 2019; David Womersley, SEL 60, no. 3 (2020): 638.

Fictions of Reality in the Age of Hume and Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Madison
authors: Person
  surname: Damrosch
  given name: Leopold
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Paperback
subject: Philosophy
abstract: Damrosch examines the intellectual transition from a providential worldview to a world defined by human perception and linguistic constructs, centering the study on the divergent responses of Johnson and Hume. The text argues that while Hume embraced a radical skepticism that reduced the self and causality to "fictions" of the imagination, Johnson countered with a "strenuous" empiricism that used social and religious fictions to stabilize moral reality. Damrosch analyzes Johnson's Rasselas and Dictionary as attempts to map the boundaries of human knowledge against the "vacuity of life," suggesting that Johnson viewed the imagination as both a dangerous source of delusion and a necessary tool for enduring existence. By situating these figures against the broader literary landscape of the novel and biography, Damrosch demonstrates how the period's preoccupation with "mimesis" reflects a profound uncertainty regarding the objective status of reality.
date: 1989
language: en
subject: PR769 .D3 1989
identifier: ISBN 978-0-299-12380-2 978-0-299-12384-0
num pages: 262

Johnson After 300 Years
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
editors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
editors: Person
  surname: Smallwood
  given name: Philip
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Abstract
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "To mark the tercentenary of Samuel Johnson's birth in 2009, the specially-commissioned essays contained here review his scholarly reputation. An international team of experts reflects authoritatively on the various dimensions of literary, historical, critical and ethical life touched by Johnson's extraordinary achievement. The volume distinctively casts its net widely and combines consistently innovative thinking on Johnson's historical role with a fresh sense of present criticism. Chapters cover subjects as diverse as Johnson's moral philosophy, his legal thought, his influence on Jane Austen, and the question of the Johnson canon. The contributors examine the larger theoretical and scholarly contexts in which it is now possible to situate his work, and from which it may often be necessary to differentiate it. All the contributors have a distinguished record of scholarship in eighteenth-century studies, Johnson scholarship, and cultural history and theory."
date: 2009
language: en
subject: PR3534 .J627 2009
identifier: ISBN 978-0-521-88821-9
num pages: 291

Samuel Johnson in Historical Context
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Palgrave
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Houndmills, Basingstoke
editors: Person
  surname: Clark
  given name: J. C. D.
editors: Person
  surname: Erskine-Hill
  given name: Howard
is referenced by: A collection of scholarly essays, especially on Johnson’s politics. His putative Jacobitism is discussed in many of the contributions.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: History
subject: Politics
subject: Jacobitism
subject: Abstract
abstract: Clark and Erskine-Hill assemble eleven essays that re-evaluate Johnson as a figure deeply engaged with the Jacobite and Nonjuring traditions of his era. The volume is structured into three parts: "The Local Setting," "The Public Realm," and "The Cultural Allegiance." Contributors including Paul Monod and Richard Sharp explore Johnson's "Staffordshire background" and the "High Church character" of his London parish, St. Clement Danes, providing a micro-historical context for his religious and political development. Central to the collection is Clark's extensive analysis of Johnson's refusal to take the oaths of allegiance and abjuration, which the editor argues placed Johnson in a state of "internal exile" throughout his career. Other chapters examine Johnson's "neo-Latin tradition," his complex relationship with Scotland, and "Stuart sympathies" found in his critical notes on Shakespeare's Richard II. Niall MacKenzie provides evidence for a "Jacobite undertone" in The Vanity of Human Wishes by drawing parallels between the "Swedish Charles" and the contemporary "Prince Edward Affair." The editors conclude that Johnson's authority as a moral critic is inseparable from his "austere position" regarding the de jure rights of the House of Stuart. This revisionist approach rejects the "Namierite" view of a pragmatically progressive Johnson, presenting him instead as a "troubled observer" of a society riven by dynastic instability and "oath-bound" religious obligations. Critical reception of this collection of essays is starkly divided, characterized by a fundamental dispute over the editors' "Neo-Jacobite" methodology. Baines and Mullan dismiss the work as "tendentious" and "polemical," arguing that it focuses narrowly on political identities to the exclusion of a broader historical interpretation. This sentiment is echoed by Lynch and Turner, who criticize the volume for presenting a disputed portrait of the subject as a scholarly consensus while relying on "historical o…
date: 2002
language: en
subject: PR3534 .S28 2002
identifier: ISBN 978-0-333-80447-6
num pages: 318

A collection of scholarly essays, especially on Johnson’s politics. His putative Jacobitism is discussed in many of the contributions.
type: Memo
subject: Politics
subject: Jacobitism

Dr. Johnson's Women
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Hambledon & London
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Clarke
  given name: Norma
is referenced by: item_132039
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Gender
subject: Johnson
subject: Piozzi
abstract: This collective biography and critical study explores the conditions of female authorship in mid-eighteenth-century England by examining the relationships between Johnson and a circle of prominent women writers. Clarke uses a 1784 dinner party at Eva Garrick’s—attended by Johnson, Elizabeth Carter, Hannah More, and Fanny Burney—as a framework to investigate how these individuals achieved professional success despite social constraints. The text analyzes the careers and literary contributions of Carter, whose scholarship in Greek rivaled Johnson’s; Charlotte Lennox, whom Johnson termed superior to her contemporaries; and Hester Thrale Piozzi, whose complex role as Johnson’s provider and rival biographer Clarke details. Further chapters examine Elizabeth Montagu’s leadership of the Bluestocking assemblies and the emerging professional identities of More and Burney. Clarke argues that these women were not merely peripheral figures but active participants in a mixed-gender literary establishment. The study highlights the tension between the ideology of female deference and the drive for intellectual autonomy, noting how patronage, collaboration, and competitive rivalries shaped the period's cultural authority. Chapter 1, "At Mrs Garrick's," establishes the central premise of collective biography by examining Samuel Johnson's high regard for female contemporaries like Elizabeth Carter, Hannah More, and Fanny Burney, while simultaneously critiquing James Boswell’s systemic erasure of these intellectual women from his foundational account of the 18th-century literary establishment. Chapter 2, "Elizabeth Carter," addresses the career of the era's preeminent female scholar, arguing that her comprehensive mastery of ancient Greek and Stoic philosophy allowed her to forge an independent path of "darling independence" that balanced professional prestige with domestic and personal autonomy. Chapter 3, "Charlotte Lennox," identifies the professional struggles and intellectual con…
date: 2000
language: en
subject: ELD.DS.420148
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8264-2594-2
num pages: xii + 260

item_132039
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Barbara Benedict, SEL 42, no. 3 (2002): 627; Kate Chisholm, Sunday Telegraph, January 14, 2001; Judith Hawley, MLR 97, no. 4 (2002): 934–36; Christopher Hawtree, The Independent, February 5, 2001; Kathryn Hughes, Daily Telegraph, January 13, 2001; F. Johnston, CQ 30, no. 4 (2001): 366–73; Jack Lynch, Choice 39, no. 10 (2001): 771; Sarah R. Morrison, Biography 26, no. 1 (2003): 160–65; Lee Morrissey, YWES 81, no. 1 (2000): 536; John Mullan, The Guardian, June 9, 2001; Margaret Sankey, History Teacher 35, no. 2 (2002): 275–76; Adam Sisman, Evening Standard, January 22, 2001; Janet Todd, TLS, no. 5115 (2001): 33; Lance E. Wilcox, History 65, no. 3 (2003): 751–52; Jodi L. Wyett, Sixteenth Century Journal 33, no. 3 (2002): 860–61.

Wits & Wives: Dr. Johnson in the Company of Women
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Chatto & Windus
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Chisholm
  given name: Kate
is referenced by: item_174504
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Family
subject: Gender
subject: Johnson
subject: Piozzi
abstract: Chisholm reassesses Johnson by investigating his interactions with women, ranging from domestic figures like his mother, Sarah, and wife, Tetty, to intellectual peers and protégées such as Hester Thrale, Elizabeth Carter, Charlotte Lennox, and Hannah More. Chisholm argues that the "heart of the man" is best understood through these "close, generous, equal" relationships rather than isolated, often misconstrued aphorisms. The text documents Johnson's practical efforts to aid marginalized women, including the prostitute Poll Carmichael and the blind poet Anna Williams, while also illustrating his role as a "neutral being" between the sexes who championed female education. By contrasting Boswell's male-centric biography with accounts from figures like Frances Reynolds, Chisholm depicts a Johnson who was frequently the "solitary male among a group of clever, witty women." The narrative explores how these women navigated the contradictions of being "wives, wits and writers" and the compromises necessitated by eighteenth-century gender roles. Chisholm concludes that Johnson's character was fundamentally shaped by his domestic experiences and his admiration for "Amazons of the pen," ultimately positioning him as a supportive, if sometimes overbearing, mentor and friend who valued female "wit" as a "capacity of mind and flexibility of thought." Chapter 1, 'Intimations,' addresses Samuel Johnson’s empathetic engagement with women's social plights and intellectual potential, highlighting his desire for gender neutrality and his significant influence on Mary Wollstonecraft's later radical thought. Chapter 2, 'Here's a Brave Mother,' argues that Sarah Johnson provided the essential emotional and intellectual foundation for her son’s genius despite their long physical separation and the domestic discord of his youth. Chapter 3, 'Love and Death,' examines Johnson’s complex marriage to Elizabeth Porter, suggesting that she offered vital stability and belief in his talent during hi…
date: 2011
language: en
short title: Wits and wives
subject: PR3533 .C55 2011
identifier: ISBN 978-0-7011-6904-6
num pages: 291

item_174504
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Ophelia Field, Daily Telegraph (London), December 13, 2011; Victoria Glendinning, The Spectator 317, no. 9560 (2011): 34; Henry Hitchings, London Standard, November 24, 2011; Peter Kanter, JNL 65, no. 2 (2014): 57–61; Roger Lewis, Daily Mail (London), January 20, 2012; Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph (London), January 16, 2012; Frances Wilson, TLS, no. 5684 (2012): 10.

The Migration of the Round Robin, 1776–1887
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Privately printed for The Johnsonians
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: West Haven, Conn.
authors: Person
  surname: Caudle
  given name: James J.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Criticism
subject: 19th
subject: Boswell
date: 2015
language: en
subject: EC75.J6371.S2015c

The Runaway and the Apothecary: Francis Barber, Edward Ferrand, and the Life of Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Privately printed for The Johnsonians
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Caudle
  given name: James J.
authors: Person
  surname: Bundock
  given name: Michael
authors: Person
  surname: Gralla
  given name: Howard
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
abstract: Discusses the authors' research about Edward Ferrand, an apothecary in the Cheapside neighborhood of London in the mid-1700s. Ferrand was referred to in James Boswell's "Life of Samuel Johnson," but not by name; his exact identity was only recently discovered. Also discusses what life was like for apothecaries in 18th century England, and expands on Ferrand's relationship with Francis Barber - who spent most of his working life as a servant to Samuel Johnson, except for a brief period when Barber worked for Ferrand (in 1756-1758).
date: 2011
language: en
short title: The Runaway and the Apothecary
subject: EC75.J6371.S2011c
num pages: 26

Samuel Johnson and the Politics of Hanoverian England
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Clarendon Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Cannon
  given name: John Ashton
is referenced by: item_174508
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Jacobitism
subject: Johnson
subject: Law
subject: Politics
abstract: This study reassesses Johnson’s political thought by situating his life and writings within the shifting historical contexts of Hanoverian England. Cannon argues that Johnson was not the "antediluvian eccentric" or extreme Tory depicted by Macaulay, but rather a moderate conservative whose principles anticipated Burke. Cannon examines Johnson’s engagement with religion, emphasizing his secular justification for a powerful established Church as essential for social order. Cannon analyzes the persistent charges of Jacobitism, concluding that while Johnson held Stuart sympathies, they functioned as sentimental attachments rather than revolutionary commitments. The monograph explores Johnson’s "patriot" phase in the 1730s, his disillusionment with opposition factions, and his eventual support for George III’s administration. Detailed chapters scrutinize Johnson’s four major political pamphlets—The False Alarm, Thoughts on the Late Transactions respecting Falkland’s Islands, The Patriot, and Taxation No Tyranny—presenting them as conventional defenses of parliamentary sovereignty and constitutional balance. Cannon concludes that Johnson’s Toryism reflected a principled commitment to stability and subordination intended to preserve a "civilized society" against the perceived threats of radical innovation and egalitarianism. The Introduction addresses the historiographical recovery of Samuel Johnson’s political reputation, arguing that he was a moderate thinker whose mainstream conservative views anticipated the intellectual framework of Edmund Burke. Chapter 1, "Johnson and Religion," examines Johnson’s secular defense of the Church of England, arguing that he viewed a powerful religious establishment as the essential guarantor of social stability and public order. Chapter 2, "Johnson and Jacobitism," addresses the persistent charges of Stuart loyalty, contending that while Johnson harbored sentimental sympathies for the exiled dynasty, he ultimately accepted the Hanoveri…
date: 1994
language: en
subject: PR3537.P6 C36 1994
identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-820452-7
num pages: 326

item_174508
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Jeremy Black, N&Q 42, no. 4 (1995): 499–500; O. M. Brack Jr., Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature 49, no. 2 (1995): 169–74; Linda Colley, TLS, no. 4818 (1995): 6; H. T. Dickinson, BJECS 19, no. 2 (1996): 220; M. Fitzpatrick, History Today 46, no. 5 (1996): 60; Robert Folkenflik, ECS 33, no. 2 (2000): 289–99; Eliga H. Gould, Journal of Modern History 69, no. 4 (1997): 828–29; Donald J. Greene, Huntington Library Quarterly 59, no. 1 (1996): 105–23; Donald J. Greene, Huntington Library Quarterly 59, no. 1 (1997): 105–23; Nicholas Hudson, AJ 9 (1998): 337–47; Thomas Kaminski, PQ 76, no. 1 (1997): 101–4; G. Lamoine, Études Anglaises 49, no. 1 (1996): 90–91; Jack Lynch, Choice 33, no. 1 (1995): 110; Judith Moore, ECCB, n.s., 20 (1994): 503; J. Phillips, Albion 28, no. 1 (1996): 109–11; Murray G. H. Pittock, JEGP 95, no. 4 (1996): 558–60; Christopher Reid, NR, Series D, no. 11 (1995): 62–63; James J. Sack, American Historical Review 101, no. 3 (1996): 847–48; John Sitter, SEL 35, no. 3 (1995): 599–639; Peter D. G. Thomas, English Historical Review 112, no. 447 (1997): 778; John Wiltshire, English Language Notes 34, no. 1 (1996): 98–104; Nigel Wood, YWES 76, no. 1 (1996): 350–51.

Prose in the Age of Poets: Romanticism and Biographical Narrative from Johnson to De Quincey
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Philadelphia
authors: Person
  surname: Cafarelli
  given name: Annette Wheeler
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Poetry
subject: 19th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Cafarelli challenges the traditional periodization that separates eighteenth-century prose from Romantic poetry, arguing that Samuel Johnson's 'Lives of the Poets' served as the foundational model for Romantic biographical narrative. The study demonstrates how Romantic writers rejected the exhaustive 'compilation' method of Boswell in favor of Johnson's 'composed' collective biography, which emphasized subjectivity, anecdotal economy, and the exegetical reading of a life as a literary text. By examining the works of Hazlitt, De Quincey, Scott, and others, Cafarelli reveals an underlying 'Johnsonian subtext' in Romanticism characterized by a shared interest in the 'common condition of humanity' and the inherent instability of biographical documentation. The text positions the Romantic 'age of personality' not as a departure from Johnson, but as a systematic expansion of his generic innovations in collective biography and critical life-writing.
date: 1990
language: en
short title: Prose in the Age of Poets
subject: PR778.B56 C34 1990
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8122-8198-9
num pages: 301

Reconsidering Biography: Contexts, Controversies, and Sir John Hawkins's 'Life of Johnson'
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
editors: Person
  surname: Brownley
  given name: Martine Watson
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "As part of the Samuel Johnson tercentenary commemoration, the University of Georgia Press published the first full scholarly edition of Sir John Hawkins's Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1787). From its inception, Hawkins's work, arising from a close relationship with Johnson that spanned over forty-five years, challenged certain adulatory views of Johnson and has continued to raise interesting critical questions about both Johnsonian biography and the genre of biography generally. Reconsidering Biography collects new essays that explore Hawkins's biography of Johnson within its historical, political, legal, and personal contexts. More particularly, this volume considers how Hawkins's approach to recording the Life of Johnson opens up broader questions about early modern biography and its relationship with eighteenth-century trends in aesthetics, politics, and historiography. These sophisticated and informed essays on a curious and often vexed friendship, and its literary offspring, supply a colorful and expansive view of the role of life-writing in the eighteenth-century literary imagination."
date: 2012
language: en
short title: Reconsidering Biography
subject: PR3533.H32 R43 2012
identifier: ISBN 978-1-61148-383-3 978-1-61148-384-0
num pages: 174

Johnson: The Critical Heritage
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Routlege & K. Paul
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Boulton
  given name: James T.
is referenced by: item_75126
is referenced by: CGV entry 10/5:16. A collection of 81 pieces dating from 1738 to 1833.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
abstract: This anthology provides primary source material documenting Johnson’s literary reputation and critical reception, covering critical commentary on Johnson from the eighteenth century through the Victorian period, including influential essays like Macaulay’s famous attack on Croker’s edition of Boswell’s Life. The organization is chronological, assembling contemporary reviews, literary criticism, and biographical assessments of Johnson and his works. Boulton highlights the detraction Johnson faced from critics like Macaulay, who often focused on "Boswell’s Johnson" the eccentric personality. The editorial policy was to gather these primary historical materials, allowing readers to trace the development of Johnson’s reputation in criticism and biography since 1784. Critics call this book a representative and well-edited compilation that illuminates the development of a complex literary reputation from 1738 through 1832. Morgan and Coleman praise the volume for capturing the essential flavor of contemporary reception, specifically the lively documentation of controversies involving figures like Kenrick and Chesterfield. The collection serves as a valuable resource for students by assembling rare material and providing scholarly introductions. But some reviewers identify significant gaps. Bloom notes the posthumous section is meager, while Cosgrave critiques an antithetical editorial bias and the remarkable omission of Parr. Philological Quarterly further questions the inclusion of easily accessible texts by the subject and his primary biographer.
date: 1971
language: en
short title: Johnson
subject: PR3534 .B6 1971b
identifier: ISBN 978-0-389-04180-1
num pages: 457

CGV entry 10/5:16. A collection of 81 pieces dating from 1738 to 1833.
type: Memo

Samuel Johnson, Literary Giant of the Eighteenth Century: An Exhibition at the Huntington Library, May 23–September 21, 2009
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Rasselas Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Phoenix
authors: Person
  surname: Brack
  given name: O M, Jr.
authors: Person
  surname: Rothschild
  given name: Loren
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Criticism
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Brack and Rothschild provide a detailed record of the 2009 Huntington Library exhibition celebrating the tercentenary of Johnson's birth. The text features a biographical essay by Brack titled "Slow Rises Worth, by Poverty Deprest," which emphasizes Johnson's struggle as a "writer-for-hire" for booksellers. The catalog is organized into eleven thematic cases, tracing Johnson's life from his Lichfield origins and failed Edial Hall school to his "Grub Street" toil for Cave's Gentleman's Magazine and the nine-year compilation of the Dictionary. Notable items described include the "Blinking Sam" portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, the manuscript of Thraliana, a rare diary fragment from Johnson's time at Streatham, and first editions of works like London, Rasselas, and The Lives of the Poets. The authors highlight Johnson's transition from anonymous hack work, such as the fictionalized Parliamentary Debates, to his established authority as "Dictionary Johnson" and a recipient of a royal pension. The catalog also examines Johnson's relationships with his "circle," including Boswell, Piozzi, and Reynolds, and documents the production of his landmark edition of Shakespeare. The volume concludes with an account of Johnson's final illness, his posthumous fame through contemporary biographies, and a select bibliography of Johnsonian scholarship.
date: 2011
language: en
short title: Samuel Johnson, Literary Giant of the Eighteenth Century
subject: PR3522.5 .B73 2011
identifier: ISBN 978-0-615-48867-7
num pages: 77

Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Writers and Their Work
publisher: Northcote
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Horndon
authors: Person
  surname: Bellamy
  given name: Liz
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Abstract
abstract: A study of Johnson's work in relation to contemporary anxieties over language and genre.
date: 2005
language: en
subject: PR3534.B45 S35 2005
identifier: ISBN 978-0-7463-1132-5
num pages: xi+100

Collecting and Recollecting James Boswell, 1740–1795
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Grolier Club
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Zachs
  given name: William
subject: 18th
subject: Paperback
subject: Boswell
subject: Bibliography
subject: Abstract
abstract: "This catalogue accompanies an exhibition held at the Grolier Club from Tuesday, September 12, 1995 to Friday, November 17, 1995. Curators: William Zachs and Mary Eccles."
date: 1995
language: en
subject: PR3325.Z5 C6 1995
identifier: ISBN 978-0-910672-86-3

The Thrales of Streatham Park
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Harvard University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge, Mass.
authors: Person
  surname: Eccles
  given name: Mary Hyde
authors: Person
  surname: Rosenwald
  given name: Edith Goodkind
is referenced by: CGV entry 5:443.
is referenced by: Includes bibliographical references and index.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: History
subject: Locations
subject: Medicine
subject: Piozzi
abstract: Hyde reconstructs the intricate history of the Thrale family through an annotated presentation of the complete text of Hester Thrale's previously lost 'Family Book.' This private nursery journal, kept between 1766 and 1779, traces the domestic life, education, and medical tragedies of the twelve Thrale children, of whom only four survived to maturity. The narrative frames this text within a wider biographical arc, detailing the initial friction between Hester's parents, her compliance in marrying Henry Thrale, and the family's intense intimacy with Johnson, who lived as a virtual member of the household at Streatham Park and Deadman's Place. Hyde explores how Johnson encouraged this diary keeping, served as a primary counselor in business and domestic affairs, and directly intervened in the educational examinations of the young prodigy Hester Maria Thrale. The monograph meticulously traces the family's deep domestic anxieties, Henry Thrale's near-bankruptcy and physical decline, the widow's controversial second marriage to Gabriel Piozzi, and the subsequent alienation of her surviving daughters. This scholarly compilation combines the full nursery record with meticulous contemporary research, letters, and financial logs to offer an unvarnished window into the actual social and intellectual worlds of the era. Chapter 1, 'Hester Lynch Salusbury and Henry Thrale,' addresses the complex familial negotiations, financial dependencies, and personal animosities culminating in the 1763 marriage between an intellectually precocious woman and a wealthy Southwark brewer. Chapter 2, 'The Family Book,' addresses the domestic sphere of the Streatham Park household, detailing the rigorous academic instruction of the children and the devastating infant mortality that plagued the family nursery. Chapter 3, 'The Death of Thrale and Remarriage of His Widow,' outlines the economic and emotional transformations within the household following the patriarch's demise, focusing on the widow'…
date: 1977
language: en
subject: PR3619.P5 A827 1977
identifier: ISBN 978-0-674-88746-6
num pages: xvii, 373

CGV entry 5:443.
type: Memo

Includes bibliographical references and index.
type: Memo

Lily & Hodge & Dr. Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Silent Books
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Skargon
  given name: Yvonne
is referenced by: Wood engravings by Yvonne Skargon, with text by Samuel Johnson.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Art
subject: Abstract
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "'Lily & Hodge & Dr. Johnson' is the successor to Yvonne Skargon's best selling 'The Importance of being Oscar.' Like its precursor it portrays with wit and affection characteristics, antics and attitudes that will be immediately recognized by the large constituency of the human-kind whose lives are immoderately governed by that "domestic animal that catches mice." The engravings are accompanied by quotations from Dr. Johnson - himself an eminent devotee of the feline race - which, it is hoped, will add greatly to a record which otherwise illustrates a more insouciant attitude to life."
date: 1991
language: en
subject: YK.1991.a.12436
identifier: ISBN 978-1-85183-028-2

Wood engravings by Yvonne Skargon, with text by Samuel Johnson.
type: Memo

Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson, LL.D. During the Last Twenty Years of His Life
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: T. Cadell
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Piozzi
  given name: Hester Lynch
is referenced by: CGV entry 3:22. Later editions were published in 1822, 1826, 1831, 1835, 1856, 1884, 1887, 1897, 1925, and 1932.
is referenced by: item_174526
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Death
subject: Johnson
subject: Piozzi
abstract: Piozzi’s Anecdotes (1786) is a biographical memoir, not a comprehensive biography, that provides a personalized account of Johnson's sayings, private life, and character, drawing largely on Hester Lynch Piozzi’s memory and her six-vol. journal, Thraliana. Piozzi had known Johnson from 1765 and was his hostess, friend, and nurse for two decades. The Anecdotes focuses on Johnson's final twenty years, offering a "mere candlelight picture of his latter days." Piozzi was encouraged by Johnson himself to record his sayings. The work was composed quickly and published in haste while Piozzi was in Italy after hearing of Johnson's death. It was published in London by T. Cadell in the Strand in 1786. The first edition appeared in March 1786, preceding Hawkins's Life (1787) and Boswell’s Life (1791). The first edition sold quickly; Cadell reportedly did not have a copy when the King requested one at night. Piozzi received £300 for the work, a sum "unexampled in those days for so small a vol." The London second and third editions were also published in 1786, the third being a reissue of the second. The London fourth edition was published the same year, 1786. A Dublin octavo edition also appeared promptly in 1786. Boswell heard of the publication in March 1786 while travelling the Northern circuit. The Anecdotes achieved immediate success because of its intimate details, contributing to the burgeoning "Johnson market." Its scandalous success stemmed from presenting "raw" data about Johnson, leading to the journalistic joke of rhyming "Bozzy and Piozzi." The Anecdotes were abstracted in the French Journal encyclopédique in 1786 and reviewed in the French Censeur universel in 1785. The review noted Johnson’s rudeness and severe manners in conversation, quoting Piozzi that everything he said was "hard." Piozzi’s work contains Johnson’s early correspondence and impromptu verses for the first time. Later, in 1788, Piozzi published Letters to and from the Late Samuel Johnson, LL.D., a…
date: 1786
language: en
short title: Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson, LL.D
subject: PR3533 .P4

CGV entry 3:22. Later editions were published in 1822, 1826, 1831, 1835, 1856, 1884, 1887, 1897, 1925, and 1932.
type: Memo

item_174526
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Charles Burney, Monthly Review 74 (May 1786): 373–83; Critical Review 61 (March 1786): 273–78; English Review 6 (April 1786): 254–59; London Chronicle, March 28, 1786; London Chronicle, April 1, 1786; London Chronicle, April 13, 1786; Town and Country Magazine 18 (June 1786): 288; Universal Magazine 78, no. 545 (1786): 246–49.

Thraliana: The Diary of Mrs. Hester Lynch Thrale (later Mrs. Piozzi), 1776–1809
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Clarendon Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Piozzi
  given name: Hester Lynch
subject: 18th
subject: Journals
subject: Piozzi
subject: Biography
date: 1951
language: en
subject: PR3619.P5 A83 1951
number of volumes: 2
edition: 2nd ed.

James Boswell: The Earlier Years, 1740–1769
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: McGraw-Hill
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:200.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 28.
is referenced by: item_174557
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Law
subject: Religion
abstract: Pottle reconstructs the formative years of James Boswell, from his 1740 birth to his November 1769 marriage to Margaret Montgomerie. This definitive first volume of a two-volume biography supersedes Tinker’s Young Boswell (1922) by using the recovered Malahide Castle and Fettercairn House archives. Pottle argues for Boswell’s artistic creativity and significance independent of Johnson, expanding on a thesis first advanced in The Literary Career of James Boswell, Esq. (1929). The narrative details Boswell's education in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Utrecht, his "melancholy temperament," and a "passion for notoriety." Key episodes include a temporary conversion to Roman Catholicism, a failed attempt to join the Foot Guards, and his Grand Tour encounters with Voltaire and Rousseau. Pottle emphasizes Boswell’s role as a publicist following his unauthorized meeting with Pasquale Paoli in Corsica. Pottle highlights the 1763 introduction to Johnson, whom Boswell respected for his dictionary and sermons. Pottle demonstrates how Boswell used "circumstantial accuracy" and "characteristic conversation" to document Johnson while exploring his own mind through journals. The biography covers Boswell’s legal career, including the Douglas Cause and tensions with his father, Lord Auchinleck. Over one-fifth of the volume focuses on the years 1757–1763. It includes a prologue and an autobiographical sketch written for Rousseau in 1764. Pottle presents Boswell not as a buffoon, but as a talented lawyer and ambitious writer who captured 18th-century society by "writing to the moment." Chapter 1, "Sketch of the Early Life of James Boswell, Written by Himself for Jean Jacques Rousseau, 5 December 1764," presents an autobiographical account tracing the subject's childhood terrors, his "melancholy temperament," and the perceived failures of his early education. Chapter 2, untitled but addressing family history, establishes the subject’s identity as a "Scot of family," detailing the lineage of th…
date: 1966
language: en
short title: James Boswell
subject: PR3325 .P62 1966
num pages: xix, 606 p., [8] p. of plates

CGV entry 4:200.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 28.
type: Memo

item_174557
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Ralph Bergamo, Atlanta Journal and Constitution, May 22, 1966; Perry Carroll, University of Toronto Quarterly 36, no. 2 (1967): 198–202; James L. Clifford and John H. Middendorf, JNL 26, no. 2 (1966): 2–3; George Core, Sewanee Review 76, no. 4 (1968): 686–90; Patrick Cruttwell, Hudson Review 19, no. 4 (1966): 683–88; David Daiches, New York Times, June 19, 1966; William G. DeLana, Hartford Courant, May 22, 1966; Leon Edel, Saturday Review, April 30, 1966; Alexander Eulenberg, American Bar Association Journal 53, no. 4 (1967): 359; P. N. Furbank, The Listener 76, no. 1953 (1966): 325; Nancy Griffin, San Francisco Examiner, May 22, 1966; Matthew Hodgart, New Statesman, July 1, 1966; Robert R. Kirsch, LA Times, July 11, 1966; Gwin J. Kolb, Chicago Tribune, May 29, 1966; Louis Kronenberger, Book Week, May 22, 1966, 1; Thomas Lask, NYTBR, May 24, 1966; Leicester Daily Mercury, August 10, 1966; David Littlejohn, Reporter 35 (November 1966): 47–48; Roger Lonsdale, Yale Review 55 (1966): 117–19; Thomas Mahoney, Boston Globe, June 13, 1966; Raymond Mortimer, Sunday Times, August 7, 1966; Malcolm Muggeridge, The Observer, August 7, 1966; R. P. C. Mutter, TLS, no. 3385 (January 1967): 25; Newsweek, May 23, 1966; Iain Ross, Studies in Scottish Literature 5 (1967): 60–67; Roland Sawyer, Christian Science Monitor, July 18, 1966; The Economist, November 12, 1966; Time, July 1, 1966; John Wain, NYRB 6, no. 10 (1966): 3; Garry Wills, National Review 18, no. 32 (1966): 790–91.

James Boswell: As His Contemporaries Saw Him
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Rutherford, N.J.
authors: Person
  surname: Larsen
  given name: Lyle
is referenced by: item_33405
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Family
subject: Journals
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "This book draws upon letters, diaries, memoirs, book reviews, and newspaper articles to present a picture of James Boswell from the vantage point of those who knew him best. We hear what family, friends, rivals, critics, and satirists thought of the man who produced such notable works as An Account of Corsica, The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, and The Life of Samuel Johnson. Few major authors have generated such wildly fluctuating estimates over the years as Boswell. Both as a writer and as a man, he has stirred debate for more than two centuries. Scholars and critics have long differed, for instance, as to whether his Life of Johnson, published in 1791, is the finest biography in English or just "a pretty book" of questionable accuracy. One commentator recently maintained that his published journals are ‘the greatest English autobiographical epic,' while another has dismissed them as the ‘diary of a nobody.' Boswell has been acclaimed the greatest of modern biographers, but also attacked as a mere sycophant and fool. James Boswell: As His Contemporaries Saw Him reveals how contemporaries responded to the mans multifaceted talents and personality, and it reveals how estimates of James Boswell fluctuated just as wildly in his day as in ours." Critics are generally favorable, praising the work as a valuable chronological anthology of historical commentary. Kramnick, in SEL, welcomes the documentary compendium for tracing controversies back to the eighteenth century through accounts from friends and strangers, capturing a biography recorded in palimpsest. Looser’s review in SEL notes the text highlights the subject's enduring capacity to inspire intense fandom or enmity within the field. Lynch, in Choice, commends the assembly of several hundred selections from diverse sources, including obscure rare books and anonymous self-reviews, though he notes sparse endnotes and a need for more careful proofreading. Caudle, writing in…
date: 2008
language: en
subject: PR3325 .J35 2008
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8386-4171-2
num pages: 256

item_33405
type: Memo
value: Hundreds of short snippets on Boswell, from the 1760s until after his death, from contemporary writings. Inevitably includes many little-known comments on Johnson from periodicals, diaries, and letters.
subject: 18th

Johnson and Boswell in Scotland: A Journey to the Hebrides
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Yale University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New Haven
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Rogers
  given name: Pat
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Bibliography
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: History
subject: Johnson
subject: Locations
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: This scholarly edition presents Samuel Johnson's Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and James Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides in an integrated, parallel format. Rogers provides a comprehensive introduction describing the 1773 expedition as a "Grand Detour" that reversed the traditional southward trajectory of the Grand Tour. The volume includes a glossary of names, a detailed publishing history, and a note on the editorial policy of regularizing spelling while maintaining the distinct voices of both authors. Rogers incorporates Johnson's letters to Hester Thrale alongside the main narrative to offer a "stereoscopic" view of the journey. The front matter contextualizes the distinct motives of the travelers, noting that Johnson focused on the Scottish environment while Boswell focused on Johnson's character. Annotations and sectional divisions facilitate a "binaural" reading of their conversations. The edition includes contemporary illustrations and maps that document the travelers' passage through locations such as St. Andrews, Aberdeen, Skye, and Mull. Rogers's editorial framework emphasizes the human realism and psychological insight that Boswell's candid biographical approach introduced to the genre of life-writing. Critical reaction is mixed. Scholarly journals offer divergent views on the experimental parallel-text layout, while general reviews range from enthusiastic to hostile. Hammond and O'Brien, in separate reviews for RES, praise the volume as a fit monument that delivers a rewarding binaural experience, blending sociological enquiry with meticulous chronicling. Brack, in Rocky Mountain Review, and Johnsen's review (Field) both find the side-by-side presentation and inclusion of correspondence highly commendable for allowing direct comparisons of eighteenth-century perceptions. Merians, in Eighteenth-Century Scotland, enthusiastically recommends the volume for undergraduates, despite noting text deletions. But severe objections emerge r…
date: 1993
language: en
subject: DA880.H4 J6 1993
identifier: ISBN 978-0-300-05210-7
num pages: 330

Boswellian Studies: A Bibliography
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Edinburgh University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Edinburgh
authors: Person
  surname: Brown
  given name: Anthony E.
subject: 18th
subject: Boswell
subject: Bibliography
subject: Abstract
abstract: First appeared in Cairo Studies in English in 1964 (1966), containing nearly 700 items. It was subsequently "thoroughly revised and expanded" and reissued in hard cover as the Second Edition (1972). The final, definitive Third Edition (1991/1992), published by Edinburgh University Press, incorporated over a thousand new items, particularly press commentary from Boswell’s own era (1760-1795). The work’s strength lies in documenting the initial reception of Boswell’s works. However, the lengthy "General Studies" section of the later edition, which mixed "Victorian chat" with specialized modern scholarship without sufficient sub-categorization, drew criticism for its limited organizational utility. Despite structural critiques, Brown’s bibliography remains a valuable guide.
date: 1991
language: en
subject: Z8110.2 PR3325 .B75 1991
identifier: ISBN 978-0-7486-0303-9
edition: 3rd ed.
num pages: 176

The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Broadview Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Peterborough
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: Richard
  given name: Jessica Anne
is referenced by: item_33384
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "In Samuel Johnson's classic philosophical tale, the prince and princess of Abissinia escape their confinement in the Happy Valley and conduct an ultimately unsuccessful search for a choice of life that leads to happiness. Johnson uses the conventions of the Oriental tale to depict a universal restlessness of desire. The excesses of Orientalism — its superfluous splendours, its despotic tyrannies, its riotous pleasures — cannot satisfy us. His tale challenges us by showing the problem of finding happiness to be insoluble while still dignifying our quest for fulfillment. The appendices to this Broadview edition include reviews and biographies, selections from the sequel Dinarbas (1790), and the complete text of Elizabeth Pope Whately's The Second Part of the History of Rasselas (1835). Selections from Johnson's translation of the travel narrative A Voyage to Abyssinia, as well as his Oriental tales in the Rambler, are also included, along with another popular tale, Joseph Addison's "The Vision of Mirzah," and selections from Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's Turkish Embassy Letters."
date: 2008
language: en
short title: Rasselas
subject: PR3529.A2 R53 2008
identifier: ISBN 978-1-55111-601-3
num pages: 215

item_33384
type: Memo
value: A Broadview Edition, containing the full text of Rasselas along with selections from Johnson’s other writings (Lobo’s Voyage, Vanity, and Ramblers 4, 204, and 205), contemporary responses, and other examples of eighteenth-century Orientalism.

Letters to and from the Late Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: To Which Are Added Some Poems Never Before Printed. Published from the Original Mss. in Her Possession, by Hester Lynch Piozzi. In Two Volumes
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: printed for A. Strahan; & T. Cadell, in the Strand
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
authors: Person
  surname: Piozzi
  given name: Hester Lynch
is referenced by: CGV entry 23:1.
is referenced by: item_174530
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Correspondence
subject: Johnson
subject: Manuscripts
subject: Medicine
subject: Piozzi
subject: Poetry
abstract: A biographical memoir presenting the first substantial published collection of Johnson's correspondence, primarily with Piozzi and her family, detailing the final two decades of his life. Johnson frequently told Piozzi that his letters were her "best possessions." The work also includes some poems never before printed, specifically Johnson’s Latin verses to Dr. Lawrence, Piozzi’s translation of them, and Johnson’s translations from Boethius. Published in haste, the Letters appeared in London on March 8, 1788, in two octavo vols., published by A. Strahan and T. Cadell. A Dublin octavo edition also appeared in 1788. The book achieved commercial success. Piozzi received criticism for the work, notably a virulent attack from Giuseppe Baretti in the European Magazine. Boswell, who learned of the collection before publication, felt Piozzi’s publication made using the same letters discreditable for him. For the collection, Piozzi revised the text, thoroughly editing Johnson’s letters and inserting 28 of her own letters, nearly all of which were newly composed for the purpose and never sent to him. She omitted 92 known letters, including an angry one concerning her marriage to Gabriel Piozzi. The collection was later superseded by scholarly compilations, beginning with George Birkbeck Hill's two-vol. edition in 1892, which consciously avoided reprinting letters already published by Boswell. R. W. Chapman published a three-vol. edition (1952), including Piozzi’s own genuine letters to Johnson for the first time. Bruce Redford's Hyde Edition (1992–94) provides the most comprehensive collection in 5 vols., including 52 previously unpublished Johnson letters. An unsigned review in Critical Review initiates a positive appraisal, asserting that the compilation enhances the central subject's credit by exposing a labyrinth of the human heart, radical wretchedness, and infantine affection for children. An unsigned piece in English Review supports this favorable view, comparing the c…
date: 1788
language: en
short title: Letters
number of volumes: 2

CGV entry 23:1.
type: Memo

item_174530
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Joseph Baretti, European Magazine, and London Review 13 (May 1788): 314–15; Critical Review 65 (April 1788): 258–64; English Review 11 (May 1788): 352–60; General Magazine and Impartial Review 2 (March 1788); General Magazine and Impartial Review 2 (March 1788): 143–45; Literary Magazine and British Review 1, no. 1 (1788): 51–54; Town and Country Magazine 20 (May 1788): 236; Universal Magazine 82, no. 571 (1788): 143.

Pride and Negligence: The History of the Boswell Papers
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: McGraw-Hill
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:267.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 61.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Bibliography
subject: Boswell
subject: History
abstract: Pottle details the "publishing odyssey" of the private papers of James Boswell, challenging the long-held nineteenth-century belief that the archives had been "immediately destroyed" by Boswell's executors. The narrative traces the papers' descent through the Boswell family at Auchinleck and their subsequent transfer to Malahide Castle in Ireland and Fettercairn House in Scotland. Pottle attributes the suppression of the papers to a combination of "pride" among Boswell's descendants—who feared the "scandal and shame" of his "whoring, drinking bouts, and occasional sycophancy"—and the "negligence" of literary executors Sir William Forbes and Edmond Malone. The text explains the pivotal roles of scholar-collectors Chauncey Brewster Tinker and Ralph Isham in locating the "great trove" in unlikely storage sites, such as a croquet box and a stable loft. Pottle meticulously documents the labyrinthine legal battles, specifically the "Fettercairn Cause," which delayed the unification of the collection. He describes his own transition from assistant to Geoffrey Scott to lead editor of the Private Papers of James Boswell following Scott's premature death in 1929. The work concludes by chronicling the final negotiations managed by Donald Hyde and Herman Liebert that led to Yale University’s 1949 purchase of the papers, thereby making them accessible for modern historical and literary scholarship. Chapter 1, 'Puzzles at the Outset', explores James Boswell’s complex motivations for creating his vast archive and details the ambiguous legal provisions in his will that complicated the papers' early descent. Chapter 2, 'Johnson's Portrait Leaves Auchinleck', examines the papers’ return to the family estate and the subsequent legacy of censorship and neglect fueled by descendants’ embarrassment over Boswell’s reputation. Chapter 3, '“To that request the editor has never received any answer”', details the Victorian-era silence regarding the papers, specifically highlighting Sir James …
date: 1982
language: en
short title: Pride and negligence
subject: PR3325 .P617 1982
identifier: ISBN 978-0-07-050564-3
num pages: 290

CGV entry 4:267.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 61.
type: Memo

The Correspondence and Other Papers of James Boswell Relating to the Making of the 'Life of Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell: Research Edition: Correspondence
publisher: Edinburgh University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Edinburgh
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Waingrow
  given name: Marshall
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Correspondence
subject: Johnson
abstract: This edition—expanded to include the text of letters unavailable at the time of the volume’s first publication in 1969—records James Boswell’s quest over a period of more than twenty years to amplify his knowledge of his major biographical subject, Samuel Johnson, through a detailed correspondence with a wide network of friends, informants, and other authorities. The volume, with revised and updated annotation, shows Boswell’s struggles through his personal distresses to gather material for his Life of Johnson. It notes many of his revisions of his sources, changes made in manuscript and proof, and revisions of the first and second editions. It also presents letters that illuminate the contemporary reception of his powerfully innovative, controversial, and influential biography (which appeared first in 1791), taking the story as far as exchanges in 1808 between Boswell’s friend and editor, Edmond Malone, and his son, James Boswell the younger, about corrections for the sixth edition of 1811. Throughout, the annotation brings to life an extensive range of eighteenth-century figures, issues and topics. This corrected and enlarged version (the first edition had been out of print for two decades) serves as a valuable supplement and companion to the Yale manuscript edition of the Life of Johnson, upon which all future editions of Boswell’s biography will need to draw.
date: 2001
language: en
subject: PR3325 .A83 2001
identifier: ISBN 978-0-7486-1384-7 978-0-300-08307-1
edition: 2nd ed.
num pages: 524

The Essential Boswell: Selections from the Writings of James Boswell
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Martin
  given name: Peter
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Journals
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Martin’s anthology presents a selection of Boswell’s journals, letters, and published works to demonstrate a literary talent extending beyond being Johnson’s amanuensis. Martin provides an introductory biographical narrative and connective links that contextualize Boswell’s lifelong struggle with hypochondria, his search for paternal substitutes, and his paradoxical nature as both a disciplined writer and a dissolute man of pleasure. The volume includes the 1762–1763 London journal, accounts of continental travels, and selections from the major published biographies and essays. Martin explains that editorial policy aligns spelling and punctuation with modern practice, while notes identify people and events not clarified in the text. The contents include the first meeting with Johnson, interviews with Rousseau and Voltaire, the journey to Corsica to meet Paoli, and the agonizing composition of the biography of Johnson following the death of Boswell’s wife, Margaret Montgomerie. Martin identifies the collection as a harvest of discovered manuscripts that overhauled Boswell's status as an artist and individual. Boswell’s own introspection serves as a “transparency” or “mirror” for his restless thoughts, showing that he was a “composition of an infinite variety of ingredients.”
date: 2003
language: en
subject: PR3325 A6 2003
identifier: ISBN 978-0-297-60718-2
num pages: xxvi+422

Boswell: The Ominous Years, 1774–1776
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell
publisher: McGraw-Hill; Heinemann
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York & London
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Ryskamp
  given name: Charles
editors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:21.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Journals
abstract: The ninth volume in The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell trade edition series, covering 24 September 1774 to 12 June 1776. The contents document a period viewed by the author as "ominous," featuring interactions with Samuel Johnson and the London literary scene. Events chronicled include conversations with Johnson in spring 1775 (covering his Taxation No Tyranny controversy with Macpherson), a March 1776 trip with Johnson to Oxford and the Midlands, and the famous May 1776 dinner with Johnson and John Wilkes. The edition adheres to the trade series policy of modern spelling, capitalization, and punctuation, relying on a meticulous assembly of primary documents, including Journal notebooks (e.g., from Edinburgh and London), Notes and Memoranda, and over 160 letters. Pages torn out by the author when writing The Life of Johnson were recovered in 1940 and printed here for the first time as originally written. The Wilkes dinner account is taken from the Life of Johnson manuscript. Supplementary material includes an Introduction by Ryskamp, three appendices (including one on Scottish Courts), and genealogical tables. Critics are generally favorable, praising the psychological depth and rigorous scholarship of the volume. Kirsch, in the LA Times, considers the discovery and publication of the papers the most significant literary scholarship of the early twentieth century, predicting the subject's reputation will eventually overshadow Johnson's. In NYTBR, Halsband defends the subject against priggish detractors, arguing the text illuminates human thought without requiring forgiveness, while his review in Studies in English Literature commends the expert editorial work allowing direct comparison between raw entries and final biographical adaptations. Clifford, in JNL, calls it one of the finest popular editions, highlighting the inclusion of original manuscript accounts of the Wilkes dinner. Abbott, in The Listener, notes the subject's integrity in self-…
date: 1963
language: en
short title: Boswell
subject: PR3325 .A95 1963
num pages: 427

CGV entry 4:21.
type: Memo

Boswell: Laird of Auchinleck, 1778–1782
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell
publisher: McGraw-Hill
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Reed
  given name: Joseph W.
editors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:21.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Journals
subject: Locations
abstract: Reed and Pottle present a continuous narrative of Boswell's journals from May 1778 to September 1782, representing the most complete four-year stretch in the Boswellian record. The text details Boswell's "middle of life's journey" as a forty-year-old advocate in Edinburgh, characterized by a persistent "welter of themes" including his professional stagnation, recurring struggles with "morbid melancholy," and a complex, often antagonistic relationship with his father. The editors describe the journal's "organic" shape, highlighting major incidents such as the 1778 Carlisle Assizes, the 1779 anti-Catholic riots in Edinburgh, and Boswell's regular jaunts to London to "languish" for metropolitan society. Central to the volume is the death of Lord Auchinleck in August 1782; Boswell records the "shocking" hardness of his stepmother during the final illness and his own "giddy state" of grief and nervousness following the loss. Scholarly apparatus includes a detailed introduction exploring Boswell's "fantasy" of practicing at the English bar and his "ancestral piety" regarding the Auchinleck estate. The edition conflates multiple manuscript sources, including loose notes and bound notebooks, while providing extensive annotation on contemporary Scottish legal causes such as Crosse against Marshall. Appendices offer genealogical instructions Boswell provided to his son Sandy and a "Family Oath" sworn by his brother David, emphasizing Boswell's commitment to "aggrandize the family" of Auchinleck. Critics are generally favorable, praising the compelling adult portrait and meticulous editing, though a sharp divergence exists regarding the literary artistry of the unstructured text. Phillipson, in TLS, considers the volume the most important installment since the initial London records, praising the seamless presentation of a monumentally chaotic diary. Harris’s review in the New York Times welcomes the preservation of this quixotic self-portrait, while Kirsch, in the LA Times, l…
date: 1977
language: en
subject: PR3325 .A795 1977
identifier: ISBN 978-0-07-051520-8
num pages: 570

CGV entry 4:21.
type: Memo

Boswell: The Applause of the Jury, 1782–1785
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell
publisher: McGraw-Hill
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York & London
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Lustig
  given name: Irma S.
editors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:21.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Journals
abstract: Lustig and Pottle present Boswell's journals from his succession as ninth Laird of Auchinleck through the publication of his Hebridean tour. The editors document Boswell's initial 'extraordinary metamorphosis' into a model agriculturalist and paternalistic landlord. They trace his recurring depression in Edinburgh and his 'irresistible pull southwards' to London. The text records Boswell's final interactions with Johnson, including their shared trip to Oxford and the 'Extraordinary Johnsoniana-Tacenda' regarding Johnson's sexual morality. It details Boswell's political failures, specifically his Letter to the People of Scotland, and his transition to the English bar. The volume culminates in the 'triumph' of the Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, prepared with Malone's assistance. Lustig emphasizes Boswell's 'will-power, emerging as tenacity and inventiveness' in fixing his experiences verbally to stave off metaphysical terrors and the 'nothingness of all things.' Critics are generally favorable, praising the high standard of the editorial work while examining the darker, more somber depiction of the subject during middle age. Broyard, in the New York Times, offers a more negative perspective, labeling the work sad and arguing that neither primary figure appears at his best, while dismissing newly revealed information about Johnsonian sexuality as an unnecessary fuss. But Amory, in the Sunday Times, commends the perfection of the editing by Lustig and Pottle, focusing on the intensely human failings and creative gloom of the subject, though Amory disputes the claim that the subject possessed a strong visual sense. Burgess, in the Observer, approves of the sophisticated narrative technique and candor regarding marital relations, noting that the absence of Johnson in the foreground makes him appear more real. In JNL, Middendorf highlights the transition where obsessive self-absorption eclipses earlier engagement with the world, while an unsigned review in JNL commends…
date: 1981
language: en
subject: PR3325 .A799 1981
identifier: ISBN 978-0-07-039114-7
num pages: 419

CGV entry 4:21.
type: Memo

Boswell: The English Experiment, 1785–1789
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell
publisher: McGraw-Hill
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Lustig
  given name: Irma S.
editors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:21.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Alcohol
subject: Boswell
subject: Journals
subject: Law
abstract: Boswell chronicles the pivotal and most painful period of his mid-life career transition from an Edinburgh advocate to an English barrister. Motivated by a perennial need for agitation and social elevation in London, Boswell faces significant obstacles, including ignorance of English common law and a lack of professional connections. His English experiment yields little legal success, leading to a growing sense of failure and financial encumbrance. In desperation, he accepts the patronage of the ruthless James Lowther, first Earl of Lonsdale, serving as Counsel to the Mayor of Carlisle and eventually as Recorder of Carlisle. This association involves the loss of personal independence and the destructive fantasy of a shortcut to eminence. Concurrently, Boswell manages the publication of the Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides and begins drafting the Life of Johnson, supported by the Gang—Malone, Reynolds, and Courtenay. The journals record his insatiable need for attention alongside the domestic tragedy of his wife Margaret’s fatal consumption, which he largely neglects in pursuit of pleasure and ambition. Boswell experiences the relentless drive of forces as he balances legal aspirations, political maneuvering for a parliamentary seat, and his enduring commitment to do honour to Johnson's memory. Critics are generally favorable, praising the admirable editing by Lustig and Pottle while tracking the dark narrative of professional failure and personal grief. In the NYT, Gross emphasizes the painful mood of the work, noting the subject's self-revelation, gloom, and anxiety during a miserable dependence on Lord Lonsdale. Fuller, in the WSJ, highlights a volatile reaction against Johnson's memory and the crucial role of Malone in driving the biography forward. In the LA Times, Hillier offers a highly favorable assessment, praising the editors' tracking of obscure quotations and contrasting the subject's personal flaws with an unrockable honesty and commitment to research. …
date: 1986
language: en
subject: PR3325 .A7994 1986
identifier: ISBN 978-0-07-039116-1
num pages: 332

CGV entry 4:21.
type: Memo

Boswell on the Grand Tour: Italy, Corsica and France, 1765–1766
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell
publisher: McGraw-Hill; Heinemann
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York & London
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Brady
  given name: Frank
editors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
is referenced by: Also published by William Heinemann, London, 1956 (limited and trade).
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:21.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Journals
subject: Travel
abstract: This fifth volume in the trade edition series of The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell covers 1 January 1765 to 23 February 1766. The contents, previously published in the limited Isham collection (1928–1930), chronologically detail the author's Grand Tour through Italy, Corsica, and France. Key events include crossing the Alps, sojourns in Turin, Milan, Naples (consorting with John Wilkes), Rome, Venice, Florence, and Siena (with Girolama Piccolomini), and an unauthorized trip to Corsica to visit revolutionary leader Pasquale Paoli (October-November 1765). The journey concluded with a hurried return following his mother's death in Paris (January 1766). The text is a reconstruction drawing on the main journal texts (e.g., Journal in Switzerland and Italy), highly condensed Memoranda and Notes (90 octavo leaves, 1 Jan–11 Oct 1765), Ten-Lines-a-Day Verses (9 quarto leaves), and over 210 letters. The text is in modern spelling with English translations of French/Italian passages. It includes The Journal of a Tour to Corsica from the third edition (1769) of An Account of Corsica. Supplemental materials include an unsent letter to Rousseau (3 October 1765) and the complete correspondence with Girolama Piccolomini (1766–1769). Critics are generally favorable, praising the vivid presentation of historical encounters and the editors' skillful synthesis of fragmentary source materials, though a few prominent reviewers express strong reservations about the protagonist’s character and textual redundancy. Gregory, in the New York Times, celebrates the work as the output of one of the greatest diarists of all time, emphasizing the bold candor of the continental travels. In the New York Herald Tribune, Krutch designates this installment as the spiciest of the papers, highlighting the uninhibited pursuit of self-identity and suppressed amatory details. Abbott, writing in The Listener, commends the editors for their masterful marshalling of diverse memoranda, let…
date: 1955
language: en
short title: Boswell on the grand tour
subject: PR3325 .A92
num pages: 356

Also published by William Heinemann, London, 1956 (limited and trade).
type: Memo

CGV entry 4:21.
type: Memo

Boswell in Search of a Wife, 1766–1769
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell
publisher: McGraw-Hill; Heinemann
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York & London
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Brady
  given name: Frank
editors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
is referenced by: Also published by William Heinemann, London, 1957 (limited and trade).
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:21. The London edition was published in 1957.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Alcohol
subject: Boswell
subject: Journals
abstract: This sixth volume in the trade edition series of The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell covers 1766 through 1769, chronologically detailing the author's search for a wife, culminating in his November 1769 marriage to Margaret Montgomerie. The general-audience volume follows his return to Scotland from Europe, chronicles his "zigzag course" between candidates like Girolama Piccolomini and Catherine Blair, and his affair with Mrs. Dodds ("Circe"). Major events include his legal practice as an advocate, prominent involvement in the Douglas Cause, composition and publication of the successful An Account of Corsica (1768), two visits to London (with conversations with Johnson), and his celebrated appearance as a Corsican Chief at Garrick’s Shakespeare Jubilee. The text, which omits material cuts from fully written journal sections, is presented in modern spelling and draws on a mass of documents, including Journal in Scotland, Notes for Journal in London, and correspondence. Supplemental materials include an Introduction by Frank Brady, genealogical tables, and an Index. Critical reaction is mixed, shifting between praise for the vivid historical tapestry and revulsion at the subject's personal behavior. Clifford, in NYTBR and JNL, welcomes the absorbing assembly of disparate documents, noting that the manuscript versions of key conversations offer valuable variations for specialists. In the LA Times, Merlin celebrates the shameless, fascinating exposure of human egotism, while Bloom, in Saturday Review, highlights the effective reconstruction of a paradoxical nature. But Fulford, in the Manchester Guardian, delivers a scathing review, calling the volume a tedious mish-mash that parades unpleasantness under the guise of scholarship. Nicolson’s review in The Observer is similarly hostile, dismissing the protagonist as a lecherous, histrionic drunkard. Pacing and editorial decisions also draw criticism; Ferguson, in the American Scholar, warns that genera…
date: 1956
language: en
subject: PR3325 .A895
num pages: 390

Also published by William Heinemann, London, 1957 (limited and trade).
type: Memo

CGV entry 4:21. The London edition was published in 1957.
type: Memo

The Letters of Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Princeton University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Princeton
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: Redford
  given name: Bruce
is referenced by: item_174554
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Bibliography
subject: Correspondence
subject: Johnson
abstract: The 'Hyde Edition' (in honor of Donald and Mary Hyde) comprises five volumes devoted to the author's correspondence. The collection aims to supersede the previous three-volume edition by R. W. Chapman. It provides materials for a fresh assessment of the author as a man of letters. The edition offers new letters, more accurate texts, and updated annotation. The contents present the author's letters in chronological order, spanning from 1731 to 1784. The correspondence covers fifty-three years and ranges widely in audience, addressed to noblemen, children, merchants, scholars, Scotsmen, and printers; the letters vary in tone from courtly and intimate to formal and hastened, sometimes expressing profound sadness or positive glee. Letters composed for others and public dissertations presented as letters are excluded from the main text. The collection includes an additional fifty-two previously unknown letters or parts of letters discovered since the earlier three-volume edition. Notable new letters include twelve to Charlotte Lennox, and a letter of consolation to Mary Cholmondeley dated 6 May 1777. A central focus of the edition is textual accuracy, returning to original manuscripts wherever possible, enabling the transcription of scores of texts for the first time from original documents. This approach provided forty-two letters to Hester Thrale, previously known only through the "corrupt text" of the 1788 edition, to be transcribed from holographs. It also allowed transcription of Johnson's letter of thanks to Lord Bute (20 July 1762) from the holograph. Moreover, dozens of other letters, formerly known only through inferior printed texts or copies, are printed here from original documents. The reliance on holographs permitted the restoration of Johnson's original orthography, punctuation, and language. The edition applies an editorial policy that models annotation and transcription on the style sheet for the Yale Research Edition of the Private Papers of James Boswe…
date: 1992-1994
language: en
short title: Letters
subject: PR3533 .A4 1992
number of volumes: 5
identifier: ISBN 978-0-691-06881-7
edition: The Hyde Edition

item_174554
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Peter Ackroyd, The Times (London), February 22, 1992; Alan Bell, The Spectator 268, no. 8549 (1992): 30; Bloomsbury Review 13 (1993); Asa Briggs, Washington Times, February 16, 1992; Asa Briggs, Washington Times, March 27, 1994; John J. Burke Jr., South Atlantic Review 60, no. 2 (1995): 153–60; Greg Clingham, Essays in Criticism 43, no. 3 (1993): 253–57; Patricia Craddock, JNL 52, no. 1 (1992): 3–5; Anthony Curtis, Financial Times, March 21, 1992; Catherine Dille, New Rambler, Series D, no. 10 (1994-95): 66–68; Margaret Anne Doody, LRB 14, no. 21 (1992): 10–12; Robert Folkenflik, ECS 33, no. 2 (2000): 289–99; N. Fruman, Choice 29, nos. 11–12 (1992): 1677; N. Fruman, Choice 32, no. 1 (1994): 106; James Gray, Dalhousie Review 73, no. 1 (1993): 113–16; James Gray, Dalhousie Review 73, no. 3 (1993): 420–23; John Gross, Sunday Telegraph (London), March 13, 1994; Isobel Grundy, AJ 8 (1997): 415–20; Isobel Grundy, ECS 27, no. 1 (1993): 170–75; Lichfield Mercury, March 31, 1994; Lawrence Lipking, New Republic 207, no. 19 (1992): 36–40; Anne McDermott, RES, n.s., vol. 45, no. 179 (1994): 426–29; Anne McDermott, RES, n.s., vol. 46, no. 184 (1995): 614; Carey McIntosh, AJ 5 (1992): 421–33; Wendy Jones Nakanishi, English Studies 77, no. 6 (1996): 592–94; David Nokes, TLS, no. 4650 (May 1992): 24; David Nokes, TLS, no. 4742 (March 1994): 11; Patrick O’Brian, Daily Telegraph (London), April 22, 1992; J. Enoch Powell, Sunday Times (London), March 1, 1992; Claude Rawson, LRB 9, no. 9 (1987): 18; Christopher Ricks, New Criterion 11, no. 1 (1992): 38–41; Joseph Rosenblum, Library Journal 116, no. 18 (1991): 99; Merle Rubin, Christian Science Monitor, April 1, 1992; Toru Sasaki, Studies in English Literature 82 (2006): 171–77; Michael Seidel, Newsday, February 2, 1992; Michael Seidel, Newsday, March 6, 1994; Giles Smith, The Independent, February 23, 1992; The Economist, May 9, 1992; The Spectator 273, no. 8672 (1994): 34–35; Ann Thomson, XVII–XVIII 25 (1993): 527; Village Vo…

Boswell for the Defence, 1769–1774
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell
publisher: McGraw-Hill
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Wimsatt
  given name: William K., Jr.
editors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
is referenced by: Also published by William Heinemann, London, 1960.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:21.
is referenced by: item_174514
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Journals
abstract: Wimsatt and Pottle edit the journals covering Boswell's early married life and his maturation as a 'Benedict' and 'Scots advocate.' The text follows Boswell from his 'extraordinary serenity' as a young husband to the return of 'radical impulses of extravagance.' Major events include Boswell's 1772 and 1773 London trips, his admission to the Literary Club, and the 1773 tour to the Hebrides with Johnson. Wimsatt focuses on Boswell's role as a 'self-appointed public defender' for common criminals, climaxing in the 'macabre and poignant' seven-week struggle for the life of John Reid. The journals provide 'rich materials' for the Life of Johnson, including conversations with Goldsmith and Garrick. The editors highlight Boswell's 'realistic' verbal art and his 'capacity to entertain the jostling opposites' of morality and dissipation. Reviews are overwhelmingly positive, with critics praising the compelling psychological depth, the revelation of humanitarian impulses, and the meticulous construction of the composite text. Reviewers emphasize the compelling contrast between professional obligations in Edinburgh and restorative literary interactions in London. Halsband, in NYTBR, commends the accurate management of the complicated editorial task, noting the text reinforces a genius for particular history. Morley's review in TLS recognizes the heights of descriptive power forced by the central capital trial, though arguing the author relies on fascinating companions to command the attention of posterity. Kirsch, writing in the LA Times, praises the terrible honesty and reflective intensity that define the autobiographical writing despite the emerging private distress. In the New Statesman, Pritchett values the fluid personality and phenomenal will displayed, celebrating the author as a superb artist who captured his own unstable, extreme emotions. Kolb's review in the Virginia Quarterly Review analyzes the transition into a busy advocate, though questioning whether the massi…
date: 1959
language: en
subject: PR3325 .A885
num pages: 396

Also published by William Heinemann, London, 1960.
type: Memo

CGV entry 4:21.
type: Memo

item_174514
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Claude Colleer Abbott, The Listener 64 (October 1960): 647; Richard D. Altick, New York Herald Tribune, December 27, 1959; Guy Bervin, The Gazette (Montreal), December 10, 1960; Hal Burton, Newsday, December 5, 1959; Jacques Chauvin, Études Anglaises 15 (1962): 80–81; Raymond Fletcher, The Tribune (Blackpool), October 14, 1960; George Fraser, Aberdeen Evening Express, October 12, 1960; John Gore, The Sphere 243, no. 3154 (1960): 281; Robert Halsband, NYTBR, December 13, 1959; Benjamin Kaplan, Harvard Law Review 73, no. 7 (1960): 1428–32; Robert R. Kirsch, LA Times, February 9, 1960; Gwin J. Kolb, Chicago Daily Tribune, December 6, 1959; Gwin J. Kolb, Virginia Quarterly Review 36, no. 2 (1960): 307–10; Edward A. Laycock, Daily Boston Globe, December 13, 1959; Doris Lessing, The Spectator 205, no. 6904 (1960): 609; J. R. Lindley, Mercury, October 21, 1960; J. R. Lindley, Transactions of the Johnson Society (Lichfield), 1960, 44–46; H. A. Morgan, NR (January 1961): 23–24; F. V. Morley, TLS, no. 3059 (October 1960): 663; New York Herald Tribune, December 7, 1959; V. S. Pritchett, New Statesman, October 29, 1960; Sydney Roberts, Sunday Times (London), October 9, 1960; Marjory Rutherford, Atlanta Journal and Constitution, December 13, 1959; Stuart Shaw, Globe and Mail (Toronto), December 31, 1960; The Economist, November 19, 1960; The Gazette (Montreal), January 30, 1960; Clarence Tracy, Queen’s Quarterly 67 (1960): 487–88.

Boswell in Extremes, 1776–1778
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell
publisher: McGraw-Hill
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York & London
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Weis
  given name: Charles McC
editors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:21.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Journals
abstract: Part of the Yale Trade Edition. Covers Boswell’s journals from 1776 through 1778, documenting Boswell’s life and continued association with Johnson. The editorial policy for the trade edition is to present the text of Boswell’s private papers with annotation primarily "turned inwards towards the text," in contrast to the Research Edition’s outward-facing annotation. The organization is strictly chronological, drawing on Boswell's original manuscript material discovered in the 1930s. Critics are generally favorable toward this edition. Clifford and Middendorf, in JNL, praise the volume for providing crucial, newly discovered documents that allow scholars to compare the raw notes directly against the final biographical prose. Coley's review in SEL highlights the historical and psychological value of the text, emphasizing the accounts of London visits and political discussions. In the Sunday Times, Connolly focuses on the dramatic presentation of human frailty alongside the lucid recording of conversation. Disagreements arise regarding the editorial choices for different audiences; Crossman, in the New Statesman, argues that the publication lacks necessary features for general readers, such as glossaries, and objects to the psychological explanations provided by the editors. But Wolff's review in Newsweek praises the light annotation style aimed at the general public, noting that the text offers exceptional vibrancy. Cruttwell, in the Washington Post, and Trevor-Roper, in The Listener, both emphasize the compelling depiction of severe emotional volatility and political engagement. Halsband, in the Saturday Review, commends the editorial arrangement and commentary. Walker, in the TLS, values the learned annotations as essential for navigating the complex text and notes how the volume reveals the conscious shaping of the final biography. Tracy, in Queen's Quarterly, offers a mixed assessment, praising the urbane editorial notes but concluding that the repetitive patterns…
date: 1970
language: en
subject: PR3325 .A887 1970
identifier: ISBN 978-0-07-069059-2
num pages: xxviii, 418

CGV entry 4:21.
type: Memo

The Oxford Authors: Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: Greene
  given name: Donald J.
is referenced by: CGV entry 2:44. An 840-page collection, part of the series with general editor Frank Kermode.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Journals
subject: Law
subject: Paperback
subject: Poetry
subject: Religion
abstract: Greene presents a comprehensive selection from Johnson’s canon, aiming to shift focus from his "personality" to his achievement as a writer. The volume includes major works such as Rasselas, The Vanity of Human Wishes, and the prefaces to the Dictionary and Shakespeare, alongside substantial samplings of less familiar political, legal, and theological prose. Greene provides a detailed biographical and critical introduction, a chronology of Johnson’s life, and extensive explanatory notes. The editorial policy prioritizes "the best texts available," with Greene drawing from first editions and Johnson’s later revisions. Texts are modernized in spelling and punctuation to facilitate readability, though Johnson’s specific capitalizations in diaries and letters are preserved. Facsimiles of the Dictionary and Shakespeare edition are included to illustrate Johnson’s methodology. Greene highlights the "verbal artistry" and "wide-ranging curiosity" evident throughout the collection, asserting that Johnson remains one of the most knowledgeable and insightful writers in English literature. Critics are generally favorable, praising the anthology for its inclusive nature and its deliberate emphasis on the written output over biographical caricature. Robson, in TLS, describes the volume as admirably done, praising the informative and lucid introduction, though suggesting a companion volume of conversational extracts would help satisfy general readers. In RES, Mezciems calls the collection a best buy that serves as a superior introduction for students, though noting that the poetry remains under-represented. Middendorf's review in JNL commends the presentation of the subject's wide-ranging mind, defending the focus on the written word against critics who miss the conversational persona. Writing in N&Q, Lurcock identifies the anthology as the most significant publication of the bicentennial year, celebrating the scholarly rigor and the potential to shift critical focus away from per…
date: 1984
language: en
subject: PR3522 .G73 1984
identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-254179-6 978-0-19-281340-4
num pages: 840

CGV entry 2:44. An 840-page collection, part of the series with general editor Frank Kermode.
type: Memo

Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: 21st-Century Oxford Authors
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: Womersley
  given name: David
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "This volume in the 21st-Century Oxford Authors series offers students an authoritative, comprehensive selection of the work of Samuel Johnson (1709–1784). Accompanied by full scholarly apparatus, the edition enables students to study Johnson's work in the order in which it was written, and, wherever possible, using the text of the first published version. The volume presents a selection of Johnson's most important writings, drawn from all periods of his life. It reflects almost completely the range of literary forms in which Johnson wrote, including poetic translation, biographical sketches, literary criticism, and letters. It includes a broad selection from The Rambler (1750–1752) and The Idler (1758–1760), along with the travel narrative A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775), and a selection from The Lives of the Poets (1781). David Womersley's introduction explores how Johnson's mastery of style enabled him to adopt various personae, sometimes simultaneously, in order to communicate through many different genres and registers. Johnson is shown to be an active participant in the philosophical and social currents of his time. This selection reveals an author driven by deeply held principles, concerned with how the ethical, political, and affective dimensions of language go beyond vocabulary and reach into the lives of its users. Explanatory notes and commentary are included to enhance the study, understanding, and enjoyment of these works, and the edition includes an Introduction to the Life of Johnson, and a Chronology."
date: 2018
language: en
subject: PR3522 .W675 2018
identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-960951-2
num pages: 1294

Essays from the Rambler, Adventurer, and Idler
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Yale University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New Haven
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: Bate
  given name: Walter Jackson
is referenced by: CGV entry 16:14. Contains 79 essays, 69 of them complete, from Volumes 3-5 of the Yale Edition of Johnson's Works.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Essays
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
abstract: This edition presents seventy-nine selected essays from the Rambler, Adventurer, and Idler, sixty-nine of which appear in their entirety. Bate draws the text from the Yale Edition of Johnson, volumes II through V, while removing heavy textual apparatus to facilitate student access. The collection emphasizes Johnson's role as a moralist and critic, covering approximately one-third literary criticism and two-thirds moral discourse. Bate identifies the historical lineage of these works not merely in the tradition of Addison and Steele but in Renaissance humanism and seventeenth-century religious prose. The introduction characterizes the essays as "satire manqué," where Johnson’s unillusioned view of human nature is tempered by "sadness and a final charity." Editorial policies include maintaining the parent edition's text, expanding explanatory notes, and inserting identifications for mottoes and quotations. Bate notes the varied circumstances of composition, from the "extemporaneous" haste of the Rambler to the "lighter vein" of the Idler, which Johnson wrote with less commitment and fewer revisions. The volume aims to provide the "heart of Johnson" by focusing on universal themes of self-delusion, the "hunger of imagination," and the practical application of truth to human life.
date: 1968
language: en
subject: PR3522 .B3 1968
num pages: 364

CGV entry 16:14. Contains 79 essays, 69 of them complete, from Volumes 3-5 of the Yale Edition of Johnson's Works.
type: Memo

Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary: Selections from the 1755 Work that Defined the English Language
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Levenger Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Delray Beach, Fla.
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: Lynch
  given name: Jack
is referenced by: Republished: New York: Walker & Co., 2003; London: Atlantic, 2004.
is referenced by: item_174465
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Reference
abstract: This selection from the first edition of the 1755 lexicon preserves the original uncut entries, including etymologies, definitions, and usage notes, while implementing conservative typographical updates. Lynch replaces the "long-s" with the short "s," regularizes italics, and converts entry words from all-caps to mixed-case with stressed accents. The text also shifts from eighteenth-century alphabetization, which conflated "I/J" and "U/V," to a modern alphabetical sequence. Although the derivative "Grammar" and "History of the Language" are omitted, the volume includes the full "Preface" and "Plan of a Dictionary of the English Language." Lynch selects entries based on their enduring literary significance, interesting shifts in meaning, or their role as "self-quotations" by Johnson. Lynch notes that Johnson moved from a prescriptive to a descriptive theory of lexicography, famously determining that "general agreement" among authors—rather than a "lexicographer's fancy"—regulates the language. This edition serves as a record of a "rapidly changing world" at the dawn of the industrial revolution. The critical reception is overwhelmingly positive, with reviewers praising the volume as an intelligent, entertaining, and accessible curation of a literary masterpiece. Carey, in the Sunday Times, calls the beautifully produced volume a perfect complement to biographical monographs, noting that the selection of low words highlights the democratic nature of the lexicographical project. Kirsch's review in Slate highlights the subjective, literary nature of the methodology, praising the salient choices that showcase classical prose, industry, and genius. In the LA Times, Ulin characterizes the abridgment as a window to one man's soul reflecting a singular labor, arguing the colorful insults serve as a necessary corrective to modern linguistic imprecision. Burke, writing in the WSJ, examines the selections to reflect on the immense toil of the original enterprise. An unsigned re…
date: 2002
language: en
subject: PE1620 .J6 2002
identifier: ISBN 978-1-929154-10-4
num pages: 646

Republished: New York: Walker & Co., 2003; London: Atlantic, 2004.
type: Memo

item_174465
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Andrew Billen, The Times (London), December 4, 2004; Michael Bundock, NR, Series E, no. 5 (2001): 76–77; Jeffrey Burke, WSJ, October 10, 2003; John Carey, Sunday Times (London), March 27, 2005; Quentin De la Bédoyère, Catholic Herald, June 3, 2005; Janadas Devan, Straits Times (Singapore), June 6, 2004; Jan Freeman, Boston Globe, December 7, 2003; Jayne Howarth, Birmingham Post, November 20, 2004; Christopher Howse, The Spectator, no. 4848 (November 2004); John Izzard, Quadrant, June 2005, 85–87; JNL 54, no. 1 (2003): 73–74; James J. Kilpatrick, Chicago Sun-Times, July 21, 2002; Adam Kirsch, Slate, September 17, 2003; Sam McManis, News Tribune (Tacoma), May 8, 2005; Harry Mead, Northern Echo, March 1, 2005; Edward Pearce, The Herald (Glasgow), November 27, 2004; Michael Potemra, National Review 55, no. 19 (2003): 58; Reference and Research Book News 19, no. 1 (2004); Michael Rogers, Library Journal 128, no. 18 (2003): 129; Jonathan Sale, Financial Times Weekend Magazine, November 20, 2004; David Self, Times Educational Supplement, October 29, 2004, 17; Jesse Sheidlower, BookForum 12, no. 3 (2005): 5–7; Jeff Simon, Buffalo News, August 24, 2003; Southern Johnsonian 11, no. 4 (2004): 2; Sharon Stockdale, Madera Tribune, February 12, 2004; Sunday Herald (Glasgow), October 24, 2004; W. L. Svitavsky, Choice 41, no. 3 (2003): 1888; Paul Tankard, The Age (Melbourne), September 28, 2002; David L. Ulin, LA Times, September 9, 2003.

The Thirtieth of January Sermon: Swift, Johnson, Sterne, and the Evolution of Culture: The American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies James L. Clifford Lecture, 2008
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Life
  type: Journal
  volume: 34
  number: 1
  alternative: ECL
  identifier: ISSN 0098-2601
authors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
link: EBSCO Full Text
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Law
subject: Religion
abstract: Weinbrot analyzes the evolution of sermons commemorating the execution of Charles I, focusing on Swift, Johnson, and Sterne. While early sermons are High Church and outraged, they gradually become rhetorically indifferent. Johnson's contribution for his friend John Taylor avoids traditional theories of causation. Instead of Puritan hostility, Johnson identifies the broader human emotion of envy that leads to strife, using the text "Where envying and strife is, there is confusion." Johnson transmutes the particular into the general, arguing that human misery arising from inequality is "incurable." Although Johnson thought James II was properly deposed, he later argued that the thirtieth of January memorial should end. He tells Boswell in 1772 that he wished it "had been a temporary act" that expired with the century. Johnson rejects regicide in favor of legal resistance to "such oppression as may be lawfully resisted."
date: 2010/Winter
language: en
date submitted: 2015-11-06 14:29:21
pages: 29–55

EBSCO Full Text
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
subject: Religion
date submitted: 2015-11-06 14:29:21
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Moral Travel and Narrative Form in A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and The Expedition of Humphry Clinker
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: Ohio State University
authors: Person
  surname: Wanzer
  given name: John Douglas
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
subject: Scotland
subject: Abstract
abstract: Wanzer examines the philosophic ideas of empirical morality that direct Johnson’s performance as a traveler in his "Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland." The study explores how Johnson's focus on "men and manners" reflects eighteenth-century beliefs about perception and experience. Johnson reasons from human behavior to the moral causes informing it, using a "circumstantial method" to judge achievements within unique settings. Wanzer highlights Johnson's insistence on accurate measurement and his use of travel to "enlarge knowledge and rectify opinions." The dissertation also analyzes Tobias Smollett’s "Humphry Clinker," tracing how its narrators evolve from self-absorbed observers to more objective travelers. Wanzer demonstrates that both works are grounded in the Lockean conviction that man’s primary duty is to know himself through the study of human conduct in various environments.
date: 1980
language: en
type: PhD thesis

Johnson and the Trees of Scotland
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Philological Quarterly
  type: Journal
  volume: 61
  number: 1
  alternative: PQ
  identifier: ISSN 0031-7977
authors: Person
  surname: Walker
  given name: Robert G.
is referenced by: CGV entry 21:164.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Scotland
abstract: Johnson's frequent criticism of the "want of trees" in Scotland, a prevalent theme in his Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775), stems from more than ethnic prejudice. Johnson was participating in a Western humanistic tradition, dating back to Cicero, where the planting of trees was considered a sign of a concern for posterity and an implicit belief in immortality. To Johnson, the failure of long-range cultivation in Scotland indicated a profound philosophical and sociological crisis, signifying a break between the present and future generations.
date: 1982/Winter
language: en
pages: 98–101

CGV entry 21:164.
type: Memo

James Boswell and Scotland in An Account of Corsica
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century
authors: Person
  surname: Viviès
  given name: Jean
subject: 18th
subject: Travel
subject: Scotland
subject: Boswell
date: 1992
language: en
pages: 1651–1653

Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century
type: Journal
volume: 305
alternative: SVEC
identifier: ISSN 0435-2866

'Generous Attachment': The Politics of Biography in the Tour to the Hebrides
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Dr. Samuel Johnson and James Boswell
  type: Book
  is part of: Modern Critical Views
publisher: Chelsea House
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Turnbull
  given name: Gordon
editors: Person
  surname: Bloom
  given name: Harold
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:287.
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
date: 1986
language: en
pages: 227–238

CGV entry 4:287.
type: Memo

Travels into the Unknown: Rasselas and A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Unknown Samuel Johnson
publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Madison
authors: Person
  surname: Tomarken
  given name: Edward
editors: Person
  surname: Burke
  given name: John J., Jr.
editors: Person
  surname: Kay
  given name: Donald
is referenced by: CGV entry 18:196.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: Tomarken presents a comparative analysis of Rasselas and A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, arguing that both works employ a similar "educational procedure" by juxtaposing opposing viewpoints. He describes the Journey as "historical autobiography," where the narrator’s personal growth and "honestly admitted limitations" provide insight into the "historical dilemma" of the Hebrides. Tomarken notes that while Rasselas points toward the "everyday world of private decisions," the Journey evokes the "realm of public events" and history. He finds the concluding paragraph of the Journey—where a man in his sixties doubts his "ability to instruct"—to be a "startling" example of the "unknown Samuel Johnson." The article concludes that Johnson skilfully concludes the Journey by "placing himself within history," creating a "self-corrective" narrative that transcends simple personalized history.
date: 1983
language: en
pages: 150–167

CGV entry 18:196.
type: Memo

A Historico-Literary Text: Samuel Johnson in Scotland
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Life
  type: Journal
  volume: 4
  number: 1
  alternative: ECL
  identifier: ISSN 0098-2601
authors: Person
  surname: Tomarken
  given name: Edward
is referenced by: CGV entry 21:158.
subject: 18th
subject: History
subject: Johnson
subject: Scotland
date: 1977
language: en
pages: 23–28

CGV entry 21:158.
type: Memo

Two Perceptions of One Trip: Samuel Johnson's Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and James Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D.
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: Harvard University
authors: Person
  surname: Ogu
  given name: Julius Nwuju
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 318.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Journals
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: Ogu systematically compares the disparate accounts of the 1773 Scotland tour by Johnson and Boswell, exploring the philosophical and literary reasons for their differences. The study focuses on how divergences in genre, purpose for publication, and mode of presentation shape the authors' perceptions of reality. It demonstrates that differences in character and literary goals—Johnson's rationalist, public survey versus Boswell's romanticist, biographical journal—result in two distinct, yet complementary, narratives of the same events, serving as an exemplum of Locke's theory of individual, unique perception. The analysis contrasts their selectivity of detail and their portrayals of themselves and each other.
date: 1979
language: en
num pages: 378
type: PhD thesis

Cochrane entry 318.
type: Memo

Informational Biography and the Lives of the Poets
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 22
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Nunnery
  given name: David
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Lives
subject: Philosophy
subject: Poetry
abstract: Nunnery argues that Johnson, in his Lives of the Poets, moved beyond traditional exemplary biography towards "informational biography." This approach treats lives as data fields from which readers induce provisional patterns about achieving happiness, rather than as illustrations of universal truths. Using the Life of Pope as a key example, Nunnery contends Johnson presents complex, contingent characters and invites readers into an inductive, interpretive process alongside him as a mentor, acknowledging life's irreducibility to formulae and emphasizing the reader's epistemological needs in navigating uncertainty and pursuing temporal happiness.
date: 2012
language: en
pages: 1–21

'Rotation of Interests': Johnson's Concept of Social and Historical Encounter and Change
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Fresh Reflections on Samuel Johnson: Essays in Criticism
publisher: Whitston
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Troy
authors: Person
  surname: Novak
  given name: Maximillian E.
editors: Person
  surname: Nath
  given name: Prem
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
subject: History
subject: Abstract
abstract: Novak explores Johnson's complex philosophy of history, moving beyond his noted skepticism about traditional historical narratives focused on monarchs and battles. Johnson valued history for moral reflection and understanding human nature, preferring accounts revealing the "progress of the human mind." Novak highlights Johnson's concept of the "rotation of interests," introduced in his life of Blake, which explains social and historical change as resulting from the dynamic, often conflicting, interplay of group self-interests, creating an unintentional societal balance and cyclical pattern distinct from Enlightenment notions of linear progress.
date: 1987
language: en
pages: 43–62

James Boswell: Scotland's Prodigal Son
item type: conferencePaper
is part of: Improvement and Enlightenment: Proceedings of the Scottish Historical Studies Seminar, University of Strathclyde 1987–88
publisher: John Donald Publishers
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Edinburgh
authors: Person
  surname: Noble
  given name: Andrew
editors: Person
  surname: Devine
  given name: Thomas Martin
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Scotland
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: Noble analyzes Boswell as a stylish and formally innovative genius marginalized by a Scottish literary tradition often ashamed of his restless, rootless life. Noble argues Boswell sought "imaginative succour" in London because Edinburgh's "prissy cultural capital" was creatively stifling. Caught in a "Freudian nightmare" involving his authoritarian father, Boswell's psychological instability fueled a compulsive need to transcribe experience into text. While Noble admits Boswell displayed "all the vices of upper-class Scots on the make," he maintains that Boswell achieved a unique "creative synthesis of two literary traditions." Johnson, recognizing this talent, viewed the journals as a "great treasure." Noble highlights Boswell's documentary fidelity in his travels, noting he avoided the "sentimental exploitation" of the Highlands found in Walter Scott's later "formulaic propaganda." Ultimately, Noble positions Boswell as an "embracer of problematic reality" whose "Mozartian capacity" to address deep questions through light discourse warrants his repatriation into the Scottish canon.
date: 1987
language: en
pages: 22–24

Samuel Johnson and the Journey into Words
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Mugglestone
  given name: Lynda
is referenced by: item_174497
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Travel
abstract: Mugglestone analyzes the complex networks of spatial, maritime, and political metaphors that Samuel Johnson employed to conceptualize his role as lexicographer during the multi-decade compilation and revision of his Dictionary of the English Language. Moving beyond conventional biographical tropes that portray Johnson either as an autocratic linguistic dictator or as a passive, submissive drudge bound to the track of the alphabet, Mugglestone argues that his shifting self-representations reflect a deep anxiety regarding the limits of prescriptivism and the irrepressible fluidity of a living tongue. By tracing the evolutionary arc between the optimistic projections of his 1747 Plan and the defensive, realistic resignation of his 1755 Preface, the study explores how Johnson adjusted his linguistic governance. Mugglestone challenges traditional views of the text as an inert depository of static, didactic definitions, demonstrating instead how its inclusion of extensive literary quotations creates an internally conflicted, multivocal critical discourse where authoritative prescription continually battles empirical observation. Chapter 1, "Journeys into Words," introduces the central metaphor of the lexicographer’s "voyage round the literary world," contrasting the image of the "harmless drudge" following a linear path with that of the adventurous explorer navigating a vast sea of words. Chapter 2, "Writing the Dictionary: Departures and Destinations," traces the early history of the work through its various iterations—the 1746 "Scheme," the 1747 "Plan," and the 1755 "Preface"—revealing a shift from initial prescriptive ambitions to a pragmatic recognition of linguistic mutability. Chapter 3, "'Excursions into Books': Documenting the New World of Words," examines the empirical process of collecting over 116,000 illustrative quotations, detailing how the perusal of both canonical and non-canonical authors served to ground definitions in actual usage. Chapter 4, "The Order…
date: 2015
language: en
subject: PR3534 .M84 2015
identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-967990-4
num pages: 290

item_174497
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Joan C. Beal, Journal of English Linguistics 45, no. 1 (2017): 95–98; Anthony W. Lee, Choice 53, no. 12 (2016): 1780; Willy Maley, THES, no. 2,222 (September 2015): 42; John Considine, Dictionaries 38, no. 1 (2017): 123–31; George Haggerty, SEL 57, no. 3 (2017): 659; Nicholas Hudson, NR, Series F, no. 18 (2014): 88–89; Giovanni Iamartino, JNL 67, no. 2 (2016): 57–61; Phil Jones, Transactions of the Johnson Society (Lichfield), 2018, 77–79; Allen Reddick, International Journal of Lexicography 30, no. 3 (2017): 382–87; Allen Reddick, RES, n.s., 67, no. 281 (2016): 807–9; Min Wild, TLS, no. 5889 (February 2016): 26.

'Extensive View': Johnson and Boswell as Travelers and Observers
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: All Before Them: Attitudes to Abroad in English Literature, 1660–1780
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-948660-08-5
publisher: Ashfield
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Korshin
  given name: Paul J.
editors: Person
  surname: McVeagh
  given name: John
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
subject: Boswell
date: 1990
language: en
pages: 233–245

'Occasional' Observance and the Quiet Mind: Meditative Theory and Practice in Samuel Johnson's Prayers and Meditations (1785)
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 20
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Kickel
  given name: Katherine
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
subject: Religion
abstract: Kickel examines Johnson's Prayers and Meditations as a practical model for achieving a "quiet mind," tracing his evolving meditative theory. Kickel identifies three phases: an early (1738–60) reliance on the formal Anglican collect; a middle period (1760s–70s) shifting toward "occasional" or "extemporall" Protestant meditative forms, characterized by extemporaneous colloquies and intimate diurnal entries; and a late phase (1770s–84) using a consolatory and hortatory strategy that mimics the rhetorical structure of his familiar letters. Kickel argues this progression illustrates both Johnson's personal spiritual journey and a broader Enlightenment movement toward individualized religious practice.
date: 2010
language: en
pages: 35–60

The Life of Mr. Richard Savage
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Broadview editions
publisher: Broadview Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Peterborough
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: Wilcox
  given name: Lance E.
editors: Person
  surname: Seager
  given name: Nicholas
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Savage
subject: Family
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "The Life of Mr Richard Savage was the first important book by an unknown Grub Street hack, Samuel Johnson, who would later become the most celebrated British writer of the late 1700s. Richard Savage (1697–1743) was a poet, playwright, and satirist who claimed to be the illegitimate son of a late earl and to have been denied his inheritance and viciously persecuted by his mother. He was urbane, charming, a brilliant conversationalist, but also irresponsible and impulsive. His role in a tavern brawl almost led him to the gallows, though his life was saved by an eleventh-hour pardon by the King. Over time he attracted many supporters, practically all of whom he managed to alienate by the time of his death in a debtors" prison in Bristol. Johnson, who had been friends with Savage for a little over a year, drew on published documents and his own memories of Savage to produce one of the first great English biographies. The edition is supplemented by other writings by Johnson, a selection of Savage's prose and verse, contemporary and posthumous responses to Savage and to Johnson's biography, and selections by Johnson's first two major biographers, John Hawkins and James Boswell. A discussion of factual errors in Johnson's account help the reader place the Life and the supplementary texts in their historical and intellectual contexts."
date: 2016
language: en
short title: Life of Savage
subject: PR3671.S2 Z74 2016
identifier: ISBN 978-1-55481-155-7
num pages: 269

To the Hebrides: Samuel Johnson's 'Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland' and James Boswell's 'Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides'
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Birlinn
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Edinburgh
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Black
  given name: Ronald
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
subject: Journals
subject: Scotland
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "Samuel Johnson’s Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and James Boswell’s Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides are widely regarded as among the best pieces of travel writing ever produced. Johnson and Boswell spent the autumn of 1773 touring Scotland as far west as the islands of Skye, Raasay, Coll, Mull, Ulva, Inchkenneth and Iona. Highly readable, often profound, and at times very funny, their accounts of the ‘jaunt’ are above all a valuable record of a society undergoing rapid change. In this pioneering new edition, Ronald Black brings together the two men’s starkly contrasting accounts of each of the thirteen stages of the journey. He also restores to Boswell’s text 20,000 words from his journal which were denied entry to his book because they were intimate, defamatory, or about the islands rather than Johnson. The endnotes incorporate Boswell’s footnotes, translations of Latin passages, a clear summary of pre-existing information on the two texts, and a fresh focus on what the two men actually found on their trip. To the Hebrides also includes contemporary prints by Thomas Rowlandson, seventeen new maps and a comprehensive index."
date: 2011
language: en
short title: To the Hebrides
subject: DA880.H4 J6 2011
identifier: ISBN 978-1-78027-031-9
edition: 2nd ed.
num pages: 643

'And I Travelled After Him': Johnson and Pennant in Scotland
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Texas Studies in Literature and Language
authors: Person
  surname: Jenkins
  given name: Ralph E.
is referenced by: CGV entry 21:142.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: Jenkins examines the competitive relationship between Johnson and Thomas Pennant regarding their respective Scottish travels. Johnson admired Pennant as the "best traveller I ever read" but wrote his own "Journey to the Western Islands" to compete for public attention. Jenkins argues that Pennant's focus on "topography, zoology, industry, and husbandry" was more accurate, while Johnson's work offered superior "style or depth of thought." The article notes that Boswell often appeared "envious of Pennant's vitality" and recorded Johnson's "capital Oratio pro Pennantio" defending the traveler against charges of superficiality. Johnson's travel narrative was directly influenced by Pennant’s earlier tours, specifically in the choice of topics and the "tactics in composing the Journey." The study concludes that Pennant's reporting "shewing that it might be visited with safety" likely prompted Johnson to finally accept Boswell's long-standing invitation.
date: 1972
language: en
pages: 445–462

Texas Studies in Literature and Language
type: Journal
volume: 14
alternative: TSLL
identifier: ISSN 0040-4691

CGV entry 21:142.
type: Memo

Thomas Pennant's Scottish Tours and A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Fresh Reflections on Samuel Johnson: Essays in Criticism
publisher: Whitston
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Troy
authors: Person
  surname: Jemielity
  given name: Thomas
editors: Person
  surname: Nath
  given name: Prem
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: Jemielity disputes the claim that Thomas Pennant's popular accounts of his Scottish tours significantly shaped Johnson's A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. Jemielity argues Johnson's choice of focus (Highland society over Lowland description), his emphasis on general reflections and philosophical observation ("notions than facts"), and his specific points of disagreement arose from his own long-held interests and preparatory research, not primarily from a need to differentiate his work from Pennant's. The broader context of travel literature further diminishes Pennant's singular influence.
date: 1987
language: en
pages: 312–327

The Vision at Slains: Boswell's Supernatural Encounters
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Études écossaises
authors: Person
  surname: Ingram
  given name: Allan
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: Ingram argues that Boswell’s fascination with executions and ghosts reflects a deep-seated anxiety regarding "annihilation" and the nature of the afterlife. The narrative traces Boswell’s "horrible imaginings" from his childhood Presbyterian upbringing to his travels with Johnson in the Hebrides, where he sought empirical confirmation of the "mysterious" and the "second sight." The text contrasts Johnson’s cautious "willingness to believe" with Boswell’s debilitating "gloomy seasons of dejection" triggered by spectral settings like Slains Castle. Significant focus is placed on Boswell’s 1776 deathbed interview with David Hume, which Ingram frames as a traumatic encounter between Boswell’s religious yearning and Hume’s resolute "infidelity" and acceptance of non-existence. Ingram concludes that Boswell used writing as a primary defense against these "dreary ideas," attempting to reconcile his chronic "Hypochondria" through literary documentation.
date: 2001
language: en
pages: 7–20

Études écossaises
type: Journal
volume: 7
identifier: ISSN 1240-1439

Johnson's Insular Mind and the Analogy of Travel: A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Essays in Literature
authors: Person
  surname: Brooks
  given name: Christopher
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
subject: Scotland
subject: Politics
subject: Abstract
abstract: Analyzes Johnson's political and philosophical thought through the lens of insular space, arguing this is a core element of his ideology visible in both his political tracts and A Journey to the Western Islands. Johnson consistently uses an "insular lexicon" (e.g., "concentration," "enclosure," "secluded") to express his belief in a self-sufficient, concentrated England, as opposed to the "boundless" and vulnerable nature of empire and colonization, such as America. The journey through the Hebrides becomes a psychological one where Johnson evaluates landscapes based on their safety and insularity, using them as analogies to argue for a domestic, contained policy that protects the mother country from foreign dilution and the drain of emigrating people.
date: 1991/Spring
language: en
pages: 21–36

Essays in Literature
type: Journal
volume: 18
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 0094-5404

'I May Perhaps Have Said This': Samuel Johnson and Newhailes Library
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Scottish Literary Review
authors: Person
  surname: Betteridge
  given name: Robert L.
is referenced by: item_136362
link: EBSCO Full Text
subject: Abstract
subject: Correspondence
subject: Johnson
subject: Scotland
abstract: The library of Sir David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes, at Newhailes House is regularly associated with an unsubstantiated quote from Samuel Johnson who supposedly described it as 'the most learned drawing-room in Europe'. Though the veracity of the association is never likely to be proven, this essay considers: the development of the library; Lord Hailes's interactions with his peers; and contemporary references to his collection. How Johnson may have interpreted Lord Hailes's character is also considered in order to judge whether there is at least a reasonable basis for the association.
date: 2014-03
language: en
date submitted: 2015-11-21 13:38:31
pages: 81–90

Scottish Literary Review
type: Journal
volume: 6
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 1756-5634

item_136362
type: Memo
value: Betteridge investigates the origin of the unsubstantiated but famous quotation in which Samuel Johnson supposedly called the library at Newhailes "the most learned drawing-room in Europe." He traces the history of the apocryphal remark and notes that while it cannot be proven, there is a reasonable basis for the association, giving it the "ring of truth." The essay establishes that by the time of Johnson's visit in 1773, the library room had evolved into a grand social space, fitting the "drawing-room" description. Furthermore, its owner, Lord Hailes, was a respected scholar and classicist whom Johnson admired, and the library itself was a well-regarded working collection strong in classics and history, which would have appealed to Johnson. The author concludes that although Boswell's silence on the matter is telling, the combination of the learned host, the quality collection, and the magnificent room makes the attribution plausible, especially given Johnson's own admission to sometimes speaking "laxly."

EBSCO Full Text
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
subject: Religion
date submitted: 2015-11-21 13:38:31
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

La représentation du voyageur dans le récit de voyage britannique (1754–1788)
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: Aix-Marseille 1
authors: Person
  surname: Bernard
  given name: Nathalie
subject: 18th
subject: Travel
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: Entre 1760 et 1780, le récit de voyage britannique a évolué vers une expression plus assumée de la subjectivité du voyageur. Une typologie en trois points prenant appui sur l'étude détaillée de six récits produits à cette période par des écrivains en voyage (Samuel Johnson, Henry Fielding, Tobias Smollett, Laurence Sterne, James Boswell et William Beckford) permet de préciser ce changement et d'en observer les manifestations concrètes : les récits didactiques inspirés des préceptes de la "New Science " ainsi que les satires destinées à soutenir l'effort de définition nationale britannique laissent tout d'abord entrevoir une subjectivité "masquée." Un contexte politique plus serein et une meilleure compréhension des mécanismes mentaux donnant accès à la connaissance ont contribué à mettre la subjectivité en question, et à placer le voyageur au centre du récit de voyage : l'expression de son intimité et de son imaginaire propres ont ainsi pu acquérir une plus grande légitimité.
date: 2007
language: fr
type: Thèse de doctorat

Pascal Paoli en Angleterre: trente-trois années d'exil et d'engagement
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Università di Corsica
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Corte
series editors: Person
  surname: Vivian
  given name: Frances
authors: Person
  surname: Beretti
  given name: Francis
subject: 18th
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "La période d'activité politique de Pascal Paoli concernant son gouvernement de la Corse face à la domination génoise (1755-1769) est bien étudiée et documentée, par les historiens et les biographes du chef corse, ainsi que le rôle qu'il a joué pendant la période révolutionnaire, et sous le régime du royaume anglo-corse (1790-1795). En revanche, les deux séjours que Paoli a effectués en Angleterre, de 1769 à 1790, et de 1795 jusqu'à sa mort survenue en 1807, sont longtemps restés dans l'ombre. On en comprend aisément la raison: à ces moments-là, Paoli n'est plus en position de peser sur les événements, et les États pour qui la Corse pourrait représenter un enjeu ne s'intéressent pas au général en exil. On se propose dans le présent ouvrage de mieux éclairer la "période anglaise" de Paoli en s'appuyant sur sa correspondance, toujours en cours de publication, sur la monumentale édition des "papiers" de James Boswell dirigée par l'Université de Yale, et sur un manuscrit dactylographié inédit d'une historienne anglaise, Mrs Frances Vivian. On voit que Pascal Paoli était reçu parmi l'élite de la nation anglaise, dans un pays où le roi George III et certains cercles littéraires et aristocratiques lui prodiguèrent un accueil respectueux et généreux; dans un pays où, en définitive, il passa près de la moitié de sa vie."
date: 2014
language: fr
short title: Pascal Paoli en Angleterre
subject: DC611.C8315 P344 2014
identifier: ISBN 978-2-36479-035-3
num pages: 264 p.

Anthropological Particulars: Johnson's Ambivalent Pastoral Dream
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Wascana Review of Contemporary Poetry and Short Fiction
authors: Person
  surname: Beilman
  given name: Michele A.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Travel
subject: Anthropology
date: 1992/Spring
language: en
pages: 73–89

Wascana Review of Contemporary Poetry and Short Fiction
type: Journal
volume: 27
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 0043-0412

Mushroom Votes and 'Staged' Subjects: Linking Boswell's Simulations of Consciousness to the Novel and Eighteenth-Century Voting Practices
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: James Boswell: Psychological Interpretations
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-312-12142-6
publisher: St. Martin's
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Baruth
  given name: Philip E.
editors: Person
  surname: Newman
  given name: Donald J.
subject: 18th
subject: Boswell
subject: Fiction
subject: Psychology
date: 1995
language: en
pages: 87–109

A Dish of Tea with Dr. Johnson: From James Boswell's 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' and 'The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides'
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Oberon Books
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Barr
  given name: Russell
authors: Person
  surname: Redford
  given name: Ian
authors: Person
  surname: Stafford-Clark
  given name: Max
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: Barr, Redford, and Stafford-Clark present a theatrical adaptation based on the biographical writings of James Boswell, centering on the authoritative and complex personality of Johnson. The play uses dialogue drawn from historical accounts to depict Johnson's interactions with a diverse cast, including Boswell, Hester Thrale, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and King George III. Significant thematic focus is placed on Johnson's "seemingly endless capacity for talk" and his internal struggles with "melancholy" and the "horror of annihilation." The text recreates famous episodes such as the tour of the Hebrides, the meeting with John Wilkes, and Johnson's domestic life with the blind Anna Williams and his cat, Hodge. This edition includes a foreword by Peter Martin and an essay by Stephanie Chapman regarding Johnson's household "charity," emphasizing his role as a "human and emotionally complex man" whose character is revealed through "little things." The script balances "boisterous rudeness" with "poignant" intimacy, particularly in the unfolding relationship between Johnson and Boswell.
date: 2011
language: en
short title: A Dish of Tea with Dr Johnson
subject: PR6102.A772 D57 2011
identifier: ISBN 978-1-84943-106-4
num pages: 67

Legendary Lexicography: Joseph Bosworth's Debt to Henry J. Todd's Edition of Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: 'Cunning Passages, Contrived Corridors': Unexpected Essays in the History of Lexicography
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-88-7699-207-0
publisher: Polimetrica
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Monza, Italy
authors: Person
  surname: Bankert
  given name: Dabney A.
editors: Person
  surname: Adams
  given name: Michael
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Reference
date: 2010
language: en
short title: Legendary Lexicography
pages: 25–55

'Putting a Book out of Place': Johnson, Ossian and the Highland Tour
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Durham University Journal
authors: Person
  surname: Baines
  given name: Paul
subject: 18th
subject: Deception
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
date: 1992-07
language: en
pages: 235–248

Durham University Journal
type: Journal
volume: 53
number: 2
identifier: ISSN 0012-7280

Traveling to the Lighthouse with Woolf and Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Virginia Woolf Miscellany
authors: Person
  surname: Anspaugh
  given name: Kelly
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
subject: 20th
date: 1995/Spring
language: en
pages: 4–5

Virginia Woolf Miscellany
type: Journal
volume: 45
identifier: ISSN 0736-251X

Scepticism and Literature: An Essay on Pope, Hume, Sterne, and Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Choice
authors: Person
  surname: Lynch
  given name: Jack
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Parker
  given name: Fred
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Philosophy
subject: Review
abstract: In this enthusiastic review, Lynch describes Fred Parker’s study as an "important book" exploring the literary consequences of eighteenth-century philosophical skepticism. Lynch notes that Parker surveys skeptical epistemology through Montaigne and Locke before providing case studies of Pope, Hume, Sterne, and Johnson. The review highlights Parker’s argument that the instability of human reason grants British literature a "characteristic intellectual confidence tempered by irony," especially within Rasselas. Lynch finds the argument convincing and the close readings illuminating, noting the work complements James Noggle’s scholarship. Despite praising the major scholarship, Lynch censures the "terrible production values," specifically citing transparent paper and miserable typesetting.
date: 2004-09-01
language: en
date submitted: 2015-11-06 15:38:46
pages: 0169

Choice
type: Journal
volume: 42
identifier: DOI 10.5860/CHOICE.42-0169
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 0009-4978

The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly
  type: Journal
  volume: 33
  number: 2
  alternative: Biography
  identifier: ISSN 0162-4962
authors: Person
  surname: Walker
  given name: Robert G.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Hawkins
  given name: John
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Brack
  given name: O M, Jr.
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Walker's enthusiastic review of Brack's edition asserts that Hawkins remains a vital source because he knew Johnson longer than Boswell and provides unique perspectives on Johnson's early years and final days. The review highlights Hawkins's defense of his own digressions as necessary literary history and addresses contemporary objections to his asperity toward Johnson, noting that his perceived harshness stems from his own character and his critique of Johnson's indiscriminate charity. Walker finds the detailed, uncomfortably familiar narrative of Johnson's final days particularly compelling, increasing the biographer's credibility as a unique witness. While Hawkins lacked Boswell's narrative flair, Walker maintains that his proximity to Johnson's daily life and his duties as an executor lend the work significant credibility. The edition is further praised for its 756 concise endnotes and sixteen illustrations, offering a candid, less hagiographical account from a contemporary who offers a unique, albeit less polished, vantage point.
date: Spring 2010
language: en
pages: 397–400

Notes on Boswell: Laird of Auchinleck, 1778–1782
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 22
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Walker
  given name: Robert G.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Locations
subject: Medicine
abstract: Walker provides scholarly annotations for several brief, sometimes cryptic, allusions found in Boswell's journal from 1778–1782. By identifying and contextualizing references to sermons by John Tillotson and Robert Rollock, poetry by Edward Young ("Love of Fame"), and medical tables by Stephen Hales, Walker illuminates Boswell's reading habits, preoccupations (like fear of damnation and old age), and compositional techniques. These detailed notes enrich the understanding of specific journal entries and shed light on Boswell’s broader intellectual world and his methods of recording and recalling information.
date: 2012
language: en
pages: 123

Johnson and Moral Argument: 'We Talked of the Casuistical Question ...'
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Swiftly Sterneward: essays on Laurence Sterne and his times in honor of Melvyn New
publisher: University of Delaware Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Newark
authors: Person
  surname: Walker
  given name: Robert G.
editors: Person
  surname: Gerard
  given name: W. B.
editors: Person
  surname: Taylor
  given name: E. Derek
editors: Person
  surname: Walker
  given name: Robert G.
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
subject: Conversation
abstract: Walker disputes the prevailing scholarly assumption that Johnson's view of casuistry was primarily pejorative. While acknowledging Johnson's occasional criticisms of casuistical "niceties" that perplex the mind, Walker argues that Johnson fundamentally identifies as a "good casuist" who uses the tradition to resolve complex cases of conscience. The discussion focuses on Johnson's application of casuistical tools—such as mental reservation, equivocation, and the "rule of safety"—to moral dilemmas involving lying, unacknowledged authorship, and social obligations. Boswell often appears as a foil, representing a "more modern" and less nuanced understanding of these moral complexities. Johnson uses casuistry to navigate the "compulsion" of social interrogation and to protect the "right of the questioner" while maintaining personal integrity.
date: 2011
language: en
pages: 47–71

La historia de Rasselas, principe de Abisinia
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Libro al viento
publisher: Alcaldía Mayor de Bogotá
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Bogotá
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
date: 2011
language: es
short title: Rasselas
subject: PQ8519.Q5 A6 2011
identifier: ISBN 978-958-8471-46-4
num pages: 165

Johnson's Dictionary and the Language of Learning
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of North Carolina Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Chapel Hill
authors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
is referenced by: CGV entry 17:226.
is referenced by: item_33565
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Medicine
subject: Philosophy
subject: Reference
abstract: DeMaria classifies the world knowledge contained within Johnson's 1755 Dictionary, identifying it as a "disguised encyclopedia" that serves as a "chronicle of English civilization." Using a computerized index of 23,000 records, DeMaria demonstrates that Johnson's selection of illustrative quotations follows a deliberate pedagogical program centered on "knowledge and ignorance, truth and probability, learning and education, language, religion and morality." The monograph argues that Johnson views the dictionary as a "quintessential book of books" designed for both entertainment and instruction, placing it within a seventeenth-century humanistic tradition that subordinates human reason to divine revelation. DeMaria highlights Johnson’s specific focus on "the superiority of virtue to knowledge" and his use of authors like Locke, Bacon, and various divines to provide a "moral and religious" curriculum. Though the work addresses Boswell’s role in perpetuating myths about Johnson’s lack of historical interest, the focus remains on Johnson’s own "educational responsibilities" and his "powers of reading" as evidenced by the Dictionary's contents. Chapter 1, "Introduction: The Dictionary as Literature," addresses Samuel Johnson’s conception of his work as an encyclopedic "book of books," arguing that it functions as a comprehensive history of learning and a moral-pedagogical tool rather than a mere philological reference. Chapter 2, "Knowledge," explores the Dictionary's epistemological framework, contending that Johnson presents knowledge as a fragmented, piece-meal acquisition of particulars that points toward an unattainable divine unity. Chapter 3, "Ignorance," examines the pervasive Lactantian theme of human fallibility and the "huge abyss of ignorance," arguing that Johnson uses reminders of cognitive limitations to enforce religious humility and dependency on God. Chapter 4, "Truth," addresses the rhetoric of truth as a substantial, ineluctable reality and explores th…
date: 1986
language: en
subject: PE1617.J7 D44 1986
identifier: ISBN 0-8078-1713-9
num pages: 303

CGV entry 17:226.
type: Memo

item_33565
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Lionel Basney, ECS 21, no. 1 (1987): 113–17; N. F. Blake, Lore and Language 7, no. 1 (1988): 113–14; John J. Burke Jr., ECCB, n.s., 12 (1986): 467–68; Jean Ducrocq, XVII–XVIII 19 (1987): 520; Robert Folkenflik, SEL 27, no. 3 (1987): 532–33; Philip Mahone Griffith, AJ 3 (1990): 453–55; Isobel Grundy, Yearbook of English Studies 18 (1988): 324–26; Elizabeth Hedrick, Annals of Scholarship 7 (1990): 91–101; James McLaverty, N&Q 35 [233], no. 2 (1988): 239–41; John H. Middendorf, JNL 46, no. 2 (1986): 3; Albert Pailler, Études Anglaises 40, no. 2 (1987): 216–17; Murray G. H. Pittock, BJECS 12, no. 1 (1989): 111–12; Publishers Weekly, August 29, 1986; Allen Reddick, MP 86, no. 3 (1989): 312–16; Pat Rogers, LRB 9, no. 1 (1987): 13–14; Robert Stack, THES, no. 731 (1986): 15; Times Literary Supplement, no. 4374 (1987): 123; Wilson Quarterly 11, no. 1 (1987): 158–59; David Womersley, RES, n.s., 39, no. 153 (1988): 113–14.

Last Words: The Biographemes of Shakespeare
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Shakespeare Quarterly
authors: Person
  surname: Cummings
  given name: Brian
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Death
subject: Drama
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Shakespeare
abstract: The biography of Shakespeare is a paradox. Is he the pre-eminent author precisely because we know so little about him and his life remains a mystery? At once a figure of cultural saturation and an indefinable enigma, Shakespeare's life history has created as many problems as it has solved. Biography as a genre in any case long postdates Shakespeare's natural life and is readily seen as an anachronistic intrusion into understanding his work. This essay reflects on the elusive attempts to capture the life of writing since Nicholas Rowe and Samuel Johnson in the eighteenth century. It suggests that the conception of life writing in Johnson as anecdotal and fragmentary is more appropriate than the search for a seamless narrative from cradle to grave. The term biographemes, used by Roland Barthes, is reclaimed as an index of the problem of modern literary biography. However, it is also argued that the assumption that biography is necessary to a historical evaluation of Shakespeare is misplaced. On the contrary, historicism, criticism, and even the study of authorship are enriched by a more skeptical and open-minded approach to the idea of a writer's biography.
date: 2014/Winter
language: en
pages: 482–490

Shakespeare Quarterly
type: Journal
volume: 65
identifier: DOI 10.1353/shq.2014.0047
number: 4
identifier: ISSN 0037-3222

The Infernals
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Atria Books
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Connolly
  given name: John
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
subject: Abstract
abstract: In this comedic dark fantasy adventure, young Samuel Johnson and his loyal dachshund, Boswell, are unexpectedly abducted and pulled into Hell. The Great Arch-Fiend plots to sacrifice Samuel as a display of power to stabilize his fracturing control over the underworld's rebellious factions, which are rife with administrative bickering and corporate-style bureaucracy. Stranded in an unfamiliar terrain, Samuel is pursued by a variety of bizarre threats, including ice demons and an elaborate mechanical carriage. With the assistance of a couple of eccentric local scientists and Nurd, a clumsy demon who has unexpectedly become his protector, Samuel must navigate the political chaos of the underworld and outmaneuver the demonic hierarchy to find a way back home to Biddlecombe.
date: 2011
language: en
subject: PR6053.O48645 I64 2011
identifier: ISBN 978-1-4516-4308-4
num pages: 311

Boswell and Mason, Johnson and Gray: An Encounter
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 20
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Clarke
  given name: Stephen
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Clarke provides an account of a 1785 meeting between Boswell and the Reverend William Mason, using records from both men. The encounter highlights the deep hostility between Johnson and Mason's circle, which included Thomas Gray and Horace Walpole. Mason criticized Johnson's "arrogance" and faith, claiming Johnson’s animosity stemmed from Mason's refusal to contribute to the Rambler. Clarke notes the encounter reveals Boswell’s own tension between his loyalty to Johnson and his youthful admiration for Gray. Mason's corresponding letter confirms the exchange but also reveals his anxiety about his own literary legacy and exclusion from Boswell's Tour.
date: 2010
language: en
pages: 95–106

'O Rare Sam Jonson': James Boswell's Journal of a Tour to Hawthornden Castle with Samuel Johnson and Ben Jonson, 1773
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 22
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Caudle
  given name: James J.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Journals
subject: Locations
subject: Renaissance
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: Caudle analyzes Boswell's account of visiting Hawthornden Castle with Johnson, focusing on Boswell’s explicit parallel between this visit and Ben Jonson's earlier stay with William Drummond. This comparison served Boswell’s Plutarchan biographical aims, positioning himself as a modern Drummond recording Johnson's conversation. The essay explores the cultural significance of the Jonson-Drummond legend for Scottish identity, Boswell's deep interest in Drummond and Scottish Renaissance history, and how the Hawthornden episode connects to Boswell's defense of his own anecdote-collecting methodology as a vital means of preserving genius against decay and oblivion.
date: 2012
language: en
pages: 23–71

James Boswell (1740–1795) and His Design for a Dictionary of the Scot[t]ish Language, 1764–1825
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Dictionaries: Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America
authors: Person
  surname: Caudle
  given name: James J.
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Reference
abstract: Caudle examines Boswell’s uncompleted project to compile a dictionary of the Scottish language, intended to emulate Johnson’s 1755 English Dictionary. Inspired by his 1763 meeting with Johnson, Boswell sought to "must forsooth a very Johnson be" and create a "national Work" for Scotland. The article describes the rediscovery of a manuscript draft containing thirty-eight specimen entries and lists of approximately eight hundred words. Caudle explains that while Johnson thought the Scots dialect was on its way to extinction, Boswell intended his dictionary for the "preservation, for scholars rather than vernacular speakers," of a "once-dominant elite and courtly language." The study details Boswell’s "fierce feudal pride" and his belief that "the words were [his] children." Caudle concludes that this project reveals Boswell’s deep interest in "Scottish national identity" and his desire to do for Scotland what his mentor had done for England.
date: 2011
language: en
pages: 1–32

Dictionaries: Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America
type: Journal
volume: 32
identifier: DOI 10.1353/dic.2011.a464158
number: 1
alternative: Dictionaries
identifier: ISSN 0197-6745

'Fact' or 'Invention'?: James Boswell and the Legend of a Boswell–Sterne Meeting
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Shandean: An Annual Devoted to Laurence Sterne and His Works
authors: Person
  surname: Caudle
  given name: James J.
subject: Boswell
date: November 2011
language: en
pages: 30–55

The Shandean: An Annual Devoted to Laurence Sterne and His Works
type: Journal
volume: 22
identifier: DOI 10.3828/shandean.2011.22.04
alternative: Shandean
identifier: ISSN 0956-3083

New Annals of the Club
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: The Club
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
series editors: Person
  surname: Hennessy
  given name: Peter
series editors: Person
  surname: Saumarez Smith
  given name: Charles
authors: Person
  surname: Cannadine
  given name: David
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: The Club was a London dining club founded in February 1764 by the artist Joshua Reynolds and essayist Samuel Johnson. This is the 250th anniversary of the dining club.
date: 2014
language: en
subject: N-001506
identifier: ISBN 978-0-9930680-0-3
num pages: 139 pages

Boswell's Bus Pass
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Sandstone
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Dingwall
authors: Person
  surname: Campbell
  given name: Stuart
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: This is Stuart Campbell's humorous account of his journey through Scotland in the guise of a modern James Boswell accompanied by a succession of portly Johnsons.
date: 2011
language: en
subject: G465 .C26 2011
identifier: ISBN 978-1-905207-62-6
num pages: 228

Spectators, Ramblers and Idlers: The Conflicted Nature of Indolence and the 18th-Century Tradition of Idling
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Anglistik
authors: Person
  surname: Fludernik
  given name: Monika
subject: Johnson
subject: Essays
subject: Abstract
abstract: Fludernik challenges the simple narrative that 18th-century views of idleness merely shifted from negative Puritan denunciation to positive Romantic appreciation. By comparing the Spectator with the essays of Johnson in the Rambler and the Idler, Fludernik demonstrates that attitudes toward leisure remained deeply conflicted. The Spectator offers a more positive model by integrating artistic appreciation and conversation into free time, whereas Johnson presents a more critical view inflected by personal anxieties over procrastination. Johnson equates extreme indolence with a dangerous, vegetative state of physical and mental decay. He outlines a golden mean of ease between pain and pleasure, but recognizes this state as highly unstable due to the human psychological desire for constant variety.
date: 2017-03
language: en
pages: 133–154

Anglistik
type: Journal
volume: 28
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 0947-0034

Sharp Minds/Twisted Bodies: Intellect, Disability, and Female Education in Frances Burney's Camilla
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation
authors: Person
  surname: Farr
  given name: Jason S.
subject: Abstract
subject: Education
subject: Johnson
abstract: This essay examines Frances Burney's novel Camilla (1796) in terms of its portrayal of the relationship between "deformity" (physical disability) and female education. It argues that in Camilla, Burney applies the 'monster'-as-genius trope (typically a male phenomenon in the eighteenth century) to Eugenia Tyrold, whose bodily abnormalities enable her to develop into a Classical scholar. Eugenia's 'masculine' education, in turn, allows her to pen a critique of patriarchy and the male gaze. By exploring Eugenia's character alongside other prominent eighteenth-century historical and literary figures, such as Samuel Johnson, Alexander Pope, William Hay, Aesop, and Mrs. Smith from Jane Austen's Persuasion, this essay posits that Camilla contributes to a Georgian-era discourse of disability in which bodily impairments facilitate intellectual development.
date: 2014/Spring
language: en
pages: 1–17

Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation
type: Journal
volume: 55
identifier: DOI 10.1353/ecy.2014.0010
number: 1
alternative: ECTI
identifier: ISSN 0193-5380

L'Art de la biographie dans 'Vies imaginaires' de Marcel Schwob
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Diffusion hors France Slatkine
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Genève
authors: Person
  surname: Fabre
  given name: Bruno
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "Vies imaginaires (1896) de Marcel Schwob a longtemps souffert de l'image de conteur érudit accolée au nom de l'auteur et de l'absence d'originalité qui lui fut reprochée. Cette étude montre l'importance de ce livre dans l'histoire de la biographie, en le confrontant à ses modèles et aux oeuvres des devanciers de l'écrivain. En rupture avec la biographie référentielle et scientifique, Vies imaginaires s'inscrit dans une filiation d'oeuvres anglaises qui ont conduit l'auteur à renoncer à l'exemplarité et à l'exigence de vérité propres au paradigme classique du genre. La plupart des textes exploités par l'écrivain pour réinventer la vie de ses protagonistes sont des oeuvres littéraires, des biographies ou des traductions en langue anglaise. L'inventaire du matériau intertextuel et l;étude de sa réécriture révèlent une appropriation multiple de ces écrits par Schwob et met en lumière la créativité de l'écrivain. Le retraitement de biographies préexistantes et la réinterprétation de personnages empruntés à l’Histoire aboutissent à l’élaboration d’un livre radicalement nouveau, dont la genèse, les principes d’écriture, la composition et l’imaginaire manifestent une création originale et personnelle qui ouvre la voie aux fictions biographiques du XXe siècle."
date: 2010
language: fr
subject: ReCAP 10-23059
identifier: ISBN 978-2-7453-2058-2
num pages: 374 p.

Johnson, the Moral Essay, and the Moral Life of Women: The Spectator, the Female Spectator, and the Rambler
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 21
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Eadie
  given name: Lorraine
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Essays
subject: Gender
subject: Johnson
subject: Periodicals
abstract: Eadie contrasts Johnson's treatment of women's morality in the Rambler with that in Addison and Steele's Spectator and Eliza Haywood's Female Spectator. While the Spectator primarily links female virtue to securing marriage and the Female Spectator focuses on navigating social constraints, often instrumentally, Eadie contends Johnson uniquely separates social expectations from genuine moral development. Johnson acknowledges societal limitations but addresses women as complex moral beings capable of intellectual and spiritual aspiration beyond prescribed domestic roles, urging integrity and self-reliance over mere conformity.
date: 2011
language: en
pages: 21–42

Theorizing Orality and Performance in Literary Anecdote and History: Boswell's Diaries
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Oral Tradition
authors: Person
  surname: Dugaw
  given name: Dianne
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: History
subject: Journals
abstract: Analyzes Boswell's Life as a textual archive of oral performance. It investigates how Boswell's journals and published work capture not just the words, but the embodied, social, and immediate nature of his talk. By "theorizing orality," the article explores Boswell's process of transforming fleeting conversation into a "speaking picture," preserving the physical presence and performative energy of the spoken moment.
date: October 2009
language: en
pages: 415–428

Oral Tradition
type: Journal
volume: 24
number: 2
identifier: ISSN 0883-5365

Boswell's Changing Conceptions of His Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America
authors: Person
  surname: Goyette
  given name: E. Matthew
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:250.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 319.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Bibliography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Journals
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: Goyette analyzes cancellanda in the Tour to trace Boswell's shifting editorial conception and disagrees with Pottle on the evolution of the text. Originally drafting a topographical supplement to Johnson's Journey in 1775, Boswell reconfigured the work after Johnson's death as a rhetorical "Prelude" to the Life. Assisted by Malone, Boswell reorganized materials chronologically to emphasize intimacy and conversational authenticity. The cancellation of a note admitting the journal was "imperfectly kept" served to reinforce the narrative of scrupulous accuracy and Johnson's explicit approval of the manuscript.
date: 1979
language: en
pages: 305–314

Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America
type: Journal
volume: 73
alternative: PBSA
identifier: ISSN 0006-128X

CGV entry 4:250.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 319.
type: Memo

What Did James MacPherson Really Leave on Display at His Publisher's Shop in 1762?
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Scottish Gaelic Studies
authors: Person
  surname: Gaskill
  given name: Howard
subject: 18th
subject: Deception
subject: Johnson
subject: Manuscripts
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
date: 1990/Winter
language: en
pages: 67–89

Scottish Gaelic Studies
type: Journal
volume: 16
identifier: ISSN 0080-8024

Disability Studies and the British Long Eighteenth Century
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Literature Compass
authors: Person
  surname: Gabbard
  given name: Dwight C.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
subject: Philosophy
abstract: Disability studies approaches the British eighteenth century as a period in transition, with the conception of disability as spiritual sign of wonder or warning giving way to an understanding of it as pathology and abnormality. Period-appropriate terms for disability are "deformity,"defect," and 'monster," which were used for exotic bodily configurations and gender and racial differences: women and non–Europeans were perceived as defective. John Milton, Alexander Pope, Samuel Johnson, Elizabeth Inchbald, and William Hay have generated interest on account of their disabilities, while Aphra Behn, Eliza Haywood, Mary Wortley Montagu, Sarah Scott, Sarah Fielding, Henry Fielding, John Cleland, Francis Burney, and William Godwin have received attention for disability thematics. Topics of concern include disability and old age, physiognomy in characterization, joke book humor and sensibility, ugliness as aesthetic category, defect in tropes of national identity, deafness and sign language, intellectual disability and Lockean epistemology, the exotic deformed, disfigurement from smallpox as well as political rhetoric associated with the disease, and femininity as monstrosity.
date: 2011-02
language: en
pages: 80–94

Literature Compass
type: Journal
volume: 8
identifier: DOI 10.1111/j.1741-4113.2010.00771.x
number: 2
identifier: ISSN 1741-4113

Lives of the Poets
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Sewanee Review
  type: Journal
  volume: 120
  identifier: DOI 10.1353/sew.2012.0014
  number: 1
  identifier: ISSN 0037-3052
authors: Person
  surname: Fraser
  given name: Russell
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Middendorf
  given name: John H.
link: EBSCO Full Text
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Lives
subject: Poetry
subject: Review
abstract: Samuel Johnson agreed with the booksellers to write prefaces to the work of England's poets "from Chaucer to the present time." Long before the first installment came out in 1775, the undertaking had both shrunk to more practicable limits and expanded hugely, becoming a biographical and critical survey of English poetry. The ongoing Yale edition of the complete works devotes three volumes to the Lives of the Poets (2010). Having completed work on the first four volumes, Johnson hoped (he told his diary) they were written "in such a manner as may tend to the promotion of piety." Fraser critiques Johnson's book.
date: 2012/Winter
language: en
date submitted: 2015-11-21 13:46:49
pages: 157–167

EBSCO Full Text
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2015-11-21 13:46:49
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

On Samuel Johnson Who Wrote against Scotland
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: American Book Collector
authors: Person
  surname: Hoyt
  given name: Charles Alva
is referenced by: CGV entry 21:118.
subject: 18th
subject: Bibliography
subject: Johnson
subject: Scotland
date: 1964
language: en
pages: 21–24

American Book Collector
type: Journal
volume: 14
number: 6
identifier: ISSN 0196-5654

CGV entry 21:118.
type: Memo

Boswell's Account of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Studies in Scottish Literature
authors: Person
  surname: Housum
  given name: Mary E.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:260.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 321.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Journals
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: Boswell's lengthy "Authentick Account" of Bonnie Prince Charlie in the Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides is a deliberate rhetorical component, not a digression. Boswell uses the extractable account, which emphasizes "authenticity" and "domestick privacies," to advertise his general biographical skill. The positioning of this narrative reinforces the Tour's function as a prelude to the Life of Johnson, demonstrating Boswell's unique qualification to write both the intimate biography of Johnson and a history of the 1745 rebellion.
date: 1981
language: en
pages: 135–147

Studies in Scottish Literature
type: Journal
volume: 16
identifier: ISSN 0039-3770

CGV entry 4:260.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 321.
type: Memo

The World in Thirty-Eight Chapters; or, Dr. Johnson's Guide to Life
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Macmillan
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Hitchings
  given name: Henry
is referenced by: item_174481
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Law
abstract: Hitchings presents a chronological biographical narrative that doubles as a thematic exploration of Johnson's relevance to modern existence. The volume surveys Johnson's life from his "vile melancholy" and physical ailments to his literary triumphs, including the Dictionary and the Lives of the Poets. Hitchings emphasizes Johnson’s psychological depth and "vibrant candour," presenting him as a flawed but heroic thinker whose insights into friendship, grief, and the "business of life" remain vital. The account highlights Johnson’s capacity for "comparing minds" and his belief that "faults are part of our magic." Boswell appears as the tireless, sometimes tactless, chronicler who "doctored" Johnson’s image while preserving his colloquial prowess. Piozzi, formerly Hester Thrale, is depicted as a "foisonous fund of anecdote" who shared a "little paradise" with Johnson at Streatham and later published an intimate, controversial account of their relationship that revealed Johnson "in his undress." Hitchings disputes simplistic views of Johnson as a mere pedant, instead documenting a man of "strenuous thought" whose life provides "patterns of virtue" and lessons in resilience. Chapter 1, ‘An Inscription over the Door, to Show What Kind of a Book This Is,’ establishes a paradigm for historical understanding through a meditation on Iona, arguing that intellectual transcendence of local circumstances dignifies human existence. Chapter 2, ‘Of Personal Oddity, Which Is No Obstacle to Personal Authority,’ examines the dialectic between physical infirmity and moral weight, suggesting that visible imperfections can deepen clinical insights into human nature. Chapter 3, ‘The Community of Pains and Pleasure – Our Subject’s Origins and Upbringing, with Some Speculations on What We May Learn from Them,’ explores the formative influence of early hardship and complicated familial dynamics on the development of a resilient, creative response to mortality. Chapter 4, ‘The Description of a…
date: 2018
language: en
subject: PR3539.J22 Z68 2018
identifier: ISBN 978-1-5098-4192-9
num pages: ix, 353 pages

item_174481
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday, June 10, 2018; Jane Darcy, TLS, no. 6015 (July 2018): 25; Laura Freeman, The Times (London), June 9, 2018; Malcolm Jack, 1650–1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era 25 (2020): 278–80; Roger Lewis, Daily Mail (London), June 22, 2018; Nick Rennison, Sunday Times (London), June 10, 2018; Frances Wilson, The Spectator, June 16, 2018; John Winterton, Transactions of the Johnson Society, 2019, 102–4.

Johnson's Quest for 'the Fictions of Romantic Chivalry' in Scotland
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Prose Studies: History, Theory, Criticism
authors: Person
  surname: Henson
  given name: Eithne
is referenced by: CGV entry 21:168.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
subject: Scotland
abstract: Johnson’s 1773 journey to the Hebrides was a "Quixotic adventurer's" quest for surviving feudal manners. His early "immoderate fondness" for romance literature shaped his expectations of Highland life. He identified clan leaders with "knight errants" and viewed ruined cathedrals like St. Andrews as "mournful memorials" of ancient sanctity. While Boswell provided a "conventionally romantic response," Johnson maintained a critical understanding, contrasting "barbarous grandeur" with the need for justice. He sought "wild objects" and "precipices" over "artificial solitude." Johnson’s self-identification with clan heroes culminated in his visit to Flora Macdonald, which Boswell called a "wonderful romantic scene." He ultimately viewed the Islands through a literary lens, finding "the patriarchal life" he had long feigned in his imagination.
date: 1984-09
language: en
pages: 97–128

Prose Studies: History, Theory, Criticism
type: Journal
volume: 7
identifier: DOI 10.1080/01440358408586211
number: 2
alternative: Prose Studies
identifier: ISSN 0144-0357

CGV entry 21:168.
type: Memo

New Additions to Melville's Reading
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 64 [262]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjw284
  number: 1
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Hayes
  given name: Kevin J.
subject: 19th
subject: Abstract
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
abstract: Hayes uses subscription lists to identify two significant works in Allan Melvill’s library, expanding the known literary influences on his son, Herman Melville. The first, William Pelham’s System of Notation (1808), contained the full text of Samuel Johnson’s Rasselas, suggesting Melville encountered Johnson's "Happy Valley" concept much earlier than the 1869 date previously recorded. Hayes argues this early exposure informed the "Happy Valley" imagery in Typee and the character Donjalolo in Mardi. Additionally, Allan Melvill’s subscription to Eleazar Lord’s 1825 edition of Lemprière’s Universal Biography provided the young Melville with a laudatory account of his grandfather, General Peter Gansevoort.
date: 2017-03
language: en
pages: 110–112

Jonson to 'kokugo' jiten no tanjō: jūhasseiki kyojin no meigen, kingen
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Aichi Daigaku Bungakkai sōsho
publisher: Shunpūsha
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Yokohama-shi
authors: Person
  surname: Hayakawa
  given name: Isamu
subject: Johnson
date: 2014
language: en
short title: Jonson to "kokugo" jiten no tanjō
subject: PR3538 .H38 2014
identifier: ISBN 978-4-86110-399-5
edition: Shohan
num pages: 395

Johnson's A Journey to the Western Islands: History as Art
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Essays in Criticism
authors: Person
  surname: Hart
  given name: Jeffrey
is referenced by: CGV entry 21:108.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: History
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
abstract: Hart argues that Johnson's Journey to the Western Islands is a highly wrought work of art, possessing a complex organization distinct from Boswell's anecdotal account. Hart identifies three major, interwoven themes: the tragic destruction of pre-Reformation Christian culture, the analogous destruction of Highland culture, and the rise of a middle-class, progressive society towards which Johnson maintains an ambivalent attitude. The tragic vision, seen in the ruins of St. Andrews and the devastation of Iona, is juxtaposed with the necessity of daily life and the limited good of enlightened humanitarianism at the book's close.
date: 1960-01
language: en
pages: 44–59

Essays in Criticism
type: Journal
volume: 10
identifier: ISSN 1471-6852

CGV entry 21:108.
type: Memo

Johnson as Philosophic Traveler: The Perfecting of an Idea
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: ELH: English Literary History
authors: Person
  surname: Hart
  given name: Francis R.
is referenced by: CGV entry 21:133.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Philosophy
subject: Travel
abstract: Journey to the Western Islands should be read not just as a travelogue of Scotland, but as a depiction of the "philosophic traveler"—a central Enlightenment preoccupation. The book's core is the traveler's own intellectual activity: the perfection of ideas through meticulous, skeptical observation, resisting the "fallacies of imagination," inaccuracy of report, and memory's propensity to blur details into "one gross and general idea." Johnson's lifelong practice of "the art of attention," involving strict veracity, precise descriptive language, and even "computation," shapes the Journey's structure and style. The published Journey revisions demonstrate this process, transforming initial "journal-letters" into "perfected idea[s]" that represent a personal triumph of the methodised mind over disorder and the limitations of human perception.
date: 1969-12
language: en
pages: 679–695

ELH: English Literary History
type: Journal
volume: 36
number: 4
alternative: ELH
identifier: ISSN 0013-8304

CGV entry 21:133.
type: Memo

Writing Cross-Country: Landscapes, Palimpsests and the Problems of Scottish Literary Tourism
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism
authors: Person
  surname: MacKenzie
  given name: Garry
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Travel
subject: Scotland
subject: Locations
subject: Abstract
abstract: MacKenzie analyzes the metaphor of the landscape as a palimpsest, considering how various representations found in literary travel accounts add layers to the meanings of places. The analysis then discusses issues in representing Scotland’s landscapes, specifically focusing on Boswell's and Johnson's books about their Hebridean journey. MacKenzie next examines Jules Verne’s response to Walter Scott's descriptions of Loch Lomond in 'Backwards to Britain,' suggesting this response demonstrates the cultural construction of tourist representations of the loch. Finally, MacKenzie situates Louis MacNeice's Hebridean alienation in 'I Crossed the Minch' alongside Kevin MacNeil’s anti-pastoral The Stornoway Way, concluding by considering how postmodern fiction offers opportunities to complicate standard tourist narratives.
date: 2017
language: en
pages: 275–286

Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism
type: Journal
volume: 21
number: 3
identifier: ISSN 1468-8417

Anniversary Essays on Johnson's 'Dictionary'
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
editors: Person
  surname: Lynch
  given name: Jack
editors: Person
  surname: McDermott
  given name: Anne
is referenced by: item_33428
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Reference
abstract: Lynch and McDermott assemble international scholars to challenge long-standing myths and explore "unfamiliar" aspects of the Dictionary through the lenses of bibliography, corpus linguistics, and historical lexicography. Korshin opens the collection by demythologizing the "legendary Johnson," disputing pervasive anecdotes of the "procrastinating genius" and the "Hercules-like" bully. Subsequent essays by Lancashire, Weinbrot, and Hudson re-examine the book’s political and social dimensions, specifically questioning the simplistic Tory labeling of the text and analyzing Johnson’s complex rejection of Lord Chesterfield's patronage. Technical investigations include Barnbrook and McDermott’s opposing assessments of Johnson’s prescriptivism, Osselton’s study of hyphenated compounds, and Luna’s analysis of typographic innovation. DeMaria and Reddick provide insight into Johnson’s working methods, emphasizing the "spontaneous, extempore quality" of his History and Grammar and the limits of collaboration with his amanuenses. Finally, Dille, Hailey, and Lynch investigate the Dictionary’s afterlife, focusing on popular abridgments and "hidden" editions that sustained the Johnson "brand name" into the nineteenth century. The collection highlights scholarly disagreements to encourage future research into the historical formation of the English language. Critical reaction to this anniversary collection is overwhelmingly positive, with reviewers praising its multi-disciplinarity, comprehensive scope, and effective dismantling of long-standing biographical and lexicographical myths. Reviewers focus primarily on the political contexts of the text, the tension between prescriptive and descriptive methodologies, and the recovery of neglected architectural elements. Jackson, in TLS, commends the volume for challenging conventional wisdom by demonstrating how political differences were actively censored to minimize conflict. In MP, Lee enthusiastically calls the collection an essential…
date: 2005
language: en
subject: PE1617.J7 A8 2005
identifier: ISBN 0-521-84844-X
num pages: 245

item_33428
type: Memo
value: Reviews: William Baker, YWES 86, no. 1 (2007): 1122; Contemporary Review (October 2005); Elizabeth Hedrick, JNL 57, no. 1 (2006): 51–55; Werner Hüllen, Historiographia Linguistica 33, no. 3 (2006): 426–30; H. J. Jackson, TLS, no. 5353 (November 2005): 3–4; Frank Kermode, NYRB 53, no. 11 (2006): 28–31; Anthony W. Lee, MP 104, no. 4 (2007): 529–59; Anthony W. Lee, Choice 43, no. 7 (2006): 3876; Lynda Mugglestone, N&Q 53, no. 4 (2006): 560–63; David Nokes, THES, no. 1739 (April 2006): 22; Chris P. Pearce, AJ 17 (2006): 341–62; Albert J. Rivero, ECTI 49, no. 3 (2008): 265–72.

The Manuscript as Biography: Boswell's Letter to the People of Scotland 1785
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America
  type: Journal
  volume: 68
  alternative: PBSA
  identifier: ISSN 0006-128X
authors: Person
  surname: Lustig
  given name: Irma S.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 474.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Alcohol
subject: Bibliography
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Manuscripts
subject: Scotland
abstract: Lustig examines the manuscript of JB's Second Letter to the People of Scotland (1785), using the combined draft and printer's copy to map the author's psychological state. The complex pattern of cancellations and restorations, particularly regarding attacks on Dundas and Fergusson, reveals a deliberate struggle between political ambition and personal resentment. Challenging the view of the pamphlet as a drunken effusion, the study demonstrates JB's calculated, if romantic, strategy to leverage Scottish nationalism for electoral success.
date: 1974
language: en
pages: 237–250

Cochrane entry 474.
type: Memo

James Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D.
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Becoming Virginia Woolf: Her Early Diaries & the Diaries She Read
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-8130-4991-5
publisher: University Press of Florida
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Gainesville
authors: Person
  surname: Lounsberry
  given name: Barbara
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
subject: 20th
subject: Journals
subject: Scotland
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: Lounsberry examines Woolf's engagement with Boswell’s Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides during a pivotal summer of family crisis and artistic self-definition. Reading Boswell’s "sketchbook" at age twenty-one, Woolf discovered a fellow diarist who successfully captured "a whole chunk of the earth & air" and presented life "all alive". The text highlights how Boswell and Johnson's contrast of the country with "great cities" mirrored Woolf's own 1903 diary themes of London culture versus rural nature. Lounsberry argues that Boswell’s work "fired" Woolf to read extensively on Johnson, leading to her first mature literary criticism that anticipated her later Common Reader essays. The chapter details Woolf's affinity for Johnson’s "constitutional melancholy" and "formidable mind," noting that both writers viewed the mind as a "mill" for processing subjects. Additionally, Lounsberry discusses Woolf’s 1909 review, "The Genius of Boswell," where she praised his "insatiable curiosity" and ability to make emotions "tell". By choosing the "outsider role" alongside Boswell, Woolf used the Hebrides tour as a model for her own structural experiments and "scene-making," ultimately repurposing Boswellian traits to forge her modernist voice.
date: 2014
language: en
subject: PR6045.O72 Z8117 2014
pages: 67–74

Nostalgic Correspondence and James Boswell's Scottish Malady
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: SEL: Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900
authors: Person
  surname: Loar
  given name: Christopher F.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Correspondence
subject: Medicine
subject: Scotland
abstract: Author's abstract: "The essay examines James Boswell's correspondence with his friend, John Johnston of Grange, most of which dates from the 1760s; the essay emphasizes the correspondence that transmitted Boswell's London Journal. The essay argues that these letters invoke a form of social melancholy that surrounds a mythical and absent Scottish past, and that this mythos is closely connected to midcentury rhetorics of spontaneity and sentiment. The mythos of Scotland involves a particular sort of masculinity- spontaneous, sentimental, and unproduced-which Boswell and Grange understand to be no longer available in eighteenth-century Britain, where hegemonic forms of masculinity are understood to be polished, refined, and calculated."
date: 2004/Summer
language: en
pages: 595–615

SEL: Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900
type: Journal
volume: 44
identifier: DOI 10.1353/sel.2004.0027
number: 3
alternative: SEL
identifier: ISSN 0039-3657

The Johnson Circle: A Group Portrait
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Madison
authors: Person
  surname: Larsen
  given name: Lyle
subject: Johnson
subject: Classics
subject: Gender
subject: Piozzi
subject: Abstract
abstract: Samuel Johnson, from early boyhood, lived with the knowledge that his homely face, large and ungainly body, loud voice, and odd mannerisms put people off. He later confessed that he had never made an effort to please others until past thirty, "considering the matter as hopeless." Yet he managed to gather about him as friends, especially during the last quarter of his life, some of the most fascinating and accomplished people of the day. These friendships were not always smooth, and some did not last, but Johnson valued the individuals nonetheless. Actor, painter, playwright, novelist, Greek scholar, miscellaneous writer, biographer, leading bluestocking, wealthy man-of-fashion: they represented a wide range of talents and personalities. Johnson brought them together as a group, and all testified that in knowing him they became far better persons than they otherwise would have been. This book focuses on ten key figures, aside from Johnson himself, of the so-called Johnson circle. It explores their characters, their contributions to society, their relationships with one another, and their indebtedness to Samuel Johnson.
date: 2017
language: en
subject: PR3533 .L373 2017
identifier: ISBN 978-1-68393-115-7
num pages: 333

James Boswell's National Stereotypes: Ethnic Folk Humor in the Eighteenth Century
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Mississippi Folklore Register
authors: Person
  surname: Kullman
  given name: Colby H.
is referenced by: item_140574
subject: 18th
subject: Boswell
subject: Humor
subject: Scotland
date: 1983
language: en
pages: 81–90

Mississippi Folklore Register
type: Journal
volume: 17
number: 2
identifier: ISSN 0026-6248

item_140574
type: Memo
value: Cochrane entry 649. Describes Boswell's use of national stereotypes in his writing and personal life, from playing the part of a prejudiced Englishman to dressing up as a brave Corsican for the Shakespeare Jubilee.

Beckett, Samuel Johnson, and the 'Vacuity of Life'
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Sofia Philosophical Review
authors: Person
  surname: Morin
  given name: Emilie
subject: 20th
subject: Drama
subject: Johnson
date: 2011
language: en
pages: 228–250

Sofia Philosophical Review
type: Journal
volume: 5
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 1313-275X

A Restoration? 25 Years of Jacobite Studies
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Literature Compass
  type: Journal
  volume: 10
  identifier: DOI 10.1111/lic3.12053
  number: 4
  identifier: ISSN 1741-4113
authors: Person
  surname: Monod
  given name: Paul
subject: Abstract
subject: Jacobitism
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
abstract: The past quarter-century has seen an efflorescence of studies of Jacobitism, within both political and cultural history. The scope and impact of these studies are considered in the present article, which ranges across the major fields of research that are now associated with Jacobite Studies. They include plots and conspiracies; rebellions and uprisings; Irish Jacobitism, particularly as it was embodied in poetic works; the Jacobite diaspora to the European continent; the Stuart courts in exile; and Jacobite culture, including literature. The significance of Jacobitism for English literary history is examined, and major controversies, including the debate over Samuel Johnson, are discussed.
date: April 2013
language: en
pages: 311–330

Johnson on Scotland
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Essays in Criticism
  type: Journal
  volume: 18
  identifier: ISSN 1471-6852
authors: Person
  surname: Meier
  given name: Thomas K.
is referenced by: CGV entry 21:130.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Scotland
abstract: Meier critiques Sherbo’s attempt to refute Hart’s three major themes in Johnson's Journey to the Western Islands. Meier argues that Sherbo’s biographical and genre-focused approach, which concludes Johnson enjoyed the tour, is irrelevant to the themes of the book. He asserts that the Journey itself presents a bleak representation of Scotland, with Johnson's expressions of pleasure overwhelmed by relations of Highland difficulties and desolation, thus confirming Hart's depiction of a culture in ruins rather than Sherbo's lighthearted view. Meier accepts Kaul's modification that the decay of Highland culture was due to the failure to develop commerce.
date: 1968
language: en
pages: 349–352

CGV entry 21:130.
type: Memo

The Haphazard Journey of a Mind: Experience and Reflection in Samuel Johnson's Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 20
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: McKendry
  given name: Andrew
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Piozzi
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: McKendry argues that Johnson's ambivalent attitude toward the socioeconomic transformation of the Highlands in A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland stems not from psychological development but from generic conventions. Johnson’s analysis shifts with his immediate experiences. When reflecting broadly on the "nation," he favors the traditional clan system and critiques the "palaces" of commerce. However, when confronted with the particular "facts" and personal inconveniences of precommercial life—such as setting his foot in mire or lacking ink—his perspective contracts. These specific, negative experiences induce him to appreciate the practical benefits of the emerging market economy.
date: 2010
language: en
pages: 11–34

Travel Writing and Ideas of Race in Highland Scotland: James Macpherson's Ossian Poems (1760–65) and Samuel Johnson's Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775)
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Études anglaises: Grande-Bretagne, États-Unis
authors: Person
  surname: McInerney
  given name: Tim
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: Comparing the work of James Macpherson and Samuel Johnson, this article considers how travel writing on Highland Scotland responded to notions of the Gaelic Scots as a distinct "race" on the island of Britain. In particular it examines the role of clan chiefdom in the construction of Highland race, and how the patterns of hereditary elitism influenced notions of genealogical otherness at that time. The article first considers how clan society was approached in the field of human variety theory, before going on to examine James Macpherson's "Ossianic" vision of Highland society, and its relationship with Samuel Johnson's famous travel account, A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775).
date: 2017/04
language: en
pages: 222–237

Études anglaises: Grande-Bretagne, États-Unis
type: Journal
volume: 70
identifier: DOI 10.3917/etan.702.0222
number: 2
identifier: ISSN 0014-195X

The 'Political Knight Errant' at Bath: Charles Lucas's Attack on the Spa Medical Establishment in An Essay on Waters (1756)
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies
authors: Person
  surname: Mason
  given name: Adam
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
subject: Politics
abstract: This article examines Charles Lucas's Essay on Waters (1756) as a polemic that illuminates the Bath waters as a subject enmeshed as much in politics as in medicine. It shows how Lucas styled himself a "political knight errant" in his treatise to portray the local medical fraternity at the spa as a corrupt oligarchy intent on monopolising and stifling research into the famous mineral springs out of commercial self-interest and greed. It further considers the critical response to the treatise by Tobias Smollett and Samuel Johnson, who were both forced to address the author's libertarian concerns.
date: March 2013
language: en
pages: 67–83

Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies
type: Journal
volume: 36
identifier: DOI 10.1111/j.1754-0208.2012.00476.x
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 0141-867X

'Mrs. Thrale' in the 'Tour': A Boswellian Puzzle
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America
  type: Journal
  volume: 69
  identifier: DOI 10.1086/pbsa.69.2.24302405
  number: 2
  alternative: PBSA
  identifier: ISSN 0006-128X
authors: Person
  surname: Riely
  given name: John C.
authors: Person
  surname: Ribeiro
  given name: Alvaro
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:236.
is referenced by: item_139920
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Bibliography
subject: Boswell
subject: Piozzi
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: Boswell stated that "two or three hundred copies" of the first edition of his Tour to the Hebrides were published without the name of his literary rival, Mrs. Thrale, on page 299 (U6 recto). In all copies reported to date, however, her name is present. The relevant historical and biographical evidence concerning this crucial passage is examined in an effort to account for the absence of a single copy lacking her name. The known facts indicate that Boswell's statement was grossly inaccurate, as very few copies (or, possibly, none) could have been printed with U6 recto in the alleged "first state."
date: 1975
language: en
pages: 151–163

CGV entry 4:236.
type: Memo

item_139920
type: Memo
value: Cochrane entry 314. Investigates a bibliographical puzzle concerning whether Boswell actually removed and then restored Mrs. Thrale's name in a passage, hypothesizing that no copies were ever printed with her name removed.

The Significance of Johnson's Changing Views of the Hebrides
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Unknown Samuel Johnson
publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Madison
authors: Person
  surname: Radner
  given name: John B.
editors: Person
  surname: Burke
  given name: John J., Jr.
editors: Person
  surname: Kay
  given name: Donald
is referenced by: CGV entry 21:166.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Locations
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: Radner examines the "dynamic" evolution of Johnson’s thoughts during his 1773 tour of Scotland as reflected in A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. He focuses on Johnson's shifting commentary on "treelessness" to illustrate how initial "satiric anger" transformed into a "radically sympathetic" understanding of the Scots’ historical dilemma. Radner argues that Johnson’s Journey serves as a model for "proper reflection" on complex human situations, as the author moves from hasty censure to a recognition of the "shortness of life" that discourages long-term planting. The article highlights Johnson's "divided sympathies" regarding the breakdown of feudal clan systems and his insistence that "Life must be seen, before it can be known." Radner concludes that the book documents Johnson’s "effort to reach a final understanding" by viewing issues from every relevant perspective.
date: 1983
language: en
pages: 131–149

CGV entry 21:166.
type: Memo

Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More: Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Nelson Books
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Nashville
authors: Person
  surname: Prior
  given name: Karen Swallow
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Slavery
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "The enthralling biography of the womanwriter who helped end the slave trade, changed Britain's upper classes, and taught a nation how to read. The history-changing reforms of Hannah More affected every level of 18th-Century British society through her keen intellect, literary achievements,collaborative spirit, strong Christian principles, and colorful personality. A woman without connections or status, More took the world of British letters by storm when she arrived in London from Bristol, becoming a best-selling author and acclaimed playwright and quickly befriending the author Samuel Johnson, the politician Horace Walpole, and the actor David Garrick. Yet she was also aleader in the Evangelical movement, using her cultural position and her pen to support the growth of education for the poor, the reform of morals and manners,and the abolition of Britain's slave trade; Fierce Convictions weaves together world and personal history into a stirring story of life that intersected with Wesley and Whitefield's GreatAwakening, the rise and influence of Evangelicalism, and convulsive effects ofthe French Revolution. A woman of exceptional intellectual gifts and literarytalent, Hannah More was above all a person whose faith compelled her both to engageher culture and to transform it."
date: 2014
language: en
short title: Fierce Convictions
subject: PR3605.M6 Z83 2014
identifier: ISBN 978-1-4002-0625-4
num pages: 302

Homeric Allusion in A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Studies
authors: Person
  surname: Preston
  given name: Thomas R.
is referenced by: CGV entry 21:143.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Classics
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: Johnson's sociological analysis of the Highlands and Hebrides in his Journey simultaneously exhorts them to cultural development. For Johnson, however, cultural development is associated with the question of 'barbarous' and 'civilized' states of life as viewed from the Homeric perspective on heroic Greece and the traditional interpretation of that perspective. Johnson's conjectural image of culture in the feudal Highlands reflects the standard Augustan image of culture in heroic Greece and suggests that the Highlands, through cultural development, can repeat the history of Grecian culture. A complex of Odyssian allusions, recalling Homer's epic and the figure of Ulysses, enforces Johnson's further argument that such cultural development will occur in the Highlands when the rulers, the lairds, like Ulysses, display the necessary qualities of leadership.
date: 1972/Summer
language: en
pages: 545–558

Eighteenth-Century Studies
type: Journal
volume: 5
number: 4
alternative: ECS
identifier: ISSN 0013-2586

CGV entry 21:143.
type: Memo

Autobiography, Letters and Literary Remains of Mrs. Piozzi (Thrale)
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Ticknor & Fields
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Boston
authors: Person
  surname: Piozzi
  given name: Hester Lynch
editors: Person
  surname: Hayward
  given name: A.
is referenced by: CGV entry 5:64.
is referenced by: item_174535
is referenced by: Second edition adds 50 pages of Thraliana quotations and expanded correspondence
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Gender
subject: Piozzi
abstract: Hayward presents the "Autobiographical Memoirs" as a central component of the text, alongside "Thraliana," the diary kept by Piozzi between 1776 and 1809. The editor characterizes these materials as providing a "most interesting and durably popular" account of a woman who was a "child prodigy" and later a prominent figure in 18th-century literary society. The autobiography chronicles her early education, her "unsuitable marriage" to Henry Thrale, and her life as the "Mistress of Streatham." Hayward notes the "endless speculation" regarding her sixteen-year intimacy with Samuel Johnson, describing her as his "sparring partner" and "confidante." The text details the societal "scandal" following her second marriage to Gabriel Piozzi, which Hayward defends as "morally irreproachable." Significant portions of the work include letters primarily addressed to Sir James Fellowes and marginalia from Piozzi’s personal copies of Boswell's Life of Johnson and Wraxall's Memoirs. These annotations offer "new anecdotes" and corrections to contemporary accounts, particularly regarding Johnson’s domestic habits and the Streatham circle. The literary remains also comprise fugitive pieces in verse and prose, such as "The Three Warnings" and her translations of Boethius. Hayward asserts that Piozzi’s writings reflect a "vivacity" and "intellectual independence" that elevate her reputation beyond her role as a Johnsonian satellite, framing her as an astute observer of Georgian "politics and business." Reviews are generally favorable, with commentators dividing over the impartiality of the editorial defense and the historical accuracy of the biographical tradition. An unsigned review in the Edinburgh Review provides a mixed analysis, arguing the volumes successfully augment the reputation of the writer's talents but noting that the editor acts more as an eager advocate than an impartial scholar. Three unsigned assessments in Littell's Living Age champion the edition, praising the inclusio…
date: 1861
language: en
subject: PR3619.P5 A8 1861
number of volumes: 2
num pages: 531

CGV entry 5:64.
type: Memo

item_174535
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Athenæum, no. 1777 (1861): 650–51; Atlas, May 11, 1861; Edinburgh Review 113, no. 230 (1861): 501–23; Littell’s Living Age, March 23, 1861; Littell’s Living Age, April 13, 1861; Littell’s Living Age, May 4, 1861; New Monthly Magazine, no. 121 (1861): 440–54; N&Q 12, no. 307 (1861): 406–7; Saturday Review, January 26, 1861; The Examiner, February 16, 1861; The Spectator 34, no. 1701 (1861): 111; The Times, April 5, 1861; The Times, April 6, 1861; Westmorland Gazette, April 13, 1861.

Second edition adds 50 pages of Thraliana quotations and expanded correspondence
type: Memo

Bozzy and Piozzi; or, The British Biographers: A Town Eclogue
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: printed for G. Kearsley
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Pindar
  given name: Peter
is referenced by: CGV entry 9:40. Published under the pseudonym "Peter Pindar." With a plate by Thomas Rowlandson.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Piozzi
subject: Satire
abstract: Pindar’s satirical poem, written in the form of a town eclogue, lampoons the biographical competition between Boswell and Piozzi following the death of Johnson. The narrative depicts the two biographers appealing to John Hawkins to judge their respective merits through a series of alternating anecdotal quotations. Pindar ridicules the triviality of their observations, citing accounts of Johnson's jumping over stools, his method of eating pork, and his affection for his cat, Hodge. The satire characterizes Boswell as a gudgeon and a thirsty leach of anecdote, while Piozzi is exhorted to prioritize housewifery over writing. Pindar further mocks Hawkins, portraying him as a pompous judge who eventually falls asleep during the recitation. The poem concludes with the rivals continuing their efforts to kill the mangled Rambler o'er again through further publication. The work reflects the contemporary Johnso-mania and the public's fascination with the moralist's private weaknesses and bear-like growl. This edition includes a congratulatory epistle to Boswell regarding his tour to the Hebrides.
date: 1786
language: en
short title: Bozzy and Piozzi
number of volumes: 2

CGV entry 9:40. Published under the pseudonym "Peter Pindar." With a plate by Thomas Rowlandson.
type: Memo

Petty Caviller or 'Formidable Assailant'? Johnson Reads Dennis
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Cambridge Quarterly
authors: Person
  surname: Smallwood
  given name: Philip
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Given John Dennis's prominence as a Dunciad dunce courtesy of the satire of Alexander Pope, Samuel Johnson in his own critical work gave a surprisingly generous quantity of attention to Dennis's literary criticism. Dennis was notorious in the eighteenth century as "The Critic," and this essay suggests that Johnson's lively critical reaction to Dennis was more complicated than we might expect. For all the pettiness and irrepressible ill-temper of his predecessor, Johnson recognised, albeit with undisguised reservations, that Dennis sometimes had much of formidable good sense to say — on Shakespeare, on Addison and particularly on Pope.
date: 2017
language: en
pages: 305–324

Cambridge Quarterly
type: Journal
volume: 46
identifier: DOI 10.1093/camqtly/bfx025
number: 4
alternative: CQ
identifier: ISSN 0008-199X

Critical Occasions: Dryden, Pope, Johnson, and the History of Criticism
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: AMS Studies in the Eighteenth Century
publisher: AMS Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Smallwood
  given name: Philip
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: History
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "Examines the relations between selected critical texts of Dryden, Pope, and Johnson, and the theoretical problems that arise in writing the history of the critical past. It is a book about three great Augustan critics and about the theory and philosophy of history in its application to criticism."
date: 2011
language: en
subject: PR63 .S63 2011
identifier: ISBN 978-0-404-64865-7
num pages: 169

Johnson's Intent in the Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Essays in Criticism
  type: Journal
  volume: 16
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/eic/XVI.4.382
  identifier: ISSN 1471-6852
authors: Person
  surname: Sherbo
  given name: Arthur
is referenced by: CGV entry 21:124.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: Sherbo argues Hart’s thesis on Johnson’s Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland incorrectly focuses on selected parts and disregards the established traditions of the travel genre. Sherbo cites Johnson’s known requirements for travel literature: veracity, reflection on human life, and avoidance of barren enumeration. He emphasizes that Johnson intended his Journey as a philosophical traveler’s disquisition on men and manners, not a tragic vision of fallen cultures. Sherbo contends Johnson's repetitive jokes about the lack of trees in Scotland indicate his humorous tone, contrasting Hart's tragic interpretation.
date: 1966-10
language: en
pages: 383–397

CGV entry 21:124.
type: Memo

Johnson, Biography and the Novel: The Fictional Afterlife of Richard Savage
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Forum for Modern Language Studies
authors: Person
  surname: Seager
  given name: Nicholas
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
subject: Savage
abstract: This article analyses three novels based on Richard Savage, the scapegrace eighteenth-century poet immortalized in Samuel Johnson's first major biography. Charles Whitehead's Richard Savage: A Romance of Real Life (1841-42), Stanley V. Makower's Richard Savage: A Mystery in Biography (1909), and Gwyn Jones's Richard Savage (1935) each engage with ethical and formal problems posed by Johnson: how to complicate moral treatment of character and incident in narrative; how to handle the admixture of fact and fiction produced by an account of Savage's chequered but charming life, full as it is with vagaries and vagueness. These novels use quite different formal strategies in response to the social imperatives and formal expectations of their times. The article contends that the fictional afterlives of Savage - the adaptations and appropriations of Johnson's Life of Savage (1744) into works of fiction - indicate Johnson's enduring influence on the novel, as well as biography.
date: April 2015
language: en
pages: 152–170

Forum for Modern Language Studies
type: Journal
volume: 51
identifier: DOI 10.1093/fmls/cqv007
number: 2
identifier: ISSN 0015-8518

Picturesque Beauties of Boswell ... Designed and Etched by Two Capital Artists
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: E. Jackson & G. Kearsley
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
editors: Person
  surname: Rowlandson
  given name: Thomas
is referenced by: CGV entry 8:8. Twenty caricatures of Johnson and Boswell on the journey to the Hebrides, etched by Rowlandson from designs by Collings.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Art
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: A series of satirical prints engraved by Rowlandson based on sketches by Collings, illustrating Boswell’s Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. The work satirizes Boswell by portraying him as "The Journalist," carrying documents for Johnson's Life. It is a visual satire that mocks Boswell and biographers in general. One print shows a paunchy Boswell "Walking up the High Street," gazing up at Johnson, providing a caricature that amused contemporaries.
date: 1786
language: en

CGV entry 8:8. Twenty caricatures of Johnson and Boswell on the journey to the Hebrides, etched by Rowlandson from designs by Collings.
type: Memo

The Difficulties of Quantifying Taste: Blackmore and Poetric Reception in the Eighteenth Century
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Digital Defoe: Studies in Defoe & His Contemporaries
authors: Person
  surname: Rounce
  given name: Adam
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
abstract: On the difficulty of fully understanding poetic reception in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, using the contested reputation of Blackmore as a case study. The author notes that contemptuous remarks from figures like Rochester and Oldham disturbed Pordage's reception. The study highlights Johnson’s observation that contempt "corrupts all the rest by degrees," which Johnson originally applied to Blackmore. Johnson later championed Blackmore's Creation in The Lives of the Poets, a move necessitated by Blackmore's considerable decline in reputation by the 1770s. The author argues that raw database citations must be nuanced, as Johnson’s intervention holds more critical consequence than incidental allusions.
date: 2014/Fall
language: en
pages: 19–35

Digital Defoe: Studies in Defoe & His Contemporaries
type: Journal
volume: 6
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 1948-1802 (electronic)

Doctor Strong and Doctor Johnson Revisited
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Dickens Quarterly
authors: Person
  surname: Rosenblum
  given name: Joseph
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
subject: 19th
subject: Abstract
abstract: Rosenblum evaluates the hypothesis that Johnson served as the model for Dickens's character Doctor Strong in David Copperfield. He reviews parallels previously identified by Albert Wetherill, such as the fact that Johnson "once kept a school in a cathedral town" and compiled a dictionary. Resemblances extend to "attire, gait, near-sightedness, benevolence, ignorance of card games," and a specific "cogitating manner." Rosenblum notes that Doctor Strong is sixty-two when first introduced, close to the age of sixty-four when Boswell introduces Johnson in his narrative of their tour to the Hebrides. He provides further evidence for the link by citing Dickens's ownership of Boswell’s work. He also compares Dickens’s description of Strong’s "shuffling" gait and "rusty" clothes to the "rusty brown" suit and "convulsive" movements described in Boswell’s biographical account of Johnson.
date: 1984-06
language: en
pages: 54–56

Dickens Quarterly
type: Journal
volume: 1
number: 2
identifier: ISSN 0742-5473

Samuel Johnson: Standardizer of English, Preserver of Gaelic
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: ELH: English Literary History
  type: Journal
  volume: 77
  identifier: DOI 10.1353/elh.0.0077
  number: 1
  alternative: ELH
  identifier: ISSN 0013-8304
authors: Person
  surname: Strabone
  given name: Jeff
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
abstract: Strabone explores the apparent paradox between Johnson's project to standardize the English language and his concurrent efforts to preserve Scottish Gaelic. While standardizers generally shared the belief that "English needed to be protected and preserved from corruption," Johnson targeted Scottish dialects of English for elimination as "odious distinctions" and "barbarous" corruptions of Saxon origin. However, the study highlights how Johnson repeatedly supported the preservation of Gaelic. Strabone argues that Johnson's un-derlying concept of language, influenced by John Locke's ideas of sociability, viewed linguistic uniformity as a means to strengthen the Union. Johnson's Dictionary functioned to "preserve the purity and ascertain the meaning of our English idiom" by excluding provincial diction. This article details how Johnson positioned himself as a "conqueror and lawgiver" to civilize his own countrymen through linguistic regulation while remaining more complex in his treatment of non-English tongues.
date: 2010
language: en
pages: 237–265

James Boswell and the National Church of Scotland
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Huntington Library Quarterly
authors: Person
  surname: Stewart
  given name: Mary M.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 665.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Scotland
abstract: Stewart analyzes Boswell's involvement with the National Church of Scotland, a Presbyterian and representative government. The essay details the organization and the two main factions: the Moderate (Court) Party, which favored patronage and moderation, and the Evangelical (Popular) Party, which opposed patronage and advocated strict adherence to Presbyterian discipline. Boswell's grandfather and mother were aligned with the Evangelicals. Though Boswell practiced law before the General Assembly, he disliked the "low and coarse" employment and opposed the Moderates' strict enforcement of patronage, consistent with his pro-liberty politics (e.g., his support for Paoli and the American colonies).
date: 1967
language: en
pages: 369–387

Huntington Library Quarterly
type: Journal
volume: 30
identifier: DOI 10.2307/3816960
number: 4
alternative: HLQ
identifier: ISSN 0018-7895

Cochrane entry 665.
type: Memo

Fantasies of Choosing in Rasselas
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: SEL: Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900
  type: Journal
  volume: 55
  number: 3
  alternative: SEL
  identifier: ISSN 0039-3657
authors: Person
  surname: Stern
  given name: Rachel Michelle
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
subject: Abstract
abstract: Stern argues that Rasselas critiques the fantasy of a singular, self-determining "choice of life" as a mode of deferral and idleness. Rasselas's quest for an ultimate, permanent happiness postpones responsibility, replacing action with "visionary bustle" and "imagined heroics" (as noted in Idler). The overwhelming nature of this one ultimate choice paradoxically makes him passive. Citing Murdoch, Stern argues that freedom is a "small piecemeal business"—a continuous, ongoing "work of attention" and moral exertion of the inner life—which Rasselas's all-or-nothing approach fails to recognize, leading to waste and delusion.
date: 2015/Summer
language: en
pages: 523–536

Samuel Johnson's and James Boswell's Grasp of the Infinite Being and the Great Beyond
item type: conferencePaper
is part of: Infinity and Beyond = L'infini et au-delà: Actes du colloque international in memoriam Paul-Gabriel Boucé, 25–26 juin 2014, universitè du Havre
  type: Journal
  identifier: ISBN 978-2-917681-25-1
publisher: TIR
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Rennes
authors: Person
  surname: Colombani
  given name: Marie-Jeanne
editors: Person
  surname: Durot-Boucé
  given name: Elizabeth
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
date: 2014
language: fr
subject: ReCAP 15-61134

'A More Exact Purity': Legal Authority and Conspicuous Amalgamation in Early Modern English Law Guides and the Oxford Law Lectures of Sir Robert Chambers and Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: University of Toronto Quarterly
authors: Person
  surname: Wright
  given name: Nicole M.
link: EBSCO Full Text
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Law
abstract: This paper finds that early modern and later texts explaining legal vocabulary and history to non-professionals bring into focus two vying conceptions of enforcing narrative and terminological purity (a notion inextricably bound up with the authority to produce legal narratives): decontamination, according to one perspective, and enrichment to strengthen an essence, according to another view. The lexicons generally promote a notion of "purity" that does not connote the removal of contaminants or foreign matter but rather depends on adulteration and heterogeneous additions. This paper argues that legal guide writers believed that cultivating impressions, and even illusions, of corporate authorship was key to attracting readers, who (the writers expected) perceived conspicuous reliance on numerous, diverse (foreign as well as domestic) sources as a mark of legitimacy.
date: 2013-FallFall
language: en
date submitted: 2015-11-21 13:41:31
pages: 864–888

University of Toronto Quarterly
type: Journal
volume: 82
identifier: DOI 10.3138/utq.82.4.864
number: 4
alternative: UTQ
identifier: ISSN 0042-0247

EBSCO Full Text
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
subject: Religion
date submitted: 2015-11-21 13:41:41
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

British Masculinity in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1731 to 1815
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Genders and sexualities in History
publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Williamson
  given name: Gillian
subject: Abstract
subject: Family
subject: Johnson
subject: Periodicals
abstract: Launched in 1731, the monthly Gentleman's Magazine was the dominant periodical of the eighteenth century, drawing its large readership from across the literate population of Great Britain and the English-speaking world. Its readers were highly responsive. By the 1740s their letters, poems and family announcements, especially obituaries, filled at least half its pages, sitting alongside articles by a circle that included Samuel Johnson. It was a Georgian social network as readers engaged in a continuous dialogue with each other, but not all these readers were as comfortably established as gentlemen as the title implied. This study traces how, from launch to the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, the magazine developed as a vehicle for the creation and national dissemination of a new middling-sort masculine gentlemanliness in a Britain that was increasingly commercial, fluid and open. It was an accessible gentlemanliness based on an ideology of merit through occupational success allied to personal probity. From the close of the Seven Year's War in 1763 the magazine used the merit of the self-made man to challenge the aristocratic ruling class. It was therefore a major contributor to the development of Victorian middle-class identity. Indeed, the meritorious self-made man remains one of the bulwarks of Conservative thought today.
date: 2016
language: en
subject: PN5130.G5 W55 2016
identifier: ISBN 978-1-137-54232-8
num pages: xi, 283 pages

Jeoffry: The Poet's Cat: A Biography
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: History Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Gloucestershire
authors: Person
  surname: Soden
  given name: Oliver
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Soden presents a speculative biography of the ginger cat immortalized in Smart's poem Jubilate Agno. The narrative traces the animal’s life from its 1750 birth in Mother Douglas’s Covent Garden bordello to its final days in Devon in 1773. Soden uses the feline perspective to provide a ground-level view of eighteenth-century London social history, including the 1750 earthquakes and the 1755 Drury Lane riots. The work details the cat’s relationship with Smart during their shared incarceration in a private asylum between 1759 and 1763. Soden chronicles various interactions with members of the literary and theatrical milieu, noting that the cat distinguishes between visitors by the shape of their lower legs. The biography depicts Johnson visiting the asylum, where his bulging calves and hobbling feet identify him. Johnson dangles an enormous hand to stroke the cat before Smart pulls him to his knees to pray. Soden also dramatizes a 1763 encounter in the Strand between the subject and Hodge. The narrative follows this with a scene in Fleet Street where Hodge jumps onto the chest of Johnson, who describes him as a very fine cat indeed. Soden incorporates accounts from Boswell and Burney to document Johnson's defense of Smart's eccentricities, including his public prayers and his lack of passion for clean linen. The biography concludes by tracing the afterlife of the Smart manuscript through its 1930s discovery and its influence on twentieth-century figures such as Britten and Eliot.
date: 2020
language: en
short title: Jeoffry
subject: PR3687.S7 J46 2020
identifier: ISBN 978-0-7509-9567-2
num pages: 185

item 5172
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: printed by Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, in the Poultry
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Correspondence
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Conversation
title: The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: Comprehending an Account of His Studies and Numerous Works, in Chronological Order; a Series of His Epistolary Correspondence and Conversations with Many Eminent Persons; and Various Original Pieces of His Composition, Never Before Published: The Whole Exhibiting a View of Literature and Literary Men in Great-Britain, for Near Half a Century, During Which He Flourished
abstract: The second edition, published on July 17, 1793, appeared in three octavo vols. priced at £1 8s., described as "corrected and considerably enlarged by additional letters and interesting anecdotes." Boswell included extensive new material—such as 13 letters to Langton and 2 to Lord Bute—but since these arrived late, they were inserted out of chronological sequence, resulting in a somewhat disorganized text. Boswell acknowledged his substantial debt to Edmond Malone, who supervised revisions. Malone subsequently edited the third edition (1799), which properly integrated these additions into the narrative. Boswell issued a separate pamphlet, Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition of Mr. Boswell’s Life of Dr. Johnson (1793), which was distributed free to owners of the first edition and later incorporated into the text.
date: 1793
language: en
subject: PR3533 .B6
number of volumes: 3
edition: 2nd ed.

The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: Including a Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: J. Murray
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Croker
  given name: John Wilson
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:14. This edition was revised by John Wright in 10 volumes (1835, 1848).
is referenced by: item_174478
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Extra-Illustrated
subject: Johnson
subject: Journals
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: Croker was the first editor to attempt to comprehensively annotate Boswell's Life. he integrated the Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides as part of the main Life narrative, a practice followed by later editors. He actively followed contemporary biographical trends by inserting material from other biographies, such as those by Piozzi and Hawkins, and adding selections from Johnson's own writings to fill gaps in Boswell's account, sometimes relegating other parts to appendices. Croker's work became the subject of Thomas Babington Macaulay's famously savage 1831 review in the Edinburgh Review. This critique solidified the image of Boswell in the Victorian imagination as a "buffoon and sot" who wrote a great book despite his limitations. Critical reaction is mixed, splitting along sharp methodological and political lines regarding the editorial execution of the volumes. In the Quarterly Review, Lockhart praises the editor’s piercing understanding and persevering diligence in identifying obscure historical details, arguing that the subject's immense national influence justifies such minute biographical scrutiny. But Macaulay's influential review reprinted in the Atheneum from the Edinburgh Review offers a severe counterpoint, providing a graphic sketch of the subject's tempestuous rage and low prejudices while noting the persistent obscurity of his early London years. The Westminster Review characterizes the work as a grand collection of memorabilia, commending the industry required to sift facts and refute forgeries, though the reviewer disputes the editor's morbid view of human nature. An anonymous critic in Spectator asserts that the editorial intrusions and the interpolation of external anecdotes mutilate the text and destroy the structural unity of the original design, though the review strongly defends the primary biographer's spirit of inquiry. Several prominent periodicals evaluated the later multi-volume expansions. A review in the Gentleman’s Magazine praises the…
date: 1831
language: en
subject: PR3533 .B6
number of volumes: 5
edition: New ed., with numerous additions and notes

CGV entry 4:14. This edition was revised by John Wright in 10 volumes (1835, 1848).
type: Memo

item_174478
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Atheneum 2, no. 1 (1831): 542–47; J. P. Dabney, Christian Examiner 14, no. 2 (1833): 154–63; Edinburgh Literary Journal (July 1831): 31–32; Gentleman’s Magazine 101 (1831): 237–39; Inverness Courier (July 27, 1831); Knickerbocker 1, no. 5 (1833): 273–75; Literary Gazette (July 2, 1831); Literary Gazette (July 9, 1831); Literary Gazette (July 23, 1831); Literary Gazette (July 30, 1831); John Gibson Lockhart, Quarterly Review 46, no. 111 (1831): 1–46; Thomas Babington Macaulay, Edinburgh Review 54, no. 107 (1831): 1–38; Metropolitan 2, no. 7 (1831): 77–79; Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction 18, no. 514 (1831): 281–83; Monthly Magazine 12, no. 68 (1831): 141–43; Monthly Review, 4th ser., 2, no. 3 (1831): 452–64; Museum of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art 19, no. 112 (1831): 449–52; Museum of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art 19, no. 114 (1831): 676; New York Mirror (September 14, 1833); Philadelphia Album and Ladies’ Literary Portfolio 6, no. 4 (1832): 30; Star (London) (August 5, 1831); The Albion 10, no. 13 (1831): 99–100; The Athenaeum (London) (June 25, 1831); The Athenaeum (London) (July 2, 1831); The Athenaeum (London) (July 9, 1831); The New-York Mirror (September 14, 1833); The Spectator 4, no. 167 (1831): 876–77; Warder and Dublin Weekly Mail (July 16, 1831); Westminster Review 15, no. 30 (1831): 374–99.

item 5175
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Printed for T. Cadell & W. Davies, in the Strand
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
contributors: Person
  surname: Malone
  given name: Edmond
contributors: Person
  surname: Reynolds
  given name: Joshua
contributors: Person
  surname: Baker
  given name: J.
contributors: Person
  surname: Shepherd
  given name: H.
contributors: Person
  surname: Baldwin
  given name: Charles
contributors: Person
  surname: Adam
  given name: R. B.
contributors: Person
  surname: Cadell & Davies
is referenced by: Bought on eBay 8 March 2022 from AntquiesJolie1 for $266.56.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Conversation
subject: Johnson
title: The life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: comprehending an account of his studies and numerous works in chronological order: a series of his epistolary correspondence and conversations with many eminent persons: and various original pieces of his composition never before published ...
abstract: Often cited as the final edition edited and superintended by Edmond Malone. Malone continued to insert new material, including additional letters from Johnson and new information about Johnson’s friends. He drew attention to the fact that the Reverend James Compton, a friend of Johnson whom Boswell had overlooked, was still alive and possessed letters and anecdotes. James Boswell, Jr. contributed notes to this edition. He also corrected a detail regarding Izaak Walton's Life of Dr. Donne, noting in the sixth edition that the vision Johnson speaks of was not in the original 1640 publication but was introduced into the fourth edition in 1675. Malone gratefully relied on the younger Boswell's collaboration, referring to him in the Advertisement as having "read over the whole." The sixth edition text (1811) frequently served as the copy text for reprints throughout the early nineteenth century.
date: 1811
language: en
short title: The life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.
subject: PR3533 .B6
edition: 6th ed., revised and augmented

Bought on eBay 8 March 2022 from AntquiesJolie1 for $266.56.
type: Memo

item 5176
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: printed by Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, in the Poultry
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Conversation
subject: History
subject: Johnson
subject: Journals
subject: Poetry
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
title: The journal of a tour to the Hebrides: with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. By James Boswell, Esq. Containing Some Poetical Pieces by Dr. Johnson, relative to the Tour, and never before published; A Series of his Conversation, Literary Anecdotes, and Opinion of Men and Books: with an authentick Account of The Distresses and Escape of the Grandson of King James II. in the Year 1746. The Third Edition, revised and corrected
abstract: This edition, appearing within a year of the first, incorporated Boswell's final revisions and additions and stabilized the published text. Malone supervised the text, ensuring that it addressed contemporary criticisms—including those regarding "a petty national resentment" unworthy of Boswell’s countrymen—and provided further context, setting the foundation for the text used in the Hill–Powell scholarly edition. This edition included a Map to Illustrate the Tour, which was later reproduced for its associations, despite its known geographical inaccuracies.
date: 1786
language: en
short title: The journal of a tour to the Hebrides
subject: DA880.H4 B7
edition: 3rd ed., revised and corrected

item 5177
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: printed by Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, in the Poultry
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
is referenced by: CGV entry 3:16.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:12. The first edition appeared in two printings in 1785, followed by a third edition in 1786 and a sixth edition in 1813.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Conversation
subject: History
subject: Johnson
subject: Journals
subject: Poetry
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
title: The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides: With Samuel Johnson, LL.D. By James Boswell, Esq. Containing Some Poetical Pieces by Dr. Johnson, Relative to the Tour, and Never Before Published; A Series of His Conversation, Literary Anecdotes, and Opinions of Men and Books: With an Authentick Account of The Distresses and Escape of the Grandson of King James II. in the Year 1746
abstract: Boswell’s core text began as rough notes (August 14–17, 1773), evolving into a fully written journal spanning August 21 to October 22, 1773. During the trip, Johnson read the manuscript (the "ur- journal") and praised it as "a very exact picture of his life." Boswell completed the journal post-facto for the end stages (October 22–26) in 1779–1782. Johnson, having published his own Journey to the Western Islands in January 1775, advised Boswell to delay publishing his account. Boswell finally published the Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides on October 1, 1785, less than a year after Johnson’s death, using it as a prelude to the eventual Life. For the first edition, Boswell heavily revised the MS with Edmond Malone’s assistance, sometimes working with speed and deftness. Revisions involved extensive cuts of personal reflections (autobiography), deletion of much topographical detail (as Johnson had published a gazetteer), and refinement of syntax, removing Scotticisms. Although Boswell claimed the published work was the "very journal which Dr. Johnson read," the text was substantially altered. The 1,500 copies of the first edition sold quickly, necessitating a second edition, published in London on December 22, 1785, which incorporated further corrections and removed indiscreet material under Malone's supervision. A Dublin edition appeared promptly on November 13, 1785. The third edition (1786) was the final one revised by Boswell and included an Advertisement addressing critiques rooted in "petty national resentment." Unauthorized editions included pirated Dublin reprints, and abridged translations into German (1797) and Russian (1851) appeared shortly after. Complete translations later appeared in Italian, French, Dutch, Danish, and Swedish, and Japanese. The Tour was subsequently incorporated as vol. 5 of the six-vol. Hill–Powell edition of the Life of Johnson (1934–64). The original MS journal, rediscovered later, was first published as the literal text in 1936, dif…
date: 1785
language: en
short title: The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides
subject: DA880.H4 B7

CGV entry 3:16.
type: Memo

CGV entry 4:12. The first edition appeared in two printings in 1785, followed by a third edition in 1786 and a sixth edition in 1813.
type: Memo

James Boswell's Life of Johnson: An Edition of the Original Manuscript
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell
publisher: Yale University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New Haven
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Waingrow
  given name: Marshall
editors: Person
  surname: Redford
  given name: Bruce
editors: Person
  surname: Bonnell
  given name: Thomas F.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Manuscripts
abstract: A scholarly undertaking within the Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell, dedicated to transcribing the complex primary text, which spanned 1,046 pages and supplementary documents. The project, referred to as "The Jewel in the Crown," proceeds chronologically across four volumes, with Waingrow editing Volume 1 (1994), Redford with Goldring editing Volume 2 (1998), and Bonnell editing Volumes 3 (2012) and 4 (2019). The transcription employs Waingrow's sigla system to manage the "wondrous tangle" of revisions and insertions, illuminating the composition process and typesetting. This allows close scrutiny of Boswell's artistic and editorial choices, demonstrating the complexity of turning raw data into the published masterpiece and refuting the idea of Boswell as a simple stenographer. The manuscript reveals Boswell's strategies, showing he exercised caution with Johnson's sensitive political views, such as mollifying "hannoverian" to "Brunswick." It also clarifies that highly dramatic dialogues were often imaginative reconstructions developed from fragmentary notes, enhanced for dramatic effect. Furthermore, the manuscript documents Boswell's conscious aesthetic and ethical choices, including softening crude language, such as changing "genitals" to "amorous propensities," to present a more dignified Johnson.
date: 1994-2019
language: en
short title: James Boswell's Life of Johnson
subject: PR3533 .B6 1994
number of volumes: 4
identifier: ISBN 978-0-7486-0471-5 978-0-300-06060-7 978-0-7486-0606-1 978-0-300-07969-2 978-0-7486-0604-7 978-0-300-18292-7
num pages: 1

The Cambridge Companion to Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
editors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
is referenced by: item_174480
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Criticism
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Clingham edits a volume of seventeen essays that examine Johnson as a central figure in eighteenth-century literary culture, focusing on his "extraordinary humane intelligence". The collection is divided into thematic sections covering Johnson's life, his major works—including the Dictionary, The Rambler, Rasselas, and Lives of the Poets—and his engagement with broader cultural topics such as politics, religion, and gender. Contributors like Pat Rogers and Paul J. Korshin explore Johnson's "intellectual life" and critical reception, while other chapters analyze his "experience of women" and his views on "imperialism" and "travel". The editor identifies the volume's "keynote" as the integration of Johnson's writing with his personal conduct, making his "challenging and wide-ranging" works newly relevant to a modern scholarly audience. The text includes essential reference features such as a detailed "chronology" of Johnson's life and a "guide to further reading" categorized by major critical themes. This companion serves as a unique introduction to Johnson's roles as a "biographer", "critic", and "engaging conversationalist," providing a stimulating range of international approaches to his legacy. Most reviews are positive, with reviewers praising the collection as an accessible and reliable introduction that prioritizes the author’s written corpus over historical caricature. Landry and Maclean, in SEL, enthusiastically commend the masterful editing and the diverse array of perspectives on the subject's life and legacy. In Albion, Lustig notes the collection is comprehensive, lucid, and deliberately conservative, though she expresses concern over a gender imbalance among the contributors. Kolb's review in Modern Philology approves of the focus on shifting literary opinions but notes minor factual errors, while Barry, in English, warns that avoiding theoretical disputation leaves the collection lacking in impact. In AJ, Ribeiro acknowledges the jargon-free introductio…
date: 1997
language: en
subject: PR3534 .C34 1997
identifier: ISBN 978-0-521-55411-4 978-0-521-55625-5
num pages: xx + 266

item_174480
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Peter Barry, English 47, no. 187 (1998): 81–87; Contemporary Review 272, no. 1584 (1998): 54; Matthew M. Davis, NR, Series D, no. 12 (1996): 56–57; Robert Devens, BJECS 21, no. 2 (1998): 233–34; Robert Folkenflik, ECS 33, no. 2 (2000): 289–99; Kathleen Nulton Kemmerer, ECI 13, no. 2 (1999): 19–21; Gwin J. Kolb, MP 98, no. 4 (2001): 679–82; G. Lamoine, Études Anglaises 51, no. 3 (1998): 347–48; Donna Landry and Gerald Maclean, SEL 38, no. 3 (1998): 579; A. F. T. Lurcock, N&Q 46, no. 1 (1999): 135–136; Irma S. Lustig, Albion 31, no. 3 (1999): 493–94; Jack Lynch, Choice 35, nos. 11–12 (1998): 6080; Jack Lynch, Essays in Criticism 49, no. 1 (1999): 75–81; Steven Lynn, YWES 78, no. 1 (1998): 451–53; Reference Reviews 11, no. 8 (1997): 26–27; Alvaro Ribeiro, S. J., AJ 10 (1999): 292–302; Keith Walker, Yearbook of English Studies 30 (2000): 312–14.

Eighteenth-Century Studies in Honor of Donald F. Hyde
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Grolier Club
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
editors: Person
  surname: Bond
  given name: W. H.
is referenced by: CGV entry 10/6:347. Eleven essays on Johnson are listed separately in the bibliography.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
abstract: A Festschrift dedicated to the celebrated collector of Johnsoniana, reflecting the pivotal status of the Hyde Collection for research on Samuel Johnson and his circle. The volume gathers essays of high scholarly distinction, presenting important discoveries and critical re-examinations. Johnsonian and Boswellian content is extensive, featuring James L. Clifford’s essay on "Johnson's Trip to Devon in 1762," Paul J. Korshin's article regarding "Johnson and the Earl of Orrery," and Robert F. Metzdorf’s study involving M'Nicol, Macpherson, and Rasselas. E. A. and L. D. Bloom contribute an analysis of Johnson’s early poem in "Johnson's 'Mournful Narrative': The Rhetoric of London," while Louis A. Landa discusses Johnson's satirical prose in "Johnson’s Feathered Man: ‘A Dissertation on the Art of Flying’ Considered."
date: 1970
language: en
subject: PR442 .E4
num pages: 424

CGV entry 10/6:347. Eleven essays on Johnson are listed separately in the bibliography.
type: Memo

Samuel Johnson, 1709–1784: A Bicentenary Exhibition
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Arts Council of Great Britain & The Herbert Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Yung
  given name: Kai Kin
authors: Person
  surname: Wain
  given name: John
authors: Person
  surname: Robson
  given name: W. W.
authors: Person
  surname: Fleeman
  given name: J. D.
is referenced by: CGV entry 1/4:65. Preface by Sir William Rees-Mogg; introduction and catalogue by Kai Kin Yung.
subject: 18th
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
date: 1984
language: en
subject: PR3533 .Y86 1984
identifier: ISBN 978-0-906969-45-8
num pages: 144

CGV entry 1/4:65. Preface by Sir William Rees-Mogg; introduction and catalogue by Kai Kin Yung.
type: Memo

A Preface to Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Longman
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Woodman
  given name: Thomas M.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
abstract: Woodman examines Johnson as a transitional figure who reconciled Renaissance literary tenets with the emerging demands of a commercial "Age of Print." Adopting an anti-heroic perspective, Woodman argues that Johnson’s moral authority derives from a "strenuous moral struggle" to achieve objectivity over subjective psychological conflicts. The text explores Johnson’s "Christian humanism," noting how he used empirical observation and the "new psychology" originating with Hobbes to defend traditional moral absolutes against Enlightenment complacency and sentimentalism. Woodman analyzes Johnson’s role as a "culture hero" who championed the bookseller-patron system, thereby securing authorial dignity within the marketplace. Furthermore, Woodman assesses Johnson's contributions to lexicography and Shakespearian scholarship, suggesting that Johnson palliated linguistic "degeneration" by recording usage while asserting the "grandeur of generality." The study concludes that Johnson’s work constitutes a "treatise on the art of human happiness," advocating for a "choice of eternity" to mitigate the "vanity of human wishes" inherent in earthly pursuits. Chapter 1, 'Samuel Johnson, the Man and His Life,' traces the subject's development from a physically impaired provincial youth to the authoritative "Great Cham of Literature." It emphasizes his lifelong struggle against psychological distress and poverty, framing his literary output—from early hackwork to the seminal Dictionary and late biographies—as a courageous moral effort to surmount existential obstacles. Chapter 2, 'The Intellectual Background,' positions the subject as a Christian humanist mediating between traditional moral absolutes and the emerging empirical rigor of the Enlightenment. It argues that his characteristic skepticism toward progress and his analytical moral psychology stem from a profound awareness of human fallibility and the pervasive reality of evil. Chapter 3, 'Religion,' examines the subject’s devout…
date: 1993
language: en
subject: PR3534 .W66 1993
identifier: ISBN 978-0-582-08666-1 978-0-582-08665-4
num pages: 224

Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Haus
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Wilson Smith
  given name: Timothy
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Wilson Smith traces the life of Johnson from his 1709 birth in Lichfield through his 1784 death, emphasizing his struggle against physical disability, poverty, and melancholia. The narrative follows his incomplete education at Oxford and early failures as a teacher before moving to London in 1737 to pursue journalism under Edward Cave. Wilson Smith details the creation of the Dictionary of the English Language, noting Johnson’s idiosyncratic definitions and his rejection of Lord Chesterfield’s belated patronage. The text examines major literary contributions, including the poem "London," the biography of Richard Savage, the philosophical tale Rasselas, and his definitive edition of Shakespeare. It highlights the stabilization of Johnson’s later life through a royal pension and his deep friendships with Boswell, Reynolds, and the Thrales. The biography underscores Johnson’s "moral earnestness" and humanitarian sympathies, particularly his loathing of slavery and his support for the marginalized. Wilson Smith concludes by discussing the immediate post-mortem battle between biographers Boswell, Hawkins, and Piozzi to define Johnson's legacy. Chapter 1, 'A Young Provincial Scholar (1709-1737),' examines the formative physical, familial, and intellectual struggles of Samuel Johnson, documenting his early education in Lichfield and his abortive residence at Oxford. The narrative explores his eventual marriage to Elizabeth Porter and his initial professional failures as a provincial teacher, which necessitated his departure for London. Chapter 2, 'A Critic Comes to London (1737-1745),' chronicles his arrival in the capital and his survival through relentless literary labor for Edward Cave's Gentleman's Magazine. It details his significant early works, such as "London" and the Life of Savage, while highlighting his immersion in the precarious world of Grub Street. Chapter 3, 'The Making of Dictionary Johnson (1745-1755),' focuses on the arduous nine-year development of A Di…
date: 2004
language: en
subject: PR 3533 .W55 2004
identifier: ISBN 978-1-904341-89-5
num pages: 160

Samuel Johnson in the Medical World: The Doctor and the Patient
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Wiltshire
  given name: John
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
subject: Science
abstract: Wiltshire situates Johnson within the eighteenth-century medical world, tracing his relationships with physicians and examining his medical theory and practice. The study argues that medical themes of suffering and its alleviation form the core of Johnson's thought and writing. Wiltshire analyzes Johnson's varied ailments—including childhood scrofula, "morbid melancholy," and chronic respiratory distress—alongside his amateur medical expertise acquired from associates like James and Lawrence. The text explores the "therapeutic friendship" between Johnson and Thrale, characterized by a regime of "moral management" that anticipated later psychiatric care. Wiltshire also examines Johnson's role as a counselor to Boswell, suggesting that Johnson's works provided "bark and steel for the mind" to help Boswell achieve "manly firmness." Through an investigation of Johnson's "medical journalism" and personal correspondence, the study demonstrates how Johnson's identity as a "spectacular patient" was inextricably linked to his cultural authority as a healer of mind and body. Wiltshire details Johnson's final battle with "the dropsy," highlighting his insistence on "vigorous remedy" and his frequent disputes with doctors over phlebotomy and experimental drugs like digitalis. By reconstructing the system of beliefs behind Johnson's medical advice, Wiltshire shows that Johnson used his own experience of illness to offer emotional therapy to his circle. The book concludes that Johnson's suffering was not an aberration but the essential ground of his life and work, informing his deep concern for charity and his "tenderness" toward human weakness. Through this lens, the "Doctor" emerges as a sage whose authority is underwritten by his status as a patient. Chapter 1, 'Johnson's Medical History: Facts and Mysteries,' chronicles the extensive physical and psychological ailments that plagued the subject, evaluating contemporary and modern diagnoses of his scrofula, respiratory distress…
date: 1991
language: en
subject: PR3537.M4 W54 1990
identifier: ISBN 978-0-521-38326-4
num pages: 293

The Making of Dr. Johnson: Icon of Modern Culture
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Icons of Modern Culture
publisher: Helm Information
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Hastings
authors: Person
  surname: Wiltshire
  given name: John
contributors: Person
  surname: Vuillermin
  given name: Daniel
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
date: 2009
language: en
short title: The Making of Dr. Johnson
subject: PR3533 .W5587 2009
identifier: ISBN 978-1-903206-30-0
num pages: xvi, 285

Bad Behavior: Samuel Johnson and Modern Cultural Authority
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Wechselblatt
  given name: Martin
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Philosophy
abstract: Wechselblatt explores Johnson's professional identity as a "double self-construction" alternating between the "Augustan sage" and the "Grub Street hack". using critical theory, particularly the insights of Horkheimer and Adorno, Wechselblatt argues that this duality reflects the broader transition to mass-market publishing and the "epistemological closure" of modernity. The text investigates the "critical reduction of Johnson’s discourse to its maxims" and compares the modern scholarly identification with Johnson to the "identification felt by fans toward celebrities". Wechselblatt identifies a fundamental tension in Johnsonian authority between stable, "delegated knowledge" linked to the patronage system and the "mere succession of authorities" found in the commercial marketplace. By examining Johnson's writings alongside the anecdotes of Hester Thrale and James Boswell, Wechselblatt demonstrates how Johnsonian exemplarity operates through a conflict between "theory and practice" and "maxim and experience". The study further explores how Johnson managed historical "otherness" by recuperating it as loss through genres like the epitaph, ultimately positioning Johnson as a pivotal figure who "grounds his discourse in the tropes of its failures" to navigate modern cultural authority. Chapter 1, 'Nullius in Verba,' argues that modern cultural authority emerges from a structural oscillation between the traditional "sage" and the commercial "hack," a binary tension enacted through Johnson's self-construction. Chapter 2, 'Style and the Man,' investigates how the critical reduction of discourse to aphoristic maxims provides modern readers with a compensatory formal stability for cognitive instability. Chapter 3, 'The "Trials" of Authorship,' contends that the discontinuities of the literary marketplace enable fantasies of writerly freedom by uncoupling authorial intention from the arbitrary contingencies of public reception. Chapter 4, 'Johnson as Man of Letters,' explores …
date: 1998
language: en
subject: PR3537.P6 W43 1998
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8387-5329-3
num pages: 202

Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Huntington Library
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: San Marino
editors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Correspondence
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: This wide-ranging volume examines the theoretical and scholarly contexts of Johnson's work as a lexicographer, moralist, poet, political commentator, sermon writer, periodical essayist, biographer, literary critic, and theorist. In addition to Johnson's more familiar works, the contributors address his poetry, political writings, sermons, and personal correspondence. Critics say this monograph represents an essential classic of deep-level scholarship that brilliantly expands the traditionally tested range of the subject's studies. Reviewers describe the book as a handsome and outstanding collection that revisits familiar texts while addressing unexplored regions of the subject’s thought, politics, and religion. Pedreira and Clarke celebrate the groundbreaking nature of the seventeen incisive essays, particularly praising Sherman’s meditation on the moralistic conception of time and Fairer’s analysis of the subject's agile mind. Lee and Smallwood find the work's scholarly rigor and lovely aesthetics to be touchstones of the volume, noting that the diverse literary approaches link minute textual details to broader historical contexts without the excessive control of a single thesis. The collection also receives accolades for its treatment of the subject's editorial craft; Walsh’s study of the Shakespeare edition and DeMaria’s authoritative survey of textual editions are cited as highlights. Smallwood commends the shift away from mid-twentieth-century fixations, though he finds Engell’s analysis of the subject and Walter Scott to be over-leisurely in its pace. Carter highlights the complexity of the debates surrounding the subject's churchmanship, identifying Gibson’s survey of High Church and Latitudinarian views as a helpful contribution. While the volume traces paradoxical relationships with figures like Swift and Byron, Walker notes the success of researchers like Folkenflik in enlivening the subject's historical surroundings through specific biographical research.…
date: 2014
language: en
subject: PR3534 .S29 2014
identifier: ISBN 978-0-87328-259-8
num pages: 384

Samuel Johnson on Shakespeare: The Discipline of Criticism
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Georgia Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Athens
authors: Person
  surname: Tomarken
  given name: Edward
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Drama
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Shakespeare
abstract: Since the first appearance of Samuel Johnson's edition of Shakespeare's drama in 1765, its Preface has often been published separately, while the Notes have been treated as miscellaneous and fragmentary. As a result, few modern readers realize that the Notes in fact contain coherent interpretations of most of the plays and that many portions of the Preface are generalizations related to those readings. Scholars who have examined the Notes carefully have almost always used them in studies of larger issues, such as Johnson's morality or rhetoric. In this book, Edward Tomarken provides the first full-length study of the Notes to Shakespeare, showing how they raise issues of direct concern to modern critics and theoreticians. While referring to Johnson's notes on all the Shakespearean dramas, Tomarken focuses on eight plays — Henry IV, Troilus and Cressida, Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew, King Lear, The Tempest, Hamlet, and Macbeth — to demonstrate the range of Johnson's editorial and critical abilities. Each chapter, devoted to a single play, moves from the particular to the general-from specific remarks about the play in the Notes, to related theoretical statements in the Preface, and finally to an axiom of literary theory. Ranging from a formulation concerning ideology in criticism to a reconsideration of aesthetic empathy, these axioms are, Tomarken contends, essential to literary criticism as a discipline and manifest Johnson's relevance to modernity.
date: 1991
language: en
subject: PR2968 .T66 1991
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8203-1358-0
num pages: 205

Samuel Johnson and Three Infidels: Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Georgia Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Athens
authors: Person
  surname: Temmer
  given name: Mark J.
is referenced by: item_174519
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Philosophy
abstract: Temmer reevaluates the intellectual relationships between Johnson and the prominent figures of the French Enlightenment by juxtaposing representative works and biography. The first section contrasts the parallel lives of Johnson and Rousseau, interpreting their existence as "ontological masterpieces" and finding a shared pietism despite opposing doctrines. Temmer rejects traditional Johnsonian dismissals of Rousseau as a mere "infidel," identifying affinities in their warmth of imagination and their common struggle with the "hard task of Christianity." The second section provides a comparative reading of Candide and Rasselas, situating both 1759 tales within the history of ideas. Temmer argues that both authors use their narratives to challenge the "plenum formarum" of Leibnizian optimism, asserting that "much is to be endured, and little to be enjoyed." The final section traces typological concordances between the Life of Savage and Le Neveu de Rameau, suggesting that Diderot's masterpiece may have been influenced by Johnson's earlier biography. Temmer concludes that Johnson's innovative role in biography relates his work to a tradition leading to Hegel and Dostoevsky. Chapter 1, 'Johnson and Rousseau: Parallel Lives That Never Intersected,' explores the ontological masterpieces created through their disparate biographical and autobiographical records. It argues that despite doctrinal oppositions, both men shared profound pietism and obsessive psychological struggles with guilt and solitude. Chapter 2, 'Candide and Rasselas Revisited,' addresses the 1759 publication of these two philosophical tales, contrasting Voltaire’s "sportive victory" over religion with the religious intent to direct human hopes toward eternity. It argues that both works function as Bildungsromane that challenge Leibnizian optimism through distinct aesthetic and intellectual energies. Chapter 3, 'Speculations on Samuel Johnson's Life of Savage and Diderot's Neveu de Rameau,' addresses the gen…
date: 1988
language: en
short title: Samuel Johnson and Three Infidels
subject: PR3537.P5 T4 1988
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8203-0962-0
num pages: 212

item_174519
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Lionel Basney, ECF 1, no. 2 (1989): 156–58; Kevin L. Cope, South Atlantic Review 54, no. 1 (1989): 116–19; Robert D. Hume, SEL 28, no. 3 (1988): 521–22; Ralph James, Transactions of the Johnson Society (Lichfield), 1988, 26–27; Frederick M. Keener, Diderot Studies 24 (1991): 205–7; Haydn Mason, French Studies 44, no. 1 (1990): 69; Gita May, Comparative Literature 43, no. 2 (1991): 195–96; John H. Middendorf, JNL 48, nos. 1–2 (1988): 2; Alain Morvan, Revue de littérature comparée 64, no. 1 (1990): 142–44; John Neubauer, Comparative Literature Studies 29, no. 1 (1992): 94–96; Robert Niklaus, BJECS 13, no. 2 (1990): 253–54; Catherine Neal Parke, AJ 3 (1990): 473–77; M. S. Wagoner, Choice 25 (1988): 1559; Renee Waldinger, Philosophy and Literature 13, no. 1 (1989): 188–90.
subject: Philosophy

Samuel Johnson and Neoclassical Dramatic Theory: The Intellectual Context of the Preface to Shakespeare
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Nebraska Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lincoln
authors: Person
  surname: Stock
  given name: R. D.
is referenced by: CGV entry 19:136.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Drama
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Science
subject: Shakespeare
abstract: Stock analyzes the intellectual context of Johnson’s Preface to Shakespeare, focusing on neoclassical dramatic theory and related critical issues spanning from 1730 to 1770 while disputing the view that Johnson acts as a revolutionary critic who single-handedly destroyed neoclassical dogmas. By situating Johnson within a tradition of "empirical and psychological" criticism, Stock demonstrates that many of his seemingly radical positions—such as the rejection of the unities of time and place—had significant precedents in earlier eighteenth-century thought. The study clarifies Johnson’s critical judgments by measuring them against contemporaries, with a goal of establishing context rather than originality, and analyzes Johnson’s debt to and departure from critics like Rymer, Dryden, Pope, and Kames. Stock argues that Johnson maintains a reflective position, avoiding the extremes of sentimentalist subjectivism and rationalist precision, adhering instead to empirically supported "right reason" and using "common sense" and a focus on "general nature" to evaluate dramatic probability. The core achievement of the Preface is located in its empirically based search for fundamental principles, and Stock argues that Johnson’s greatness lies not in the novelty of his ideas but in the "unexampled weight and clarity" with which he synthesized existing trends to defend Shakespeare’s realism. The book details Johnson’s views on nature, the unities, moral instruction, poetic justice, and decorum, exploring the tension between Johnson’s moral requirements for art and his commitment to representing "the real state of sublunary nature," where good and evil are mingled. Stock identifies Johnson's defense of tragicomedy and his unique use of the concept of general nature as critical highlights, including extensive discussion of French criticism and the contemporary reception of Johnson’s theories. The study concludes that the Preface served as a definitive summation of neoclassical drama…
date: 1973
language: en
short title: Samuel Johnson and Neoclassical Dramatic Theory
subject: PR2975.J643 Z85
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8032-0819-3
num pages: 226

CGV entry 19:136.
type: Memo

Johnson's Critical Presence: Image, History, Judgment
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Ashgate
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Aldershot
authors: Person
  surname: Smallwood
  given name: Philip
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: History
subject: Abstract
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "Samuel Johnson remains one of the most frequently discussed and cited of the eighteenth-century critics; but historians of criticism have invariably interpreted his work within conventions that have allowed for little evaluative commerce between the needs of the critical present and the voices of the critical past. Smallwood's argument is that Johnson's alienation from the modern critical scene stems in part from historians' tendency to tell the story of criticism as a narrative of improvement. The image of Johnson conceived by his antagonists in the eighteenth century has been perpetuated by romanticism, by nineteenth-century representational routines and mediated to the present day, most recently, by varieties of ‘radical theory'. In Johnson's Critical Presence Smallwood offers a new account of Johnson's major critical writings conceived according to a different kind of historical potential. He suggests that the historicization of eighteenth-century criticism can best be understood in the light of the ‘dialogic' and ‘translational' historiographies of Collingwood, Gadamer and Ricoeur, and that the explanatory contexts of Johnson's criticism must include poetry in addition to theory; in this his study seeks to displace both the history of ideas as the leading paradigm for the history of criticism and to question the developmental narrative on which it relies. By in-depth analysis of Johnson's response to Shakespeare's plays and to the poetry of Abraham Cowley, Smallwood constructs a non-reductive context of emotional experience for Johnson's criticism. This embraces the dynamic satirical caricatures by James Gillray of Johnson as critic, the irony of Johnson's critical affinities with the major romantics, and is set against twentieth-century responses to the literary ‘canon'. Smallwood argues that not only Johnson;s emotional sensitivities, but also the ironic voices within the critical text itself, must be fully appreciated before Johnson's cur…
date: 2004
language: en
short title: Johnson's Critical Presence
subject: PR3537.L5 S63 2004
identifier: ISBN 978-0-7546-3357-0
num pages: 172

Johnson Re-Visioned: Looking Before and After
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
editors: Person
  surname: Smallwood
  given name: Philip
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Abstract
abstract: Smallwood edits a revisionist volume that seeks to move beyond the "venerated" image of Johnson to explore his continuing relevance to contemporary literary theory. The collection features contributors such as Greg Clingham, Martin Wechselblatt, and James G. Basker, who address topics including Johnson’s engagement with "Bardic Nationalism," his refutation of Bishop Berkeley, and his complex views on race and slavery. Significant attention is paid to Johnson's "Black London" context, specifically his relationship with his servant Francis Barber. The essays analyze major works including The Vanity of Human Wishes and Lives of the Poets, particularly the "Life of Gray," while also considering Johnson’s impact on later writers like Jane Austen. Smallwood identifies the volume's central tension as the "looking before and after"—reconciling Johnson's roots in classical criticism with modern concerns regarding gender, coverture, and cultural authority. The text includes scholarly features such as a comprehensive index and detailed bibliographical references. By challenging "Bardolatry" and "Namierite" historical models, the collection presents Johnson as a "dynamic presence" in the history of criticism whose "humane intelligence" remains a vital subject for eighteen-century studies. Critics are generally favorable, praising the collection's examination of contemporary relevance and its engagement with modern theoretical frameworks. Hitchings, in TLS, notes the argument for the subject's enduring relevance to contemporary critical consciousness through the application of modern methodologies to race, gender, and cosmopolitan thought. Looser's positive review in SEL describes the volume as a strong collection that works cooperatively with theoretical change, highlighting chapters on cosmopolitan nationalism, female friendship, and critical reception. Lynch (Choice) calls the volume a productive examination that clarifies the scholarly image through a uniform focus and acces…
date: 2001
language: en
subject: PR3534 .J66 2001
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8387-5494-8
num pages: 179

Boswell's Presumptuous Task: The Making of the Life of Dr. Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Sisman
  given name: Adam
is referenced by: Originally published: London : Penguin, 2000
is referenced by: item_174472
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Criticism
subject: Death
subject: Johnson
abstract: Sisman examines the seven-year composition of the biography of Johnson, focusing on the transition from Boswell as a companion to an ambitious biographer. The narrative traces Boswell’s psychological dependence on Johnson as a mentor and moral pinnacle, a need originating in Boswell’s turbulent relationship with his own father. Sisman details the innovative biographical techniques Boswell employed, such as the use of "portable soup" memoranda to reconstruct conversations and the interweaving of Johnson’s letters and diverse writings to allow the subject to speak for himself. The account highlights the collaborative role of Malone in refining the manuscript and Boswell’s exhaustive efforts to verify minute details, which established new scholarly standards for the genre. Sisman also explores the rivalry between Boswell and Piozzi, noting how their competing memoirs and personal friction shaped the public's perception of Johnson. The text explains that Boswell used these rivalries and personal anecdotes to craft a "life in scenes" that provided an extraordinarily vivid and physical presence of his subject. Boswell and Johnson created each other for posterity, with the biographer resuscitating his friend in print while simultaneously immortalizing himself. Despite Boswell's personal chaos, including debt and failing health, he persisted in his task to create a work that redefined biography as a literary form. Sisman shows how the discovery of Boswell's private papers in the twentieth century further transformed scholarly understanding of his skill as a writer and his complex relationship with Johnson. Chapter 1, "Immaturity," traces the subject's early life in Scotland, focusing on his aristocratic lineage, his initial struggles with "hypochondria," and the formative, often contentious, relationship with his stern father. Chapter 2, "Forwardness," details his first meeting with Samuel Johnson and the subsequent development of their friendship, alongside his Continental…
date: 2000
language: en
short title: Boswell's Presumptuous Task
subject: PR3533.B7 S57 2001
identifier: ISBN 978-0-374-11561-6
num pages: 351

Originally published: London : Penguin, 2000
type: Memo

item_174472
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Brooke Allen, Hudson Review 54, no. 3 (2001): 489–97; Steve Barnes, WSJ, August 24, 2001; Bella Bathurst, TLS, no. 5092 (November 2000): 36; Mark Bostridge, The Independent, October 29, 2000; Allan Brown, Sunday Times (London), September 16, 2001; James Buchan, Evening Standard (London), October 23, 2000; James Buchan, Sunday Herald, November 26, 2000; James Buchan, Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, November 30, 2000; D. L. C., Dublin Historical Record 54, no. 1 (2001): 111; Angus Calder, Scotland on Sunday, November 5, 2000; Richard J. Cox, American Archivist 65, no. 1 (2002): 138–42; Anthony Cronin, Sunday Independent (Dublin), October 7, 2001; Marlies K. Danziger, Eighteenth-Century Scotland 17 (2003): 24; John Derbyshire, New Criterion 19, no. 7 (2001): 61; Michael Dirda, Washington Post, August 19, 2001; Gerry Dukes, Irish Independent, December 9, 2000; Richard Eder, NYT, August 2, 2001; Victoria Glendinning, Irish Times, November 18, 2000; Elizabeth Goldring, NR, Series E, no. 4 (2000): 91–93; A. C. Grayling, Financial Times, December 9, 2000; Kevin Hart, AJ 14 (2003): 416–20; Christopher Hawtree, The Independent, November 6, 2000; Philip Hensher, The Spectator 285, no. 8987 (2000): 46–47; Richard Holmes, NYRB 48, no. 14 (2001): 28–32; Roger Hutchinson, The Scotsman (Edinburgh), November 4, 2000; Christopher D. Johnson, South Atlantic Review 67, no. 1 (2002): 162–64; Greg Johnson, Atlanta Journal and Constitution, September 2, 2001; Robert Jones, Library Journal 126, no. 11 (2001): 82; Peter Kanter, JNL 54, no. 1 (2003): 66–69; Arnold Kemp, The Guardian, November 5, 2000; Arnold Kemp, The Observer (London), November 5, 2000; Kirkus Reviews (April 15, 2001); Adam Kirsch, Newsday, August 26, 2001; Vince Kohler, The Oregonian, October 28, 2001; Michael D. Langan, Buffalo News, August 12, 2001; Ross Leckie, The Times (London), September 22, 2001; London Standard (October 23, 2000); Jack Lynch, Choice 39, no. 5 (2002): 884; C. Marowitz, American Book…

Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Late Dr. Samuel Johnson; Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson, LL.D. During the Last Twenty Years of His Life
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Oxford English Memoirs and Travels
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Shaw
  given name: William
authors: Person
  surname: Piozzi
  given name: Hester Lynch
editors: Person
  surname: Arthur Sherbo
is referenced by: CGV entry 3:238.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Piozzi
abstract: Sherbo presents a combined edition of early biographical accounts of Johnson, featuring William Shaw’s 1785 Memoirs and Hester Lynch Piozzi’s 1786 Anecdotes. The volume provides a comprehensive introduction and extensive annotations that reconcile these primary accounts with later scholarship, particularly the works of Boswell and modern editors. Sherbo’s editorial apparatus identifies individuals mentioned in the texts, clarifies historical allusions, and tracks the textual history of both works. The edition highlights Shaw’s defense of Johnson’s character against contemporary detractors and provides a curated look at the domestic and personal details recorded by Piozzi during her twenty-year association with Johnson. Sherbo’s notes frequently contrast Piozzi’s recollections with those of James Boswell, offering a balanced view of Johnson’s conversational style and private habits. The text serves as a scholarly resource for examining the "biography wars" of the 1780s and the development of Johnsonian mythography.
date: 1974
language: en
subject: PR3533 .S5 1974
identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-255416-1
num pages: xxii+201

CGV entry 3:238.
type: Memo

Regulating Confusion: Samuel Johnson and the Crowd
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Duke University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Durham
authors: Person
  surname: Reinert
  given name: Thomas
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
abstract: Reinert argues Johnson's work enacts a fundamental moral skepticism stemming from the disjunction between individual experience and the massive, impersonal force of the crowd. This urban reality—a phenomenon of unbounded multiplicity—destabilizes moral judgment by fracturing the traditional linkage between general moral maxims and particular human actions. Johnson's career, marked by the tasks of ordering words (the Dictionary) and chronicling lives, reflects a consistent, strenuous attempt to "regulate confusion" through rhetorical, figurative, or probabilistic means when true empirical or ethical certainty is unavailable. The book posits that Johnson's skepticism is not passive but an active struggle against the dissolution of self and meaning. Introduction: Johnson's moral thought, focused on personal judgment, confronts the urban crowd, which destabilizes his principles, forcing him to use figurative language to impose order on "boundless variety." Chapter 1, The Desire for Fame: Social theory's distinction between small and large societies informs Johnson's view of the crowd as an amoral force that simplifies character and renders the pursuit of fame futile. Chapter 2, Periodical Moralizing: Johnson converts the constraints of periodic writing into a moral strategy, using repetition and ritual to find consolation and dignity against helplessness where practical resolution is absent. Chapter 3, The Vanity of Human Wishes: The poem demonstrates the failure of particular life stories (exemplars) to connect materially to universal truth, functioning instead as arbitrary rhetorical supplements to inevitable human suffering. Chapter 4, Exemplary Self-Sacrifice: Savage's self-destructive life exposes the hollowness of sentimental rhetoric in the face of the crowd's impersonality, suggesting true virtue requires non-representable self-effacement (Levet). Conclusion: Johnson's political conservatism is a rhetorical defense mechanism that transfers the essential complexi…
date: 1996
language: en
short title: Regulating Confusion
subject: PR3537.P6 R44 1996
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8223-1707-4 978-0-8223-1717-3
num pages: 195

Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Past Masters
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Rogers
  given name: Pat
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
abstract: Rogers provides a concise introduction to the life and thought of Samuel Johnson, situating him as a definitive "Past Master" of mid-Hanoverian culture. The monograph argues that Johnson’s persona as a sage and master conversationalist often obscures the technical brilliance and methodical clarity of his literary achievement. Rogers surveys Johnson's major works, including the Dictionary, the edition of Shakespeare, and the Lives of the Poets, while examining his religious faith and moral philosophy. The narrative follows Johnson from his early struggles with poverty and health to his eventual dominance of the English literary scene. Rogers characterizes Johnson as an energetic combatant against despair and lethargy, emphasizing his humane attitude toward women and his active support for charities. The text concludes by examining Johnson's enduring influence and his role as a "faithful mirror" of his age. Chapter 1, 'Introduction,' situates the subject as a central symbol of mid-Hanoverian culture who codified English literature through a systematic, Enlightenment-driven approach to language and history. Chapter 2, 'Events,' outlines a life marked by early academic frustration and professional struggle in Grub Street, eventually culminating in recognized literary preeminence and a celebrated social circle. Chapter 3, 'A World of Books,' explores a deep immersion in the book trade, framing the authorial career as a commercial and professional engagement with the emerging market economy of letters. Chapter 4, 'Ideas and Beliefs,' examines a core of orthodox Christianity and a moral philosophy of gradualism that prioritizes common experience over speculative paradox. Chapter 5, 'Politics and Society,' analyzes a complex Tory identity rooted in institutional loyalty and a fierce humanitarianism toward the disadvantaged and suffering. Chapter 6, 'Language and Literature,' evaluates the monumental lexicographical achievement and a critical methodology that champions natur…
date: 1993
language: en
subject: YK.1993.a.11706
identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-287593-8

The Samuel Johnson Encyclopedia
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Greenwood Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Westport, Conn.
authors: Person
  surname: Rogers
  given name: Pat
is referenced by: A wide-ranging reference work on Johnson’s life, works, and associates.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Family
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
subject: Reference
abstract: This reference work provides a systematic guide to the life, works, and social circle of Samuel Johnson. Rogers includes over 650 topical, biographical, and geographical entries, ranging from substantial essays on the Dictionary and the Lives of the Poets to brief notices of minor acquaintances and household pets. The encyclopedia uses standard scholarly editions, including the Yale Edition of Johnson's Works and the Hill–Powell edition of Boswell's Life, to offer detailed facts on publication dates, earnings, and critical reception. Biographical entries cover well-known figures like Boswell and Hester Thrale alongside obscure contacts and historical antagonists. Rogers presents information on Johnson's medical history, religious beliefs, and political views while mapping his domestic and social world in London. The front matter includes a chronology of Johnson's life and a guide to forms of reference used throughout the volume.
date: 1996
language: en
subject: PR3532 .R64 1996
identifier: ISBN 978-0-313-29411-2
num pages: 483

A wide-ranging reference work on Johnson’s life, works, and associates.
type: Memo

Johnson and Boswell: The Transit of Caledonia
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Rogers
  given name: Pat
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Criticism
subject: Jacobitism
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
subject: Religion
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: This study examines the Hebridean tour of Johnson and Boswell as a response to the external forces of their age rather than merely a private psychological event. Rogers posits that Johnson used the trip as a "rite de passage" into old age, purposefully seeking a "chilly midnight" terrain that inverted the classical norms of a traditional grand tour. The book frames the expedition as a displaced voyage of discovery, drawing parallels between Johnson’s "transit" over Scotland and the Pacific explorations of Captain James Cook and Joseph Banks. Rogers analyzes how Johnson tested Enlightenment theories of primitivism through empirical fieldwork, contrasting his discursive methods with the pure analysis of Edinburgh theorists. Additionally, the text explores Boswell’s motive to re-enact the flight of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, suggesting Boswell used Johnson as a surrogate for the missing prince to indulge "emotional Jacobitism." By comparing Johnson’s "Journey" with Boswell’s "Journal," Rogers demonstrates how both men engaged with themes of emigration, oral culture, and national identity in the aftermath of Culloden, ultimately placing their literary achievement within a wider global and historical context. The Introduction establishes the journey as a significant cultural "transit" where the visitors encountered a Scotland in rapid transition following the Jacobite risings and the onset of the Scottish Enlightenment. Chapter 1, "The Map of Caledonia," explores the geographical and cartographic preparation for the tour, detailing how contemporary mapping reflected both a military desire for control and a scholarly quest for topographical accuracy. Chapter 2, "Jacobitism and the Aftermath," investigates the persistent legacy of the Stuart cause in the Highlands, analyzing how the travelers navigated a landscape still haunted by the 1745 rebellion and the subsequent dismantling of the clan system. Chapter 3, "The Scottish Enlightenment," considers the intellectual bac…
date: 1995
language: en
subject: PR3533 .R64 1995
identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-818259-7
num pages: 245

Johnson's Milton
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Rees
  given name: Christine
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Milton
subject: Poetry
subject: Renaissance
abstract: This study explores the complex literary relationship between Johnson and Milton, arguing that Johnson's engagement with his predecessor was productive rather than purely antipathetic. Rees analyzes how Johnson used Miltonic allusion in his periodical essays and poetry to address themes of truth, authority, and human suffering. The text examines Johnson's critical assessment of "Paradise Lost" and the shorter poems, highlighting his scrutiny of Miltonic prosody and his struggle with the epic's religious subject. Rees also discusses Johnson's biographical construction of Milton in the "Lives of the Poets," where he attempted to reconcile Milton's "acrimonious" political identity with his poetic genius. By tracing these interactions, Rees demonstrates that Milton served as an inescapable authority figure who profoundly shaped Johnson's critical thought and creative practice. The work situates both writers within the context of historical continuity and the shared tradition of Christian humanism. Chapter 1, "Milton and the Allegory of Truth," examines how the younger scholar used Miltonic paradigms of trial and error to structure his early periodical essays, arguing that his imaginative engagement with the poet began not with a life but through a creative appropriation of Milton’s quest for truth. Chapter 2, "Milton in the 1740s and 1750s," investigates the poet's presence in the Dictionary and the Rambler, tracing a tension between the lexicographer’s linguistic reliance on Milton’s vocabulary and the moralist’s skeptical critique of his predecessor’s republicanism. Chapter 3, "Johnson’s Miltonic Contexts: The Politics of Biography," analyzes the 1779 Life of Milton as a site of ideological conflict, suggesting that the biographer’s perceived hostility toward the man was a deliberate strategy to separate Milton’s flawed political character from his poetic genius. Chapter 4, "Paradise Lost: The Form of Moral Instruction," evaluates the critic’s defense of the epic genr…
date: 2010
language: en
subject: PR3537.L5 R44 2010
identifier: ISBN 978-0-521-19279-8
num pages: 296

The Making of Johnson's 'Dictionary,' 1746–1773
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Reddick
  given name: Allen
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Reference
abstract: A revised edition of the book published in 1990.
date: 1996
language: en
subject: PE1617.J7 R4 1996
identifier: ISBN 978-0-521-56838-8
edition: Rev. ed.
num pages: 252

Comparative Excellence: New Essays on Shakespeare and Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: AMS Studies in the Eighteenth Century
publisher: AMS Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
editors: Person
  surname: Rasmussen
  given name: Eric
editors: Person
  surname: Santesso
  given name: Aaron
is referenced by: A collection of ten original essays on Johnson and Shakespeare, from a conference in April 2005 in Reno and Lake Tahoe.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Renaissance
subject: Drama
subject: Shakespeare
subject: Abstract
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "Presents a collection of essays, in which internationally-recognized Shakespearean scholars and equally eminent Johnsonians consider the relationship of these two central figures of the English canon - examining not just Shakespeare's influence on Dr. Johnson, but also Johnson's influence on Shakespeare."
date: 2007
language: en
subject: PR2965 .C66 2007
identifier: ISBN 978-0-404-64852-7
num pages: 245

A collection of ten original essays on Johnson and Shakespeare, from a conference in April 2005 in Reno and Lake Tahoe.
type: Memo

The Religious Life of Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Athlone Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Pierce
  given name: Charles E.
is referenced by: CGV entry 24:197.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Death
subject: Johnson
subject: Law
subject: Religion
abstract: This study analyzes the psychological and theological origins of Johnson's faith, positing that his religious commitment emerged as a response to existential anxiety. Pierce explores the conflict between Johnson's rational skepticism and his need for spiritual certitude, particularly regarding salvation and divine judgment. The narrative examines how Johnson used religious devotion, including frequent prayer and the study of divinity, to manage fears of death, insanity, and a misspent life. Pierce identifies a central "crisis of faith" during the 1760s, characterized by a nervous breakdown and debilitating "scruples" of doubt. Drawing on the "Prayers and Meditations," Pierce argues that Johnson's faith never provided the "spiritual happiness" he sought until a transformative period in his final months. This concluding phase involved a shift in Johnson's view of the atonement from a "legalistic" model to one emphasizing "divine mercy," leading to a state of reconciliation before death. Throughout, Pierce situates Johnson within the tradition of rational Anglicanism while highlighting the "tragic irony" of a life spent "forged on the anvil of anxiety." Chapter 1, "The Problem of Johnson’s Religion," identifies the central difficulty in assessing Johnson's faith as the conflict between his public role as a robust defender of Anglican orthodoxy and his private experience of intense spiritual anxiety and "scrupulosity." Chapter 2, "The Growth of a Religious Mind," traces the development of Johnson's beliefs from his childhood "lapsarian" state and early indifference through the pivotal influence of William Law’s Serious Call, which transformed his religion into a lifelong, earnest pursuit. Chapter 3, "The Sources of Anxiety," argues that Johnson's religious dread was fueled by a terrifyingly literal view of divine judgment and a constant, agonizing sense of personal inadequacy regarding his "indolence" and unfulfilled resolutions. Chapter 4, "The Anglican Context," situa…
date: 1983
language: en
subject: ELD.DS.419096
identifier: ISBN 978-0-567-56729-1

CGV entry 24:197.
type: Memo

Johnson's Shakespeare
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Clarendon Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Parker
  given name: G. F.
is referenced by: item_174517
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Drama
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Shakespeare
abstract: Parker investigates the underlying conceptual coherence of Samuel Johnson's literary criticism in his 1965 edition and Preface to Shakespeare, defending his classicist tenets against subsequent romantic and modernist dismissals. Parker argues that Johnson's key criteria of "just representations of general nature" and "sublunary nature" do not imply a preference for naturalistic realism, abstract idealization, or simplistic didacticism. Instead, they reflect a deep, principled moral skepticism regarding the human mind's chronic tendency to escape into romanticized illusions, heroic grandiosity, or self-absorbed aestheticism. By conducting an intensive comparative dialogue between Johnson and romantic critics like August Wilhelm Schlegel, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and William Hazlitt, Parker demonstrates how Johnson values Shakespeare precisely for his anti-heroic focus on common humanity, emotional transparency, and cross-class solidarity. The final sections confront the limits of Johnson's critical outlook, noting his visceral, self-protective aversion to the shocking, unendurable, and "unnatural" extremes of Shakespeare's major tragedies. Chapter 1, 'Taking Johnson Seriously,' addresses Samuel Johnson's critical legacy, arguing that his seemingly obtuse strictures on Shakespeare should be understood as a coherent, polemical challenge to imaginative and romantic modes of reading. Chapter 2, 'Just Representations of General Nature,' addresses Johnson's concept of generality, arguing that it represents a non-abstract, empirical truth that captures the vast, sublunary chaos of human life by bypassing individual self-consciousness. Chapter 3, 'The Mind against the World,' addresses the shift toward romantic criticism, arguing that the idealist focus on creative imagination and organic unity creates a dualism that values spiritual detachment over natural participation. Chapter 4, 'Johnson and Tragedy,' addresses the limits of Johnson's anti-heroic priorities, arguing that…
date: 1989
language: en
subject: PR2975.J643 P37 1989
identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-812974-5
num pages: 204

item_174517
type: Memo
value: Reviews: R. G. Brown, Choice 27, no. 4 (1989): 634; Joanna Gondris, JNL 52, no. 1 (1992): 5–7; James Gray, MP 89, no. 1 (1991): 127–31; Robert Hapgood, TLS, no. 4508 (1989): 927–28; David Hopkins, RES, n.s., vol. 42 (1991): 271–72; Shirley White Johnston, AJ 4 (1991): 408–13; Thomas Kaminski, JEGP 90, no. 4 (1991): 559–61; Alexander Leggatt, Shakespeare Quarterly 42, no. 1 (1991): 107–9; C. S. Lim, N&Q 37 [235], no. 4 (1990): 475–76; James McLaverty, Essays in Criticism 40, no. 2 (1990): 164–70; Akio Nakahara, Studies in English Literature 68, no. 1 (1991): 146–53; Claude Rawson, LRB 13, no. 15 (1991): 15–17; John Richetti, SEL 30, no. 3 (1990): 517–54; Willem Schrickx, English Studies 71, no. 3 (1990): 280–83; R. S. White, Deutsche Shakespeare-Gesellschaft-West, Jahrbuch, 1990, 283; R. S. White, Shakespeare Survey Annual 43 (1990): 219–35; Robert Ziegler, Papers on Language & Literature 28, no. 4 (1992): 457–75.

Samuel Johnson and Biographical Thinking
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Missouri Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Columbia
authors: Person
  surname: Parke
  given name: Catherine Neal
is referenced by: item_174518
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Philosophy
abstract: Parke argues that the unifying thread of Johnson's diverse literary career is his constant and profound engagement with "biographical thinking"—a mode of inquiry that uses the writing of lives as its primary method for philosophical and moral exploration. Johnson did not simply write biographies; he used the "biographical" as a way to investigate the fundamental problems of human existence, such as the formation of the self, the nature of choice, and the search for meaning in the past. This process, Parke contends, is not limited to his formal works in the genre, like the Life of Savage or the Lives of the Poets. Rather, she traces this mode of thought through his entire body of work, arguing that his periodical essays, his philosophical tale Rasselas, and his critical prefaces are all different forms of this same biographical investigation, where general truths are tested against the specific, concrete details of individual experience. The book portrays Johnson as a writer who saw criticism as biographical and biography as an "ethical activity." For Johnson, writing was ultimately "a name for one of the ways in which we engage with life," and by inviting readers to understand the lives of others, he mediates an "acquaintance" with our own. Chapter 1, "The Choice of Life," addresses the epistemological foundations of biographical thinking, arguing that for the subject, biography was not merely a literary genre but a fundamental mode of inquiry and a "method of work" used to investigate the relationship between individual experience and general truth. Chapter 2, "The Social Geometry of Thinking," explores the collaborative and conversational nature of the subject’s thought, contending that his intellectual activity was essentially dramatic and required the presence of another mind to achieve its full moral and critical clarity. Chapter 3, "Autobiographical Thinking," examines the subject’s diaries and personal records, identifying a disciplined attempt to convert the…
date: 1991
language: en
subject: PR3537.B54 P37 1991
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8262-0789-0
num pages: 178

item_174518
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Marlies K. Danziger, Biography 16, no. 2 (1993): 175–76; J. D. Fleeman, NR, n.s., no. 7 (1991): 39–40; James Gray, Dalhousie Review 71, no. 4 (1991): 502–7; A. F. T. Lurcock, RES, n.s., 45, no. 179 (1994): 424–25; Steven Lynn, YWES 77, no. 1 (1997): 405; Martin Maner, South Atlantic Review 57, no. 3 (1992): 128–31; Albert Pailler, Études Anglaises 46, no. 1 (1993): 86; Alexander Pettit, ECS 26, no. 1 (1992): 121–26; Gregory Scholtz, Choice 29, no. 7 (1992): 1079; Stuart Sherman, JEGP 93, no. 4 (1994): 585–88; Edward Tomarken, ECF 5, no. 1 (1992): 79–80; David Wheeler, South Central Review 9, no. 4 (1992): 83–84.

A Dr. Johnson Chronology
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Author Chronology Series
publisher: Macmillan
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Houndmills, Basingstoke
authors: Person
  surname: Page
  given name: Norman
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Page uses a strictly chronological framework to document the "flood of Johnsoniana" that followed the subject's birth in 1709 and death in 1784. The text traces Johnson's trajectory from his early days in Lichfield and his abbreviated education at Oxford to his emergence as the "Great Moralist" of London. Key biographical milestones are highlighted, including the 1755 publication of the Dictionary, the formation of the "Literary Club," and the 1763 meeting with James Boswell. Page details the domestic stability provided by the Thrales and the subsequent emotional "stupor" experienced by his circle upon his decline. The chronology concludes by recording the immediate posthumous efforts of biographers, noting that by 1785, six individuals had already undertaken to write his life. This scholarly tool functions to "fix and retain" the evanescent data of Johnson's daily existence, providing a factual foundation for analyzing his "long-continued" struggle for intellectual eminence.
date: 1990
language: en
subject: PR3533 .P3 1990b
identifier: ISBN 978-0-333-45916-4
num pages: 136

Samuel Johnson: The Struggle
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Basic Books
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Meyers
  given name: Jeffrey
is referenced by: item_174470
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
abstract: Meyers depicts Johnson as a "mass of contradictions"—aggressive yet tender, indolent yet industrious—whose formidable intellect allowed him to overcome significant obstacles, including childhood scrofula, deafness, and a failed education at Oxford. The narrative traces Johnson's early struggles as a "Grub Street" hack writer and unsuccessful schoolmaster, culminating in the monumental success of the Dictionary of the English Language and the Lives of the Poets. Meyers pays particular attention to Johnson's intimate relationships, exploring his "preposterous union" with the older Elizabeth "Tetty" Porter and his deep emotional dependence on Hester Thrale. The author offers new interpretations of Johnson's "secret life," specifically his interest in "padlocks, chains and whips," arguing that these masochistic tendencies make his character more "complex and tormented" rather than detracting from his greatness. James Boswell is presented as a "surrogate son" and "leading acolyte" who, despite his own "insatiable" fornication and "mental instability," immortalized Johnson through his meticulous recording of the older man's conversation. Meyers also examines Johnson’s progressive social views, noting his fierce opposition to "Negro slavery," debtors' prisons, and the "indiscriminate use of capital punishment." The volume concludes by assessing Johnson’s enduring influence on later literary figures like Virginia Woolf and Vladimir Nabokov, positioning him as a "literary hero" whose struggle to "conquer difficulties" remains a model of human felicity. Chapter 1, 'Lichfield Lad, 1709–1728', details the early life and education of the subject in a Midlands cathedral town, emphasizing the physical infirmities, familial discord, and intellectual precocity that forged his combative character. Chapter 2, 'Vile Melancholy, 1728–1730', examines the brief, poverty-stricken tenure at Oxford University, identifying this period as the catalyst for a lifelong struggle with clinical depr…
date: 2008
language: en
subject: PR3533 .M49 2008
identifier: ISBN 978-0-465-04571-6
num pages: 528

item_174470
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Brooke Allen, Wilson Quarterly 33, no. 1 (2009): 92–95; Robert DeMaria Jr., JNL 60, no. 1 (2009): 57–61; John Derbyshire, National Review 60, no. 21 (2008): 60–61; Robert Folkenflik, AJ 20 (2010): 319–31; Alan Helms, Boston Globe, November 30, 2008; Lewis Jones, Financial Times, January 10, 2009; Pam Kingsbury, Library Journal 133, no. 19 (2008): 72; Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2008; Elizabeth Lambert, ECI 24, no. 1 (2010): 22–26; Michael D. Langan, Buffalo News, January 4, 2009; Sam Leith, Daily Mail (London), March 6, 2009; Joseph Losos, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 4, 2009; Jack Lynch, Choice 47, no. 2 (2009): 305; Brian McCrea, Christianity and Literature 59, no. 4 (2010): 720–24; Rex Murphy, Globe and Mail (Toronto), February 21, 2009; David Nokes, Times Higher Education, no. 1881 (January 2009): 52; Andrew O’Hagan, NYRB 66, no. 15 (2009): 6–8, 10; Ray Olson, Booklist 14, no. 1 (2008): 14; Leah Price, NYT, February 1, 2009; Leah Price, International Herald Tribune, January 31, 2009; Publishers Weekly, September 22, 2008; Reference and Research Book News 25, no. 1 (2010); Pat Rogers, New Criterion 27, no. 10 (2009): 16–22; Tim Rutten, Atlanta Constitution, January 4, 2009; Tim Rutten, LA Times, December 20, 2008; Michael Sims, Washington Post, December 21, 2008; Michael Sims, Houston Chronicle, January 11, 2009; James Srodes, Washington Times, January 25, 2006; Lance Wilcox, Historian 73, no. 1 (2011): 196–17; Myron D. Yeager, ANQ 23, no. 1 (2010): 61–67.

The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets: With Critical Observations on Their Works
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Clarendon Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: Lonsdale
  given name: Roger
is referenced by: item_174466
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Lives
subject: Poetry
abstract: A magisterial four-volume scholarly edition, often called the "best edition of any text of Johnson's, ever." Its chief distinction is its exhaustive, discursive commentary (877 pages in reduced print), placed at the rear of the volumes, offering a comprehensive literary history and extensive contextualization of the poets. Publisher's blurb: "Johnson himself wrote in 1782: "I know not that I have written any thing more generally commended than the Lives of the Poets." Always recognized as a major biographical and critical achievement, Samuel Johnson's last literary project is also one of his most readable and entertaining, written with characteristic eloquence and conviction, and at times with combative trenchancy. Johnson's fifty-two biographies constitute a detailed survey of English poetry from the early seventeenth century down to his own time, with extended discussions of Cowley, Milton, Waller, Dryden, Addison, Prior, Swift, Pope, and Gray. The Lives also include Johnson's memorable biography of the enigmatic Richard Savage (1744), the friend of his own early years in London. Roger Lonsdale's Introduction describes the origins, composition, and textual history of the Lives, and assesses Johnson's assumptions and aims as biographer and critic. The commentary provides a detailed literary and historical context, investigating Johnson's sources, relating the Lives to his own earlier writings and conversation, and to the critical opinions of his contemporaries, as well as illustrating their early reception. This is the first scholarly edition since George Birkbeck Hill's three-volume Oxford edition (1905)." Critics are almost uniformly enthusiastic, praising the work's monumental scholarly achievement and extensive contextual annotations. At stake in the reviews is whether the collection provides an accurate historical record of eighteenth-century publishing traditions and editorial practices that replaces outdated standards. Folkenflik, in AJ, calls it the finest …
date: 2006
language: en
short title: Lives
subject: PR553 .J7 2006
number of volumes: 4
identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-927897-8 978-0-19-928479-5 978-0-19-928480-1 978-0-19-928481-8 978-0-19-928482-5

item_174466
type: Memo
value: Reviews: O. M. Brack Jr., YWES 88, no. 1 (2009): 1229; O. M. Brack Jr., ECI 21, no. 2 (2007): 27–33; Greg Clingham, YWES 88, no. 1 (2009): 611–71; Greg Clingham, Essays in Criticism 57, no. 2 (2007): 186–94; Robert DeMaria Jr., JNL 58, no. 1 (2007): 41–45; James Fenton, The Guardian, April 1, 2006; Robert Folkenflik, AJ 19 (2009): 273–83; Robert Folkenflik, YWES 90, no. 1 (2011): 553; H. J. Jackson, TLS, no. 5378 (April 2006): 33; Frank Kermode, NYRB 53, no. 11 (2006): 28–31; Anthony W. Lee, MP 104, no. 4 (2007): 529–59; A. F. T. Lurcock, N&Q 54, no. 2 (2007): 194–97; Deidre Lynch, SEL 47, no. 3 (2007): 756–57; Jack Lynch, Choice 44, no. 3 (2006): 1390; Steven Lynn, YWES 87, no. 1 (2008): 3–4, 40–41; James McLaverty, CQ 35, no. 4 (2006): 383–87; William H. Pritchard, Hudson Review 60, no. 1 (2007): 25–35; Claude Rawson, ECS 40, no. 1 (2006): 109–15; Hermann Josef Real, Anglia 126, no. 3 (2008): 557–63; Allen Reddick, Huntington Library Quarterly 71, no. 3 (2008): 539–52; Willis G. Regier, Prairie Schooner 81, no. 4 (2007): 179; Philip Smallwood, ECL 31, no. 3 (2007): 76–84; H. R. Woudhuysen, NR, Series E, no. 9 (2005): 69–78.

The Past as Present: Selected Thoughts & Essays
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Oliphant Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Ruxin
  given name: Paul T.
editors: Person
  surname: Pradl
  given name: Gordon M
editors: Person
  surname: Ellenport
  given name: Samuel B
editors: Person
  surname: Pritchard
  given name: William H.
subject: Johnson
subject: Bibliography
subject: Abstract
abstract: A collection of essays and talks by Paul T. Ruxin, a dedicated collector and scholar focusing on the Johnson–Boswell era and the nature of literary clubs and book collecting. Ruxin analyzes key moments in the lives of Johnson and Boswell, including a detailed exploration of Boswell's propaganda efforts for the Douglas Cause and the famous dinner orchestrated to bring Johnson and John Wilkes together. Ruxin also offers insightful readings of association copies, such as Lord Auchinleck's annotated Fingal, and discusses Johnson's philanthropic efforts toward the poor and his anonymous defense of the convicted forger William Dodd, showcasing Johnson's "soft-hearted" humanity. Collectively, these pieces articulate the intellectual pleasures of engaging directly with books as cultural artifacts and the unique social community fostered by shared literary pursuits.
date: 2017
language: en

Boswell's "Life of Johnson," First edition
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 149
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/CXLIX.jul11.34f
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Bensly
  given name: Edward
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1925-07-11
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:06:16
pages: 34

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:29:16
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 182
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/182.17.235a
  number: 17
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Andrews
  given name: H. C.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 143. A response to L.F. Powell's query.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Andrews identifies the probable location of Bennet’s school as Burford House in Hoddesdon. He notes that Hoole, the biographer of Scott and a friend of Johnson, attended the institution. Andrews traces the building’s history from its tenure as a long-standing school under various headmasters, including Haslewood, to its eventual conversion into a gymnastic apparatus factory. The identification establishes the geographic context for Bennet, the schoolmaster and editor associated with Johnson.
date: 1942-04-25
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:05:32
pages: 235

Cochrane entry 143. A response to L.F. Powell's query.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:25:09
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Samuel Johnson and the Use of /h/
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 36 [234]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/36-4-484c
  number: 4
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Respess
  given name: John
link: Full Text PDF
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Respess examines Johnson’s Dictionary claim that the letter "H" seldom begins any but the first syllable of English words. Despite Wilkes’s refutation in Boswell’s Life of Johnson, Respess notes Johnson provided his own counter-example in the word "perhaps" within the claim itself. Analysis of subsequent revisions suggests Johnson was initially unaware of this contradiction, as he later removed the phrase and added "blockhead" as a counter-example without citing "perhaps." The text also includes queries regarding Icelandic patriarchal lists, the missing catalogue of Laurence Eusden’s library, the correspondence of Francis Atterbury, and the origins of several French and English literary quotations.
date: 1989-12
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:34:03
pages: 484–485

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:42:22
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Johnson and Scott: A Greek Inscription
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 177
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/177.6.96a
  number: 6
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Philoscotus
is referenced by: CGV entry 17:89. On a sundial at Abbotsford.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Philoscotus examines the Greek inscription used by Johnson on his watch-dial and later by Walter Scott on a sundial at Abbotsford. The author analyzes grammatical errors made by both men, noting Johnson’s use of "for" and Scott’s incorrect placement of the particle. The text details the provenance of Johnson's dial-plate, which was discarded as pedantic or ostentatious, and Scott's lifelong regret over his insufficient grounding in Greek.
date: 1939-08-05
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:33:44
pages: 96

CGV entry 17:89. On a sundial at Abbotsford.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:39:53
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Johnson's Juvenal: 'London' and 'The Vanity of Human Wishes'
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 31 [229]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/31-1-97
  number: 1
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Woodruff
  given name: James
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Rudd
  given name: Niall
is referenced by: CGV entry 14:15. Review by James Woodruff of the book edited by Niall Rudd.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Review
subject: Satire
abstract: Rudd provides texts, prose translations, and manuscript drafts of Johnson's two major imitations. Rudd adopts Johnson’s 1748 and 1755 revisions as basic texts, though Woodruff critiques the inconsistent modernization of capitalization. The edition introduces new material on classical allusions and grammatical relationships. Woodruff regrets Rudd’s omission of Johnson’s original footnotes which invited direct comparison to Juvenal.
date: 1984-03
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:33:36
pages: 97–98

CGV entry 14:15. Review by James Woodruff of the book edited by Niall Rudd.
type: Memo

The Great Twalmley
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 185
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/185.12.349b
  number: 12
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Brown
  given name: John J.
is referenced by: CGV entry 5:274. Regarding 'Life', volume 4, page 193.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Brown seeks biographical information regarding Twamley, whom Johnson cited to check Boswell’s boasting. Twamley earned the epithet "the Great" for inventing a box-iron for smoothing linen. Brown questions the identification of the inventor with a Josiah Twamley listed in the British Museum catalogue as the author of treatises on dairying. While Hill identifies the inventor as a bankrupt ironmonger from Warwick, Brown notes the absence of Twamley’s name from the Alphabetical Index of Patentees of Inventions and requests clarification on whether the ironmonger and dairyman were the same individual.
date: 1943-12-04
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:33:18
pages: 349

CGV entry 5:274. Regarding 'Life', volume 4, page 193.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:35:31
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

The Two Samuel Johnsons
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 199
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/199.oct.432
  number: 10
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Ruhe
  given name: Edward
is referenced by: CGV entry 25:64. On translations of Sarpi's 'History of the Council of Trent'.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Ruhe examines the 1738 controversy between Johnson and a rival translator of Sarpi’s History of the Council of Trent. Newspaper evidence from the Daily Advertiser reveals that the rival, long confused with Samuel Johnson of St. Martin's, was actually Rev. John Johnson. Ruhe highlights a letter from Cave, possibly ghost-written by Johnson, defending the priority of their project against John Johnson's claims. The style and syntax suggest Johnson’s mature hand. Ruhe concludes that the competition, coupled with Johnson’s habitual tardiness, likely led both men to abandon the work early.
date: 1954-10
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:33:12
pages: 432–435

CGV entry 25:64. On translations of Sarpi's 'History of the Council of Trent'.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
subject: Religion
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:34:38
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Samuel Johnson and Padua
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 185
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/185.12.349a
  number: 12
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Brown
  given name: John J.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: Johnson
date: 1943-12-04
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:33:15
pages: 349

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:35:02
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswellian Myths
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 149
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/CXLIX.jul11.21
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Boswell
date: 1925-07-11
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:31:55
pages: 21–22

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:38:10
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

James Boswell and John Trail (1700–1774)
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 68 [266]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjab161
  number: 4
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Turnbull
  given name: Gordon
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Editing
abstract: Turnball talks about James Boswell and John Trail. James Boswell's journal in London for the period 21 April to 16 May 1768 is described in the Yale editors' Catalogue as "Rough notes in general highly condensed." He later made a short cramped interlinear addition, after the word "Afternoon" and before the word "quite." This addition has twice been transcribed by twentieth-century Boswell editors as "old John Frail a little."
date: 2021-12
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:31:39
pages: 427–429

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
subject: Religion
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:35:31
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Addenda to the Documentation of Facts and Inventions: Selections from the Journalism of James Boswell
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 67 [265]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjaa144
  number: 4
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Walker
  given name: Robert G.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Journals
abstract: Walker offers supplemental documentation for Paul Tankard's scholarly edition of Boswell's journalism. The first addendum confirms the survival and title of the broadside "A farther intelligence anent the new camp on Arthur's seat," to which Boswell referred in a 1778 letter about a Highland Regiment mutiny. The second note provides evidence for the involvement of Colonel James Francis Erskine in securing a reprieve for the boy George Olive in 1785, citing letters in the National Archives, and identifies an anonymous public appeal for Olive in the Morning Chronicle. These findings help fill documented gaps acknowledged in Tankard's original edition.
date: 2020-12
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:31:29
pages: 506–510

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:33:41
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Selections from James Bostcell's Life of Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  is part of: 12th series
  volume: 5
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/s12-V.94.196
  number: 94
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
link: Full Text PDF
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
date: 1919-07-01
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:31:25
pages: 196

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:32:53
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswellian Notes
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 149
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/CXLIX.aug15.113
  number: 7
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 499.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
abstract: Pottle attributes the anonymous 1772 pamphlet to Boswell, citing its inclusion in the 1893 Auchinleck Library sale catalogue and internal stylistic evidence. Parallelisms with Boswell’s known works include a preoccupation with the "levelling" spirit, specific references to Goldsmith and Hamilton of Bangour, and shared anecdotes regarding Spartan intoxication. Pottle emphasizes Boswell’s erroneous designation of Francis Osborne as "Sir Francis" in both this text and The Hypochondriack as definitive proof of authorship. A formal collation of the Edinburgh octavo edition is provided.
date: 1925-08-15
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:30:56
pages: 113–114

Cochrane entry 499.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:37:16
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell and Bishop Trail
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 174
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/174.3.44
  number: 3
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Warnock
  given name: Robert
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 350.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Religion
abstract: Warnock reconstructs the 1765 interactions between Boswell and the Reverend Mr. Trail, later Bishop of Down and Connor, during their time in Florence. Drawing from Boswell’s unpublished journal notes, the account details their extensive discussions on theology, Toryism, and Scottish traditions. Trail, though criticized by John Wilkes for his "dull" preaching, provided Boswell with derivations for his Scots dictionary and presented him with a flute before Boswell’s departure for Corsica. The correspondence reproduced was made available by Edward Ralph Pickmere, a descendant of the family with whom Boswell had initiated contact.
date: 1938-01-15
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:30:51
pages: 44–45

Cochrane entry 350.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:36:28
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Queries on Boswell's Journals
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 159
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/CLIX.nov22.368
  number: 21
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Journals
abstract: Pottle requests assistance in deciphering ten obscure passages from Boswell’s manuscript journals for 1776, written in Boswell's abbreviated "shorthand" style. The queries involve identifying historical figures such as "John Mur" and "Thorpe," clarifying cryptic references to Horace Walpole's histories, and explaining anecdotes regarding Maria Theresa and the "cutting off of thumbs." Pottle also seeks to identify cultural and local references, including the air "Gramachree," the "Gold key" seen at the Neapolitan Chapel, and the significance of the "Dun cow" in notes regarding Edmund Burke and Bristol.
date: 1930-11-22
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:30:47
pages: 368–369

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:36:00
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Soame Jenyns's “Epitaph on Dr. Samuel Johnson”
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 14
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/14-5-181
  number: 5
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Manzalaoui
  given name: Mahmoud
link: Full Text PDF
subject: Death
subject: Johnson
date: 1967-05-01
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:30:29
pages: 181–182

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:34:07
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Johnson Agonistes & Other Essays
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 190
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/190.13.285
  number: 13
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Bronson
  given name: Bertrand H.
is referenced by: CGV entry 10/6:254. An anonymous review of the book by Bertrand H. Bronson.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
subject: Psychology
subject: Review
abstract: Bronson examines the intellectual and psychological complexities of Johnson and Boswell through three distinct inquiries. The first essay addresses the tensions between Johnson's prose and his representation in Boswellian biography. A second study uses the Malahide Castle papers to analyze Boswell’s character, rejecting previous diagnoses of congenital insanity in favor of an appreciation for Boswell’s genius in self-portrayal and reporting. Bronson avoids minimizing Boswell's absurdities while maintaining biographical objectivity. The final essay analyzes the tragedy Irene, noting Johnson’s departure from historical sources like Knolles to focus on the moral failure of apostasy. Bronson identifies the character Aspasia as a reflection of Johnson’s wife and links the drama’s religious themes to Johnson’s personal spiritual struggles.
date: 1946-06-29
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:30:26
pages: 285

CGV entry 10/6:254. An anonymous review of the book by Bertrand H. Bronson.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:33:41
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell and Young's Night-Thoughts
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 12 [210]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/12.1.21
  number: 1
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Pettit
  given name: Henry
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 197.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Poetry
abstract: Pettit identifies a likely error in the Hill–Powell edition regarding Boswell’s references to Edward Young. While editors suggest Boswell referred to the death of Narcissa, Pettit argues that Boswell actually alluded to the gradual death of Lucia in Night the Sixth. The author suggests this passage resonated more deeply with Boswell because it mirrored the prolonged consumption of his own wife, Margaret. Pettit also notes a parallel verbal echo between Johnson's Vanity of Human Wishes and Swift’s poetry.
date: 1965-01-18
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:30:16
pages: 21

Cochrane entry 197.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
subject: Religion
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:32:11
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Johnsonian Attributions by Alexander Chalmers
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 14 [212]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/14-5-180
  number: 5
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Greene
  given name: Donald J.
is referenced by: CGV entry 1/1:5.
is referenced by: CGV entry 1/1:47.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: Abstract
subject: Authorship
subject: Johnson
abstract: Greene recovers nineteenth-century attributions made by Chalmers regarding Johnson’s contributions to the Gentleman’s Magazine and Literary Magazine. Referencing a manuscript intended for Malone’s revision of Boswell’s Life, Greene notes that Chalmers identified several journalistic pieces based on internal evidence, including reviews of Keysler’s Travels and Parkin’s account of the Norman invasion. Greene observes that while some ascriptions appeared in early editions by Malone and Croker, many fell into obsolescence. He validates Chalmers's editorial acumen by noting that modern scholars, including Sherbo and Greene himself, independently reached identical conclusions regarding these anonymous texts.
date: 1967-05-01
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:30:24
pages: 180–181

CGV entry 1/1:5.
type: Memo

CGV entry 1/1:47.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:33:18
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Favourite Lines from Horace
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 5 [203]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/CCIII.jul.306
  number: 7
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Garton
  given name: Charles
is referenced by: item_140434
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Classics
subject: Poetry
abstract: Garton traces Boswell’s use of Horace’s description of Lucilius’s journals. Boswell first cited these lines in the Hypochondriack to justify personal record-keeping, though he struggled with Bentley’s Latin philology. He later placed the quotation on the title page of the Life. Garton reveals that Melmoth previously used the same motto for his translation of Cicero’s letters. Boswell likely adopted Melmoth’s more grammatically complete version for the Life, ensuring the Horatian tag served as an elegant and memorable justification for his biographical method.
date: 1958-07
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:30:12
pages: 306–307

item_140434
type: Memo
value: Cochrane entry 579. Points out that Boswell used the same quotation from Horace, about keeping a written record of one's life, as a motto for both an essay in 'The Hypochondriack' and for the title page of the 'Life'.

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:31:50
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Notes On Johnson's ‘Dictionary'
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 195
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/CXCV.feb04.55
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Atkinson
  given name: Robert A. D.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: Johnson
date: 1950-02-04
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:28:54
pages: 55–56

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:35:59
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Macaulay on Boswell
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  is part of: 8th series
  volume: 4
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/s8-IV.85.126c
  number: 85
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Mount
  given name: C. B.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
abstract: An extensive reply to a previous query regarding Macaulay's comments on Boswell's impertinence toward the Duchess of Argyle. The author recounts Boswell's version of the incident from his Tour to the Hebrides, detailing his previous disgrace with the Duchess over the Douglas case, her public snubbing of him at Inverary, and his retaliatory action of drinking her health at dinner. The author concludes that both Boswell and the Duchess exhibited poor breeding and that the Duchess's behavior lacked "true dignity," contrary to Macaulay's description.
date: 1893-08-12
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:28:31
pages: 126

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:32:11
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Johnson and Hume
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 185
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/185.5.147
  number: 5
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Reviewer
link: Full Text PDF
subject: Johnson
date: 1943-08-28
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:28:50
pages: 147

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:35:02
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell at Utrecht
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  is part of: 11th series
  volume: 5
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/s11-V.121.304
  number: 121
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Proper
  given name: C. B. A.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
abstract: Proper investigates Boswell’s 1763–1764 residency in Utrecht, noting his absence from the Album Studiosorum. Research in local archives identifies Boswell’s lodgings at "’t Kysershof" (the Court of the Emperor) on Achter den Dom, a coffee-house managed by Andries Bart. Proper discusses Boswell’s social circles, specifically his relationship with Isabella van Serooskerken (Belle de Zuylen). The article details their discussions on marriage and Boswell’s refusal to allow her to abridge his Account of Corsica for translation, leading her to abandon the project.
date: 1912-04-20
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:28:47
pages: 304–305

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:34:39
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

The Founding of Dr. Johnson's Literary Club
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 3 [201]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/3.7.302
  number: 7
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Fifer
  given name: C. N.
is referenced by: CGV entry 6:41.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 574.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Fifer establishes 16 April 1764 as the probable date of the first meeting of the Literary Club. Although Boswell followed Langton in vaguely placing the founding in the spring of 1764, he neglected to consult Reynolds. Reynolds's engagement book records a dinner at the Turk’s Head on this specific Monday. This precise dating corrects the approximations of earlier biographers such as Hawkins, Malone, Murphy, and Piozzi.
date: 1956-07
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:28:20
pages: 302–303

CGV entry 6:41.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 574.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:30:46
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Johnson's Knowledge of Ireland
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 14 [212]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/14-5-172b
  number: 5
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Dircks
  given name: Richard J.
is referenced by: CGV entry 11/5:14.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Locations
abstract: Dircks examines Johnson’s extensive engagement with Irish history, linguistics, and politics through his friendships with Burke, Goldsmith, and O’Connor. Despite expressing intemperate verbal "prejudices" recorded by Campbell, Johnson consistently defended Irish natural rights against English commercial and legislative iniquity. The study highlights Johnson’s scholarly interest in the Gaelic language and his role in encouraging Irish historiography, concluding that his personal ties to Irish intellectuals mitigated his theoretical political biases.
date: 1967-05-01
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:28:08
pages: 172–176

CGV entry 11/5:14.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:29:17
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswellian Myths
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 149
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/CXLIX.jul04.4
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 498.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
abstract: Pottle debunks the legend that Boswell engaged in a scandalous liaison or provincial tour with Margaret Caroline Rudd. Investigation reveals that the primary evidence, a manuscript memorandum signed "H. W. R.," is likely a forgery, as the associated poem is not in Boswell's hand. Pottle demonstrates that chronological constraints and Lord Auchinleck’s 1776 entailment of the family estate contradict claims of paternal disinheritance. Furthermore, Boswell’s transparent correspondence with Temple and his wife regarding his single, curiosity-driven meeting with Rudd suggests the relationship was purely casual.
date: 1925-07-01
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:28:05
pages: 4–6

Cochrane entry 498.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:28:57
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

The Johnson–Boswell Correspondence
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 185
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/185.2.32
  number: 2
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Chapman
  given name: R. W.
is referenced by: CGV entry 23:84. In two parts: volume 185 (July 17, 1943), pages 32-39; and volume 186 (January 15, 1944), pages 45-47.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 428. Provides a detailed chronology of the correspondence between Johnson and Boswell, with cross-references to scholarly editions.
link: Full Text PDF
relation: item_140846
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Correspondence
subject: Johnson
abstract: Chapman provides a comprehensive chronology of the correspondence between Johnson and Boswell from 1763 to 1784. The list details letters sent and received, cross-referencing Boswell’s Life, his Journals, and Tinker’s edition. Chapman identifies which letters were abridged for publication and notes significant discrepancies in dating. The chronology accounts for papers found at Fettercairn and Malahide, offering a precise roadmap for students tracking the frequency and location of their written exchanges.
date: 1943-07-17
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:27:42
pages: 32–39

CGV entry 23:84. In two parts: volume 185 (July 17, 1943), pages 32-39; and volume 186 (January 15, 1944), pages 45-47.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 428. Provides a detailed chronology of the correspondence between Johnson and Boswell, with cross-references to scholarly editions.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:34:07
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

From the Sale Catalogue of the Library of James Boswell, the Younger (1778–1822): Did Boswell Play the Pianoforte?
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 51 [249]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/510060
  number: 1
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Sherbo
  given name: Arthur
link: Full Text PDF
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
abstract: Sherbo examines the library sale catalogue of the younger Boswell to investigate his musical interests and financial status. Numerous musical titles and piano scores suggest Boswell was a musically inclined opera buff and potential singer. Sherbo disputes the Dictionary of National Biography’s claim of Boswell’s "embarrassed circumstances," citing extensive book-buying and high-priced acquisitions, such as a Shakespeare first folio, shortly before death.
date: 2004
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:27:35
pages: 60–63

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:33:17
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Samuel Johnson's Attitude to the Arts
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 38 [236]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/38.1.113
  number: 1
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Lurcock
  given name: A. F. T.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Brownell
  given name: Morris R.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
abstract: Brownell convincingly refutes Johnson's reputation as an artistic philistine. However, evidence supporting Johnson's familiarity with music and painting is "unconvincing" and "very fine." The most valuable section concerns landscape, which presents Johnson as a discriminating observer with a consistent aesthetic.
date: 1991-03
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:27:26
pages: 113–115

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:32:11
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell and the Graunt–Petty Authorship Controversy
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 66 [264]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjz139
  number: 4
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Walker
  given name: Robert G.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Authorship
subject: Boswell
abstract: Walker investigates Boswell's puzzling description of Sir William Petty as the "plain sensi-Citizen of London" in Rampager 19. He argues that this epithet, particularly "Citizen of London," is more aptly applied to John Graunt, the established author of Natural and Political Observations made Upon Bills of Mortality (1662), a work often misattributed to Petty. The title page of Graunt's second edition identifies him as a "Citizen of London," and scholarly descriptions highlight his sagacity. Boswell's use of Petty's name was likely to create an imaginative link to Petty's descendant, Lord Shelburne, who was the subject of the essay, while the description itself derives from Graunt's work and reputation.
date: 2019-12
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:27:21
pages: 581–584

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:31:51
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Lord Hailes's Notes on Johnson's Lives of the Poets
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 3 [201]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/3.2.73
  number: 2
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Carnie
  given name: R. H.
is referenced by: CGV entry 22:117. Published in parts: February, pages 73-75; March, pages 106–108; April, pages 174-176; August, pages 343-346; and November, pages 486-489.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Lives
subject: Poetry
subject: Politics
abstract: Carnie introduces a previously unpublished manuscript containing approximately seventy corrections and observations by Sir David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes, regarding Johnson's Lives of the Poets. The article traces the scholarly relationship between Johnson and Hailes, facilitated largely through the mediation of Boswell. Carnie notes that while Johnson revised proof sheets for Hailes's Annals of Scotland, he primarily focused on style and Scotticisms rather than historical facts. Boswell actively solicited contributions from Hailes for the Lives, including biographical anecdotes concerning James Thomson and inquiries into Prior’s French sources. Although Boswell received the final manuscript of remarks in 1782, Carnie disputes whether Johnson ever used them for his 1783 revision, suggesting any overlapping corrections were likely coincidental. The text characterizes Hailes as an acute, modest critic whose personal connections to major literary figures provided unique historical insights. Carnie identifies the manuscript as a valuable contemporary critical document that illuminates the "friendly, but still distant" connection between the English Tory and the Scottish Whig judge.
date: 1956-02
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:27:11
pages: 73–75

CGV entry 22:117. Published in parts: February, pages 73-75; March, pages 106–108; April, pages 174-176; August, pages 343-346; and November, pages 486-489.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:31:07
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

item 5881
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: printed by W. Strahan, for J. & P. Knapton; T. and T. Longman; C. Hitch and L. Hawes; A. Millar; and R. and J. Dodsley
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
is referenced by: Bought from DeWolfe & Wood, June 2022, for $6,000. Rebacked. Boards suffering from red rot. Displayed at the Grolier Club, 1 May-27 July 2024, as part of Hardly Harmless Drudgery.
is referenced by: CGV entry 17:1.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Reference
title: A Dictionary of the English Language: In Which the Words Are Deduced from Their Originals and Illustrated in Their Different Significations by Examples from the Best Writers: To Which Are Prefixed, a History of the Language, and an English Grammar
abstract: Johnson began work in 1746, receiving £1,575 from a consortium of booksellers. He published The Plan of a Dictionary of the English Language in August 1747, dedicated to Lord Chesterfield. The final product, in two large folio volumes, appeared April 15, 1755, priced at £4 10s., published by J. and P. Knapton, T. and T. Longman, C. Hitch and L. Hawes, A. Millar, and R. and J. Dodsley. The first folio printing had 2,000 copies. Johnson received an honorary Master of Arts degree in February 1755, which appeared on the title page. The original Dictionary comprised the word list, the famous Preface, "The History of the English Language," and "A Grammar of the English Tongue." The subsequent second folio edition began serialization in weekly numbers on June 14, 1755. The third folio edition appeared in 1765, printed in a run of 1,024 copies. These second and third editions were essentially reprints of the first with few changes. Johnson's first major revision was incorporated into the fourth folio edition, published in 1773. This revision involved an extensive program of changes, estimated at over 15,000. For this revision, Johnson used interleaved copies of earlier editions, notably the Sneyd-Gimbel copy of the first edition (now at Yale's Beinecke Library, MS Vault Johnson), and a British Library copy (A to JAILOR) partly from the first and partly from the third edition. The revisions to the letter B in the 1773 edition were largely conducted by George Steevens after Johnson lost his original B notes. The fourth edition included Johnson’s "Advertisement to this Edition." Meanwhile, Johnson published an abridged octavo edition, removing the illustrative quotations, in January 1756. This abstracted edition was published "for the common reader" and circulated far more widely than the folio, with approximately 35,000 copies printed during the copyright period compared to 5,000 folios. It went through seven London editions in Johnson's lifetime. The Dublin booksellers Georg…
date: 1755
language: en
short title: Dictionary
subject: PE1620 .J6
number of volumes: 2

Bought from DeWolfe & Wood, June 2022, for $6,000. Rebacked. Boards suffering from red rot. Displayed at the Grolier Club, 1 May-27 July 2024, as part of Hardly Harmless Drudgery.
type: Memo

CGV entry 17:1.
type: Memo

A Bibliography of the Works of Samuel Johnson: Treating His Published Works from the Beginnings to 1984
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Fleeman
  given name: J. D.
contributors: Person
  surname: McLaverty
  given name: James
is referenced by: item_174506
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Bibliography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
abstract: This scholarly undertaking, presented in two volumes encompassing nearly 2,000 pages, is recognized as a monumental achievement, treating works written by the author, those he translated, pieces to which he contributed, and those he revised. The purpose of the resource is to provide a comprehensive record of the author's published writings, spanning from 1731 to 1984. This immense compilation inventories nearly 3,000 items. The organizational structure presents the contents as the annals of a literary career, adhering strictly to the chronological order of first publication for major works. It includes a chronological list of publications for tracking later forms of works. First and early editions receive full bibliographical descriptions. Each entry begins with an item number derived from the year, a mnemonic code, and a sequential number. The resource includes categories often overlooked in scholarly work, such as selection volumes and miniature dictionaries (over 300 entries), noting that the latter illustrate the author’s popular reputation as a lexicographer. The collection also provides records of copies commonly dismissed as inconsequential. Supplemental sections include a voluminous Acknowledgements section, charts of type names and sizes, and an Index of Persons and Places valuable for tracking provenance and publishers. Annotation in the "Notes" section is comprehensive, covering bibliographical and structural features, history of composition, production, and distribution, and cross-references. A technical apparatus records press-figures and catchwords for major works, facilitating investigation of variant impressions and proof revisions. The methodology involves returning to original manuscripts when possible, and provides textual descriptions of volumes previously known only through inferior printed texts. The collection details the textual descent of works, clarifies ghost editions, and includes works attributed to Johnson, often rejecting claims unsupp…
date: 2000
language: en
short title: A Bibliography of the Works of Samuel Johnson
subject: Z8455.8 PR3533 .F54 2000
number of volumes: 2
identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-812269-2

item_174506
type: Memo
value: Reviews: William Baker and Joann Scholtes, YWES 81, no. 1 (2002): 1083–84; Robert DeMaria Jr., JEGP 101, no. 1 (2002): 142–45; Donald D. Eddy and Robert J. Barry, The Library 2, no. 2 (2001): 161–78; Isobel Grundy, NR, Series E, no. 3 (1999): 49–50; Jack Lynch, Choice 38, no. 5 (2001): 2478; Allen Reddick, RES, n.s., 52, no. 208 (2001): 588–90; Reference and Research Book News 15, no. 3 (2000); Shef Rogers, PBSA 97, no. 1 (2003): 93–98; Paul Tankard, Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand Bulletin 25, no. 3 (2001): 121–27; Paul Tankard, Southern Johnsonian 7, no. 4 (2000): 6; David Vander Meulen, AJ 13 (2002): 389–435.

Boswell in 1790–91: Two Unpublished Comments
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 9
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/9-7-266
  number: 7
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: McElderry
  given name: B. R., Jr.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Boswell
date: 1962-07-01
language: en
short title: Boswell in 1790–91
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:27:32
pages: 266–268

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:32:53
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell and Literary Property
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 195
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/CXCV.jul08.296
  number: 14
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Horne
  given name: Colin J.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 558.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
abstract: Horne challenges F. A. Pottle’s theory that Boswell’s separate registration of Johnson’s letter to Chesterfield and his conversation with George III was a promotional trap for newspapers. Citing a previously unnoted paragraph in the Public Advertiser (1791), Horne argues Boswell acted primarily to protect his copyright against piracy. The timely publication of this warning suggests a genuine legal defense rather than a disingenuous publicity stunt, though Boswell later permitted reprints once the Life of Johnson achieved commercial success.
date: 1950-07-08
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:26:58
pages: 296–298

Cochrane entry 558.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:29:18
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Contact with Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 3 [201]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/3.4.163a
  number: 4
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Collins
  given name: P. A. W.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:160.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 571.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Collins challenges Croker’s influential but inaccurate calculation of the total days Boswell and Johnson spent together. using the Boswell Papers and other primary sources, Collins identifies 390 certain meeting days and estimates a total of approximately 425. This revision refutes claims of Boswell’s negligence, demonstrating he met Johnson on roughly 40-50% of available days after 1772. The analysis includes a chronological list of meetings omitted or undated in the Life, providing a more precise empirical foundation for their personal relationship.
date: 1956-04
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:26:52
pages: 163–166

CGV entry 4:160.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 571.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:28:41
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell: The Great Biographer, 1789–1795
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 38 [236]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/38.1.115
  number: 1
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Clayton
  given name: Paul
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Danziger
  given name: Marlies K.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Brady
  given name: Frank
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Journals
subject: Review
abstract: The book covers Boswell's final years leading up to the publication of The Life of Johnson, the culmination of his literary career. Despite this success, Boswell was tormented by failures in law, political ambition, and lairdship, resulting in morose self-expression and self-censorship in his diaries. His melancholy was primarily caused by his inability to adjust to the changed circumstances following his wife's death and the loss of close friends like Reynolds and Paoli. The volume provides ample evidence of Boswell's "selfless, humanitarian aspect," such as working to acquire pardons for convicts, which helps to undermine the Macaulayan caricature of him. The reviewer expresses disappointment that this "trade edition" concludes without offering a complete text of the journals, noting omissions.
date: 1991-03
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:26:49
pages: 115–118

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:28:25
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell: The English Experiment, 1785–1789
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 36 [234]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/36-1-115a
  number: 1
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Clayton
  given name: Paul
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Lustig
  given name: Irma S.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Journals
subject: Review
abstract: Clayton reviews the penultimate trade volume of Boswell’s journals, covering his failed attempt to practice law in London and his demeaning pursuit of preferment from Lonsdale. The journal captures the suspense of living experience and the sombre decline of Margaret Boswell. Clayton warns that the scholarly apparatus creates a narrative structure of development that is largely illusory, as Boswell lacked the foresight to distinguish salient moments from a confusing miscellany. Notably, the volume records the 1786 beginning of the composition of Johnson’s Life, even as Boswell remains a frustratingly visceral and enigmatic figure.
date: 1989-03
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:27:04
pages: 115–116

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:30:20
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Johnson's Edition of Roger Ascham
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 3 [201]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/3.8.346
  number: 8
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Braham
  given name: Lionel
is referenced by: CGV entry 25:67.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: Abstract
subject: Editing
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
abstract: Braham corrects several bibliographic errors regarding Johnson’s edition of Ascham. Although James Bennet’s name appears on the title page, Braham cites a letter from Thomas Davies to prove Johnson performed the editorial work and provided the memoir to benefit Bennet. The study further clarifies that the edition was published in 1761, not 1763 or 1771 as incorrectly reported in the Encyclopedia Britannica and by Carlisle. Braham attributes the dating confusion to Boswell’s placement of the work under the year 1763 in the Life.
date: 1956-08
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:27:00
pages: 346–347

CGV entry 25:67.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:29:35
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

An Anonymous 'Epistle to James Boswell'
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 194
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/194.8.162
  number: 8
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Thompson
  given name: Karl F.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 467.
is referenced by: See item 258.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
abstract: Thompson examines a 1790 anonymous poetic epistle addressed to Boswell regarding his forthcoming biography of Johnson. Noting the work’s 'Pindaric' style and its harsh treatment of Johnson's rivals, Hawkins and Thrale, Thompson suggests the piece mimics Boswell’s own literary opinions. Despite a lack of external evidence, Thompson posits that Boswell likely authored the epistle as a self-promotional device to stimulate public interest in the Life of Johnson.
date: 1949-04-16
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:26:44
pages: 162–163

Cochrane entry 467.
type: Memo

See item 258.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
subject: Religion
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:27:51
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Gleanings from Boswell's 'Notebook'
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 3 [201]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/3.3.108
  number: 3
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Sherbo
  given name: Arthur
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:159.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 171.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
abstract: Sherbo examines suppressed or altered material from Boswell's Notebook—the primary source for Johnson's early life—contrasting it with the finalized Life of Johnson. Notable omissions include Johnson’s preference for oatmeal porridge, his specific insult to Dean Barnard regarding age, and his role in helping Barnard answer Gibbon. Sherbo highlights Boswell's bowdlerization of Topham Beauclerk’s anecdotes and corrects the assumption that Johnson was confined in a "sponging-house," noting the Notebook only specifies an "arrest." The study further reveals Boswell’s accuracy-driven deletions, such as an unauthenticated tutoring post and the specific influence of Chambers’s twenty-line Proposal on Johnson’s prose style.
date: 1956-03
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:25:55
pages: 108–112

CGV entry 4:159.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 171.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:31:07
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  is part of: 4th series
  volume: 7
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/s4-VII.182.532a
  number: 182
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Thornbury
  given name: Walter
is referenced by: CGV entry 7:9. Concerns the dates of Johnson's residence in Staple Inn.
is referenced by: See items 211 and 598.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: An undetected error in Boswell's Life regarding the date of Johnson's residence at Staple Inn. Boswell's list of residences incorrectly dates the move to "Staple Inn, 1758." The correct date is confirmed by a letter from Johnson to Lucy Porter, dated March 23, 1759: "I have this day moved my things, and you are now to direct to me at Staple Inn."
date: 1871-06-24
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:25:52
pages: 532

CGV entry 7:9. Concerns the dates of Johnson's residence in Staple Inn.
type: Memo

See items 211 and 598.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:30:46
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  is part of: 7th series
  volume: 7
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/s7-VII.174.327j
  number: 174
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Jermyn
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1889-04-27
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:25:49
pages: 327–328

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:30:28
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

The Proof-Sheets of Boswell's 'Life'
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  is part of: 8th series
  volume: 5
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/s8-V.130.488f
  number: 130
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Collinson
  given name: Joseph
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Bibliography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1894-06-23
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:25:45
pages: 488

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:30:11
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  is part of: 7th series
  volume: 4
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/s7-IV.87.179a
  number: 87
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1887-08-27
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:25:42
pages: 179

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:29:53
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 183
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/183.1.17
  number: 1
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Powell
  given name: L. F.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Powell continues a biographical census of figures associated with Boswell and Johnson. Entries provide historical data on Charles Bouchier, Governor of Madras, who dined with the pair in 1781, and Joseph Bouquet, the bookseller involved in the 1751 copyright assignment of the duodecimo Rambler. Additionally, Powell traces the military career of John Breuse, the engineer who escorted Boswell and Johnson through Fort George, noting his final appearance in the 1786 Army List.
date: 1942-07-04
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:25:40
pages: 17

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:29:34
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  is part of: 2nd series
  volume: 7
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/s2-VII.165.185c
  number: 165
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Croker
  given name: John Wilson
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: This notice promotes the serial publication of Croker’s edition of Boswell, issued in monthly parts. It emphasizes the affordability and production quality of the Murray edition. The text highlights the inclusion of Croker’s copyright notes as a primary scholarly asset. It advocates for the wide circulation of the biography to all libraries.
date: 1859-02-26
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:25:06
pages: 185

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
subject: Religion
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:25:58
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 183
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/183.5.141c
  number: 5
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Algar
  given name: F.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 142. Responds to a query from L.F. Powell.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Death
subject: Johnson
abstract: Algar provides biographical details concerning Bourchier, a former Governor of Madras mentioned in connection with Boswell’s biography. Citing the European Magazine, Algar records Bourchier’s death in 1810 at age eighty-two. He identifies Bourchier’s wife as Barbara Richardson, noting their 1773 marriage and her subsequent death at sea in 1784. The author refers readers to Burke’s Landed Gentry and the Gentleman’s Magazine for further genealogical and obituary data.
date: 1942-08-29
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:23:25
pages: 141–142

Cochrane entry 142. Responds to a query from L.F. Powell.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:26:23
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 182
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/182.10.136
  number: 10
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Powell
  given name: L. F.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1942-03-07
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:23:22
pages: 136

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:26:10
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's "Life of Johnson," First edition
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 149
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/CXLIX.jul11.34d
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Powell
  given name: L. F.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1925-07-11
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:23:19
pages: 34

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:25:56
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 167
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/CLXVII.jul21.52
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Powell
  given name: L. F.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1934-07-21
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:23:17
pages: 52–53

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:25:45
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 182
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/182.15.209d
  number: 15
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: de C.
  given name: J. P.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1942-04-11
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:23:37
pages: 209

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:27:21
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 182
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/182.15.206b
  number: 15
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Powell
  given name: L. F.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 145. This is a multi-part series of queries in volumes 182–184 seeking information on various people mentioned in the 'Life'.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Powell provides biographical annotations for Robert Blackmore and George Bodens. The entry identifies Blackmore, father of Sir Richard Blackmore, as a gentleman of Corsham, noting Johnson’s reliance on Cibber for the claim that Blackmore served as an attorney. Powell further details the military career of Colonel George Bodens, an associate of Thrale, tracing his service in the Coldstream Guards from 1739 to 1763. The inquiry uses Piozzi’s Thraliana to establish Bodens’s reputation and suggests his death occurred between 1784 and 1787.
date: 1942-04-11
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:23:34
pages: 206

Cochrane entry 145. This is a multi-part series of queries in volumes 182–184 seeking information on various people mentioned in the 'Life'.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:27:07
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Two Errors in Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 6 [204]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/6.7.280
  number: 7
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Bernard
  given name: Frederick V.
is referenced by: CGV entry 12:38. On usage Johnson disapproved of.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 176. Corrects two of Boswell's factual claims about Johnson's writing habits, specifically regarding his use of parentheses and certain common phrases.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Bernard disputes Boswell’s claims regarding Johnson’s stylistic avoidance of parentheses and the distributives "the former" and "the latter." Contrary to Boswell’s assertion that fewer than six parentheses exist in the entire canon, Bernard identifies numerous instances within the Life and correspondence, estimating the actual total to be nearly 200. Furthermore, Bernard demonstrates through Rasselas, the Rambler, and parliamentary debates that Johnson frequently employed "the former" and "the latter" to maintain clarity rather than avoid obscurity.
date: 1959-07-01
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:23:31
pages: 280–281

CGV entry 12:38. On usage Johnson disapproved of.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 176. Corrects two of Boswell's factual claims about Johnson's writing habits, specifically regarding his use of parentheses and certain common phrases.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:26:52
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 185
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/185.13.379a
  number: 13
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Powell
  given name: L. F.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Powell continues a series of biographical identifications for minor figures mentioned in Boswell’s narrative. The entry seeks the death date of Mrs. Grainger, widow of the author of The Sugar Cane, and requests information regarding the death of Colonel Edward Gwyn, husband of Mary Horneck. Additionally, Powell queries whether the Dr. Hallifax who testified to Baretti’s character in 1769 is Samuel Hallifax, later Bishop of Gloucester, noting his contemporary academic standing at Cambridge.
date: 1943-12-18
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:23:28
pages: 379

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:26:38
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell, Burke, and the Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 195
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/CXCV.nov11.498
  number: 23
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Horne
  given name: Colin J.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:147. Compares the sale of the 'Life' to that of Burke's 'Reflections on the French Revolution'.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 161. Points to a newspaper notice, likely planted by Boswell himself, that trumpeted the superior sales of the 'Life' over Edmund Burke's popular 'Reflections'.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Horne analyzes newly identified newspaper paragraphs from May 1791 to establish the immediate commercial success of Boswell’s biography. He argues that Boswell likely authored these advertisements to self-promote by measuring his sales against Burke’s recent work on the French Revolution. This comparison served Boswell’s vanity, allowing him to feel intellectually equal to Burke in Johnson’s posthumous regard. The text notes Burke’s subsequent high praise for the biography.
date: 1950-11-11
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:22:54
pages: 498–499

CGV entry 4:147. Compares the sale of the 'Life' to that of Burke's 'Reflections on the French Revolution'.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 161. Points to a newspaper notice, likely planted by Boswell himself, that trumpeted the superior sales of the 'Life' over Edmund Burke's popular 'Reflections'.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:23:57
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

The Literary Career of James Boswell, Esq., being the bibliographical Materials for a Life of Boswell
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 158
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/158.10.179a
  number: 10
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1930-03-08
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:22:52
pages: 179

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:23:45
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  is part of: 2nd series
  volume: 7
  number: 175
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 1471-6941
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1859-05-07
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:08:38
pages: 387

Boswell, Joseph Warton, and Servius
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 52 [250]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gji324
  number: 3
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Waterhouse
  given name: William C.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Classics
abstract: Waterhouse identifies the source of a classical quotation used by James Boswell in An Account of Corsica (1768) to compare General Paoli to the Numidian general Syphax: "Syphax inter duos canes stans, Scipionem appellavit." Boswell attributes the quote to Joseph Warton's notes on Virgil's Aeneid but notes he could not find it in Livy, the historian Warton cited. Waterhouse confirms the passage is not in Livy. He reveals the actual source is the ancient Virgilian commentary by Servius, whose note on Aeneid 8.461-62 quotes the sentence about Syphax and attributes it to an unspecified "Roman history." Waterhouse concludes that Warton likely misread or misremembered the Servius commentary as a reference to Livy, a common historian of Rome.
date: 2005-09
language: en
pages: 374–374

The Sale Catalogue of Mrs. Piozzi's Library: A Biographical Tool
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 54 [252]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjm225
  number: 4
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Sherbo
  given name: Arthur
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Piozzi
abstract: Donald D. Eddy, editor of the sale catalogue of the library of Hester Lynch Piozzi, once wrote that it was impossible to read the catalogues without one's mind being filled with a rich variety of literary and bibliophilic associations. From this statement, Sherbo aims to demonstrate that the catalogues not only fill one's mind with bibliophic associations but also with biographical associations. The author adds several biographical associations to the literary and bibliophilic elements of the sale catalogue of the library of Mrs. Piozzi. He discusses the notes and comments made by Mrs. Piozzi's in the volumes that she handled every day.
date: 2007
language: en
pages: 497–504

The Longmans Milton and the 1778 Johnson–Steevens Variorum
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 53 [251]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjj137
  number: 1
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Sherbo
  given name: Arthur
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Editing
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
abstract: Professor Hyder E. Rollins, editor of the New Variorum ‘Sonnets' and ‘Poems', list Malone's 1780 ‘Supplement' to the 1778 ‘Shakespeare' and Malone's 1790 Shakespeare, and also the 1821 Boswell–Malone edition. He does not, however, lists the 1778 Johnson–Stevens edition, and as a result, misses a small body of notes by Malone and others, which might have enriched his commentary.
date: 2006-03
language: en
pages: 75–78

Samuel Johnson: A Portrait in OED-Antedatings
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 40 [238]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/40.3.331
  number: 3
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: English
  given name: Mark
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Johnson's life and works are a rich source of words whose earliest recorded usage substantially antedates those in the Oxford English Dictionary. Terms such as "atrabiliousness," "dogmatism," and "grandiosity" appear in descriptions of Johnson written decades before the OED's first citations. Phrases like "ox in a china-shop" (a variant of "bull in a china shop") and "general knowledge" were also first applied in connection with him. This pattern suggests many terms may have been coined specifically to describe Johnson's strong personality or literary style.
date: 1993-09
language: en
pages: 331–334

Johnson and Boswell in Scotland: A Journey to the Hebrides
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 40 [238]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/41-1-106
  number: 1
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Fleeman
  given name: J. D.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Rogers
  given name: Pat
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Locations
subject: Review
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: Fleeman’s scathing review of Pat Rogers’s parallel-text edition of Johnson’s Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and Boswell’s Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides disputes the feasibility of combining these disproportionate works. Fleeman notes that Johnson focuses on mental reflection while Boswell emphasizes dramatic human interaction, making a "stereoscopic" reading disconcerting. The review highlights severe editorial failures, including the extensive and clumsy mangling of Boswell’s text to force correspondence with Johnson. Fleeman identifies numerous transcription errors, modernized spellings that alter meaning, and an index he describes as an extraordinary production of inaccuracy regarding Highland genealogy and topography. While Rogers includes Johnson’s letters to Piozzi, Fleeman challenges the "rough correspondence" of the intercalated material. Fleeman concludes that the volume lacks the scholarly rigor expected of a Yale University Press publication and serves coffee tables better than study shelves.
date: 1994-03
language: en
pages: 106–109

Aspects of Samuel Johnson: Essays on His Arts, Mind, Afterlife, and Politics
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 56 [254]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjn283
  number: 1
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Box
  given name: M. A.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
subject: Review
abstract: Box reviews Aspects of Samuel Johnson: Essays on His Arts, Mind, Afterlife, and Politics by Howard D. Weinbrot.
date: 2009-03
language: en
pages: 155

The Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Yale University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New Haven
series editors: Person
  surname: McAdam
  given name: E. L., Jr.
series editors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
is referenced by: CGV entries 2:8 and 4:21.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: A multi-volume scholarly and trade edition of Boswell's papers. The original editorial committee included Edward Aswell, F. W. Hilles, Herman W. Liebert, and F. A. Pottle. The volumes are abstracted individually.
date: 1958-2018
language: en
subject: PR3521 .Y3 1958
number of volumes: 23

CGV entries 2:8 and 4:21.
type: Memo

Boswell's Denominational Dilemma
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America
authors: Person
  surname: Stewart
  given name: Mary Margaret
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:173.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 662.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Religion
abstract: Stewart outlines Boswell's lifelong religious turmoil, demonstrating that his faith was marked by profound revolutions and constant turmoil. He struggled to accept Calvinist theology, which was rigorously instilled in him as a child, because of its doctrines of predestination and eternal damnation, which he found incompatible with his belief in a benevolent God and man's free will. Boswell's denominational dilemma was compounded by the austere services of the National Church of Scotland, contrasting with the elevating rituals of Anglican and Roman Catholic worship, though he ultimately attended the former out of loyalty to his country and deference to his father.
date: 1961-12
language: en
pages: 503–511

PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America
type: Journal
volume: 76
identifier: DOI 10.2307/460543
number: 5
alternative: PMLA
identifier: ISSN 0030-8129

CGV entry 4:173.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 662.
type: Memo

'A Specter Viewed by a Specter': Autobiography in Biography
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly
  type: Journal
  volume: 9
  identifier: DOI 10.1353/bio.2010.0553
  number: 3
  alternative: Biography
  identifier: ISSN 0162-4962
authors: Person
  surname: McCord
  given name: Phyllis Frus
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
abstract: Mark Harris makes explicit the hidden relationship between biographer and subject in Saul Bellow: Drumlin Woodchuck by calling attention to the process of researching and writing a biography. Boswell and Johnson are in the background as Harris draws on conventions usually associated with autobiography (its dramatized narrator and self-accounting form) to suggest the possibilities for evoking a ‘life' in the 20th century.
date: 1986 Summer
language: en
pages: 219–228

John Wolcot and 'The Anecdotic Itch': Peter Pindar, Biography, and Historiography in the 1780s
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Life
  type: Journal
  volume: 40
  identifier: DOI 10.1215/00982601-3483900
  number: 2
  alternative: ECL
  identifier: ISSN 0098-2601
authors: Person
  surname: Moore
  given name: Dafydd
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: History
subject: Johnson
subject: Piozzi
subject: Satire
abstract: Moore examines John Wolcot's satirical response to the late eighteenth-century obsession with anecdotal biography, focusing on his treatment of Johnson, Boswell, and Piozzi. Through the persona of Peter Pindar, Wolcot critiques the "Johnso-mania" that followed Johnson's death, particularly in the poems addressing Boswell and Piozzi. Moore argues that Wolcot diagnoses a cultural malaise where significant achievement is reduced to "scurrilous detail and base indignity" for a mass print audience. The satirical vignettes in Bozzy and Piozzi depict the biographers as "pigmy planets" competing for scraps of Johnson's fame. Moore suggests these poems identify a mismatch between traditional language of greatness and a polite, commercial age that thrives on "the anecdotic itch." Wolcot's satire underscores the inherent fallacy of biographical attempts to capture the "messy complexity" of their subjects.
date: April 2016
language: en
pages: 88–118

'The Dreams of Avarice': Samuel Johnson and Edward Moore
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Intelligencer
  type: Journal
  volume: 31
  number: 1
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Johnson's famous phrase, "rich beyond the dreams of avarice," spoken during the sale of Thrale's brewery, is not his original creation, but an appropriation. The line appears in Edward Moore's 1753 tragedy, The Gamester, where the heroine uses it to express domestic contentment amidst ruin. Johnson's use, however, is a witty reversal of Moore's sentimentality, applying the phrase to the pragmatic, mercantile reality of potential financial gain. This borrowing, and Johnson's numerous citations of Moore in the Dictionary, suggest a previously neglected literary relationship between the two writers.
date: 2017-03
language: en
pages: 22–32

Johnsonian and Boswellian Strains in Early Nineteenth-Century English Biography
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: University of Wisconsin–Madison
authors: Person
  surname: Koepp
  given name: Robert Charles
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 260. Differentiates between Johnson's moral, interpretive approach to biography and Boswell's scientific, inductive method, tracing the latter's influence on biographers like Lockhart.
subject: 19th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1982
language: en
type: PhD thesis

Cochrane entry 260. Differentiates between Johnson's moral, interpretive approach to biography and Boswell's scientific, inductive method, tracing the latter's influence on biographers like Lockhart.
type: Memo

Johnson among the Sheep
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: SEL: Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900
  type: Journal
  volume: 8
  identifier: DOI 10.2307/449614
  number: 3
  alternative: SEL
  identifier: ISSN 0039-3657
authors: Person
  surname: Kelly
  given name: Richard
is referenced by: CGV entry 10/1:98.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Milton
subject: Poetry
abstract: On the critical principles underlying Johnson's judgments of pastoral poetry, arguing that his condemnation of Milton's Lycidas stems from a consistent set of criteria, not mere prejudice. Johnson’s principles emphasize experience and reality, believing poetry should reflect general nature and appeal to reason rather than escapist fancy. He praises Virgil's pastorals grounded in real events and criticizes works lacking sincerity, or those polluted by mythological fictions or a narrow scope. Johnson's ideal pastoral imitates nature, avoids the simplistic conventions associated with the genre, and offers moral instruction and originality, transforming him from a prejudiced figure to one with "noble, if narrow" premises.
date: 1968-Summer
language: en
pages: 475–485

CGV entry 10/1:98.
type: Memo

Boswell and the Romantics: A Chapter in the History of Biographical Theory
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: ELH: English Literary History
  type: Journal
  volume: 27
  number: 1
  alternative: ELH
  identifier: ISSN 0013-8304
authors: Person
  surname: Hart
  given name: Francis R.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:171.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 181..
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: History
abstract: On Boswell's polarizing influence on biographical theory during the Romantic period, characterized as an "age of personality." The Life of Johnson prompted a paradoxical appreciation for the memoirist's "naive" or "omnivorous triviality," where lack of discrimination was valued for guaranteeing "authenticity." However, Johnson's own artistry inadvertently fostered scepticism toward talk and letters as reliable evidence, leading to a professional preference for "impressionism" over literal report. Boswell's work symbolized the central biographical relationship, making "personality" and the biographer's subjective experience the guarantor of historical truth.
date: 1960-03
language: en
pages: 44–65

CGV entry 4:171.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 181..
type: Memo

James Boswell's Drinking
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Studies
  type: Journal
  volume: 24
  identifier: DOI 10.2307/2738667
  number: 3
  alternative: ECS
  identifier: ISSN 0013-2586
authors: Person
  surname: Gilmore
  given name: Thomas B., Jr.
subject: Abstract
subject: Alcohol
subject: Boswell
abstract: Boswell was an alcoholic, despite the arguments of biographers who minimize the significance of his heavy drinking. Gilmore applies modern diagnostic criteria, noting Boswell's repeated attempts to stop, the complaints of friends (including Johnson) and family, and the interference with his work on the Life of Johnson and his legal career. Boswell's journal entries confirm symptoms like strong craving, blackouts, and a distinct, often violent, personality change when drunk. The author posits Boswell's pervasive self-awareness of his problem and his rejection of moralistic or social explanations make him the earliest well-documented alcoholic of Western history.
date: 1991 Spring
language: en
pages: 337–357

Samuel Johnson's Economic Ideas
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Papers on Language & Literature
authors: Person
  surname: Dankert
  given name: Clyde E.
is referenced by: CGV entry 20:103.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Money
abstract: Samuel Johnson was an "amateur economist," in the best sense of the term. Though he did not formulate any system of economics, as did Adam Smith, numerous ideas of economic significance can be found scattered in his writings, and in Boswell's Life and his Tour to the Hebrides. These ideas relate to a wide range of topics, including wealth, poverty, money, employment, colonies, agriculture, self-interest, advertising, and consumption. Frequently the ideas are intertwined with political opinions and moral dicta. Though Johnson was influenced by the philosophy of the Mercantilists, as other writers have pointed out, not a few of his ideas bear a striking resemblance to those of his acquaintance and anti-Mercantilist contemporary, Adam Smith. Most of Johnson's ideas, however, were expressed before 1776, the year in which The Wealth of Nations was published.
date: 1970
language: en
pages: 58–76

Papers on Language & Literature
type: Journal
volume: 6
alternative: PLL
identifier: ISSN 0031-1294

CGV entry 20:103.
type: Memo

Johnson and Women in Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 16
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Bundock
  given name: Michael
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Gender
subject: Johnson
abstract: Bundock disputes the scholarly consensus that Boswell's Life of Johnson presents a distorted, misogynistic portrait of Johnson. Challenging the arguments of Cafarelli, Geller, and others, Bundock uses primary journals and contemporary accounts to demonstrate that Boswell often suppressed Johnson's crude or "lewd" remarks rather than inventing them. He defends the authenticity of the "walking dog" anecdote concerning woman's preaching, citing independent Quaker records that confirm Margaret Bell preached on the day Boswell recorded the comment. Bundock argues that Boswell’s inclusion of derogatory remarks—such as the description of Lady Diana Beauclerk as a "whore"—accurately reflects Johnson’s rigid adherence to the sexual "double standard" and his concern for "confusion of progeny." Furthermore, Bundock explains significant omissions, such as Johnson’s meeting with Mary Wollstonecraft, as resulting from a lack of available information rather than a deliberate program to discredit intellectual women. The article concludes that Boswell’s portrait, while centered on male friendship, remains a balanced and valuable record that actively preserved the reputations of women writers like Lennox, Carter, and Burney.
date: 2005
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:10:43
pages: 81–109

'I Am Lost without My Boswell': Samuel Johnson and Sherlock Holmes
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 22
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Berglund
  given name: Lisa
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
subject: 19th
subject: Boswell
subject: Piozzi
subject: Abstract
abstract: Berglund explores the acknowledged influence of the Johnson–Boswell relationship on Arthur Conan Doyle's creation of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Doyle adapted not only the dynamic between the great intellect and his chronicler but also specific aspects of Johnson's perceived character (memory, intellect, eccentricities) and Boswell's biographical methods (recording conversations, capturing personality nuances, navigating the subject's collaboration/resistance). The essay analyzes how the Holmes-Watson friendship, particularly in "A Scandal in Bohemia," serves as a fictional analogy, examining the complexities of observation, representation, and the interplay between biographical subject and recorder inherent in Boswell's Life.
date: 2012
language: en
pages: 131–143

Johnson as Despot: Anna Seward's Rejected Contribution to Boswell's Life
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Modern Philology
authors: Person
  surname: Woolley
  given name: James D.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:228.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 229.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Woolley investigates and reconstructs the history of a "polished narrative" and detailed account Seward sent to Boswell in 1785 concerning a 1778 dispute between Johnson and Mary Knowles over the Quaker conversion of Jane Harry. Seward’s narrative portrays Johnson as an "imperious and gloomy Intolerant" and a "despot" exhibiting "ferocious, reasonless, and unchristian violence" toward the young convert. Although Boswell requested the minutes, Woolley notes he used "practically no use" of them in the Life of Johnson, challenging Boswell's claim of "biographic fidelity." Woolley argues that Boswell intentionally suppressed the "dark shades" of the account for rhetorical reasons, as Seward’s depiction of Johnson’s "reasonless rancor" clashed with Boswell's artistic goal of presenting a man worthy of universal "admiration and reverence." Identifying five extant versions of the manuscript, Woolley establishes that the version published in the Friend in 1828 most accurately represents the unrevised, most authentic text sent to Boswell.
date: 1972-11
language: en
pages: 140–145

Modern Philology
type: Journal
volume: 70
identifier: DOI 10.1086/390393
number: 2
alternative: MP
identifier: ISSN 0026-8232

CGV entry 4:228.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 229.
type: Memo

Boswell and Johnson at Blithedale: A Source for Hawthorne's Romance
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Nathaniel Hawthorne Review
authors: Person
  surname: Zarobila
  given name: Charles
is referenced by: See also the “Corrections” in the next issue.
subject: 19th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
abstract: Zarobila identifies a specific scene in The Blithedale Romance modeled after conversations in the Life of Johnson. Zarobila argues that the exchange between Miles Coverdale and Hollingsworth concerning the philosopher Fourier echoes the formal elements and tone of Boswell's accounts of Johnson's antipathy toward Hume and Rousseau. The article highlights how Hollingsworth adopts a "Johnsonian role" characterized by "one-eyed clear-sightedness" and dogmatic invective. Zarobila notes that Hawthorne developed a "sort of intimacy" with Johnson's character during childhood and consciously integrated Boswell's "sturdy English character" into his fiction to check radical excess through a "pattern of conservatism."
date: 1988 Spring
language: en
pages: 6–9

Nathaniel Hawthorne Review
type: Journal
volume: 14
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 0890-4197

See also the “Corrections” in the next issue.
type: Memo

Syphilis and Sociability: The Impolite Bodies of Two Gentlemen, James Boswell (1740–1795) and Sylas Neville (1741–1840)
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Male Body in Medicine and Literature
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-78694-052-0 (hbk.)
publisher: Liverpool University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Liverpool
authors: Person
  surname: Wetherall-Dickson
  given name: Leigh
editors: Person
  surname: Mangham
  given name: Andrew
editors: Person
  surname: Lea
  given name: Daniel
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Anthropology
subject: Bibliography
subject: Boswell
subject: Economics
subject: Journals
subject: Medicine
subject: Psychology
subject: Sexuality
subject: Sociology
abstract: Wetherall-Dickson explores the intersection of venereal disease and eighteenth-century politeness through the journals of Boswell and Sylas Neville. Boswell employs his diary as a spectator of the self, attempting to reconcile a composed genteel character with the loathsome distemper that threatened his social standing. Unlike Neville’s secretive and suspicious recording of infection, Boswell treats his calamities as opportunities for philosophical reflection and self-improvement, even while enduring indolent confinement. The text argues that Boswell’s sociability remained paramount; he curated his public persona to remain a socially recognised entity, using politeness to mask the aberration of his physical corruption. Wetherall-Dickson highlights Boswell’s dual role as both actor and spectator in the Theatre of the world.
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 177–193

Images of Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: ELH: English Literary History
  type: Journal
  volume: 41
  identifier: DOI 10.2307/2872591
  number: 3
  alternative: ELH
  identifier: ISSN 0013-8304
authors: Person
  surname: Wimsatt
  given name: William K., Jr.
is referenced by: CGV entry 3:241.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 236.
subject: Abstract
subject: Art
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Piozzi
abstract: Compares Boswell's imaginative and scrupulously factual portrayal of Johnson with those of other more pedestrian biographers, particularly Piozzi and Burney, to highlight the superiority of Boswell's biographical artistry. While Piozzi and Burney, despite their intimacy with Johnson, often produced disjointed anecdotes or caricatures focusing on his "roughness" and eccentricities, Boswell created a coherent, "monumental" figure that authentically captured his complexity and "Titanic vigour," establishing the definitive image for posterity.
date: 1974-Fall
language: en
pages: 359–374

CGV entry 3:241.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 236.
type: Memo

Great Burke and Poor Boswell: Carlyle and the Historian's Task
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Victorian Newsletter
authors: Person
  surname: Wheeler
  given name: Elizabeth
subject: 19th
subject: Boswell
subject: History
date: 1986 Fall
language: en
pages: 28–31

Victorian Newsletter
type: Journal
volume: 70
identifier: ISSN 0042-5192

'My Journal Goes Charmingly On': Boswell Reedited [review of London Journal, 1762–1763, by Gordon Turnbull]
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Life
  type: Journal
  volume: 38
  identifier: DOI 10.1215/000982601-2774037
  number: 3
  alternative: ECL
  identifier: ISSN 0098-2601
authors: Person
  surname: Tankard
  given name: Paul
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Journals
subject: Review
abstract: Tankard’s review essay describes Gordon Turnbull’s 2010 Penguin Classics edition of the London Journal, noting that this version, unlike Pottle’s regularized 1950 edition, prints the text as closely as possible to the original manuscript by retaining Boswell’s spelling, minimal punctuation, and inconsistencies. The volume is transformed from a simple literary classic into a serious historical document and a "virtual encyclopedia" of eighteenth-century London people, places, and events, featuring a scholarly apparatus that includes fifty-eight pages of preliminaries, 1,375 notes, and a comprehensive sixty-page index. Tankard highlights the inclusion of Boswell’s previously unpublished daily memoranda, which are interspersed with the journal entries, and emphasizes the educational value of the annotations covering subjects ranging from condoms to the Seven Years’ War. The review concludes that this new, highly detailed format firmly establishes the journal as a work of reference and a significant text for scholarly study.
date: 2014 Fall
language: en
pages: 111–114

Boswell and Sympathy: The Trial and Execution of John Reid
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: New Light on Boswell: Critical and Historical Essays on the Occasion of the Bicentenary of 'The Life of Johnson'
  type: Book
  identifier: DOI 10.1007/978-1-4684-1360-1_15
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Turnbull
  given name: Gordon
editors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
editors: Person
  surname: Daiches
  given name: David
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Law
abstract: Turnbull examines Boswell's deep emotional and professional involvement in the trial and execution of his client, John Reid, a sheep-stealer. This essay explores Boswell's profound "sympathy" for Reid as a case study in his complex character, highlighting the tension between his duties as an advocate within the rigid legal system and his intense personal identification with the condemned man. Turnbull analyzes how this episode reveals Boswell's struggles with melancholy, justice, and social order, demonstrating a capacity for empathy that contrasts sharply with his reputation for self-absorption.
date: 1991
language: en
pages: 104–115

A Metacritical Perspective: Accuracy and Ideology
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Life
  type: Journal
  volume: 16
  number: 2
  alternative: ECL
  identifier: ISSN 0098-2601
authors: Person
  surname: Tomarken
  given name: Edward
subject: Criticism
date: 1992-05
language: en
pages: 144–146

A Bibliographical Note: Henry James's Markings in Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Henry James Review
authors: Person
  surname: Tintner
  given name: Adeline R.
subject: 20th
subject: Abstract
subject: Bibliography
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Tintner records the pencil markings Henry James made in his set of George Birkbeck Hill's six-volume edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson. These markings preserve James's interests in Johnson and the eighteenth century, as the books' current location is unknown. James marked passages, primarily with a vertical line, related to Johnson's conversational value, comments on poetry, literary style, and personal opinions on topics like women's preaching, marriage, and ghost belief. The markings decrease in later volumes, demonstrating that James was primarily interested in Boswell's Life.
date: 1999 Fall
language: en
pages: 291–298

Henry James Review
type: Journal
volume: 20
identifier: DOI 10.1353/hjr.1999.0020
number: 3
identifier: ISSN 0273-0340

Dead Man Talking: James Boswell, Ghostwriting, and the Dying Speech of John Reid
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Huntington Library Quarterly
  type: Journal
  volume: 77
  identifier: DOI 10.1525/hlq.2014.77.1.59
  number: 1
  alternative: HLQ
  identifier: ISSN 0018-7895
authors: Person
  surname: Tung
  given name: Shirley F.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Conversation
subject: Death
subject: Law
abstract: This essay examines lawyer and biographer James Boswell's anonymously published broadside,The Mournful Case of Poor Misfortunate and Unhappy John Reid(1774). Drawing on and subverting the generic conventions of the "dying speech," Boswell's unauthorized account of Reid presents his condemned client as a living ghost. Anticipating his treatment of Samuel Johnson in theLife(1791), Boswell's deployment of this supernatural conceit ameliorates the inconsistencies of Reid's character by configuring the otherwise morally questionable and "unfeeling" criminal as an idealized and sympathetic biographical subject. The broadside was not only an attempt to redeem Reid's character and concomitantly Boswell's own role in defending Reid for posterity, but also reveals the limitations and complacencies of eighteenth-century criminal literature and its connection with legal practice.
date: 2014 Spring
language: en
pages: 59–78

Who Is Boswell's Johnson?
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture
authors: Person
  surname: Siebenschuh
  given name: William R.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:262.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 257.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Siebenschuh defends Boswell's portrait of Johnson in the Life against modern scholarly attacks on its factual validity. Siebenschuh argues that Boswell's achievement is not his facts, but his "vision of Johnson" which allows for an "imaginative possession" of the subject. While acknowledging that Boswell had "blind spots" regarding Johnson's mental health and relationship with the Thrales, Siebenschuh maintains that Boswell's use of fictional methods is valid biographical practice. Boswell made Johnson's "personal greatness accessible" by presenting him dramatically rather than analytically. Siebenschuh challenges the notion that these dramatizations are mere distortions, asserting they symbolize the truth about Johnson's character.
date: 1981
language: en
pages: 347–360

Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture
type: Journal
volume: 10
identifier: DOI 10.1353/sec.1981.0019
identifier: ISSN 0360-2370

CGV entry 4:262.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 257.
type: Memo

Boswell in Search of Boswell: A Quest for Self-Definition
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Publications of the Mississippi Philological Association
authors: Person
  surname: Smith
  given name: J. F.
subject: Boswell
date: 1986
language: en
pages: 188–196

Publications of the Mississippi Philological Association
type: Journal
volume: 5
identifier: ISSN 0740-9478

Boswell for the Defence/Boswell's London Journal
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Life
  type: Journal
  volume: 16
  number: 2
  alternative: ECL
  identifier: ISSN 0098-2601
authors: Person
  surname: Sloan
  given name: Kay
subject: 18th
subject: Boswell
subject: Journals
date: 1992-05
language: en
pages: 142–144

Scottish Divines and Legal Lairds: Boswell's Scots Presbyterian Identity
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: New Light on Boswell: Critical and Historical Essays on the Occasion of the Bicentenary of 'The Life of Johnson'
  type: Book
  identifier: DOI 10.1016/b978-0-444-88864-8.50146-1
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Sher
  given name: Richard B.
editors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
editors: Person
  surname: Daiches
  given name: David
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Law
subject: Scotland
abstract: Sher argues that Boswell’s complex identity was deeply shaped by his status as a Scots Presbyterian laird, positioning him against the dominant "Moderate literati" like Robertson and Blair. This "Popular party" identity was forged by his tutor, John Dun, who blended polite learning with anti-patronage politics, and by fellow advocates Andrew Crosbie and John Maclaurin. This circle of radical, literary, "clubbable" lairds nurtured Boswell's "country" ideology and opposition to the Moderate establishment. Sher reinterprets Boswell’s anonymous attacks on Robertson in the London Magazine as a direct expression of this often-overlooked, class-conscious Presbyterian identity.
date: 1991
language: en
pages: 28–55

Samuel Johnson and the Art of Social Comfort
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Indian Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies
  type: Journal
  volume: 1
  number: 2
authors: Person
  surname: Sharma
  given name: Amiya Bhushan
subject: Johnson
date: 1986 Winter
language: en
pages: 16–35

Modern Undergraduates and the Accessibility of The Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Life
  type: Journal
  volume: 5
  number: 3
  alternative: ECL
  identifier: ISSN 0098-2601
authors: Person
  surname: Siebenschuh
  given name: William R.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:253.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 249. Discusses the challenges and rewards of teaching the 'Life' to undergraduates, recommending pairing it with Boswell's 'London Journal' to make the biographical art more accessible.
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1979
language: en
pages: 54–59

CGV entry 4:253.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 249. Discusses the challenges and rewards of teaching the 'Life' to undergraduates, recommending pairing it with Boswell's 'London Journal' to make the biographical art more accessible.
type: Memo

Dr. Johnson and Hodge the Cat: Small Moments and Great Pleasures in the Life
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Fresh Reflections on Samuel Johnson: Essays in Criticism
publisher: Whitston
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Troy
authors: Person
  surname: Siebenschuh
  given name: William R.
editors: Person
  surname: Nath
  given name: Prem
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Siebenschuh argues that the imaginative power and enduring appeal of Boswell's Life of Johnson stem significantly from its inclusion of seemingly minor, unheroic anecdotes depicting Johnson's humanity, fallibility, and endearing eccentricities—such as the famous episode with his cat, Hodge. These "small moments," Siebenschuh contends, balance Johnson's heroic intellectual and moral stature with relatable vulnerabilities. This juxtaposition makes Johnson emotionally accessible, fostering affection alongside admiration, creating a uniquely powerful and attractive biographical portrait that transcends mere hero-worship.
date: 1987
language: en
pages: 388–399

Cognitive Processes and Autobiographical Acts
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly
  type: Journal
  volume: 12
  identifier: DOI 10.1353/bio.2010.0534
  number: 2
  alternative: Biography
  identifier: ISSN 0162-4962
authors: Person
  surname: Siebenschuh
  given name: William R.
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
abstract: In an autobiography or any text heavily dependent upon its author's memory, the normal operation of the common cognitive processes of memory and perception may be the cause of literary effects we are used to attributing to "artistic choice" or an author's intention. Use of selected knowledge from the cognitive sciences may significantly enhance our ability to explain and interpret autobiographical texts and may even provide new insight into the creative process.
date: 1989 Spring
language: en
pages: 142–153

Boswel [sic], el curioso impertinente
type: Article
item type: magazineArticle
is part of: Suplemento Literario La Nación
authors: Person
  surname: Savater
  given name: Fernando
subject: Johnson
date: 1996-01-14
language: es
pages: 6

Boswell and Hume: The Deathbed Interview
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: New Light on Boswell: Critical and Historical Essays on the Occasion of the Bicentenary of 'The Life of Johnson'
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Schwartz
  given name: Richard B.
editors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
editors: Person
  surname: Daiches
  given name: David
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Death
subject: Philosophy
subject: Religion
abstract: Schwartz provides a close reading of Boswell's famous "deathbed interview" with David Hume. This essay analyzes the dramatic encounter as a confrontation between Boswell's profound religious anxiety and Hume's unwavering philosophical skepticism. Schwartz explores Boswell's motives: part journalistic "scoop," part desperate search for reassurance about the afterlife from the Enlightenment's most prominent infidel. The analysis highlights the theological and personal drama of the scene, contrasting Hume’s tranquil acceptance of annihilation with Boswell's deep-seated "philosophical melancholy" and fear of death.
date: 1991
language: en
pages: 116–125

The Biographer as Advocate: Boswell and the 'Supper of Larks' Case
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Greene Centennial Studies: Essays Presented to Donald Greene in the Centennial Year of the University of Southern California
publisher: University Press of Virginia
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Charlottesville
authors: Person
  surname: Riely
  given name: John C.
editors: Person
  surname: Korshin
  given name: Paul J.
editors: Person
  surname: Allen
  given name: Robert R.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:273. Discusses conflicting accounts of a remark Johnson made to Hester Thrale.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 266.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Law
subject: Piozzi
abstract: Riely examines Boswell’s targeted "animadversions" against Piozzi in the final portion of the Life of Johnson, identifying Boswell’s strategy as that of a professional advocate rather than an impartial judge. By scrutinizing the "supper of larks" anecdote—where Johnson allegedly rebukes Piozzi’s grief over a deceased cousin—Riely demonstrates how Boswell uses testimony from Baretti to recontextualize the event as a critique of Piozzi’s perceived "canting" and insensibility. Riely establishes the historical identity of the deceased cousin as Richard Cotton, a captain killed during the Battle of Camden in 1780. The analysis highlights Boswell’s aggressive use of minute particulars to undermine Piozzi’s authority and protect Johnson’s character from charges of incivility.
date: 1984
language: en
pages: 307–319

CGV entry 4:273. Discusses conflicting accounts of a remark Johnson made to Hester Thrale.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 266.
type: Memo

Lady Knight's Role in the Boswell–Piozzi Rivalry
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Philological Quarterly
  type: Journal
  volume: 51
  number: 4
  alternative: PQ
  identifier: ISSN 0031-7977
authors: Person
  surname: Riely
  given name: John C.
is referenced by: item_140516
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Piozzi
abstract: Riely clarifies a dispute regarding Lady Knight's marginalia in her copy of Boswell's Life of Johnson. Lady Knight claimed she persuaded Hester Piozzi to remove a "grosest abuse" against Boswell from her Anecdotes of Johnson during a meeting in Naples (December 1785–February 1786). However, the Anecdotes manuscript had already been sent to press in September 1785. The actual abusive passage, which likened Boswell to Aaron the Moor, was eventually canceled in the proofs by Samuel Lysons, not Piozzi herself, after the initial manuscript submission.
date: 1972
language: en
pages: 961–965

item_140516
type: Memo
value: Cochrane entry 620. Corrects a long-standing anecdote, showing that a passage abusive to Boswell was deleted from Piozzi's 'Anecdotes' by an editor without her knowledge, not at the suggestion of Lady Knight.

Johnson's Life of Boswell
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Kenyon Review
authors: Person
  surname: Reid
  given name: B. L.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:161.
is referenced by: item_140426
is referenced by: The same in Reid's The Long Boy, and Others, pp. 1-30. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1969.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: The relationship between Johnson and Boswell was characterized by Johnson's genuine welcome and need for Boswell's company, countering the notion that Boswell imposed himself. Johnson, newly free from the necessity of hack-work, valued Boswell's social genius, patience, and ability to encourage talk, all while Boswell sought a father-figure to replace his critical father. Although the relationship was complicated by Boswell’s moral failures and Johnson’s disappointment in him as a pupil, the emotional bond, rooted in a quasi-familial love, remained unaltered and deeply affectionate until Johnson's death.
date: 1956
language: en
pages: 546–575

Kenyon Review
type: Journal
volume: 18
number: 4
identifier: ISSN 0163-075X

CGV entry 4:161.
type: Memo

item_140426
type: Memo
value: Cochrane entry 575. Argues against the idea that Johnson merely tolerated Boswell, showing instead that he deeply valued Boswell's friendship, found him a "superb companion," and filled the role of a surrogate father.

The same in Reid's The Long Boy, and Others, pp. 1-30. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1969.
type: Memo

Boswell's Johnson, the Hero Made by a Committee
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America
  type: Journal
  volume: 95
  identifier: DOI 10.2307/462017
  number: 2
  alternative: PMLA
  identifier: ISSN 0030-8129
authors: Person
  surname: Reichard
  given name: Hugo M.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:257.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 254.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Reichard argues that the life of the "majestic protagonist" in Boswell’s biography is largely "decided by others." The article proposes that Johnson’s associates "start him, route him, and keep him going" to overcome his "constitutional indolence." Reichard demonstrates that Johnson’s friends "generate most of his conversation" and "extract most of his writing." Salient examples include the "committee" of publishers that "goaded" him to finish the Dictionary and the friends who "assisted" in obtaining his royal pension. The narrative describes how Piozzi and Hawkins contributed to the "Johnsonian gospel" while Boswell "staged" encounters to elicit famous responses. Reichard characterizes Johnson as a "community project" whose trips, such as those with the Thrales to Brighton or Boswell to the Hebrides, were entirely "supervised." The article concludes that Johnson's "attack is reaction," as he habitually used polyptoton to "catch a term dropped or thrown by someone" and alter its implications.
date: 1980-03
language: en
pages: 225–233

CGV entry 4:257.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 254.
type: Memo

Taming Savage Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Literary Imagination: The Review of the Association of Literary Scholars and Critics
authors: Person
  surname: Redford
  given name: Bruce
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Manuscripts
abstract: Redford conducts a "literary archaeology" of the manuscript for Boswell's Life of Johnson to uncover an "untamed" or "Savage Johnson" that the biographer deliberately modified for publication. Through close examination of the draft, Redford reveals that Boswell "tamed" Johnson in areas like his ferocious temper, religious anxieties, and confrontational physicality by deleting, softening, or substituting aggressive phrases and anecdotes. The final published Life achieves a portrait of the sage "in deep meditation" by suppressing material that emphasized Johnson's more volatile and sexually explicit nature, thus controlling the interpretation of his complex character.
date: 1999 Spring
language: en
pages: 85–101

Literary Imagination: The Review of the Association of Literary Scholars and Critics
type: Journal
volume: 1
identifier: DOI 10.1093/litimag/1.1.85
number: 1
alternative: Literary Imagination
identifier: ISSN 1523-9012

Talk into Text: The Shaping of Conversation in Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Contexts: Historical Inquiries in Honor of Phillip Harth
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-299-17480-4
publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Madison
authors: Person
  surname: Redford
  given name: Bruce
editors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
editors: Person
  surname: Schakel
  given name: Peter J.
editors: Person
  surname: Karian
  given name: Stephen E.
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Conversation
subject: Johnson
date: 2001
language: en
pages: 247–264

'A Very Exact Picture of His Life': Johnson's Role in Writing the Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 7
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Radner
  given name: John B.
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Radner argues that Samuel Johnson played a complex and active role in the creation of Boswell’s Life after discovering Boswell's biographical intentions in 1772. Focusing on the 1773 Hebrides tour, Radner shows that while Johnson delighted in reading Boswell’s detailed journal, he also resisted being contained by it, creating rival narratives in his letters to Hester Thrale and later in his published Journey. Throughout the last twelve years of his life, Johnson continued this pattern: he cooperated by providing anecdotes and correcting information, ensuring his version of events was on record, but also withheld information and resisted Boswell's attempts to stage "scenes" for the biography. Radner speculates that Boswell’s project was a constant reminder of death and divine judgment, transforming Boswell into a kind of earthly judge and causing Johnson considerable anxiety.
date: 1996
language: en
pages: 299–342

The Life of Boswell
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Yale Review
authors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:139.
is referenced by: item_140368
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
date: 1946
language: en
pages: 445–460

Yale Review
type: Journal
volume: 35
alternative: YR
identifier: ISSN 0044-0124

CGV entry 4:139.
type: Memo

item_140368
type: Memo
value: Cochrane entry 546. Examines Boswell's paradoxical reputation in light of his private papers, arguing that the journals reveal him to be an imaginative artist and a far more complex man, and that he should be treated as the great literary figure he is.

The Dark Hints of Sir John Hawkins and Boswell
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Modern Language Notes
authors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
is referenced by: CGV entry 3:172.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Sexuality
abstract: Pottle examines evidence regarding Johnson’s alleged sexual irregularities. He traces Boswell’s guarded statements in the Life back to a 1785 conversation with Hawkins, who claimed to have read incriminating entries in Johnson’s diaries. Pottle analyzes a 1786 meeting between Boswell, Hawkins, and Langton, suggesting that Boswell decided the facts were credible despite personal reservations. He concludes that while the specific diary volumes were likely destroyed by Johnson, the consistency of these "dark hints" suggests a factual basis rather than mere calumny.
date: 1941-05
language: en
pages: 325–329

Modern Language Notes
type: Journal
volume: 56
number: 5
identifier: ISSN 0149-6611

CGV entry 3:172.
type: Memo

The Biblical Context of Johnson's Rasselas
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America
  type: Journal
  volume: 84
  number: 2
  alternative: PMLA
  identifier: ISSN 0030-8129
authors: Person
  surname: Preston
  given name: Thomas R.
is referenced by: CGV entry 18:133.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
abstract: In the 'Life of Johnson', Boswell suggests that 'Rasselas' echoes the 'vanitas vanitatum' theme of Ecclesiastes. Boswell's suggestion is quite discerning, for 'Rasselas' is, in fact, designed to recall both the Preacher's futile quest for perfect happiness and the meaning of that quest as interpreted by a post-Reformation school of commentators on Ecclesiastes. This school includes Bishop Simon Patrick, whose scriptural writings, in conjunction with those of William Lowth, made up the 'standard' Augustan commentary on the Old Testament. 'Rasselas' is informed with a complex of images, sentiments, and ideas drawn from Bishop Patrick's paraphrase of and annotations to the Book of Ecclesiastes, and the thematic structure of the apologue follows the thematic structure that the post-Reformation school attributed to Ecclesiastes.
date: 1969/03/1969 Mar
language: en
pages: 274–281

CGV entry 18:133.
type: Memo

Boswell's 'Romantic Imagination' in the London Journal
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Papers on Language & Literature
  type: Journal
  volume: 9
  alternative: PLL
  identifier: ISSN 0031-1294
authors: Person
  surname: Primeau
  given name: Ronald
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:231.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 396. Finds a Wordsworth-like sensibility in the 'London Journal', arguing Boswell celebrated his own creative imagination but later came to distrust it under Johnson's influence.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Journals
abstract: The sensibility Boswell develops in the London Journal (1762-63) is a hitherto unremarked link between Boswell the biographer, eighteenth-century esthetics, and "English Romanticism." Boswell describes the workings of his mind in the Journal as it fantasizes, associates, remembers, and recreates what he perceives in ways very like those processes reflected most typically by Wordsworth. While Boswell is neither a "pre-Romantic" nor the "first Romantic," his views in the London Journal on imagination demonstrate that Boswell-like most writers in the English tradition-fits neatly into neither category. By the time he had completed the Life of Johnson Boswell had modified much that was "romantic" in his earlier sensibility. The London Journal and the Life of Johnson are different kinds of works and thus call for different responses from readers who must understand certain developments in Boswell's career and make distinctions accordingly. To overlook distinctions in the interest of "consistency" is to force Boswell into a historical niche of little value.
date: 1973
language: en
pages: 15–27

CGV entry 4:231.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 396. Finds a Wordsworth-like sensibility in the 'London Journal', arguing Boswell celebrated his own creative imagination but later came to distrust it under Johnson's influence.
type: Memo

Time, Form, and Style in Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: University of North Carolina
authors: Person
  surname: Passler
  given name: David L.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 207.
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1968
language: en
type: PhD thesis

Cochrane entry 207.
type: Memo

Boswell's Treatment of Johnson's Temper: 'A Warm West-Indian Climate'
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: SEL: Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900
  type: Journal
  volume: 14
  identifier: DOI 10.2307/449886
  number: 3
  alternative: SEL
  identifier: ISSN 0039-3657
authors: Person
  surname: Nussbaum
  given name: Felicity A.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:233.
is referenced by: item_139759
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: In the +Life of Johnson= Boswell reconciles apparent inconsistencies in Johnson's personality without violating truth. Boswell exercises care to counteract the force of Johnson's violent temper by emphasizing his more endearing qualities. Manuscript revisions show Boswell's pattern of softening Johnson's conversational roughness and making his ferocity less offensive throughout the +Life.= Especially in shaping the journal account of a dinner at Dilly's, 15 April 1778, Boswell thoroughly rearranged the order of topics discussed in order to disclose how Johnson's alternating anger and kindness resembled an unpredictable tropical climate. Close study of the sources for the making of the +Life= and the manuscript revisions reveals that Boswell's structural changes provide an authentic pattern of balances.
date: 1974
language: en
pages: 421–433

CGV entry 4:233.
type: Memo

item_139759
type: Memo
value: Cochrane entry 234. Argues that Boswell's handling of Johnson's temper is both authentic and artistic; he honestly depicts the flaw but carefully revises and contextualizes outbursts to maintain an overall portrait of a great and good man.

Boswell's Life of Johnson as Literary History
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: University of Tennessee
authors: Person
  surname: Palmer
  given name: Joyce A.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:206.
is referenced by: item_139697
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: History
subject: Johnson
date: 1967
language: en
type: PhD thesis

CGV entry 4:206.
type: Memo

item_139697
type: Memo
value: Cochrane entry 203. Argues that while Boswell employed many techniques common to literary history, the 'Life' itself does not formally belong to that genre in the way that, for example, the works of Thomas Warton do.

Boswell as Critic
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: New Light on Boswell: Critical and Historical Essays on the Occasion of the Bicentenary of 'The Life of Johnson'
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Pittock
  given name: Joan H.
editors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
editors: Person
  surname: Daiches
  given name: David
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Pittock re-evaluates Boswell as a critic, arguing that his amateur, journalistic approach anticipates modern theoretical concerns. While Johnson upheld a Christian-humanist tradition seeking "true judgement," Boswell mastered "strategies of questioning," self-publicity, and role-playing, aligning with the "London Geniuses" like Wilkes and Churchill. Pittock contends that Boswell’s critical instincts, heavily influenced by Sterne, focused on theatricality, reader response, and the "endless re-invention of character." His defense of mediocrity and his highly developed "consciousness of self" diverge from Johnson’s moral canon, prefiguring modern interests in discourse, alienation, and the "pleasures... of the text."
date: 1991
language: en
pages: 72–85

An Annotated Life of Johnson: Dr. William Cadogan on 'Bozzy' and His Bear
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Collections
authors: Person
  surname: Payne
  given name: Linda R.
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1987
language: en
pages: 1–25

Collections
type: Journal
volume: 2
identifier: ISSN 8755-3473

'Untoward Genius': A Psychoanalytic Study of the Life and Early Writings of James Boswell, Esq.
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: University of Southern California
authors: Person
  surname: Newman
  given name: Donald J.
subject: 18th
subject: Psychology
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: The fact that James Boswell is difficult if not impossible to understand without recourse to psychological explanations makes him a particularly appropriate subject for an interpretation that draws on modern theories of psychoanalysis. Modern psychological theory, in particular the epigenetic developmental theory of Erik Erikson and modern theories of narcissism, are especially useful in a work on Boswell for yet another reason. These particular theories provide good accounts of what the interaction between the baby Boswell, his parents, and his culture should have been if he were to have grown into a happily productive, responsible member of his society. This study advances a theory about how Boswell's early childhood produced the psychic forces the prevented him from becoming a serious poet but transformed him into a genius with prose. Erikson provides the overarching theory for the author's interpretation of Boswell's psychological development, or lack thereof.
date: 1994
language: en
date submitted: 1993-01-01
type: PhD thesis

The Death Scene and the Art of Suspense in Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Boswell's 'Life of Johnson': New Questions, New Answers
publisher: University of Georgia Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Athens
authors: Person
  surname: Newman
  given name: Donald J.
editors: Person
  surname: Vance
  given name: John A.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:279.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 273.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Death
subject: Johnson
abstract: Newman argues Boswell crafts Johnson's death scene into an effective climax using suspense, despite his physical absence. He identifies a two-part structure: Boswell's focused narrative on Johnson's spiritual struggle, followed by collected accounts. Throughout the Life, Boswell builds tension around Johnson's fear of death and religious doubts, delaying resolution. The climax arrives when Johnson directly confronts his mortality by asking Dr. Brocklesby for the unvarnished truth. Johnson’s subsequent calm acceptance provides a surprising, powerful resolution to his long internal conflict. This demonstrates Boswell’s artistry in shaping even second-hand material to achieve biographical and thematic significance.
date: 1985
language: en
pages: 53–72

CGV entry 4:279.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 273.
type: Memo

Jonsonden ni okeru Rondon saikō
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eigo Seinen/Rising Generation
authors: Person
  surname: Nakahara
  given name: Akio
subject: Johnson
subject: London
date: 1991/11/1991 Nov
language: en
pages: 386–388

Eigo Seinen/Rising Generation
type: Journal
volume: 137
number: 8
identifier: ISSN 0287-2706

Parody in Pale Fire: A Re-Reading of Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: University of North Carolina at Greensboro
authors: Person
  surname: Morris
  given name: Matthew Charles Evans
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
subject: Satire
abstract: Morris explores Vladimir Nabokov's parody of Boswell's Life. He argues that Nabokov employs parodic references to establish authorial identity and to encourage readers to return to original sources with new insights. Morris examines affinities between Boswell and Charles Kinbote, noting their shared obsessions with homelands, sexual adventures, and religious duty. The dissertation highlights how Kinbote's commentary parodies Boswell’s biographical practices, including the tendency to suppress information and shape narratives for personal or political agendas. Morris further draws parallels between Johnson and John Shade, observing their mutual disdain for cruelty and their complex, often contradictory, aesthetic philosophies. Through this analysis, the study suggests that Nabokov’s work provides a "literary re-reading" that illuminates the inherent subjectivity and artistic undercurrents in Boswell's purportedly objective biographical text.
date: 1996/11
language: en
date submitted: 1996-01-01
type: PhD thesis

In the Island of Uffa
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Baker Street Journal: An Irregular Quarterly of Sherlockiana
authors: Person
  surname: Moss
  given name: Robert A.
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
subject: Travel
subject: 19th
subject: Scotland
subject: Abstract
abstract: Moss explores the literary and geographical connections between the Sherlock Holmes canon and the Scottish travels of Johnson and Boswell. Building on theories by Jay Finley Christ and Richard Altick, the article argues that the "Island of Uffa" mentioned by Watson is a portmanteau of Ulva and Staffa, islands in the Hebrides. Moss contends that Watson was a "thoroughly familiar" student of Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson and likely modeled his own role as a biographer on Boswell. The narrative suggests that Watson persuaded Holmes to retrace the 1773 itinerary of Johnson and Boswell to the Western Isles as a restorative vacation in 1887. The author details the historical context of Ulva, noting that Johnson and Boswell stayed there as guests of the MacQuarrie clan just before the chieftain was forced to sell the island. Moss connects the "singular adventures of the Grice Patersons" to the late nineteenth-century Highland Clearances on Ulva, imagining a case where Holmes and Watson rectify Johnson’s failure to land on Staffa by successfully visiting Fingal’s Cave.
date: 2013 Winter
language: en
pages: 15–19

Baker Street Journal: An Irregular Quarterly of Sherlockiana
type: Journal
volume: 63
number: 4
alternative: Baker Street Journal
identifier: ISSN 0005-4070

Boswell's Account of the Johnson–Wilkes Meeting
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: SEL: Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900
  type: Journal
  volume: 3
  identifier: DOI 10.2307/449347
  number: 3
  alternative: SEL
  identifier: ISSN 0039-3657
authors: Person
  surname: Molin
  given name: Sven
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:182.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 191.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Molin analyzes Boswell's account of the Johnson–Wilkes dinner as a meticulously structured High Comedy of Manners in prose. Boswell employs a dramatic structure—prologue, five acts, and epilogue—to move the situation from opposition to assimilation, culminating in the principals' shared humor over Scotland. Acting as chorus, manager, and narrator, Boswell uses dialogue, monologue, and vivid description to highlight his theme of social reconciliation and to reveal Johnson's character. The scene epitomizes Boswell's dramatic imagination and his skill in vivifying history into art.
date: 1963-07
language: en
pages: 307–322

CGV entry 4:182.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 191.
type: Memo

Confession in the Life and Writing of James Boswell
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: University of South Carolina
authors: Person
  surname: Moore
  given name: Raymond Ledbetter, II
is referenced by: item_140542
subject: 18th
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1977
language: en
type: PhD thesis

item_140542
type: Memo
value: Cochrane entry 633. Proposes that Boswell used his writing, both private and public, as a form of confession to purge his guilt over the conflict between his moral aspirations and his physical indulgences.

'This Philosophical Melancholy': Style and Self in Boswell and Hume
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: New Light on Boswell: Critical and Historical Essays on the Occasion of the Bicentenary of 'The Life of Johnson'
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Manning
  given name: Susan
editors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
editors: Person
  surname: Daiches
  given name: David
subject: 18th
subject: Psychology
subject: Philosophy
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Manning undertakes a comparative analysis of Boswell and Hume, focusing on their shared experience of "philosophical melancholy." The essay explores how this profound affliction shaped the literary styles and construction of self for both writers. Manning argues that, despite their starkly different conclusions on religion, both Boswell and Hume used their melancholy as a lens through which to examine identity, skepticism, and the human condition. The analysis contrasts Hume’s philosophical sublimation of his "distemper" with Boswell’s restless, theatrical presentation of his moods in his journals.
date: 1991
language: en
pages: 126–140

On the Making of Boswell's London Journal and Boswell for the Defence
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Life
  type: Journal
  volume: 16
  number: 2
  alternative: ECL
  identifier: ISSN 0098-2601
authors: Person
  surname: Lustig
  given name: Irma S.
subject: 18th
subject: Boswell
subject: Journals
date: 1992-05
language: en
pages: 136–139

Boswell and Zélide
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Life
  type: Journal
  volume: 13
  number: 1
  alternative: ECL
  identifier: ISSN 0098-2601
authors: Person
  surname: Lustig
  given name: Irma S.
subject: 18th
subject: Boswell
subject: Biography
date: 1989-02
language: en
pages: 10–15

Fact into Art: James Boswell's Notes, Journals, and the Life of Johnson
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Biography in the Eighteenth Century
publisher: Garland
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Lustig
  given name: Irma S.
editors: Person
  surname: Browning
  given name: John D.
editors: Person
  surname: Tracy
  given name: Clarence
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:256.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 252.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Journals
abstract: {Lustig explores the creative process behind Boswell’s Life of Johnson, using the extensive archive of private papers at Yale to demonstrate how Boswell transformed raw "fact into art." The essay disputes the caricature of Boswell as a mere stenographer, showing instead how he expanded brief, impromptu notes into fully realized journal entries and eventually into a "sophisticated dramatic encounter." Lustig analyzes specific examples, such as the account of the first night of the play Irene and the famous meeting at Tom Davies's parlor, to highlight Boswell's use of literary allusion, selective editing, and imaginative reconstruction. The narrative emphasizes that Boswell sought to "reanimate" Johnson by interweaving private thoughts and conversations into a "richly textured" Flemish-style portrait. Lustig concludes that Boswell's departures from literal truth, such as omitting repulsive physical descriptions found in his original journals, served to achieve a higher "truth of feeling" and a consistent image of his subject's essential greatness.
date: 1980
language: en
pages: 128–146

CGV entry 4:256.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 252.
type: Memo

'Donaus,' Donaides, and David Malloch: A Reply to Dr. Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Modern Philology
  type: Journal
  volume: 76
  identifier: DOI 10.1086/390842
  number: 2
  alternative: MP
  identifier: ISSN 0026-8232
authors: Person
  surname: Lustig
  given name: Irma S.
is referenced by: CGV entry 22:187.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 636. Explains the meaning of an obscure literary reference that stumped Samuel Johnson, which Boswell was unable to answer.
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: On the episode where Johnson asked Boswell to find out about "Donaus" in relation to the poem Donaides by Malloch (later Mallet). Boswell's omission of Johnson's query in The Life suggests he never found the answer. Lustig reveals that Donaides is a Latin poem written by Professor Ker, whose subject is the Aberdonian Muses, or "daughters of the Don" (Dona), making "Donaus" nonexistent. The article uses this biographical detail to illuminate Johnson's classically oriented habits of thought, explore Ker and Malloch's strained literary relationship, and examine Malloch's revisions of his poem to eliminate political matter and criticism of the Reformation.
date: 1978-11
language: en
pages: 149–162

CGV entry 22:187.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 636. Explains the meaning of an obscure literary reference that stumped Samuel Johnson, which Boswell was unable to answer.
type: Memo

The History and Significance of the Relationship of Edmund Burke and James Boswell
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: University of Maryland
authors: Person
  surname: Lambert
  given name: Elizabeth
is referenced by: item_140578
subject: 18th
subject: Boswell
subject: History
date: 1983
language: en
type: PhD thesis

item_140578
type: Memo
value: Cochrane entry 651. Traces the friendship between Boswell and Edmund Burke, whom Boswell saw as a model of success, and considers how their eventual falling out influenced Burke's depiction in the 'Life'.

Boswell's Life of the Poet
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Journal of Narrative Technique
authors: Person
  surname: Kirkley
  given name: Harriet
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:251.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 248.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
abstract: To overcome the lack of material on Johnson’s early life, Boswell used Lives of the Poets as a resource and a formal model, incorporating its narrative conventions and biographical theory. Boswell adapted Johnson's technique of using personal documents, like letters, but qualified them with an interpretive, contextual framework, contrasting with Mason’s method. This strategy allowed Boswell to portray Johnson as both an "infant Hercules" and a complete human, culminating the history of the professional poet that Johnson himself had described, and transcending the limitations of earlier biographical work.
date: 1979
language: en
pages: 21–32

Journal of Narrative Technique
type: Journal
volume: 9
identifier: ISSN 0022-2925

CGV entry 4:251.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 248.
type: Memo

The Social Construction of Literature
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Kenyon Review
  type: Journal
  volume: 7
  number: 4
  identifier: ISSN 0163-075X
authors: Person
  surname: Kernan
  given name: Alvin B.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 272.
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
abstract: Kernan examines the transformation of letters in an age of print technology, identifying Johnson as a professional writer who legitimized literature through his personality and will. He contrasts Boswell’s Johnson—a desperate individual struggling to write for money—with Wordsworth’s dedicated visionary. Kernan argues that Johnson capitalized on print terms, such as copyright and linguistic authority, to fix meaning in a fragmenting world. The text highlights how Boswell established Johnson as the "great cham of literature" and a culture hero of the Gutenberg era.
date: 1985 Fall
language: en
pages: 31–46

Cochrane entry 272.
type: Memo

The Presentation of Oliver Goldsmith in Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: RE: Artes Liberales
authors: Person
  surname: Hart
  given name: Paxton
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:213.
is referenced by: item_139727
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 1970
language: en
pages: 4–15

RE: Artes Liberales
type: Journal
volume: 3
number: 2
identifier: ISSN 0099-0760

CGV entry 4:213.
type: Memo

item_139727
type: Memo
value: Cochrane entry 218. Argues against the traditional view that Boswell's portrait of Goldsmith is hostile, contending that it is actually a "remarkably balanced portrayal" that acknowledges both his genius and his flaws.

Boswell's Suppression of a Paragraph in Rambler 60
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Modern Language Notes
  type: Journal
  volume: 76
  number: 3
  identifier: ISSN 0149-6611
authors: Person
  surname: Hamilton
  given name: Harlan W.
is referenced by: CGV entry 16:105.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 182.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Essays
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
abstract: Hamilton identifies a silent suppression by Boswell in his Life of Johnson, where he omitted a paragraph from Johnson’s Rambler 60 while quoting it in sequence. The suppressed passage criticized biographers for recording trivial details, specifically naming Tickell and Racan. Hamilton argues Boswell likely omitted the passage to avoid highlighting Johnson's critique of Racan, whose biographical methods closely anticipated Boswell's own use of private conversation. Boswell subsequently used two sentences to refute the ideas in the omitted text without admitting the deletion.
date: 1961-03
language: en
pages: 218–220

CGV entry 16:105.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 182.
type: Memo

''Tis a Pretty Book, Mr. Boswell, But …'
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Boswell's 'Life of Johnson': New Questions, New Answers
publisher: University of Georgia Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Athens
authors: Person
  surname: Greene
  given name: Donald J.
editors: Person
  surname: Vance
  given name: John A.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:247. Reprinted from Georgia Review (1978).
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Greene assesses Boswell's Life against modern biographical standards, judging it severely inadequate. He argues it lacks completeness, continuity, proportion, and rigorous evaluation of evidence, often relying on anecdotes. Greene characterizes the work primarily as edited diary excerpts covering limited periods, deficient in narrating Johnson's full life and intellectual development. The resulting portrait, he contends, is a distorted, simplified "personality" that hinders true appreciation of Johnson's complexity. Greene concludes that while valuable as "Memoirs" or "Table Talk" for the conversations, the Life fails as comprehensive biography by contemporary criteria, necessitating reliance on other sources and modern scholarship.
date: 1985
language: en
pages: 110–146

CGV entry 4:247. Reprinted from Georgia Review (1978).
type: Memo

The Correspondence and Other Papers of James Boswell Relating to the Making of the 'Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Studies in Burke and His Time
authors: Person
  surname: Greene
  given name: Donald J.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Waingrow
  given name: Marshall
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:212.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 220.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Correspondence
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
abstract: Greene Waingrow’s edition of Boswell’s correspondence and papers relating to the composition and revision of the Life of Johnson. Greene asserts that the volume provides a major addition of new biographical material, including previously unpublished or deleted anecdotes, that challenges existing scholarly consensus on Johnson’s character and life. The review praises Waingrow’s meticulous editing and notes, but it contests the notion that Boswell’s final, "doctored" published version of the Life should be prioritized over the newly recovered, "undoctored" evidence. Greene contends that new data inevitably supersedes Boswell’s artistic construct for the serious historical scholar.
date: 1970
language: en
pages: 1812–1820

Studies in Burke and His Time
type: Journal
volume: 12
alternative: SBHT
identifier: ISSN 0039-3584

CGV entry 4:212.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 220.
type: Memo

Samuel Johnson
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Craft of Literary Biography
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 0-333-37348-0
publisher: Macmillan; Shocken
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London; New York
authors: Person
  surname: Greene
  given name: Donald J.
editors: Person
  surname: Meyers
  given name: Jeffrey
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 271.
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Greene disputes the cherished myth of quaint old "Doctor Sam Johnson" as a "successful hatchet job" by James Boswell. This article challenges the historical accuracy of Boswell's Life, noting that Johnson and Boswell only spent 425 days together over twenty-two years. Greene disputes the image of Johnson as a "literary dictator," noting Johnson was often reluctant to begin discourse and helped friends like Thomas Percy secretly. Johnson's "real attitude toward second marriages" was suppressed by Boswell to maintain an image of undying devotion. Greene describes his ongoing project to provide a "sober and unexciting" connected narrative of Johnson's later years based on non-Boswellian sources like Hester Thrale Piozzi and Fanny Burney. Greene argues Johnson's chief claim to immortality remains his status as a "great highbrow" writer and pioneering lexicographer whose "most artful fiction must give way to truth."
date: 1983
language: en
subject: CT21 .C69x 1985b
pages: 9–32

Cochrane entry 271.
type: Memo

Mrs. Macaulay's Footman: The Life and Afterlife of an Anecdote
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: CLIO: A Journal of Literature, History, and the Philosophy of History
authors: Person
  surname: Greentree
  given name: Shane
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
abstract: In the early 1760s, the republican historian Catharine Macaulay hosted a visit by the famed Samuel Johnson. Their conversation was initially cordial yet soon became a passionate discussion upon the merits of political equality and subordination, with Macaulay arguing for the former against Johnson's stubborn advocacy for the latter. Johnson sought to prove his point and embarrass Macaulay by inviting her footman to sit alongside them at their table, in front of their assorted company. Greentree seeks to use this debate and the long consensus that followed to examine its implications for the literary reputation of Macaulay. She also traces the history of Macaulay's most famous footman anecdotes.
date: 2015 Summer
language: en
pages: 317–340

CLIO: A Journal of Literature, History, and the Philosophy of History
type: Journal
volume: 44
number: 3
alternative: CLIO
identifier: ISSN 0884-2043

Boswell's Life as 'Literary Biography'
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Boswell's 'Life of Johnson': New Questions, New Answers
publisher: University of Georgia Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Athens
authors: Person
  surname: Greene
  given name: Donald J.
editors: Person
  surname: Vance
  given name: John A.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:278.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 270.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Greene rebuts Pottle's defense, reaffirming criticisms of the Life's biographical flaws, including factual inaccuracies and distorted reporting (citing specific examples). He dismisses "literary biography" as a justification for sacrificing truth to artistry, contrasting Boswell unfavorably with rigorous modern biographers like Ellmann. Greene contends that Boswell demonstrably altered or fabricated material attributed to Johnson, undermining the work's reliability. While acknowledging the value of the recorded conversations (Tischreden), he insists that for accurate biographical understanding, scholars must prioritize Boswell's earlier journal versions and other evidence over the artistically shaped but factually compromised Life.
date: 1985
language: en
pages: 161–171

CGV entry 4:278.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 270.
type: Memo

'Beyond Probability': A Boswellian Act of Faith
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 9
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Greene
  given name: Donald J.
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Greene challenges John J. Burke, Jr.'s defense of Boswell's accuracy in recording Samuel Johnson's sayings (logia). Greene argues that Burke's "willingness to believe" Boswell constitutes an unscholarly "act of faith" that ignores probability and evidence. He reiterates his skepticism regarding the authenticity of many famous Johnsonian remarks reported by Boswell, citing inconsistencies, parallels with older jests, and Boswell's known tendency to embellish or reshape material. Greene contends that unquestioning acceptance of Boswell's record perpetuates a caricature of Johnson, obscuring Johnson the writer, and defends rigorous critical scrutiny of biographical sources against charges of cynicism or bad faith.
date: 1998
language: en
pages: 47–80

Do We Need a Biography of Johnson's 'Boswell' Years?
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Modern Language Studies
  type: Journal
  volume: 9
  number: 3
  alternative: MLS
  identifier: ISSN 0047-7729
authors: Person
  surname: Greene
  given name: Donald J.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 247.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Greene argues for a comprehensive biography covering Johnson's life from 1763 to 1784, often considered adequately covered by Boswell's Life. Boswell's Life is actually a work of Ana or Table-Talk, not a systematic biography, as the two men met on only about 250 days out of 7,783 days in that period. Greene plans to write this third volume, having secured a fellowship, with the task being to uncover what happened to Johnson on the remaining approximately 7,500 days. This is possible because, unlike his earlier years, a wealth of non-Boswellian materials exists, such as letters, diaries, and memoirs from others like Thrale and Hawkins. His goal is to write a biography where Boswell occupies only his mathematically correct 4.5% proportion of space.
date: 1979-Fall
language: en
pages: 128–136

Cochrane entry 247.
type: Memo

Considering Johnson's 'Nose of the Mind' and Mind's Nose: Olfaction Deployed and Suppressed in the 'Age of Johnson'
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: New Essays on Samuel Johnson: Revaluation
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-61149-678-9 (hbk.)
publisher: University of Delaware Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Newark
authors: Person
  surname: Friedman
  given name: Emily C.
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Friedman investigates the "osmology," or scent connotations, within Johnson's work. She notes that Johnson’s own definition of "sagacity" included both mental and olfactory components. The essay examines how Johnson used and suppressed olfactory data in his own writing, as well as in the works of contemporaries like Boswell and Burney, within a century that only dimly understood the process of smelling.
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 203–215

Players on Unbroken Spinets: Thomas Wolfe and James Boswell
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Thomas Wolfe Review
authors: Person
  surname: Duke
  given name: Paul M.
subject: 20th
subject: Boswell
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
date: 1992 Fall
language: en
pages: 47–51

Thomas Wolfe Review
type: Journal
volume: 16
number: 2
identifier: ISSN 0276-5683

The 'Minute Particular' in Life-Writing and the Novel
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Studies
  type: Journal
  volume: 48
  identifier: DOI 10.1353/ecs.2015.0012
  number: 3
  alternative: ECS
  identifier: ISSN 0013-2586
authors: Person
  surname: Davidson
  given name: Jenny
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
abstract: Davidson analyzes the use of specific detail in eighteenth-century biography and fiction, focusing on Johnson’s practice of life-writing. The article examines the controversy surrounding Johnson’s inclusion of paltry circumstances and domestic infirmities in the Lives of the Poets. Davidson argues that Johnson served as an evangelist for the particular detail, advocating for the utility of invisible circumstances in revealing real character. The study traces how Boswell adopted and modified these techniques in his biography of Johnson, incorporating novelistic detail to create vivid portraits. Davidson suggests that Johnson’s personal knowledge of Richard Savage produced a profoundly novelistic narrative. The exploration highlights the tension between neoclassical generalities and the increasingly dominant aesthetic preference for specificity in representing historical figures.
date: 2015 Spring
language: en
pages: 263–281

Macaulay and Croker: The Review of Croker's Boswell
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Review of English Studies
authors: Person
  surname: De Beer
  given name: E. S.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 178.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Investigates the accusation that Macaulay's 1831 review of Croker's edition of Boswell's Life was an act of revenge for political humiliations suffered in Parliament. De Beer notes that while Macaulay indeed despised Croker—writing that he detested him "more than cold boiled veal"—the claim that the review was motivated by parliamentary defeats is without foundation. Macaulay began writing the review before a significant clash and continued it even as he exposed Croker's "monstrous blunders." De Beer argues Macaulay's central goal was to condemn the edition's defects—including inaccurate notes and the interpolation of material from other sources into Boswell's text, which disfigured a masterpiece. Later editors generally agreed with Macaulay's charges, and the review's notoriety contributed to the edition being withdrawn.
date: 1959-11
language: en
pages: 388–397

Review of English Studies
type: Journal
is part of: n.s.
volume: 10
identifier: DOI 10.1093/res/x.40.388
number: 40
alternative: RES
identifier: ISSN 0034-6551

Cochrane entry 178.
type: Memo

The Lexicographer as Hero: Samuel Johnson and Henri Estienne
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Philological Quarterly
  type: Journal
  volume: 79
  number: 2
  alternative: PQ
  identifier: ISSN 0031-7977
authors: Person
  surname: Considine
  given name: John
subject: Abstract
subject: Authorship
subject: Classics
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Poetry
subject: Reference
subject: Renaissance
abstract: Johnson's portrayal of himself as a "lexicographer as hero" in works like his Dictionary was directly influenced by the rhetorical self-presentation of the philologist Estienne, particularly in the preface to the Thesaurus Graecae Linguae (1572). Johnson's famous definition of a lexicographer as a "harmless drudge" is interpreted as an "arrogant irony," a confident assertion of heroic labor, which mirrors Estienne's use of the "Herculean labor" trope to describe his own demanding work. Estienne's preface intimately conjoins lexicography with personal struggle, including melancholy and financial distress, a conjunction that Johnson adopts in his own prefaces. This contrasts with earlier anonymous lexicographers and places Johnson firmly within a European scholarly tradition.
date: 2000-03
language: en
pages: 205–224

Boswell's Liberty-Loving Account of Corsica and the Art of Travel Literature
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: New Light on Boswell: Critical and Historical Essays on the Occasion of the Bicentenary of 'The Life of Johnson'
  type: Book
  identifier: DOI 10.1007/978-1-4612-3174-5_3
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Curley
  given name: Thomas M.
editors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
editors: Person
  surname: Daiches
  given name: David
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Travel
abstract: Curley analyzes Boswell's An Account of Corsica as a significant contribution to eighteenth-century travel literature, arguing that its primary organizing principle is the theme of liberty. The essay explores how Boswell structures his travelogue not just as a geographical or social report, but as a political tract championing General Paoli and the Corsican independence movement. Curley positions the work as a key text in Boswell's development, where he first merges his journalistic talents with his philosophical and political ideals, particularly his "country" radicalism and his desire to shape public opinion.
date: 1991
language: en
pages: 89–103

The Talking Life: Boswell and Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Boulevard
authors: Person
  surname: Cohen
  given name: Paula Marantz
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Conversation
date: 2001 Fall
language: en
pages: 115–126

Boulevard
type: Journal
volume: 17
number: 1-2 [49-50]
identifier: ISSN 0885-9337

Boswell's Life of Hume
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century
  type: Journal
  volume: 305
  alternative: SVEC
  identifier: ISSN 0435-2866
authors: Person
  surname: Carnochan
  given name: W. B.
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Philosophy
date: 1992
language: en
pages: 1760–1765

Double Writing: The Erotics of Narrative in Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: James Boswell: Psychological Interpretations
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-312-12142-6
publisher: St. Martin's Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
editors: Person
  surname: Newman
  given name: Donald J.
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Psychology
date: 1995
language: en
pages: 189–214

'Borrowing Gargantua's Mouth': Biography, Bakhtin and Grotesque Discourse — James Boswell, Thomas Carlyle and Leslie Stephen on Samuel Johnson
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Victorian Culture and the Idea of the Grotesque
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-85928-380-6
publisher: Ashgate
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Aldershot
authors: Person
  surname: Amigoni
  given name: David
editors: Person
  surname: Trodd
  given name: Colin
editors: Person
  surname: Barlow
  given name: Paul
editors: Person
  surname: Amigoni
  given name: David
subject: 18th
subject: 19th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Amigoni explores the transmission of "grotesque discourses" from Boswell’s Life of Johnson to Victorian critics, focusing on the tension between Johnson’s "Classical" intellect and his "Gargantuan" body. Boswell fashions an image that "reconciled the contradiction" between a diseased exterior and inwardly generated eloquence, using physiognomy to read Johnson’s tics as markers of a "melancholic mind." Carlyle and Stephen later appropriate this "Romantic-grotesque" image, with Stephen pathologizing Johnson’s "contorted" prose as a mechanical "spasmodic action." The text argues that this "grotesque realism" allows Stephen to publicly negotiate his own "dogged conservatism" and gender anxieties, borrowing Johnson's "unreason" to challenge radical solutions while maintaining a "thoroughly masculine" view of the world.
date: 1999
language: en
pages: 21–36

Stabilizing Reason with Sensibility: Boswell and Johnson's Pursuit of a Genuine Definition of Masculinity
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Spectacle, Sex, and Property in Eighteenth-Century Literature and Culture
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-404-64872-5 (hbk.)
publisher: AMS Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Reed
  given name: Brian D.
editors: Person
  surname: Chappell
  given name: Julie A.
editors: Person
  surname: Stanton
  given name: Kamille Stone
contributors: Person
  surname: Saxton
  given name: Kirsten T.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 117–137

Lord Byron's Poetical Works, Murray's Complete Edition/Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  is part of: 2nd series
  volume: 7
  number: 170
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 1471-6941
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
date: 1859-04-02
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:08:37
pages: 288

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:27:51
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Boswell's Literary Criticism in The Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: SEL: Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900
  type: Journal
  volume: 6
  number: 3
  alternative: SEL
  identifier: ISSN 0039-3657
authors: Person
  surname: Lustig
  given name: Irma S.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:198.
is referenced by: item_139691
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
abstract: Despite Boswell's self-effacing biographical technique, The Life of Johnson reveals him to be an intelligent and modern literary critic. Though he often suppressed his opinions to keep Johnson in the spotlight, his editorial comments, letters, and questions demonstrate a professional grasp of his craft. Boswell shared Johnson's moral premise for literature but exhibited an independent and modern taste, defending the realism of Fielding and the pathetic appeal of contemporary works like Young's Night Thoughts, which Johnson found too delicate. His analysis of Johnson's style was insightful and enduring, correctly identifying its force, clarity, and limitations as an organic expression of Johnson's towering intellect.
date: 1966
language: en
pages: 529–541

CGV entry 4:198.
type: Memo

item_139691
type: Memo
value: Cochrane entry 200. Argues for the value of Boswell's own literary judgments in the 'Life', suggesting they show a "competence and modernity" often overlooked, particularly in his appreciation for authors like Swift and Fielding.

'Look, My Lord, It Comes': Ghostly Silences in the Boswell/Johnson Archive
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 64 [262]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjx088
  number: 3
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Lee talks about the archive of Boswell and Johnson. In the account of his and Johnson's tour of Scotland, Boswell records the following exchange: "Having taken the liberty, this evening, to remark to Dr. Johnson, that he very often sat quite silent for a long time, even when in company with only a single friend, which I myself had sometimes sadly experienced, he smiled and said, It is true, sir. Tom Tyers, Tom Tyers described me the best. He once said to me, "Sir, you are like a ghost: you never speak till you are spoken to.""
date: 2017-09
language: en
pages: 493–497

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:28:08
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

The Contributions of John Nichols to Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America
  type: Journal
  volume: 67
  number: 4
  alternative: PMLA
  identifier: ISSN 0030-8129
authors: Person
  surname: Hart
  given name: Edward
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:150. See also Arthur Sherbo, Philological Quarterly, volume 32 (July 1953), pages 260–261.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 165.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: On Nichols's contributions to Boswell's Life. Nichols, a printer and friend to both men, supplied Boswell with various "little Johnsonian particulars," primarily in the form of anecdotes and letters previously published in The Gentleman's Magazine, including letters from Johnson to Edward Cave, an anecdote about William Budworth, Johnson's "Scheme for the classes of a Grammar School," and several anecdotes of Johnson's final days. Nichols also gave Boswell advice on the printing and publication of the Life and later helped correct factual errors. Boswell often acknowledged Nichols's reliability as a source, incorporating the anecdotes, which have since become part of the Life's main text, adding authenticity to the biography.
date: 1952-06
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:10:41
pages: 391–410

CGV entry 4:150. See also Arthur Sherbo, Philological Quarterly, volume 32 (July 1953), pages 260–261.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 165.
type: Memo

Biographer, Hero, and Audience in Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: SEL: Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900
authors: Person
  surname: Dowling
  given name: William C.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:255.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 251.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Dowling analyzes the triangulated relationship between Boswell (the biographer), Johnson (the hero), and the intended audience in *The Life of Johnson*. The essay examines Boswell's self-conscious strategies for managing his own presence in the narrative, portraying Johnson's complexity, and shaping reader reception. Dowling explores how Boswell constructs Johnson's character through dialogue and anecdote, arguing that the *Life* functions as a deliberate performance engaging the reader in a complex act of judgment and identification. The study highlights Boswell’s artistry and his innovative contributions to the biographical genre.
date: 1980
language: en
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:10:58
pages: 475–491

SEL: Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900
type: Journal
volume: 20
number: 3
alternative: SEL
identifier: ISSN 00393657

CGV entry 4:255.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 251.
type: Memo

Johnson and Boswell: A Biography of Friendship
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Yale University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New Haven
authors: Person
  surname: Radner
  given name: John B.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Authorship
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Criticism
subject: Death
subject: Johnson
abstract: Radner provides a chronological examination of the relationship between Samuel Johnson and James Boswell from their initial meeting in 1763 to the publication of the Life of Samuel Johnson in 1791. Radner argues that the friendship was an evolving, multifaceted collaboration characterized by regular renegotiations of authority and independence. While Boswell used the relationship to define and assess himself, Radner disputes the continuity often perceived in Boswell's own texts, instead highlighting periods of intense conflict, volatile emotional shifts, and sustained silences. The text analyzes how Boswell's biographical project fundamentally reconfigured their connection, granting Boswell a form of 'narrative authority' that persisted even after Johnson's death. Radner explores the 'archetypal, almost mythic quality' of their bond—the mentor-mentee dynamic—while grounding it in the specific psychological needs of both men, including their shared struggles with 'constitutional melancholy.' By scrutinizing letters, journals, and published works, Radner describes a relationship where 'deepened affection and admiration could coexist with intensified aggression and anger.' The monograph identifies the 1773 Hebrides tour as a transformative 'co-partnery' that intensified their collaboration as writers while increasing competition for narrative control. The Introduction provides a foundational overview of the serendipitous first meeting and the rapid emotional bonding between the two subjects in 1763. Chapter 1, 'Taking Charge of Boswell (1763),' analyzes the initial twelve-week period of their acquaintance, detailing how Johnson assumed a paternalistic role as mentor to the insecure, seeking young Scot. Chapter 2, '"Perpetual Friendship"? (1764–1767),' examines the strain of long absences and silences during Boswell’s European travels and his subsequent attempts to secure an "eternal attachment" through letters and his publication on Corsica. Chapter 3, 'Jostling for Co…
date: 2012
language: en
subject: PR3533 .R24 2012
identifier: ISBN 978-0-300-17875-3
num pages: 415

Boswell's Life of Johnson, IV, 420–421
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 14 [212]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/14-11-411
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Rewa
  given name: Michael
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 205.
link: Full Text PDF
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Rewa identifies an unacknowledged literary parallel in William Gerard Hamilton’s famous lament on the death of Johnson. Rewa argues that Hamilton’s observation regarding the irreplaceable "chasm" left by Johnson constitutes a deliberate inversion of Johnson's own claim in Rambler 6 that no individual’s death creates such a void. This connection suggests a degree of premeditation in Hamilton’s supposedly "abrupt" tribute, deepening the significance of the compliment paid to Johnson.
date: 1967-11
language: en
pages: 411–412

Cochrane entry 205.
type: Memo

Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2022-06-19 15:27:37
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

John Walker's One Clergyman
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 8 [206]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/nq/8-4-126
  number: 4
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Verosky
  given name: M. Victorine, Sister, C.D.P.
is referenced by: CGV entry 5:367. On John Milner; 'Life', volume 4, page 206.
is referenced by: Cites Life 4:206
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 184. Identifies a clergyman mentioned in the 'Life' as John Milner, a Roman Catholic priest.
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Family
subject: Religion
abstract: Verosky identifies the unnamed clergyman mentioned by lexicographer John Walker during a 1783 conversation with Johnson and Boswell as John Milner, a prominent Catholic priest. Prompted by Boswell's inquiry into his pupils, Walker described this figure as the best reader he ever heard. Verosky traces Milner’s decision to study elocution under Walker to a humiliating encounter with a young lady who questioned his reading proficiency. The text outlines Walker’s professional trajectory, his conversion to Catholicism under James Usher’s influence, and his sustained friendship with the Johnson circle. Walker’s dedication of his major works to Johnson acknowledges the latter’s essential patronage.
date: 1961-04-26
language: en
pages: 126–128

CGV entry 5:367. On John Milner; 'Life', volume 4, page 206.
type: Memo

Cites Life 4:206
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 184. Identifies a clergyman mentioned in the 'Life' as John Milner, a Roman Catholic priest.
type: Memo

'Generous Attachment': Filiation and Rogue Biography in the Journals of James Boswell
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: Yale University
authors: Person
  surname: Turnbull
  given name: Gordon
subject: 18th
subject: Journals
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Boswell's journals reveal his complex relationship with biography, showcasing his interactions with significant figures and the impact of discourse on character construction.
date: 1986
language: en
type: PhD thesis

James Boswell: Biography and the Union
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The History of Scottish Literature, II: 1660–1800
  type: Book
  identifier: DOI 10.1007/978-94-009-3665-2_15
publisher: Aberdeen University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Aberdeen
authors: Person
  surname: Turnbull
  given name: Gordon
editors: Person
  surname: Hook
  given name: Andrew
editors: Person
  surname: Craig
  given name: Cairns
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Scotland
abstract: This article analyzes Boswell's lifelong journal as a quest to articulate the historicity of the self amidst the "cultural schizophrenia" of post-Union Scotland. Turnbull argues that Boswell's acquisition of Johnson as a biographical subject addressed deep psychopolitical needs, providing a stable, culturally central English anchor for his volatile identity. The text frames the Boswell-Johnson "co-partnery" as a personal analogue to the political Union, where Johnson represents the monumental authority of England and Boswell acts as the socially pliable, culturally aware Scottish witness. Turnbull explores how the tour of the Hebrides allowed Boswell to fuse his romanticized Scottish past with his Augustan ambitions, displacing his biological father with Johnson as his primary cultural affiliation. The Life of Johnson emerges not merely as a biography but as a collaborative fruit of the Union, where Boswell uses his status as an outsider to elucidate the grand Johnsonian text for posterity.
date: 1987
language: en
pages: 157–173

Criminal Biographer: Boswell and Margaret Caroline Rudd
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: SEL: Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900
  type: Journal
  volume: 26
  identifier: DOI 10.2307/450577
  number: 3
  alternative: SEL
  identifier: ISSN 0039-3657
authors: Person
  surname: Turnbull
  given name: Gordon
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Law
abstract: Examines Boswell's records of Margaret Caroline Rudd, a notorious adventuress and forger, as a form of criminal biography reflecting his impulses for social and sexual transgression. The account shifts from exhilarated fascination, where Rudd acts as a captivating sorceress usurping Johnson’s role as Boswell's preceptor, to agonizing remorse, where guilt over his affair supplants the initial erotic thrill. The story ultimately transforms into a pious conversion narrative for Boswell, with his wife, Margaret, emerging as the feminine agent of his moral reform.
date: 1986 Summer
language: en
pages: 511–535

Extra-Illustration as Exemplified in A. H. Reed's Copy of Boswell's Life of Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Script & Print: Bulletin of the Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand
authors: Person
  surname: Tedeschi
  given name: Anthony
subject: Art
subject: Bibliography
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 2012
language: en
pages: 42–52

Script & Print: Bulletin of the Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand
type: Journal
volume: 36
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 1834-9013

Blinking Sam: The True History of Sir Joshua Reynolds's 1775 Portrait of Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Printed for The Johnsonians & the Samuel Johnson Society of Southern California at the Almond Tree Press and Paper Mill
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Tempe, Ariz.
authors: Person
  surname: Rothschild
  given name: Loren
is referenced by: An authoritative account of the famous Blinking Sam portrait.
subject: 18th
subject: Art
subject: History
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
date: 2002
language: en
short title: Blinking Sam
num pages: 15

An authoritative account of the famous Blinking Sam portrait.
type: Memo

item 6379
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Privately printed for The Johnsonians
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York?
authors: Person
  surname: Piozzi
  given name: Hester Lynch
editors: Person
  surname: Wendorf
  given name: Richard
is referenced by: Discusses the marginal annotations made by Hester Lynch Piozzi in her copy of James Northcote, Life of Sir Joshua Reynolds (London: Henry Colburn, 1818), now in the Houghton Library.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Piozzi
title: 'Well Said Mr. Northcote': A Keepsake to Commemorate the Two Hundred Eighty-Ninth Anniversary of the Birth of Samuel Johnson and the Fifty-Second Annual Dinner of The Johnsonians, the Boston Athenaeum, 25 September 1998
date: 1998
language: en
short title: "Well Said Mr. Northcote"

Discusses the marginal annotations made by Hester Lynch Piozzi in her copy of James Northcote, Life of Sir Joshua Reynolds (London: Henry Colburn, 1818), now in the Houghton Library.
type: Memo

Frances Reynolds and Samuel Johnson: a keepsake to mark the 286th birthday of Samuel Johnson and the 49th annual dinner of The Johnsonians
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Houghton Library, Harvard University
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge, Mass.
editors: Person
  surname: Ashmore
  given name: Helen
editors: Person
  surname: Wendorf
  given name: Richard
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Abstract
abstract: "The long poem [by Frances Reynolds] ... is ... published (and reproduced in facsimile) here for the first time with the hope that it will draw attention both to Frances Reynolds's interests as a writer and to her long and complicated relationship with Samuel Johnson, who has emended her lines in red ink."--Preface "'As late disconsolate in pensive mood' (to quote the poem's opening line; it never received a title) is printed here from the holograph manuscript in the Hyde Collection at Four Oaks Farm."--Preface "Preface"--Page 3 of prelim., typesigned: Richard Wendorf " ... Helen Ashmore has supplied an introduction based on her extensive research on Frances Reynolds, and has also provided a transcription of the text and of Johnson's emendations."--Preface Contains some biographical references
date: 1995
language: en
num pages: [5], 2-28 pages; color facsimiles

A Catalogue of Choice Books by Michael Johnson of Lichfield, 21st March 1717–18
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Impression Makers Printing for the Samuel Johnson Society of Southern California
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Tempe, Ariz.
authors: Person
  surname: Davis
  given name: Robert, Jr.
contributors: Person
  surname: Brack
  given name: O M, Jr.
subject: 18th
subject: 19th
subject: Bibliography
subject: Johnson
subject: Lichfield
subject: Locations
subject: Paperback
date: 2008
language: en

Samuel Johnson's 'Taxation No Tyranny': A Fragment of Proof Copy: To Commemorate Dr. Johnson's 281st Birthday at the Grolier Club in New York
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Grolier Club
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
contributors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
subject: 18th
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Politics
date: 1990
language: en
short title: Samuel Johnson's Taxation No Tyranny

Three Samuel Johnson Portraits: Taylor's Johnson; Lamborn's Taylor; Mytton's Lamborn
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Rasselas Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Los Angeles
authors: Person
  surname: Folkenflik
  given name: Robert
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Criticism
subject: Art
subject: Abstract
abstract: Three hundred copies of this keepsake were printed for the Samuel Johnson Society of the West, the Johnsonians and the Zamorano Club. Designed and printed by Paul Blanc at the Impression Makers Printing, Tempe, Arizona.
date: 2013
language: en
short title: Three Samuel Johnson Portraits
num pages: 16

The Politics of Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Studies in modern history
publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Houndmills, Basingstooke
editors: Person
  surname: Clark
  given name: J. C. D.
editors: Person
  surname: Erskine-Hill
  given name: Howard
subject: Abstract
subject: Jacobitism
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
subject: Religion
abstract: This collection of essays offers historical contextualization as a methodology to move beyond a 'usable Johnson' toward a 'historic Johnson' polemically engaged in religious and political conflicts. Contributors challenge the vision of Johnson as a detached Olympian or pragmatic empiricist, arguing instead for a man divided between rival goals whose hard-won integrity developed over a long career. Essays explore Johnson's Jacobite orientation and his role as a Nonjuror who likely avoided the Oath of Abjuration. Kaminski presents Johnson as an authentic Tory who believed the hereditary succession was 'illegally interrupted' at the Revolution, maintaining this 'inherent right' of the Stuarts while defending George III's prerogative as a de facto authority. Glickman traces Johnson's beliefs through Oxford and London coteries, highlighting how he responded to a 'confessional identity' that sought to preserve the Anglican clerisy. Davis analyzes Johnson's learned interest in Nonjuring theology and patristic traditions, noting his selective attraction to primitive practices. Clark examines Johnson's 1775 Paris visit, showing his ease within the Catholic Jacobite diaspora and his refusal to preface Berwick's memoirs due to political constraints. Collectively, the volume presents a Johnson whose 'Toryism was paralleled by his High Church beliefs' and whose early political ideals remained a source of lifelong complexity.
date: 2012
language: en
subject: PR3537.P6 P65 2012
identifier: ISBN 978-0-230-35599-6
num pages: 235

Samuel Johnson's Pragmatism and Imagination
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Newcastle upon Tyne
authors: Person
  surname: Ritchie
  given name: Stefka
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Science
abstract: Ritchie challenges conventional portraits of Johnson as a mere anecdotalist or moralist by identifying his deep intellectual engagement with seventeenth-century scientific methodologies. Arguing that Johnson’s critical framework synthesizes Baconian induction with Newtonian vision, Ritchie posits a 'pragmatic and imaginative' outlook that informs his entire literary canon. Johnson employs 'concepts of naked science' to illustrate universal traits of human nature, using the 'microscope of criticism' to discern minute detail and the 'telescope of criticism' to survey the 'vast and the infinite.' Ritchie frames the Dictionary as an 'invaluable interpretative tool' for promoting 'useful knowledge' and traces Johnson’s use of scientific allusions in the Rambler, Adventurer, and Rasselas to advance learning in a pleasurable way. By situating Johnson within the mid-eighteenth-century 'affinity between science and art,' Ritchie asserts that his role as a writer involves 'mediating knowledge' to ensure social and self-improvement.}
date: 2018
language: en
subject: PR3537.S35 R58 2018
identifier: ISBN 978-1-5275-1603-8
num pages: xxi, 339 pages

Six Essays on Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Clarendon Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Raleigh
  given name: Walter
is referenced by: CGV entry 10/6:146.
is referenced by: Reprinted Russell & Russell, 1965.
is referenced by: item_150383
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
abstract: An early landmark in focusing on Johnson's achievement as a writer rather than a personality. The work directed scholarly attention specifically toward Johnson’s literary criticism and editing. Raleigh aimed to highlight Johnson's historical and permanent significance. Raleigh engages with Johnson’s critical standards regarding pastoral poetry, specifically addressing Johnson’s questioning of why a poet should translate real passion into the "jargon of a rustic trade." This authoritative early work helped pave the way for later critical rehabilitation of Johnson.
date: 1910
language: en
short title: Six essays on Johnson
subject: PR3533 .R35
num pages: 184

CGV entry 10/6:146.
type: Memo

Reprinted Russell & Russell, 1965.
type: Memo

item_150383
type: Memo
value: The six essays: I. Samuel Johnson: On Johnson's significance as a biographer, critic, and moralist, noting the shadow cast by Boswell's biography. II. On the Two-Hundredth Anniversary of Johnson's Birth: Celebrates Johnson as the embodiment of the English character, valued for his personal qualities more than his literary success. III. Johnson Without Boswell: Assesses the contributions of other biographers and sources to our knowledge of Johnson's life and conversation. IV. Johnson on Shakespeare: Traces Johnson’s editorial work and criticism of Shakespeare, asserting the value of his plainspoken, common-sense approach. V. Early Lives of the Poets: Provides a historical overview of literary biography, from its earliest forms to the collections that preceded Johnson's major work. VI. Johnson's Lives of the Poets: Analyzes Johnson's final and mature work, focusing on his critical doctrines, style, and insightful judgments on life and letters.

'A Goose-Quill or a Gander's? Female Writers in Johnson's Dictionary
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Samuel Johnson: The Arc of the Pendulum
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-965434-5
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Brewer
  given name: Charlotte
editors: Person
  surname: Johnston
  given name: Freya
editors: Person
  surname: Mugglestone
  given name: Lynda
subject: Abstract
subject: Gender
subject: Johnson
subject: Reference
abstract: Brewer examines the "striking" neglect of female-authored sources in Johnson's Dictionary, identifying fewer than 30 quotations from women—primarily Charlotte Lennox—out of 140,000. She argues that this "partial record" creates a "profoundly masculine" view of the English language, derived often from "misogynist" male writers. Brewer disputes the idea that Johnson was simply following a "purpose" to exclude living authors, noting his active support for contemporaries like Burney and Piozzi. The essay compares Johnson’s treatment of women to the OED, finding that while the later work is "infinitely more comprehensive," it also maintains a "stark" imbalance. Brewer concludes that Johnson’s "reluctance to cite" women "revised the canon" in ways that "diminish the emotional impact" of female literary history.
date: 2012
language: en
short title: 'A Goose-Quill or a Gander's?
pages: 120–139

Johnsoniana; or, Supplement to Boswell: Being Anecdotes and Sayings of Dr. Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: John Murray
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
editors: Person
  surname: Croker
  given name: John Wilson
is referenced by: CGV entry 3:75.
is referenced by: item_174479
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
subject: Religion
abstract: A supplement to Boswell's biography. It follows a publishing tradition, active since 1798, of presenting extracts, aphorisms, and sayings, often organized thematically. It is gathered from dozens of sources, including Piozzi, Hawkins, Tyers, Hoole, Hannah More, and Arthur Murphy. The compiler explicitly states the anecdotes could not be included as notes in Boswell's text without overloading it. The book is organized into thirty-four parts, with early sections devoted to major biographers and later sections to critical remarks, jeux d’esprit (witty compositions), and a brief memoir of Boswell. The organization proceeds with accounts from Hester Piozzi (Part I), Sir John Hawkins (Part II), and Thomas Tyers (Part III), followed by many others. It covers a vast range of Johnson’s life, conversation, opinions, and peculiarities, touching on his piety, wit, political views (Toryism), personal habits (love of tea), and literary critiques. The editor claims the collection constitutes one of the richest collections of "Materials for Thinking" in literature, implicitly prioritizing the conversational wit of the "great monologuist" while acknowledging the importance of diverse perspectives. Critics are generally favorable toward this supplementary compilation, praising its entertaining nature as an indispensable companion to the primary biography despite noting its reliance on familiar material. A review in the New York Review identifies the volume as a comprehensive record that gathers omitted anecdotes from nearly a hundred publications, embellishing the text with finely engraved portraits of the subject and his contemporaries. Writing in the New-York Daily Tribune, an anonymous critic observes that the collection provides genuine interest and value even to readers thoroughly steeped in the original biography, effectively capturing a majestic intellect alongside the biographer's unapproachable qualities. The New-York Mirror commends the additional memorabilia for offering a…
date: 1836
language: en
short title: Johnsoniana
subject: PR3533 .J6 183
num pages: 530

CGV entry 3:75.
type: Memo

item_174479
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Boston Miscellany of Literature 1, no. 4 (1842): 188–89; Boston Miscellany of Literature 2, no. 4 (1842): 188–91; Brother Jonathan (1842): 47; Godey’s Lady’s Book 25 (1842): 249; Lady’s Book 25 (1842): 249; Magnolia 1, no. 5 (1842): 320; New World (September 17, 1842); New York Review 11, no. 22 (1842): 219; New-York Daily Tribune (September 3, 1842); New-York Mirror (September 17, 1842); Portland Transcript (September 17, 1842); Review of New Books (1842): 219; Surrey & Middlesex Standard (March 25, 1837); The Gift (1842): 320.

item 6467
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Houghton Library
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge, Mass.
subject: 18th
subject: Bibliography
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
title: Selections from the R. B. Adam extra-illustrated copy of Boswell's 'Life of Johnson': A keepsake for the 312th anniversary of the birth of Samuel Johnson and the 2021 celebration of the Johnsians hosted by Houghton Library, Harvard University, September 17th, 2021
date: 2021
language: en

Viaje a las Islas Occidentales de Escocia
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: KRK Ediciones
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oviedo
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
translators: Person
  surname: Coletes Blanco
  given name: Agustín
is referenced by: item_33526
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
date: 2006
language: es
identifier: ISBN 978-84-8367-003-3

item_33526
type: Memo
value: An attractive pocket-sized Spanish translation of A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, with a long original introduction in four parts: “El doctor Samuel Johnson (1709–1784): vida, obra y entorno literario”; “La Escocia que conoció Johnson y sus claves históricas: de Caledonia a Culloden”; “El Viaje a las Islas Occidentales de Escocia como libro de viajes: Género, estructuración y contenido”; and “Bibliografía comentada: fuentes primarias y secundarias: Esta edición y traducción.”

Hawkins, Biography, and the Law
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Reconsidering Biography: Contexts, Controversies, and Sir John Hawkins's Life of Johnson
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-61148-383-3
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
editors: Person
  surname: Brownley
  given name: Martine W.
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
date: 2012
language: en
pages: 137–154

'What Mankind Has Lost and Gained': Johnson, Rasselas, and Colonialism
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Reading 1759: Literary Culture in Mid-Eighteenth-Century Britain and France
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-61148-478-6
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Watt
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Regan
  given name: Shaun
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
subject: Empire
date: 2013
language: en
pages: 21–36

Habit and Reason in Samuel Johnson's Rambler
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Beyond Sense and Sensibility: Moral Formation and the Literary Imagination from Johnson to Wordsworth
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-61148-640-7
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Thompson
  given name: Peggy
editors: Person
  surname: Thompson
  given name: Peggy
editors: Person
  surname: Erwin
  given name: Timothy
subject: Johnson
subject: 19th
subject: Essays
subject: Abstract
abstract: Thompson examines Johnson's profound anxiety regarding the nonrational force of habit as presented in his Rambler essays. Johnson fears that habit functions as a subhuman impulse that usurps the primacy of reason and renders the human will impotent. Drawing on Lockean moral psychology, Johnson characterizes the natural human state as one of relentless desire, where habit enslaves the mind to immediate gratifications. Thompson notes that Johnson distinguishes human agency by the freedom to make rational choices, yet he recognizes that habit often interrupts the movement from reason to voluntary action. While Johnson generally condemns habit as a loss of control, Thompson identifies suggestive inconsistencies where he begrudgingly acknowledges habit's power as a morally constitutive force. By destabilizing the binary between the rational and irrational, Johnson’s struggles with his own rebellious fits of indolence prefigure modern efforts to reconcile habit with reason in the formation of moral identity.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 109–124

Of Grubs and Other Insects: Constructing the Categories of 'Ephemera' and 'Literature' in Eighteenth-Century British Writing
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Studies in Ephemera: Text and Image in Eighteenth-Century Print
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-61148-494-6
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: McDowell
  given name: Paula
editors: Person
  surname: Murphy
  given name: Kevin D.
editors: Person
  surname: O'Driscoll
  given name: Sally
subject: Abstract
subject: Bibliography
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Satire
abstract: On how the mutually exclusive categories of "ephemera" and "Literature" were constructed in eighteenth-century Britain in response to print proliferation. While contemporaries like Swift and Pope valorized "enduring" works over "ephemeral" pieces, Johnson explicitly argued for the preservation and importance of small tracts and fugitive pieces as a valuable part of an English library and as a form of literature. Johnson's editorial work on the Harleian Library forced him to confront the difficulty of classifying these materials, leading him to admit the inadequacy of conventional systems.
date: 2013
language: en
pages: 31–53

'How like You the Eloquence of a Young Barrister?': Love and the Law in Boswell's Development as a Writer in the Late 1760s
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Impassioned Jurisprudence Law, Literature, and Emotion, 1760–1848
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-61148-675-9 (hbk.)
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Scanlan
  given name: J. T.
editors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Nancy E.
subject: 18th
subject: Boswell
subject: Law
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 39–65

Johnson, Burke, Boswell, and the Slavery Debate
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Community and Solitude: New Essays on Johnson's Circle
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-022-7 (pbk.)
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Lambert
  given name: Elizabeth
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
subject: Boswell
subject: Slavery
subject: Abstract
abstract: Lambert triangulates the views of Johnson, Edmund Burke, and Boswell concerning slavery and the abolition movement. Despite political disagreements on other matters, Johnson and Burke shared a strong moral opposition to slavery. Lambert contrasts their abolitionist sentiments with Boswell’s explicit defense of the slave trade as a necessary commercial interest, sanctioned by history and beneficial to Africans. The essay highlights how Boswell strategically inserted his own pro-slavery arguments into the Life of Johnson, particularly around Johnson’s dictated legal brief for the Joseph Knight case, revealing Boswell's use of the biography to advance personal opinions.
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 167–190

Samuel Johnson's Attitude Toward Islam: A Study of His Oriental Readings and Writings
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Edwin Mellen Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewiston
authors: Person
  surname: Nassir
  given name: Ghazi Q.
is referenced by: item 7849
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Nassir investigates the development of Johnson's 'Oriental' works, specifically Irene, Rasselas, and various short tales, within the context of 18th-century English interest in the East. The text explores how Johnson used the Orient as a framework to address themes of religious choice, moral duty, and the 'freedom to choose.' Analysis of Irene demonstrates that Johnson portrays apostasy as a 'treason against God' and the 'Christian audience,' strategically stripping the character Irene of sympathy to emphasize the gravity of her rejection of Christianity. Nassir argues that Johnson's depictions were informed by a broad 'historical background of English Orientalism' and actual West-East contact, yet remained focused on universal moral arguments. The study highlights that Demetrius's role in Irene is 'crucial' for developing the argument that individuals possess the agency to resist or accept conversion regardless of external pressure.
date: 2012
language: en
short title: Samuel Johnson's Attitude Toward Islam
subject: PR3537.O74 N37 2012
identifier: ISBN 978-0-7734-3917-7
num pages: 209

item 7849
type: Memo
value: Representations of the Orient before Samuel Johnson -- Samuel Johnson's Oriental reading -- Samuel Johnson and his attitude toward Islam -- Irene : Islam is a menace, not "an object of curiosity" -- The perception of the Orient in Rasselas -- Johnson's Orientalism in the short Oriental tales in The Rambler and Idler -- Appendix A. A sample of Johnson's books on the Orient -- Appendix B. Another sample of Johnson's books on the Orient

The Hypochondriack and Its Context: James Boswell, 1777–1783
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Boswell and the Press: Essays on the Ephemeral Writing of James Boswell
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-282-5 (hbk.)
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Ingram
  given name: Allan
editors: Person
  surname: Newman
  given name: Donald J.
subject: 18th
subject: Psychology
subject: Boswell
subject: Journalism
subject: Medicine
subject: Abstract
abstract: Ingram examines Boswell's Hypochondriack essay series published in the London Magazine (1777–1783), situating it within the context of his ongoing struggles with the condition during those years. Ingram traces the series' progression, noting Boswell's initial (and inaccurate) self-presentation as a former sufferer. He highlights the tension between Boswell's fluctuating moods—often documented in his private journal entries detailing the composition process—and the required monthly production of the essays. The analysis culminates in Hypochondriack 39, where Boswell drops the essayistic persona to confront his "dismal depression" directly, marking a significant, candid departure in the essay tradition. Ingram argues this sustained engagement with his malady significantly shifted the English essay by legitimizing the vulnerable self as a central subject.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 108–127

Johnson, Biography, and Modern Japan
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Johnson in Japan
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-242-9 (hbk.)
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Harada
  given name: Noriyuki
editors: Person
  surname: Ogawa
  given name: Kimiyo
editors: Person
  surname: Suzuki
  given name: Mika
editors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Harada explores Johnson's role in the development of biography and its relevance to the modernization processes in both Britain and Japan. Harada posits that Johnson's biographical writings and his own status as a biographical subject, amplified by Boswell, mirrored and influenced the growing importance of individual life stories in modern society. He draws parallels with Meiji Japan, where biographical forms, including translations of Western works like Smiles's Self-Help, were popular and instrumental in cultural transformation. Johnson, embodying intellectual independence and moral authority, served as a significant model for the evolving status of writers in modernizing Japan.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 27–40

Seventeenth-Century Jurisprudence and Eighteenth-Century Lexicography: Sources for Johnson's Notion of Authority
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Ashgate Critical Essays on Early English Lexicographers, Volume 5: The Eighteenth Century
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-7546-5694-4
publisher: Ashgate
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Farnham
authors: Person
  surname: Stone
  given name: John
editors: Person
  surname: McDermott
  given name: Anne C.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Stone explores the similes linking language to law and liberty in Johnson's lexicographical works. He argues that Johnsonian standard English finds its intellectual origins in Sir Edward Coke's 17th-century restatement of common law. Johnson rejected the codified Continental model of the French Academy, opting instead for a standard based on "decrees of custom" and repeated precedents. In the Preface, Johnson adopts the role of a common-law judge, balancing quatable authorities with common usage to discover a "reasonable, arguable standard." He connects the preservation of the English language to the spirit of "English liberty," viewing tongues and governments as organic entities subject to natural degeneration. Stone concludes that Johnson's notion of authority resides in principles evolved through concrete experience rather than deductive rules.
date: 2012
language: en
pages: 125–138

The Text of the Missed Encounter: Mentorship as Absence in Smart, Johnson, Bate, and Trilling
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Mentoring in Eighteenth-Century British Literature and Culture
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-7546-6977-7
publisher: Ashgate
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Farnham
authors: Person
  surname: Simmons
  given name: Thomas
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Authorship
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
abstract: Simmons explores the "profound absence" of Christopher Smart in Johnson’s later life as a form of failed mentorship. Using the poststructuralist concept of the "missed encounter," the text analyzes Johnson’s "absolute refusal" to acknowledge Smart after his second confinement in a madhouse, noting that Johnson’s silence served to "discredit Smart" and exclude him from the Lives of the Poets. Simmons identifies a "profound presence" of Smart within Johnson's psyche, describing the poet as a "shadow-self" and "ghost" that haunted Johnson’s own fears of insanity. The study extends this paradigm of "mentorship as loss" to the 20th-century scholarship of W. Jackson Bate and Lionel Trilling, arguing that Bate's "passionate investment" in Johnson’s struggle for "temperate reason" mirrors Johnson's identification with Smart. Simmons argues that these "unintelligible texts of mortality" reveal the "decentered subject" hidden behind the myth of the autonomous soul.
date: 2010
language: en
pages: 171–190

The Drudgery of Defining: Johnson's Debt to Bailey's Dictionarium Britannicum
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Ashgate Critical Essays on Early English Lexicographers, Volume 5: The Eighteenth Century
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-7546-5694-4
publisher: Ashgate
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Farnham
authors: Person
  surname: McCracken
  given name: David
editors: Person
  surname: McDermott
  given name: Anne C.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Law
subject: Reference
abstract: McCracken examines the extent of Johnson's reliance on Bailey's folio Dictionarium Britannicum during the compilation of the 1755 Dictionary. While Hawkins and Boswell acknowledge Johnson's use of an interleaved copy of Bailey as a repository for notes, McCracken demonstrates through a study of the letter L that Johnson maintained significant independence. Johnson included 394 words omitted by Bailey and excluded 909 of Bailey's entries, favoring commonly spoken words over hard words. Only thirteen definitions under L appear word for word from Bailey, such as "Legality. Lawfulness." Johnson's primary drudgery involved original defining and the selection of literary quotations, which Bailey lacked. Although Johnson used Bailey's word list as an organizational guide, his work reflects the labor of a writer rather than a copyist.
date: 2012
language: en
pages: 73–76

Who's Mentoring Whom? Mentorship, Alliance, and Rivalry in the Carter-Johnson Relationship
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Mentoring in Eighteenth-Century British Literature and Culture
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-7546-6977-7
publisher: Ashgate
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Farnham
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Lee challenges traditional biographical hierarchies by arguing that Elizabeth Carter served as a co-mentor to Samuel Johnson during their early association in 1738 and 1739. While critics typically frame Johnson as the 'superior party' and master, Lee highlights that Carter was an established 'London phenomenon' before Johnson's arrival. The text demonstrates how their relationship functioned as a 'sibling alliance' intended to 'overthrow the oppressive influence' of Alexander Pope. Lee provides a detailed chronology of their collaboration, including mutual praise in the Gentleman's Magazine and their joint translation projects attacking Pope's philosophy. The analysis identifies 'powerful psychic energies of competition' and reveals that Johnson's The Vanity of Human Wishes constitutes a 'complete revision' and replication of Carter's earlier poem, Fortune. Lee asserts that Carter's influence helped 'shape Johnson's literary sensibility' and mature philosophical outlook, particularly her emphasis on 'internal resources' over external conflict.
date: 2010
language: en
pages: 191–210

The Duties of a Scholar: Samuel Johnson in Piozzi's Anecdotes
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Mentoring in Eighteenth-Century British Literature and Culture
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-7546-6977-7
publisher: Ashgate
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Farnham
authors: Person
  surname: Hedrick
  given name: Elizabeth
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
subject: Piozzi
abstract: Hedrick argues that Hester Thrale Piozzi's Anecdotes evaluates Johnson through the lens of his own 'professed standards' regarding the 'duties of a scholar.' While recognizing the 'purgatorial tone' and 'barely suppressed anger' often noted by feminist scholarship, Hedrick contends that Piozzi displays 'mature sympathy' for Johnson's struggle to balance intellectual authority with social obligations. The text identifies five components of Johnson's scholarly ideal—reading, thinking, writing, talking, and listening—and shows how Piozzi depicts him 'lurching unsteadily' between these roles. Hedrick contrasts Boswell's 'systematically defensive' representation of Johnson's combativeness with Piozzi's willingness to place his 'surly' and 'rude' behavior in a critical light. The study highlights Johnson's belief that scholars must 'come out and bark' rather than 'sit and growl' in isolation, portraying his conversational dominance as a 'defensive posture' managed and endured by Piozzi over eighteen years.
date: 2010
language: en
pages: 211–224

Notes on Serialization and Competitive Publishing: Johnson's and Bailey's Dictionaries, 1755
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Ashgate Critical Essays on Early English Lexicographers, Volume 5: The Eighteenth Century
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-7546-5694-4
publisher: Ashgate
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Farnham
authors: Person
  surname: Gove
  given name: Philip B.
editors: Person
  surname: McDermott
  given name: Anne C.
subject: Abstract
subject: Bibliography
subject: Editing
subject: Johnson
abstract: Gove analyzes the 1755 serialization of Johnson's Dictionary and its competition with a rival folio edition of Bailey's work. The second edition of Johnson's Dictionary, issued in 165 weekly sixpenny numbers, required three years to complete. Strahan employed ingenious planning to manage alternating sheet counts and half-sheets, though the edition suffered from abbreviated source citations to save time. Simultaneously, the proprietors of Bailey's dictionary rushed a "new" folio edited by Scott to hold the field against Johnson. This rival work plagiarized line after line from Johnson's "History" and "Grammar," even adopting his numbering system for definitions. Gove concludes that while the Bailey-Scott work persevered for seventeen years, it owed its principal merit to Johnson's involuntary contributions.
date: 2012
language: en
pages: 177–192

Raising a Risible Nation: Merry Mentoring and the Art (and Sometimes Science) of Joking Greatness
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Mentoring in Eighteenth-Century British Literature and Culture
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-7546-6977-7
publisher: Ashgate
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Farnham
authors: Person
  surname: Cope
  given name: Kevin L.
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: Science
subject: Abstract
abstract: Cope argues that merry mentoring through jokes and witticisms in eighteenth-century literature functioned as an accelerated curriculum for instruction. Boswell's humorous reports about Johnson are a case study, presenting him as a formidable yet accessible genius. Johnson's jokes use speedy, elliptical thinking and abrupt shifts in spatial perspectives to cut through detail, establish authority, and elevate his status as a mentor. Such humor converts the raw material of genius into a simulacrum of mentorship.
date: 2010
language: en
pages: 131–147

The Literary Career of James Boswell, Esq.; Being the Bibliographical Materials for a Life of Boswell
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Clarendon Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:1.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 37.
is referenced by: Reprinted 1967.
is referenced by: item_174558
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Authorship
subject: Bibliography
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Discarded
abstract: Pottle uses "scientific bibliography" to reconstruct Boswell's character, arguing that a chronological study of his writings is the "safest and most fruitful way" to understand the man. Challenging the "sot and idler" stereotype, Pottle documents a massive corpus of work—including seventy articles in the London Chronicle in 1767 alone—showing Boswell's industry "may have exceeded Johnson's." The study identifies forty-five pseudonyms and establishes Boswell as an author of "international reputation" for his Corsican works long before he wrote on Johnson. Pottle highlights the "ribald" Ode to Mrs. Thrale to "modify our conception" of Boswell’s "idolatry," suggesting a more "complex mentality" than Macaulay's "witless parasite." He characterizes the Life of Johnson not as a miracle by an "inexperienced author" but as the "crowning achievement" of "more than twenty-five years" of "deliberate disciplining." By thumping down the "mere bulk" of these "bibliographical materials," Pottle provides an "effective alibi" against charges of dissipation, presenting Boswell as an artist whose "chief passion" was "literary fame." Chapter 1, "Editiones Principes; Books, Pamphlets, Broadsides," addresses the primary bibliographical records of the subject’s separately published works, focusing on their physical descriptions, publication histories, and the pursuit of literary fame through varied formats. Chapter 2, "Periodical Publications," addresses the extensive and often anonymous contributions made to contemporary journals and newspapers, highlighting a prolific journalistic output that shaped public opinion on Corsica and legal causes. Chapter 3, "Posthumous Publications," addresses the documentation of writings issued after the subject’s death, providing scholarly accounts of recovered manuscripts and later editions that expanded the known canon. Chapter 4, "A Doubtful Work," addresses the problematic attribution of a specific theatrical review from 1759, analyzing internal and …
date: 1929
language: en
subject: PR3325 .P6 1929
num pages: xliv, 335 p.

CGV entry 4:1.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 37.
type: Memo

Reprinted 1967.
type: Memo

item_174558
type: Memo
value: Reviews: George Carver, Thought 5, no. 1 (1930): 145–46; Louis Cazamian, Revue Anglo-Américaine 8 (1930): 157–59; Colophon 1 (1930): 5; R. S. Crane, Yale Review 19, no. 3 (1930): 616–19; Henry Murray, Sunday Times, May 5, 1929; New Statesman, June 8, 1929; N&Q 158, no. 10 (1930): 179; L. F. Powell, MP 30, no. 1 (1932): 116–18; L. F. Powell, TLS, no. 1424 (1929): 408; T. B. Simpson, JEGP 29, no. 2 (1930): 289–90; Dorothy Margaret Stuart, The Nation and the Athenaeum 45, no. 11 (1929): 374; The Spectator 143, no. 5274 (1929): 129; E. N. S. Thompson, PQ 9, no. 1 (1930): 87–88; G. M. Troxell, Saturday Review of Literature 6 (August 10, 1929): 44; John Wilks, MLR 25, no. 4 (1930): 488–90; I. A. Williams, London Mercury 20 (1929): 618; G. P. Winship, Modern Language Notes 45, no. 4 (1930): 254–56; F. T. Wood, Englische Studien 67 (1932): 132–34.

Hester: The Remarkable Life of Dr. Johnson's 'Dear Mistress'
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Constable & Robinson
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: McIntyre
  given name: Ian
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: History
subject: Piozzi
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: McIntyre chronicles the life of Hester Salusbury from her childhood as a Welsh prodigy through her marriages to Henry Thrale and Gabriel Piozzi. The narrative details her education under Dr. Arthur Collier and her role as the "Mistress of Streatham," where she hosted a distinguished literary circle including Reynolds, Burney, and Boswell. McIntyre explores the "endless speculation" surrounding her intimate sixteen-year bond with Johnson, describing her as his "sparring partner" and confidante. The text explains how Thrale’s intellectual contributions and her publication of the Anecdotes of Johnson both popularised her and "irritated" Boswell. Significant focus is placed on the "scandalized" reaction of London society to her marriage to Piozzi, an Italian music master, which damaged her social standing and her relationship with her daughters. McIntyre uses Thraliana, her extensive six-volume diary, to provide a "goldmine" of detail on her domestic life, business acumen, and political views. The work frames Thrale as an "exceptional woman" and one of the first female historians whose "life, loves and letters" offer a "major contribution" to the understanding of Georgian England. Chapter 1, 'Daughter of Wales,' addresses the origins of the Salusbury family, exploring the subject's pride in her Welsh ancestry and the volatile domestic environment created by her father's financial instability and temper. Chapter 2, 'Great Expectations,' argues that the subject's early precocity and classical education were fostered amidst poverty while her father pursued failed colonial prospects in Nova Scotia and her uncle secured family wealth. Chapter 3, 'The Bartered Bride,' addresses the calculated matrimonial alliance with Henry Thrale, a wealthy brewer, documenting the familial pressures and strategic negotiations that prioritized financial security over the subject's personal inclination or romantic interest. Chapter 4, 'Mistress of Streatham,' addresses the subject’s transition…
date: 2008
language: en
subject: DA483 .M45 2008
identifier: ISBN 978-1-84529-449-6
num pages: xiv, 450

The Creeps: A Samuel Johnson Tale
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Emily Bestler Books/Atria
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Connolly
  given name: John
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Fiction
subject: Abstract
abstract: In this comedic supernatural adventure, young Samuel Johnson and his trusty dachshund, Boswell, find themselves entangled in another existential crisis when a mysterious entity reopens Wreckit & Sons department store in the English town of Biddlecombe. The store sits at the focal point of an inverted pentagram composed of gloomy buildings designed by the long-dead architect Hilary Mould, functioning as a vast occult power generator fueled by death and suffering. While the demonic reassembling of the fragmented Mrs. Abernathy threatens to rip open a permanent boundary to the Kingdom of Shadows, a chaotic assortment of local allies—including scientists disguised in false beards, disgruntled dwarfs hired as retail elves, the boy band BoyStarz, and two hapless policemen—must confront an onslaught of murderous dolls, giant multi-armed shadow monsters, and a polite red-furred beast to avert the destruction of the Multiverse.
date: 2013
language: en
subject: PZ7.C761868 Cre 2013
identifier: ISBN 978-1-4767-5709-4 978-1-4767-5710-0
num pages: 321

The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., with Critical Observations on His Works
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Printed for J. & A. Arch; & for Bell & Bradfute, and J. Mundell Edinburgh
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Anderson
  given name: Robert
is referenced by: Bought 10 Sept. 2020 on eBay from DBFlyer_2000 for $51.
is referenced by: item_56727
is referenced by: Reviews: Analytical Review 23, no. 1 (1796): 47–52; Critical Review 16 (1796): 27–31; Monthly Review 18 (1795): 18–26; Monthly Review 20 (1796): 18–27.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
abstract: Robert Anderson’s 1795 biography offers a comprehensive look at the life and works of Samuel Johnson, drawing from the earlier publications of James Boswell, Sir John Hawkins, and Hester Thrale Piozzi. The text follows Johnson from his early life in Litchfield, through his irregular education and struggles with "morbid melancholy," to his eventual status as a central figure in English literature. Anderson analyzes the development of Johnson’s major works, including his Dictionary of the English Language, his periodical essays like The Rambler, and his final significant project, The Lives of the Poets. The biography details Johnson's personal and professional relationships, particularly his close association with the Thrale family and his long-standing friendship with Boswell. Anderson characterizes Johnson as a man of "gigantic vigour" and deep piety, while also acknowledging his prejudices, social eccentricities, and the "pitiable religious credulity" that marked his later years. The work serves as both a narrative of Johnson's life and a critical review of his contributions to philology, biography, and moral philosophy. Critical reaction is mixed, with reviewers dividing over the compilation's structural originality, its accuracy in documenting physical and mental traits, and the validity of its textual criticisms. An unsigned review in *Monthly Review* initiates a positive appraisal, praising the well-selected and arranged facts and the candid defense of the central subject's royal pension. A subsequent piece by D.B. in *Monthly Review* reinforces this approval, lauding the fair apology for personal piety and defending the evaluation of the Shakespeare edition, though the critic attributes the subject's convulsive motions to St. Vitus's dance rather than superstition. An unsigned commentary in *Analytical Review* balances this perspective, labeling the work a fair memoir that accurately captures a mind of gigantic vigor, while supporting the censure of the subjec…
date: 1795
language: en
subject: PR3533 .A6

Bought 10 Sept. 2020 on eBay from DBFlyer_2000 for $51.
type: Memo

item_56727
type: Memo
value: CGV entry 3:33. Also issued as "The Life of Johnson" in Robert Anderson's edition of 'The Works of the British Poets', volume 11, pages 779-836 (1795). A revised and enlarged third edition was published in Edinburgh in 1815.

Reviews: Analytical Review 23, no. 1 (1796): 47–52; Critical Review 16 (1796): 27–31; Monthly Review 18 (1795): 18–26; Monthly Review 20 (1796): 18–27.
type: Memo

Boswell and the Girl from Botany Bay
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Viking Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 13. A London edition from Heinemann followed in 1938.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
abstract: Pottle uses the story of the convict Mary Bryant to provide a revealing portrait of Boswell in his final years. The book's narrative recounts Bryant's "heroic" and "amazing" escape from the penal colony at Botany Bay, navigating an open boat over three thousand miles to Timor, only to be recaptured and shipped back to England in chains, having lost her husband and children along the way. Boswell’s passionate, obsessive, and ultimately successful campaign to save Bryant from Newgate prison and secure her pardon is a culminating episode of his life, revealing the very essence of his character. This little-known story, rescued from Boswell's private papers, shows him acting as a true hero, driven by a profound humanitarian compassion and his lifelong romantic fascination with the outcast, the condemned, and the "unconquerable" human spirit. By championing the "girl from Botany Bay," Boswell was not merely performing an act of charity; he was engaging in one last great adventure, demonstrating his own capacity for decisive, heroic action and deep sympathy, far removed from his more famous role as Johnson's celebrated biographer. Preface, 'Preface,' addresses the author's intent to reconstruct the remarkable history of Mary Bryant, the 'Girl from Botany Bay,' based on a presidential address and supplemented by exhaustive research into the Private Papers of James Boswell. Chapter 1, 'The Story of the Escape,' addresses the harrowing and incredible journey of Mary Bryant and her companions as they navigated an open boat three thousand miles from the penal colony at Botany Bay to Timor. Chapter 2, 'Boswell and the Prisoners,' addresses the dramatic intersection of Boswell’s life with the recaptured convicts in London, detailing his tireless legal and financial efforts to secure their release from Newgate Prison. Chapter 3, 'The Success of the Petition,' argues that Boswell’s persistent advocacy and personal influence were the decisive factors in obtaining a royal pardon for…
date: 1937
language: en
subject: PR3325 .P6 (Office)
num pages: 56

Cochrane entry 13. A London edition from Heinemann followed in 1938.
type: Memo

Giuseppe Baretti as 'A Man of Great Humanity'
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: British Art, 1740–1820: Essays in Honor of Robert R. Wark
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-87328-135-5
publisher: Huntington Library
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: San Marino
authors: Person
  surname: Robinson
  given name: Duncan
editors: Person
  surname: Sutherland
  given name: Guilland
editors: Person
  surname: Hayes
  given name: John
subject: Johnson
date: 1992
language: en
pages: 81–94

James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: C. S. Lewis's List: The Ten Books That Influenced Him Most
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-62892-414-5
publisher: Bloomsbury
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Tankard
  given name: Paul
editors: Person
  surname: Werther
  given name: David
editors: Person
  surname: Werther
  given name: Susan
editors: Person
  surname: Downing
  given name: David C.
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Tankard analyzes the profound influence of Boswell's biography on C. S. Lewis, noting that Lewis viewed Johnson as a "shining example of human holiness." The article highlights temperamental resemblances between Lewis and Johnson, including their "Johnsonian Colossus" learning, love of tea, and "aggressive militance" in debate. Tankard argues that Boswell's "uniquely powerful biographical method" provided Lewis with an object lesson in how to be a "middle-aged moralist" and public intellectual. Lewis frequently used the text as "mealtime reading," regarding it as an "oasis of reasonableness." Tankard details how both men shared a phenomenal memory for text and used satire to "deflect the directness" of moral instruction. Tankard positions the biography as a "touchstone of literary familiarity" for Lewis, shaping his vocational attitude toward didactic writing for the common reader.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 157–180

You Could Look It Up: The Reference Shelf, from Ancient Babylon to Wikipedia
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Bloomsbury
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Lynch
  given name: Jack
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Bibliography
subject: Classics
subject: Criticism
subject: History
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
subject: Reference
subject: Science
abstract: Lynch traces the evolution of reference works from the Code of Hammurabi to modern digital platforms, emphasizing how these "memoranda to a civilization" shape knowledge and authority. Using a Plutarchan method of paired case studies, Lynch highlights the personalities and sociopolitical contexts behind major texts. A central chapter contrasts the Dictionnaire de l’Académie française with Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language, identifying the latter as a milestone for its systematic use of 115,000 illustrative quotations and its transition from a "civilizing" mission to a descriptive recognition of language change. Lynch explores various genres—including legal codes (Justinian), natural histories (Pliny), medical handbooks (Avicenna), and numerical tables (Kepler)—arguing that reference books were catalysts for the scientific revolution and the invention of the computer. He details the labor-intensive production of these works, from Johnson’s Gough Square attic to the assembly-line efficiency of the Mathematical Tables Project. The text also addresses the "ghost words" generated by lexicographical error, the commercial necessity of abridgments, and the historical exclusion of women from reference editing. Lynch concludes that while the medium has shifted from diorite steles and codices to "random-access" electronic databases, the encyclopedic dream of collecting all knowledge persists as an essential, if quixotic, human endeavor.
date: 2016
language: en
subject: Z1035.1 .L96 2016
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8027-7752-2

Jonson to bozueru = Samuel Johnson and James Boswell: Jijitsu no shuhen
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Chuodaigakushuppanbu
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Hachioji
authors: Person
  surname: Suwabe
  given name: Hitoshi
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Criticism
subject: Boswell
date: 2009
language: Japanese
short title: Jonson to bozueru = Samuel Johnson and James Boswell
identifier: ISBN 978-4-8057-5170-1

Samuel Johnson's Early Biographers
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Iowa Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Iowa City
authors: Person
  surname: Kelley
  given name: Robert
authors: Person
  surname: Brack
  given name: O M, Jr.
is referenced by: CGV entry 3:229.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
abstract: Kelley and Brack assess the early biographers of Johnson, preceding the 1974 annotated edition of the texts themselves. The book focuses on biographical accounts published primarily between 1784 and 1786. The authors exclude the full-length biographies by Piozzi, Hawkins, and Boswell, along with earlier inconsequential accounts and numerous journalistic sketches. Instead, the book concentrates on detailed analysis of accounts by Shaw, Towers, Tyers, Cooke, and three anonymous authors. The study notes that these biographers frequently borrowed material from one another, often exhibiting prejudice and generally lacking profound psychological insight. The early biographies serve as crucial evidence for modern scholars, establishing the context for the more substantial later biographies. It also documents that Shaw’s "Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Dr. Samuel Johnson" was reprinted across seven different publications between 1784 and 1785. Reviewers describe the book as a competent essay in rediscovery that faithfully presents the obscure origins of a literary legend. Baridon and Bloom praise the study for affirming the value of minor figures like Towers, Tyers, Cooke, and Baker, whose reputations were eclipsed by later biographers. Morgan finds the assessment sound and incisive, noting that while these early writers lacked psychological insight and shamelessly borrowed material, they offer a sound reflection of contemporary reputation. But Keast and Waingrow argue that the analytical framework—dividing the subject into writer and moralist—is overly mechanical or arbitrary. The Johnsonian News Letter, however, maintains that this introductory volume provides a beneficial scholarly light for those tracking the genesis of eighteenth-century hagiography.
date: 1971
language: en
subject: PR3533 .K4
identifier: ISBN 0-87745-021-8
num pages: xvi+159

CGV entry 3:229.
type: Memo

Dr. Johnson's Dictionary: The Extraordinary Story of the Book That Defined the World
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: John Murray
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Hitchings
  given name: Henry
is referenced by: Published in the US as Defining the world: The extraordinary story of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005).
is referenced by: item_174467
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Reference
subject: Science
abstract: Hitchings characterizes Samuel Johnson's 1755 Dictionary of the English Language as the eighteenth century's most significant cultural monument, representing an audacious effort to tame an unruly native tongue through more than 42,000 entries and 110,000 illustrative quotations. The compilation process constituted a "heroic ordeal" marked by chronic "black despondency" and personal tragedies, including the death of his wife. Working from a Gough Square garret with six amanuenses, Johnson used a genetic method of definition that traced the evolution of meanings from literal roots to abstract applications, moving from "natural and primitive signification" to figurative senses. Influenced by Locke's empiricism, he initially sought to "fix" the language to arrest its decline but eventually recognized its inherent mutability, transitioning toward a descriptive lexicographical approach that documented language as a "living" entity. The Dictionary functioned as an "instrument of cultural imperialism," establishing middle-class standards of propriety and moral rectitude while asserting a new concept of "Britishness." Despite occasional idiosyncratic definitions and etymological errors, Johnson’s work enjoyed totemic status for over 150 years, serving as an "accessible and crucial guide" that transformed reading into a department of literature and influenced a vast canon of subsequent writers and lexicographers. Chapter 1, 'Adventurous,' establishes the Dictionary as a cultural monument that mirrored eighteenth-century society while detailing the physical and psychological ordeal of its heroic, decade-long compilation. Chapter 2, 'Amulet,' explores the formative influence of childhood illness and poverty in Lichfield, arguing that early suffering instilled the resilience necessary for later intellectual projects. Chapter 3, 'Apple,' analyzes how unstructured reading in his father’s bookshop fostered an independent scholarly mind and a lifelong aversion to curated children's …
date: 2005
language: en
short title: Dr Johnson's Dictionary
subject: PE1617.J7 H58 2005b
identifier: ISBN 978-0-7195-6631-8
num pages: 278

Published in the US as Defining the world: The extraordinary story of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005).
type: Memo

item_174467
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Nicholas Bagnall, Literary Review (April 2005); Katherine Bailey, British Heritage (November 2005): 48; Christopher Bantick, Hobart Mercury, July 9, 2005; Lisa Berglund, Dictionaries 27 (2006): 184–85; Michael J. Bonafield, Star Tribune: Newspaper of the Twin Cities, January 2, 2006; Sarah Burton, The Spectator 297, no. 9218 (2005): 37; John Carey, Sunday Times (London), March 27, 2005; Kate Chisholm, Irish Independent, April 16, 2005; Kate Chisholm and Henry Hitchings, Sunday Telegraph (London), April 3, 2005; Tim Cribb, South China Morning Post, April 17, 2005; Jodie Davis, The Herald Sun (Melbourne), July 9, 2005; Quentin De la Bédoyère, Catholic Herald, June 3, 2005; Kitty Chen Dean, Library Journal, September 15, 2005, 66; Daniel Dyer and Henry Hitchings, Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 16, 2005; Peter Elson, Daily Post (Liverpool), June 6, 2005; Brian Fallon, Irish Times, May 7, 2005; Barbara Fisher, Boston Globe, October 2, 2005; Maree Gallagher, Southland Times, July 2, 2005; Rosemary Goring, The Herald (Glasgow), April 2, 2005; William Grimes, New York Times, November 12, 2005; Paul Groves and Henry Hitchings, Birmingham Post, April 9, 2005; Christopher Hawtree, The Independent on Sunday, April 17, 2005; Henry Hitchings, TLS, no. 5313 (January 2005): 36; Tom Howard, Time Out, June 1, 2005; Christopher Howse, Daily Telegraph (London), April 9, 2005; Alan Jacobs, Christianity Today (January 2006); Richard Jenkyns, Prospect, April 21, 2005; Freya Johnston, AJ 17 (2006): 417–18; Peter Kanter, JNL 57, no. 1 (2006): 57–60; Catherine Keenan, Sydney Morning Herald, January 7, 2006; Thomas Keymer, TLS, no. 5324 (April 2005): 10; Kirkus Reviews (August 15, 2005); Martin H. Levinson, ETC: A Review of General Semantics 64, no. 2 (2007): 177; Jeremy Lewis, The Mail on Sunday, April 3, 2005; Peter Lewis, Daily Mail (London), April 29, 2005; Roger Lewis, The Express (London), April 1, 2005; Jack Lynch, Washington Examiner, October 17, 2005; Philip Marchand, Toron…

item 6920
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Privately printed for the Samuel Johnson Society of Southern California
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Los Angeles
authors: Person
  surname: Smith
  given name: Adam
editors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
is referenced by: Includes a facsimile of Smith’s review in The Edinburgh Review
subject: 18th
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Reference
title: Adam Smith Reviews Samuel Johnson's 'A Dictionary of the English Language' (1755): The Fifty-Ninth Annual Dinner of the Johnsonians; The Twenty-Second Annual Dinner of the Samuel Johnson Society of Southern California
date: 2005
language: en

Includes a facsimile of Smith’s review in The Edinburgh Review
type: Memo

Samuel Collings' Designs for Rowlandson's Picturesque Beauties of Boswell: In Celebration of Dr. Johnson's Two Hundred and Sixty-Sixth Birthday
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Published for the Johnsonians
authors: Person
  surname: Riely
  given name: John C.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 626. A work that identifies and reproduces for the first time four drawings by Samuel Collings that were used for Thomas Rowlandson's series of caricatures of Boswell.
subject: 18th
subject: Boswell
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
date: 1975
language: en

Cochrane entry 626. A work that identifies and reproduces for the first time four drawings by Samuel Collings that were used for Thomas Rowlandson's series of caricatures of Boswell.
type: Memo

Malone Contra Hawkins: A Keepsake to Mark the 292nd Birthday of Samuel Johnson & the 55th Annual Dinner of the Johnsonians
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Privately printed by the James Marshall & Marie-Louise Osborn Collection, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New Haven
authors: Person
  surname: Suarez
  given name: Michael F., S.J.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Criticism
date: 2001
language: en

Whisky, Kilts, and the Loch Ness Monster: Traveling Through Scotland with Boswell and Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of South Carolina Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Columbia
authors: Person
  surname: Starr
  given name: William W.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Travel
subject: History
subject: Scotland
subject: Politics
subject: Boswell
subject: Jacobitism
subject: Abstract
abstract: Starr chronicles a seventy-two-day journey through Scotland undertaken in 2007 to retrace the 1773 Highland tour of Johnson and Boswell. By reversing the original itinerary and adding excursions to the Outer Hebrides and Orkney Islands, Starr contrasts contemporary Scottish culture and geography with the eighteenth-century accounts found in Johnson's Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland and Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. The monograph interweaves personal travel narrative with historical analysis of the Jacobite Rising, the Highland Clearances, and the Ossian controversy. Starr disputes the notion that the travelers are forgotten by demonstrating their enduring influence on Scottish tourism and literary history, while acknowledging that many modern Scots maintain only a vague memory of the pair. Salient quotations from the original texts illuminate the "noble chorus of the rough music of nature" that characterized the expedition. Starr emphasizes the complexity of Boswell’s character and Johnson’s intellectual vigor, framing their "epic adventure" as a foundational event that "helped awaken and change public attitudes" toward the Scottish nation.
date: 2011
language: en
short title: Whisky, Kilts, and the Loch Ness Monster
subject: DA867.5 .S73 2011
identifier: ISBN 978-1-57003-948-5
num pages: 223

The Keepsakes of the Johnsonian Societies of America: A Bibliography
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: The Johnsonians & The Samuel Johnson Society of the West
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York?
authors: Person
  surname: Clarke
  given name: Stephen
contributors: Person
  surname: Baker
  given name: Leslie K.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Criticism
date: 2012
language: en
short title: The Keepsakes of the Johnsonian Societies of America
subject: EC75.J6371.S2012c

The Johnsoniana in Boswelliana
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: The Johnsonians in association with Houghton Library, Harvard University
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge, Mass.
authors: Person
  surname: Caudle
  given name: James J.
contributors: Person
  surname: Todd
  given name: Duncan G.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Criticism
subject: Boswell
date: 2009
language: en

Deception and Detection in Eighteenth-Century Britain
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Ashgate
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Aldershot
authors: Person
  surname: Lynch
  given name: Jack
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Crime
subject: Criticism
subject: Deception
subject: History
subject: Philosophy
abstract: Lynch chronicles the eighteenth-century British obsession with authenticity through a series of cultural shifts in epistemology, law, and historicist criticism. Focusing on the rhetoric of disproof, Lynch explores how readers weighed evidence during high-profile controversies involving figures like James Macpherson and Thomas Chatterton. Johnson appears as a central figure who maintained a "rigidly attentive" devotion to truth, serving as a skeptical inquirer into the Rowley poems and a vocal debunker of the Ossianic epics. Lynch highlights Johnson's insistence on "scrupulous veracity" in conversation and his role in assisting William Dodd and George Psalmanazar. Boswell provides essential testimony regarding Johnson's intellectual character, noting his habit of using the word lie to describe any factual error, regardless of intent. Additionally, Piozzi identifies Johnson's "ruling passion" as the "love of truth" while recounting his involvement in the William Lauder controversy. The monograph concludes that these encounters with inauthenticity forced Britons to articulate usually unspoken grounds for making sense of the world.
date: 2008
language: en
subject: DA485 .L96 2008
identifier: ISBN 978-0-7546-6528-1
num pages: xiii+218

Strange Bodies
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Faber & Faber
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Theroux
  given name: Marcel
subject: 21st
subject: Abstract
subject: Deception
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
subject: Science
abstract: Theroux's novel follows Nicholas Slopen, an eighteenth-century scholar and editor of a revised Oxford edition of the Letters of Samuel Johnson. After dying in a road accident, Slopen's consciousness returns within the body of a Russian man through a cryptoscientific procedure. The narrative details Slopen's involvement with a music executive and a private dealer who possess a cache of unknown, though physically suspect, Johnson manuscripts. These documents reveal a melancholic Johnson struggling with mental illness and include a heart-rending plea for succour addressed to Hester Thrale Piozzi. Slopen eventually encounters a man who believes himself to be Johnson, existing out of time and reciting verbatim extracts from James Boswell's biography. The text explores themes of identity, the continuity of being, and the "common task" of human existence while incorporating scholarly debates regarding Johnson's last years, his relationship with Thrale, and the destruction of his personal papers. Slopen's testimony, written during his incarceration in a secure psychiatric unit, serves as a meditation on the power of the Word and the enduring presence of Johnsonian thought.
date: 2013
language: en
subject: PR6070.H38 S77 2013
identifier: ISBN 978-0-571-29789-4
num pages: 376

Dr. Johnson's House During the War, 1939–1945
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Four Oaks Library
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Somerville, N.J.
authors: Person
  surname: Rowell
  given name: Phyllis
is referenced by: Limited edition in 1,000 copies.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Locations
date: 1987
language: en
num pages: 31

Limited edition in 1,000 copies.
type: Memo

Samuel Johnson in New Albion: A Descriptive Census of Rare and Useful Johnson Books and Manuscripts and Johnsoniana Now Located in California
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Impression Makers
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Tempe, Ariz.
authors: Person
  surname: Brack
  given name: O M, Jr.
authors: Person
  surname: Rothschild
  given name: Loren
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Manuscripts
subject: Bibliography
date: 1997
language: en
num pages: 98

Samuel Johnson's London Lodgings
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Dr Johnson's House
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Clarke
  given name: Stephen
contributors: Person
  surname: Garner
  given name: Bryan A.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: History
subject: Locations
date: 2022
language: en
num pages: 31

Samuel Johnson's Insults: A Compendium of Snubs, Sneers, Slights, and Effronteries from the Eighteenth-Century Master
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Walker
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
editors: Person
  surname: Lynch
  given name: Jack
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Conversation
subject: Humor
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Politics
abstract: Lynch compiles and annotates Johnson’s lexicographical definitions of various terms of reproach, documenting the intersection of eighteenth-century philology and social critique. The text highlights Johnson’s aggressive stance against dullness, cant, and political factionalism, particularly targeting Whigs and Scots. Lynch incorporates anecdotal evidence from Boswell and Piozzi to illustrate Johnson’s practical application of these insults in conversation. The work emphasizes Johnson’s commitment to linguistic precision and his habitual use of invective to enforce intellectual and moral standards among his contemporaries. The critical reception is overwhelmingly positive. Jackson, in the Sunday Mercury, celebrates the slender collection of verbal barbs for showcasing a master of the rancid riposte who transformed dull lexicography into a vehicle for waspish wit and personal prejudice. In JNL, an unsigned review praises the book as a great stocking stuffer with perfectly sound editorial work, noting its utility in equipping readers with vocabulary to avoid being left speechless. Kyff's notice in the Hartford Courant presents the compilation as a humorous selection of contemptuous terms that target both personal follies and the writing profession itself. Ott, writing in Booklist, applauds the compendium of snubs and sneers, suggesting that contemporary politicians should emulate this sophisticated eighteenth-century vocabulary to replace simplistic modern abuse. Similarly, Pakenham, in the Sun, identifies the subject as the grand master of invective and a towering genius whose specialized vocabulary remains relevant for contemporary political and social slights. Finally, an unsigned review in the Western Daily Press characterizes the subject as a famous curmudgeon who used lexicography to immortalize personal contempt, contextualizing the brutal hatchet jobs within a vicious eighteenth-century literary environment that functions as a clear precursor to modern comedic …
date: 2004
language: en
short title: Samuel Johnson's Insults
subject: PR3522 .L94 2004
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8027-1428-2
num pages: 113

The Oxford Handbook of Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
editors: Person
  surname: Lynch
  given name: Jack
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Family
subject: Abstract
abstract: This comprehensive collection of thirty-six scholarly essays provides a multi-perspectival examination of the life and works of Johnson, Boswell, and Piozzi. Lynch organizes the volume into sections covering Johnson's career, his primary genres, and major thematic topics. Contributors analyze Johnson's biography and his contributions to lexicography, periodical essays, and Shakespearean criticism. The collection seeks to integrate the "disjecta membra" of Johnson's fragmented popular image into a coherent scholarly whole, emphasizing his "dialogic intelligence" and "opposition to slavery."
date: 2022
language: en
identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-879466-0

Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D., 1773: Now Published from the Original Manuscript
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Viking; Heinemann
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York; London
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
editors: Person
  surname: Bennett
  given name: Charles H.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:13. An edition of the original manuscript.
is referenced by: item_174521
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: History
subject: Johnson
subject: Journals
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: This volume, publishing the text "now first published from the original manuscript," was a crucial revelation, proving that the original journal differed materially from the printed text. It exposed Boswell's intimate, unpolished "frankness" and greater indiscretion before Malone's "decorous and even timid" revisions, fundamentally changing scholarly perceptions of Boswell's art and integrity. Reviews are overwhelmingly positive, with critics praising the meticulous restoration of the raw, unedited manuscript text from its historical discovery and the subsequent expansion of biographical details. Chapman, in TLS, describes the newly recovered material as crucial for specialists interested in the author's unpolished observations, though less significant for readers focused solely on his companion's reputation. In NYTBR, Jack enthusiastically welcomes the added candor of the original notebooks, highlighting the verbal realism regarding daily habits that previous editing had softened. Van Doren's review in the New York Herald Tribune commends the superb editorial recovery, noting that the reinstated text successfully shifts the critical focus to the author's independent genius and self-revelation. Writing in the Manchester Guardian, Charlton values the unexpurgated text for capturing an unthinkingly intimate portrait, while also celebrating parallel archival discoveries that promise to expand real historical knowledge. In the Virginia Quarterly Review, Shepperson lauds the vivid reporting and robust language restored to the narrative, arguing that these elements outline an inspired observer rather than a buffoon. Conversely, Bailey, in Modern Language Notes, delivers a more mixed assessment, approving of the meticulous text construction but finding the editorial choices less successful and arguing that the commentary occasionally fails to do the author full justice. Dobrée, writing in The Spectator, welcomes the more accessible format of the unedited record, observing …
date: 1936
language: en
subject: DA880.H4 B68 1936
num pages: 435

CGV entry 4:13. An edition of the original manuscript.
type: Memo

item_174521
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Aberdeen Press and Journal, November 23, 1936; Margery Bailey, Modern Language Notes 53, no. 5 (1938): 387–89; Frederick Barrett, London Mercury 35, no. 207 (1937): 326–28; Edmund Blunden, Fortnightly Review 147 (1937): 111–12; John Hodgdon Bradley, Atlantic Monthly (1936); Ford K. Brown, Washington Post, November 15, 1936; Fanny Butcher, Chicago Daily Tribune, November 7, 1936; K. W. Cameron, Living Church 96, no. 3 (1937): 77–78; R. W. Chapman, TLS, no. 1814 (1936): 903; H. B. Charlton, Manchester Guardian, December 22, 1936; Bonamy Dobrée, The Spectator 158, no. 5662 (1937): 22; David Garnett, New Statesman and Nation, November 28, 1936; H. Hansen, Harper’s Magazine 174 (1936); Peter Monro Jack, NYTBR, November 8, 1936; K. G. Jackson, Scribner’s Magazine (1937); M. Josephson, New Republic 89, no. 1146 (1936); M. Josephson, The Nation, October 31, 1936; Hugh Kingsmill, The Listener 16, no. 412 (1936): iii; Joseph Wood Krutch, The Nation, November 7, 1936; W. T. Laprade, South Atlantic Quarterly 36 (1937): 489; Literary Digest 122 (1936): 29–30; Desmond MacCarthy, Sunday Times (London), November 15, 1936; G. S. Moncrieff, Criticism 16 (1937): 553–55; Lucian P. Nairne, LA Times, November 8, 1936; Nairnshire Telegraph and General Advertiser for the Northern Counties, December 15, 1936; New Criterion (1937); New York Times Book Review, July 19, 1936; Newsweek, November 7, 1936; Charles Grosvenor Osgood, Saturday Review of Literature (U.S.), November 7, 1936; Francis Pollock, The Gazette (Montreal), November 14, 1936; Clarissa Rinaker, JEGP 36, no. 4 (1936): 576–77; Scottish Geographical Magazine 53, no. 4 (1937): 273–96; Archibald B. Shepperson, Virginia Quarterly Review 13, no. 1 (1937): 143–46; G. N. Shuster, Commonweal 20 (1936): 109; The Scotsman (Edinburgh), November 23, 1936; Marjorie Uhry, Atlanta Constitution, November 22, 1936; Carl Van Doren, New York Herald Tribune, November 8, 1936; E. V. W., Catholic World 145, no. 865 (1937): 116–17; Henry Watts…

Form and Purpose in Boswell's Biographical Works
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of California Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Berkeley
authors: Person
  surname: Siebenschuh
  given name: William R.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:226.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 621.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
abstract: Siebenschuh challenges the critical tradition viewing Boswell's biographical development as a simple, linear progression from the Account of Corsica through the Tour to the Hebrides to the Life of Johnson. Instead, Siebenschuh argues each work represents a separate and formally distinct literary achievement with unique organizational principles. The Account of Corsica functions primarily as propaganda to persuade the British public of Corsican independence, resulting in a Plutarchian and idealized portrait of Paoli. In the Tour, Boswell juxtaposes a static and essentially stereotypic image of Johnson with incongruous Scottish environments to create comic effects and contrasts. But the Life employs selective and interpretive dramatization to build a complex and heroic image of Johnson's character. Siebenschuh maintains that Boswell consistently exercises significant organizational powers and interpretive artistry, transforming factual materials into powerful and universally intelligible literary creations. The introduction addresses the systematic and comparative study of the methods used to dramatize factual materials across three major biographical works, arguing that stylistic differences provide evidence of significant artistic growth. Chapter 1, 'The Account of Corsica,' addresses the pervasive influence of propaganda on the portrayal of Pasquale Paoli, illustrating how historical records were selectively altered and idealized to persuade British readers to support the Corsican cause. Chapter 2, 'The Tour to the Hebrides,' argues that this work focuses on juxtaposing a static, stereotypic image of its subject with incongruous Scottish environments to produce comic effects and "contrasts" for the reader's pleasure. Chapter 3, 'The Life of Johnson,' addresses the shift toward interpretive biography, where primary materials are developed to build a complex, heroic image that emphasizes intellectual and moral strength over mere public caricature. The conclusion addr…
date: 1972
language: en
subject: PR3325 .S5
identifier: ISBN 978-0-520-02246-1
num pages: 82

CGV entry 4:226.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 621.
type: Memo

Dr. Johnson's Dictionary: An Anthology
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Penguin
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: Crystal
  given name: David
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Reference
abstract: Crystal assembles approximately 4,000 entries from the first and fourth editions of Johnson's Dictionary to illustrate the compiler's linguistic range, 'authorial fingerprints', and encyclopedic interests. The anthology includes essential front matter: Johnson's 1747 Plan, the 1755 Preface, a 'potted biography' of Johnson, and James Boswell's account of the project. Crystal explains his selection criteria, focusing on entries that showcase Johnson's 'capricious and humourous indulgence', such as the famous definitions for oats and lexicographer, while omitting 'mammoth' entries like 'take' to maintain readability. The text highlights Johnson's role as an observer of regional dialects (noting Staffordshire and Scottish influences) and his eventual realization that a language cannot be 'fixed' but must be described in its 'mutability'. Crystal retains Johnson's original spelling and punctuation, expanding only author abbreviations for clarity. He documents the dictionary's transition from the 'drudgery' of its seven-year composition to its status as a 'standard reference' for over a century. The anthology also tracks 18th-century usage changes, pronunciation guides using Bailey's stress marks, and Johnson's descriptive yet prescriptive tension regarding foreign 'loan words' and 'low' terms. Notes at the end of the volume detail specific changes made between the 1755 and 1773 editions for the selected entries.
date: 2005
language: en
short title: Dr Johnson's Dictionary
subject: YC.2007.a.2981
identifier: ISBN 978-0-7139-9887-0
num pages: 650

Boswell's Enlightenment
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge, Mass.
authors: Person
  surname: Zaretsky
  given name: Robert
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Philosophy
subject: Religion
abstract: Zaretsky chronicles Boswell's intellectual journey through Enlightenment Europe, focusing on his encounters with Samuel Johnson, David Hume, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Voltaire. The narrative follows Boswell as he strived to "tune" his public and private selves while seeking answers to existential questions regarding faith, liberty, and the afterlife. Zaretsky argues that Boswell's interactions with these thinkers were not merely social but were fundamental to his development as a biographer and moralist. The text details Boswell's travels to Utrecht, Germany, and Corsica, where his observations on national character and political resistance took shape. Zaretsky highlights the contrast between Johnson's "roiling faith" and the skepticism of Hume and Voltaire, documenting how Boswell navigated these conflicting worldviews. The biography presents Boswell as a man haunted by the "horror of death" yet deeply engaged in the pursuit of meaning through theatricality and social intercourse. Chapter 1, 'In the Kirk's Shadow,' examines the formative tension between Enlightenment sociability and the haunting Calvinist doctrines of original sin and eternal damnation that plagued his early years in Scotland. Chapter 2, 'At Home with Home,' analyzes the influence of Scottish jurists and moral philosophers, specifically the competing models of benevolent sentiment and rigorous duty found in contemporary social theory. Chapter 3, 'A Journal Is Born,' addresses the transformation of the traditional spiritual diary into a secular tool for intentional self-fashioning and the recording of social performance in London. Chapter 4, 'Enter Johnson,' explores the profound psychological and theological mentorship established with Samuel Johnson, who provided a defensive, empirical framework against the existential dread of annihilation. Chapter 5, 'Derelict in Utrecht,' addresses the failure of these defensive rationales during a severe depressive collapse and the subsequent imposition of a …
date: 2015
language: en
subject: B1302.E65 Z37 2015
identifier: ISBN 978-0-674-36823-1
num pages: 278

'To Drive the Night Along': A Manuscript of Samuel Johnson's Latin Translation of a Greek Epigram
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Samuel Johnson Society of the West
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Los Angeles
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: Byrne
  given name: John W
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Poetry
subject: Classics
subject: Manuscripts
date: 2009
language: en
short title: "To Drive the Night Along"

The Latin and Greek Poems of Samuel Johnson: Text, Translation, and Commentary
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Duckworth
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: Baldwin
  given name: Barry
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Classics
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Poetry
abstract: Baldwin collects all Johnson’s Latin and Greek poems, presenting 172 Latin pieces and five Greek ones. The book offers text, translation, and commentary, providing the first separate collection of the corpus. The work situates Johnson within the Neo-Latin tradition, helping readers appreciate his classical achievement. Baldwin includes extensive annotation on sources and metrics. Johnson’s Latin often reveals personal thoughts. Reviewers describe the book as a definitive and landmark edition that serves as an encyclopedic guide to the eighteenth-century literary landscape. Binns and Gray praise the volume for providing the first separate text of all 177 classical poems alongside thorough, learned discussions of context and composition. Martyn finds the accurate translations vital for revealing the subject's innermost thoughts and fears, while Rudd commends the learned discussions of authenticity and chronology. But Lelièvre and Rudd offer alternative linguistic interpretations, questioning specific renderings of Latin force. The general verdict on this study is that Baldwin offers a remarkable compilation of scholarship, despite Lelièvre’s critique of occasional gratuitous information.
date: 1995
language: en
short title: The Latin & Greek poems of Samuel Johnson
subject: PA8540.J63 A22 1995
identifier: ISBN 978-0-7156-2655-9
num pages: 299

Johnson's 1764 Visit to Percy
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Johnson after Two Hundred Years
publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Philadelphia
authors: Person
  surname: Davis
  given name: Bertram H.
editors: Person
  surname: Korshin
  given name: Paul J.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Davis reconstructs Samuel Johnson's extended visit (June 25–August 18, 1764) to Thomas Percy at the vicarage in Easton Maudit, Northamptonshire, accompanied by Anna Williams and Francis Barber. Drawing primarily on Percy’s sparse diary and letters, Davis corrects later apocryphal accounts involving Goldsmith and Garrick. He details the visit as both a working holiday—Johnson finalizing Shakespeare proofs, Percy working on the Reliques and Spectator—and a period of social interaction, including visits with local figures like Edward Lye and Ambrose Isted, and tours of estates like Castle Ashby. Davis highlights Johnson's contributions, notably the Reliques dedication, and suggests the visit's mutual importance despite cramped conditions.
date: 1986
language: en
pages: 25–41

Johnson and Evan Evans
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Modern Language Notes
  type: Journal
  volume: 45
  number: 1
  identifier: ISSN 0149-6611
authors: Person
  surname: Crane
  given name: R. S.
is referenced by: CGV entry 5:201.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
abstract: Crane presents a previously unpublished letter from Percy to the Welsh scholar Evan Evans, dated July 23, 1764, which conveys Johnson's views on Welsh antiquities. Johnson encourages Evans's efforts to "rescue from oblivion" ancient British manuscripts, expressing significant interest in the "vigor & capacity" shown in Evans's performance. However, Johnson "blames" Evans for crediting the "Pretensions of McPherson and his erse Poetry." The letter records Johnson's early and firm rejection of Macpherson's work, which he describes as "almost all an imposition" and "of no very artful kind." This brief article documents Johnson's scholarly engagement with Celtic studies through intermediaries like Percy and highlights his consistent skepticism toward the authenticity of the Ossian poems well before his own Scottish travels.
date: 1930-01
language: en
pages: 31–32

CGV entry 5:201.
type: Memo

The New Cambridge Companion to Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
editors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
subject: Paperback
abstract: Clingham edits a collection of newly commissioned chapters that re-evaluate Johnson's "ethical grasp of life" and "skeptical-humane style" for a twenty-first-century audience. The volume explores the roots of Johnson's thought in Renaissance humanism while simultaneously engaging with modern themes such as disability, gender, race, and the history of slavery. Contributors discuss the full breadth of his corpus, including the Dictionary, The Rambler, Rasselas, and his political tracts, alongside his travel and biographical writing. A significant focus is placed on the Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson and its impact on modern scholarly practice. The introduction highlights how Johnson's "literary practice" and "philosophical values" continue to challenge established readers, revealing a "surprising contemporaneity" in his thought. The volume also examines Johnson's representation in art and the archival history of his manuscripts. Scholarly features include a narrated "Further Reading" section that provides a comprehensive guide to historical and recent criticism, ranging from early prose style studies to contemporary medical and political contexts. This companion serves as an essential resource for students and scholars seeking to understand Johnson as a writer whose "life experience" remains deeply relevant to current cultural and ethical debates.
date: 2023
language: en
subject: PR3534 .C34 2023
identifier: ISBN 978-1-108-83282-3
num pages: 267

Boswell in Holland, 1763–1764: Including His Correspondence with Belle de Zuylen (Zélide)
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell
publisher: McGraw-Hill; Heinemann
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York & London
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Pottle
  given name: Frederick A.
contributors: Person
  surname: Charrière
  given name: Isabelle de
is referenced by: Also published by William Heinemann, London, 1952 and a limited edition in 1953.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:21.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Correspondence
subject: Journals
subject: Law
subject: Travel
abstract: The second volume in the trade (reading) edition series of The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell, intended for the general reading public and covering the author’s life in the Netherlands from 10 August 1763 to 18 June 1764. The content details his required legal studies at Utrecht (Civil Law, French, Greek, etc.), struggles with intense melancholy, and the beginning of his correspondence with Belle de Zuylen (Zelide), who later declined his marriage offer. The original primary journal manuscript (5 August 1763 to 24 May 1764) was lost during the author's lifetime, necessitating a reconstruction based on six categories of surviving documents: 1) 157 octavo leaves of Memoranda and Notes for Journal in Holland, covering 10 August 1763 to 17 June 1764; 2) 32 quarto pages of the Journal in Holland, covering 24 May to 18 June 1764 (written after leaving Utrecht); 3) 232 quarto pages of French Themes; 4) 20 quarto pages of Dutch Themes; 5) 34 quarto leaves of Ten-Lines-a-Day Verses (25 September 1763 to 16 April 1764); and 6) over fifty letters sent or received, plus over thirty later letters concerning Belle de Zuylen. The reconstruction provides a complete, continuous chronological account. The trade edition policy presents the material in modern spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and paragraphing, omits "banality and excessive repetition," and provides English translations of French and Italian passages. Supplemental materials include an Introduction by Frederick A. Pottle, five appendices (including Boswell’s Inviolable Plan), a map of Holland, a drawing of Utrecht's Cathedral Square, and popularly cast annotation. The manuscripts were previously known only through the Isham collection. Most reviews are positive. Reviewers praise the compilation of daily memoranda, themes, and correspondence into a coherent narrative despite the loss of the original journal. Clifford's enthusiastic review in NYTBR praises the editor's weaving of manuscripts into…
date: 1952
language: en
short title: Boswell in Holland, 1763-1764
subject: PR3325 .A89
num pages: 433

Also published by William Heinemann, London, 1952 and a limited edition in 1953.
type: Memo

CGV entry 4:21.
type: Memo

'I Stole His Likeness': An Unknown Drawing of Samuel Johnson and James Boswell
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Privately printed for the Samuel Johnson Society of the West
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Ojai
authors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Art
subject: History
subject: Boswell
date: 2022
language: en
short title: "I Stole His Likeness"

Dr. Johnson, His Club and Other Friends
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: National Portrait Gallery
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Uglow
  given name: Jenny
is referenced by: An illustrated volume in the NPG Character Sketches series, showing portraits (some in color) of Johnson and his circle.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Art
subject: Abstract
abstract: Uglow examines the intellectual and social networks centered on Johnson, primarily the Literary Club founded in 1764. The work chronicles how Johnson and his circle, including Reynolds, Burke, and Goldsmith, transformed British culture by asserting the value of bourgeois genius over aristocratic status. Using portraits from the National Portrait Gallery as a framework, Uglow profiles key figures such as Boswell, whose reporting provided a vivid record of Johnson's conversation, and Piozzi, who provided intimate domestic care. The narrative tracks Johnson's literary career from his early days at the Gentleman's Magazine to the completion of his Lives of the Poets. The Club served as a powerful informal network where inherited and new culture was systematized. Uglow emphasizes the diversity of the group, which included actors like Garrick, publishers like Cave, and female intellectuals like Carter and Burney. The book concludes by noting how the intense mockery and recording of Johnson's life after 1784 measures his enduring cultural importance.
date: 1998
language: en
subject: DA483.A1 U35 1998
identifier: ISBN 978-1-85514-232-9
num pages: 63

An illustrated volume in the NPG Character Sketches series, showing portraits (some in color) of Johnson and his circle.
type: Memo

London Journal, 1762–1763
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Penguin classics
publisher: Penguin
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Turnbull
  given name: Gordon
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Journals
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: This scholarly edition presents the author’s private record spanning November 1762 through August 1763, an early segment of his career-long journals, superseding the 1950 text. Recovered at Fettercairn House in 1930, the journal, initially conceived as epistolary installments to John Johnston of Grange, details the author’s London sojourn, including his 16 May meeting with Johnson, Anglo-Scottish tensions, Seven Years War political excitements, and literary celebrity culture. The revised textual approach adheres closely to the manuscript, preserving original spelling, inconsistencies, minimal paragraphing, and punctuation, contrasting with the prior modernized and regularized edition. Editorial insertions, such as supplied punctuation and expanded abbreviations, are clearly marked. New material constitutes over half the volume, including daily memoranda interspersed directly with the journal text, offering informational and psychological insights. The volume includes 58 pages of preliminaries, 212 pages of notes, and a 60-page index. The introductory material covers reception history, journal discovery, the author’s life, and the record's form and content. The 1,375 notes provide encyclopedic historical context on persons, places, laws, customs, political offices, religious practices, and literary controversies, ranging from the East India Company and John Wilkes to the Royal Society and the textual history of Hamlet. Appendices offer related source documents, including the "Scheme of living written at the White Lyon Inn," Lord Eglinton's card reply, and "A Minced Pye of Savoury Ingredients" (a journal-letter). The index includes Christian names and professions for mentioned individuals.
date: 2010
language: en
subject: PR3325 .A824 2010
identifier: ISBN 978-0-14-043650-1
num pages: lviii, 592 p.

The Selected Essays of Donald Greene
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Greene
  given name: Donald J.
editors: Person
  surname: Abbott
  given name: John L.
is referenced by: Thirteen previously published essays, ranging from 1952 to 1990, many on Johnsonian topics. Essays on Johnson are listed separately.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: History
subject: Abstract
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "Donald Greene suggested that the eighteenth century should be seen as "The Age of Exuberance." It was an era unmatched, he argued, for intellectual ferment and literary accomplishment of the highest order. In his numerous books and in an essay canon that has few scholarly parallels in the postwar period, Greene helped recenter not only the age as a whole but also its principal writer, Samuel Johnson. He did so with a consistent scholarly commitment: one must reexamine intellectual and literary documents always in reference to the milieu and the values of the world in which they were reproduced; one must take no critical judgment, however imposing its author's reputation, on faith. Not only did Greene help redefine "The Age of Exuberance" and Samuel Johnson as few scholars of the post-World War II era, he also demonstrated that his scholarly methodology could illuminate such literary figures as Jane Austen, a near chronological neighbor, and equally a more distant one Evelyn Waugh. The essays included here provide a sample of a far larger canon that might fairly be characterized as F. R. Leavis did of Johnson's critical commentary 'alive and life-giving.'"
date: 2004
language: en
subject: PR442 .G73 2004
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8387-5572-3
num pages: 355

Thirteen previously published essays, ranging from 1952 to 1990, many on Johnsonian topics. Essays on Johnson are listed separately.
type: Memo

Johnson, Writing, and Memory
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Law
subject: Philosophy
abstract: This study demonstrates the central importance of memory in Johnson’s work, arguing that his authorial authority arises from a structure of memory that governs his writing. Clingham identifies memory as the primary and fundamental power that serves as the purveyor of reason and places individuals in the class of moral agents. The text examines how Johnson’s biographical narrative engages the lives of specific writers to reflect on history, literary history, and time, particularly in the Lives of the Poets. Clingham explores the 'translational' quality of the Lives, analyzing how Johnson uses the linguistic embodiment of memory to transform personal and historical experience into something memorable. The argument situates Johnson within an engrammatological tradition involving Aristotle, Augustine, and Locke, while addressing his engagement with modern critical theory regarding terms such as 'nature' and 'authority.' Clingham concludes that Johnson’s writing constitutes les lieux de mémoire—spaces between memory and history—that allow for a sophisticated attitude toward historiography and the historical present. Chapter 1, "Johnson and memory," examines the active and self-reflexive role of the mnemonic faculty in Samuel Johnson’s thought, arguing that memory serves as the primary epistemological hinge between personal identity, moral agency, and the imaginative reconstruction of the past. Chapter 2, "Johnson and nature," explores the textually mediated character of "general nature" as a critical standard, contending that for Johnson, nature is not a static empirical reality but a product of creative engagement with literature that balances permanence against historical change. Chapter 3, "Law, narrative, and memory," establishes the foundational role of legal understanding in Johnson’s worldview, demonstrating how he uses legal rhetoric and evidentiary narrative to navigate the limits of human experience and construct a coherent social identity. Chapter 4, "Narrativ…
date: 2002
language: en
identifier: ISBN 978-0-521-02185-2
num pages: 222
identifier: DOI 10.1017/CBO9780511484148

Samuel Johnson and the Art of Sinking, 1709–1791
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Johnston
  given name: Freya
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Johnston disputes the standard caricature of Johnson as a "language-fixing" neoclassical tyrant who dismissed detail in favor of the universal. Instead, she argues that Johnson's works maintain a defining relationship to materials upbraided as "low," "mean," or "trifling." The study tracks Johnson's "principled variety of indecisiveness" across four chapters, examining how he weighed the competing claims of dignified classical precedent against common everyday life. Johnston analyzes Johnson's use of litotes—a rhetoric of diminution—to suspend scrupulous indecision about social and intellectual progress, particularly in 'A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland' and the 'Life of Savage.' She further interprets Johnson's 'Lives of the Poets' as corrective responses to Alexander Pope's 'The Dunciad,' highlighting Johnson's concern to elevate unaccomplished versifiers on ethical grounds. By examining Johnson's prefaces and dedications, Johnston identifies a vocabulary of "mock-humility" and "voluntary degradation" used to familiarize heroic grandeur. Johnston's central thesis is that Johnson’s style, while often seen as enclosed and polished, demonstrates a constant consciousness of the "infinity of the world" from which he selects. She concludes that Johnson's "art of sinking" is characterized by a "tender officiousness" toward the marginalized, best exemplified in his commemoration of the indigent physician Robert Levet. Chapter 1, 'Inclusion and Exclusion', examines the persistent tension in Samuel Johnson’s work between the neoclassical drive toward universal generalization and a scrupulous, often forensic attention to the "little" or "low" particulars of human existence. It argues that Johnson’s literary and biographical methods frequently subvert traditional hierarchies by dignifying domestic trifles and social marginalia, thereby mediating between the heroic scale of classical antiquity and the humble requirements of Christian ethics. Chapter 2, ' Voluntary …
date: 2005
language: en
subject: PR3534 .J67 2005
identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-925182-7
num pages: 265

The Passion for Happiness: Samuel Johnson and David Hume
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Cornell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Ithaca
authors: Person
  surname: Potkay
  given name: Adam
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: History
subject: Johnson
subject: Philosophy
subject: Religion
abstract: Potkay argues that Samuel Johnson and David Hume, far from being the irreconcilable antagonists of literary tradition, are actually key participants in a shared "Enlightenment discourse." Both men, despite their profound theological differences, are fundamentally united by their "passion for happiness" and their shared commitment to a practical, sentimental moral philosophy. Potkay challenges the stereotype of Johnson as a gloomy, otherworldly moralist and Hume as a detached, cheerful skeptic. Instead, he places them in a constructive dialogue, revealing their significant common ground: both are deeply skeptical of abstract metaphysical systems, both champion the importance of sympathy and social feeling, and both are focused on the empirical question of how human beings can best achieve virtue and quiet in this life. The book meticulously traces how their differing conclusions about "final things"—whether ultimate happiness is found "fully here or partly hereafter"—stem from this common starting point. Potkay argues that their "dialogism," their very disagreement, is the book's central subject. By examining their opposing views, Johnson and Hume collaboratively demonstrate that "no absolute determination ever can be formed" on these ultimate questions, thereby teaching the reader "moderation and forebearance" and leaving the final "choice" to the "critical reader." Chapter 1, "The Passion for Happiness," addresses the divergent eighteenth-century configurations of human flourishing, arguing that while both subjects shared a foundational skepticism toward Stoicism, they represent a fundamental dialectic between a secular, Stoic-Epicurean pursuit of tranquility and a religious, restless hope for eternal beatitude. Chapter 2, "The Proper Study of Mankind," explores the shared commitment to an empirical "science of man," contending that both figures used a proto-psychological analysis of the passions to dismantle the abstract claims of systematic philosophy. Chapter 3,…
date: 2000
language: en
short title: The Passion for Happiness
subject: BJ1481 .P56 2000
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8014-3727-4
num pages: 241

Samuel Johnson: Literature, Religion and English Cultural Politics from the Restoration to Romanticism
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Clark
  given name: J. C. D.
is referenced by: item_174502
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: History
subject: Jacobitism
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
subject: Religion
abstract: Clark challenges the prevailing orthodoxy, associated with Donald J. Greene, of Samuel Johnson as a commonsensical, apolitical embodiment of Englishness. The central thesis posits Johnson as an authentic Tory, deeply engaged in the religious and political conflicts of his time, and argues his works are rooted in High-Church principles and Jacobite leanings. Clark asserts that Johnson belongs to a "unified, late Latin European cultural heritage" and that his refusal to sign Oaths of Allegiance or Abjuration deprived him of a university degree and virtually all public positions. The book suggests that Johnson's entire oeuvre possessed a Tory and Jacobite agenda, interpreting passages in works like The Vanity of Human Wishes as Jacobite allusions (e.g., Charles XII as a reminder of Charles Edward Stuart). The chronological and thematic organization supports the argument that Johnson's worldview was shaped by marginal political and religious positions during the Hanoverian period. Chapter 1, "Politics, Literature and the Culture of Humanism," establishes the pervasive influence of the Anglo-Latin tradition and classical humanism on the English elite, arguing that this cultural framework provided the essential ideological and satirical vocabulary for Jacobite resistance against the Hanoverian regime. Chapter 2, "Johnson and the Anglo-Latin Tradition," examines the decline of this classical hegemony and the subsequent rise of an autonomous vernacular literature, a transition highlighted by the Lauder controversy and the eventual failure of the political cause to which late humanism was bound. Chapter 3, "The Political Culture of Oxford University, 1715–1768," delineates the university's role as a persistent bastion of Tory and Jacobite sentiment, focusing on the significance of state oaths and the symbolic resistance embodied in the installation of anti-regime chancellors. Chapter 4, "Johnson's Career and the Question of the Oaths, 1709–1758," investigates the restrictive…
date: 1994
language: en
subject: PR3537.P6 C53 1994
identifier: ISBN 978-0-521-47304-0
num pages: 270

item_174502
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Peter Ackroyd, The Times (London), October 27, 1994; O. M. Brack Jr., Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature 49, no. 2 (1995): 169–74; John Ashton Cannon, English Historical Review 112, no. 446 (1997): 491–93; Matthew M. Davis, Modern Age 39, no. 1 (1997): 73–76; Paul Dean, English Studies 77, no. 1 (1996): 81–85; M. Fitzpatrick, History Today 46, no. 5 (1996): 60; Robert Folkenflik, ECS 33, no. 2 (2000): 289–99; Mark Goldie, Political Studies 43, no. 4 (1995): 777; Eliga H. Gould, Journal of Modern History 69, no. 4 (1997): 828–29; Donald J. Greene, Huntington Library Quarterly 59, no. 1 (1996): 105–23; H. C. Kraus, Historische Zeitschrift 263, no. 1 (1996): 233–34; R. Barry Levis, Church History 66, no. 4 (1997): 845–46; Paul Monod, American Historical Review 102, no. 1 (1997): 103–4; David Nokes, TLS, no. 4782 (November 1994): 8; J. T. Scanlan, Religion & Literature 29, no. 1 (1997): 95–101; John Wiltshire, English Language Notes 34, no. 1 (1996): 98–104; David Womersley, Historical Journal 39, no. 2 (1996): 511–20; Nigel Wood, YWES 76, no. 1 (1996): 350–51.

The Age of Johnson: Essays Presented to Chauncey Brewster Tinker
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Yale University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New Haven
editors: Person
  surname: Hilles
  given name: Frederick W.
is referenced by: CGV entry 10/6:273. Reprinted in 1964.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
abstract: A seminal collection that did much to codify "The Age of Johnson" as a period designation, quoting the name of Tinker's highly regarded courses. Tinker's influence produced many subsequent collectors of Johnsoniana and fostered extensive interest in the mid-eighteenth century. The collection's plan mirrored the structure of Tinker's celebrated course, beginning with Johnson and the Club before expanding to include the major novelists, poets, and significant historical figures of the era. A defining argument of the work, emphasized in the introduction by Lewis, was the need to focus on the "Age" rather than strictly on Johnson. Tinker himself had previously argued against mistaking Johnson as the sole "symbol and exponent of his age." Of the thirty-six short essays included, only four explicitly featured Johnson's name in their titles. Balderston’s influential essay, "Johnson's Vile Melancholy," addresses evidence of masochism and depression inherent in Johnson's character. Other pieces consider Johnson's relationships with figures such as Rousseau, Chesterfield, and Boswell. Historically, the volume is recognized as marking the scholarly maturity of Johnson studies at mid-century, helping to establish a foundation for the subsequent third phase of Johnsonian scholarship in the 1950s that shifted attention toward Johnson's substantial achievements as a writer and editor.
date: 1949
language: en
short title: The Age of Johnson
subject: PR442 .T5 1978
identifier: ISBN 978-0-404-14770-9
num pages: 426

CGV entry 10/6:273. Reprinted in 1964.
type: Memo

Samuel Johnson and the Culture of Property
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Hart
  given name: Kevin
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Canon
subject: Criticism
subject: History
subject: Jacobitism
subject: Johnson
subject: Philosophy
subject: Politics
abstract: Hart traces the literary legacy and reputation of Johnson, analyzing how biographers and critics preserved his life to construct the "Age of Johnson." Hart argues that Boswell, by dedicating himself to Johnson's death, transformed his friend into a monumental piece of public property. Examining the emergence of a rich culture of property in eighteenth-century Britain, Hart analyzes how a Hanoverian politics of property engaged a Jacobite politics of land. Hart treats Boswell's writings as "economic acts" involving complex appropriations and expropriations of Johnson's idiom. He explores the consolidation of the English literary canon through subtle analyses of copyright, forgery, and heritage, placing Johnson at its heart. Hart concludes by meditating on the cluster of repetitive appropriations constituting everyday life that escape monumentalization. Chapter 1, "The Property of Samuel Johnson," addresses the ontological shift that occurred upon the subject's death, arguing that the transition from living author to biographical monument transformed his life and works into a form of public property. Chapter 2, "The Early Biographies," explores the immediate "scramble" for anecdotal and documentary remains, identifying how early accounts by figures like Sir John Hawkins and Hester Piozzi were shaped by competing claims of intellectual ownership and the desire to control the subject's posthumous reputation. Chapter 3, "James Boswell and the Monument," argues that the Life of Johnson represents a culmination of this commodification process, contending that Boswell used a rhetoric of meticulous preservation to establish a definitive, proprietary image of the subject that marginalized rival narratives. Chapter 4, "Johnson as a Critic of Property," identifies the subject’s own nuanced theories regarding literary property and copyright, arguing that his defense of authorial rights was balanced by a belief in the necessity of a public domain and the common heritage of letter…
date: 1999
language: en
subject: PR3537.E25 H37 1999
num pages: 244

Boswell: The Great Biographer, 1789–1795
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell
publisher: McGraw-Hill
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Danziger
  given name: Marlies K.
editors: Person
  surname: Brady
  given name: Frank
is referenced by: item_174509
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Death
subject: Journals
abstract: Covers the period from 1789 through 1795, documenting the author's final years and the production of the Life. The volume is intended for the general reading public and follows a chronological sequence of journal entries. Content focuses heavily on the composition, revision, and reception of the Life, which the author completed in rough draft in March 1791. The text also documents the author's declining health leading to his death in 1795. The editorial policy provides the text in modern spelling with appropriate annotation and relies on manuscript material previously available only in the privately printed Isham collection. Supplemental materials include extensive notes to clarify allusions and contextual background, and a complete index. The volume relies on unpublished scholarly research from the Boswell Office files. Reviews are generally favorable, with critics dividing over the subversive nature of the scholarly apparatus and the value of the subject's self-representation. In the LRB, Miller considers the work among the crown jewels of confessional literature, noting how the persistent writing elevates the depiction of despair. An unsigned review in The Economist emphasizes how the masterpiece stands as a crowning achievement despite personal dissipation. Backscheider, in JEGP, calls the volume a landmark achievement, noting the intelligently prepared text provides a thoroughly readable narrative. Writing in JNL, Middendorf celebrates the completion of the project and the mosaic of character revealed. Aden's review in Sewanee Review emphasizes the editorial excellence in fleshing out text gaps with letters and notes. In N&Q, Clayton finds that the text undermines caricatures by revealing humanitarian impulses. McGlynn, in Choice, enthusiastically celebrates the poignant volume for serving both general readers and scholars. Baruth, in Biography, praises the scholarly apparatus but argues that the knowing editorial notes subvert the subject's own artistic self-r…
date: 1989
language: en
subject: PR3325 .A814 1989
identifier: ISBN 978-0-07-015374-5
num pages: 371

item_174509
type: Memo
value: Reviews: John M. Aden, Sewanee Review 98, no. 4 (1990): xcvi, xcviii–xcix; Paula R. Backscheider, JEGP 90, no. 3 (1991): 435–37; Philip E. Baruth, Biography 13, no. 4 (1990): 343–47; Paul Clayton, N&Q 38 [236], no. 1 (1991): 115–18; Eighteenth-Century Scotland 4 (1990): 26; Norrie Epstein, The Sun, December 10, 1989; Donald J. Greene, Washington Post, August 27, 1989; Susan Manning, CQ 20, no. 3 (1991): 264–69; Paul D. McGlynn, Choice 27, no. 6 (1990): 3175; John H. Middendorf, JNL 49/50, nos. 3-4/1-2 (1989): 23; Karl Miller, LRB 12, no. 2 (1990): 7; David Nokes, The Spectator 264, no. 8430 (1990): 28; Peter Quennell, Sunday Times (London), January 28, 1990; The Economist, February 24, 1990; David Twiston Davies, Globe and Mail (Toronto), November 18, 1989.

The Correspondence of James Boswell with Certain Members of The Club, Including Oliver Goldsmith, Bishops Percy and Barnard, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Topham Beauclerk, and Bennet Langton
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell: Research Edition: Correspondence
publisher: McGraw-Hill
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York & London
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Fifer
  given name: C. N.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:21. Part of the research series of the Yale Editions.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Correspondence
abstract: Fifer assembles 268 letters documenting Boswell's interactions with prominent contemporaries including Reynolds, Langton, Beauclerk, Goldsmith, and Percy. The editorial policy prioritizes the 'Research Edition' format, providing expansive annotation that relates these primary documents to historical, legal, and genealogical scholarship. The text establishes Boswell's 'intensely clubbable' nature and his persistent use of Club members as sources for Johnsonian anecdotes and 'genuine emanations of his energy of mind'. Significant focus centers on Langton, who emerges through personal correspondence as a complex figure of 'quiet piety' and disorganized domesticity, and Barnard, who functions as Boswell's 'Father Confessor' and 'Spiritual Father' following Johnson's death. The correspondence reveals the 'central literary impulse' in Boswell, detailing his 'dogged persistence' in gathering first drafts for his magnum opus while simultaneously pursuing failed political ambitions. Salient editorial commentary highlights the 'extraordinary eminence' of the membership and the role of The Club as a 'cachet' that bolstered Boswell's ego.
date: 1976
language: en
subject: PR3325 .A83 1966 vol. 3
identifier: ISBN 978-0-07-020750-9
num pages: 466

CGV entry 4:21. Part of the research series of the Yale Editions.
type: Memo

Johnson the Philologist
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Intercultural Research Institute, Kansai University of Foreign Studies
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Hirakata, Osaka
authors: Person
  surname: Nagashima
  given name: Daisuke
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Reference
abstract: Nagashima’s collects five essays on Johnson’s philological output and documents Johnson’s lexicographical methods. Johnson derived brief Latin etymologies from Bailey. For Germanic word origins, he used Skinner and Junius, later criticizing Junius’s judgment regarding derivations like dream from drama and moan from monos. Nagashima details Johnson's practices with source texts, observing attention to word formation and his tendency to avoid hyphens. Nagashima includes analysis of Johnson’s History of the English Language and notes broad historical agreement between Johnson’s History and Warton’s Plan of the History of English Poetry. He charts how Johnson moved from etymological insecurity in the Plan to self-assured critical evaluation in the Preface.
date: 1988
language: en
identifier: ISBN 978-4-87335-007-3

The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Georgia Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Athens
authors: Person
  surname: Hawkins
  given name: John
editors: Person
  surname: Brack
  given name: O M, Jr.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Editing
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
abstract: Brack presents the first scholarly edition of Hawkins’s biography of Johnson. Using the 1787 second edition as copy-text—the final version Hawkins intended for the public—Brack preserves the original narrative while correcting only typographical errors. He resists 'coauthoring' the text, leaving Hawkins’s factual errors standing but correcting them in extensive annotations. The edition provides the first complete set of annotations for the entire biography, focusing on identifying historical, literary, and biographical allusions through sources like the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and Johnson’s own Dictionary. Brack traces the work’s composition from Hawkins’s appointment as executor in 1784 through its controversial reception and subsequent revisions. The introduction emphasizes the biography’s significance as a 'spiritual journey' and a 'distillation of personal experience' from a forty-five-year friendship, noting that Hawkins knew Johnson longer than Boswell and provides unique insights into his 'medical life,' reading habits, and 'social and professional milieux.' Brack argues that Hawkins’s account is essential for 'reconstructing Johnson,' as it captures a 'moral and spiritual' perspective often absent in other early biographies. Reviewers describe the book as a "masterful" and "definitive" edition that successfully rescues a "reliable" biographer from two centuries of infamy fueled by "internecine warfare." Most critics, including Lynch and Radner, celebrate the work for providing an "indispensable source" of intimate knowledge regarding the subject’s early London years and the Ivy Lane Club—details often overshadowed by the narrative dominance of more famous rivals. Deutsch and Walker specifically highlight the value of the biographer’s role as executor, noting that his "first-person" perspective offers a "clinical pathography" and unique insights into the subject's "medical life" and final "death-bed conflict." But the biographer’s own characte…
date: 2009
language: en
subject: PR3533 .H3 2009
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8203-2995-6
num pages: 554

Hodge's History of Cats: A History of Cats' Varying Fortunes Illustrated with Examples from Shakespeare to Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Printed by Tyburn Tree for Dr Johnson's House Trust
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cirencester
authors: Person
  surname: Tambling
  given name: Kirsten
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: History
subject: Shakespeare
subject: Abstract
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "Hodge the cat has developed a cult following to rival his owner, Samuel Johnson. His likeness stands outside Johnson's house in Gough Square and attracts visitors from all over the world. This book covers what we know for sure about the enigmatic Hodge, and then moves on to expertly assess what wlse we might surmise. In the process it tracks an anecdotal history of cats and catkeeping up to Johnson's day -- when our relationship with cats stood on the threshold of a profound change."
date: 2014
language: en
identifier: ISBN 978-0-9926224-1-1
num pages: 35

Curious Travellers: Dr. Johnson and Thomas Pennant on Tour: An Exhibition at Dr. Johnson's House, London, October 2018–January 2019
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Aberystwyth
authors: Person
  surname: Leask
  given name: Nigel
authors: Person
  surname: Constantine
  given name: Mary-Ann
authors: Person
  surname: Edwards
  given name: Elizabeth
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
subject: Abstract
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "This beautifully illustrated booklet accompanies an exhibition held at Dr. Johnson's House, London (October 2018–January 2019), exploring the eighteenth-century spirit of ‘curiosity' through the Scottish and Welsh tours of Thomas Pennant and Samuel Johnson. It stages a close encounter between two profoundly engaging writers, comparing their responses to the cultures, languages, landscapes and histories of these two Celtic nations. Other voices are present here too, including Johnson's travelling companion James Boswell, and Hester Thrale Piozzi, the mutual friend of both Johnson and Pennant. Contemporary illustrations by Moses Griffith bring the journeys vividly to life."
date: 2018
language: en
short title: Curious Travellers - Dr Johnson and Thomas Pennant on Tour
identifier: ISBN 978-1-907029-28-8
num pages: 40

An Account of Corsica, the Journal of a Tour to That Island, and Memoirs of Pascal Paoli
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Boulton
  given name: James T.
editors: Person
  surname: McLoughlin
  given name: T. O.
subject: 18th
subject: Travel
subject: Journals
subject: Boswell
subject: Locations
subject: Abstract
abstract: This critical edition provides the first complete English reprint since 1769 of Boswell’s breakthrough work, following the text of the third edition corrected by the first and second. Editorial policy focuses on presenting the two constitutive texts—the objective, researched historical survey and the subjective, personal travel journal—as an interrelated, integral whole unified by the theme of liberty. Boulton and McLoughlin supply extensive annotations identifying Boswell's diverse sources, which include classical authors like Diodorus Siculus and Seneca, modern French histories by Goury and Jaussin, and the unpublished journal of Andrew Burnaby. The editors detail the complicated gestation of the book, highlighting Boswell’s strategic use of the press to generate public interest and his meticulous revision process revealed in the Yale manuscripts. The volume includes a scholarly introduction analyzing Boswell’s idealization of Paoli and the Corsican people, a chronology of Boswell’s life, and an appendix on the work's reception. By restoring the "Account" alongside the "Journal," the edition clarifies Boswell’s polemical intent to champion Corsican national sovereignty before a British audience. Critics are generally favorable toward this complete critical edition, praising the restoration of the integrated text and its historical context. Lister’s review in TLS highlights how the unique combination of an objective account and a subjective journal established an early European reputation centered on liberty. Baines, in MLR, calls the volume exemplary and timely, praising the editors for disputing the traditional generic hierarchy even if the format occasionally appears cluttered. Lee's review in AJ welcomes the text as a necessary contribution that should renew interest in significant pre-Johnsonian achievements, though he points out minor editorial flaws like typographical errors and an inconsistent index. In JNL, Ruxin provides an extensive historical account, n…
date: 2006
language: en
subject: DC611.C811 B75 2006
identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-516583-8
num pages: 250

Who and Why Was Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Northern Ohio Bibliophilic Society
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Akron
authors: Person
  surname: Chesnutt
  given name: Charles Waddell
editors: Person
  surname: Tibbetts
  given name: Robert A.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
date: 1991
language: en
num pages: 19

Johnson's Prescriptive Labels — a Reassessment
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Dictionaries: Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America
authors: Person
  surname: Wild
  given name: Kate
link: Johnson's Prescriptive Labels — a Reassessment
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Reference
abstract: The question of whether or not Johnson was a prescriptivist has frequently been discussed, often with a focus on his practice of using prescriptive labels. For example, Allen (1978, 198) discovers that "in the entire dictionary there actually appear more than 1,150 words bearing indications of Johnson's personal attitude towards them, roughly one in forty [of the 41,443 headwords], or about two and one-half percent." Allen then gives the number of occurrences of labels such as proper, impmperand low which, he argues, indicateJohnson's "personal attitudes." Similarly, Barnbrook (2005, 109), after discussingJohnson's use of labels such as improper, ludicrous and low, concludes: There seems to be clear and incontrovertible evidence in the sheer volume and nature ofJohnson's usage notes that the prescriptivist approach promised in the Plan and detailed, though with reservations, in the Preface, informed the construction of the Dictionary to a significant extent. However, it is my contention thatJohnson's prescriptivism, as evidenced in his use of labels, is not as extensive as such comments suggest. This argument will be supported first by examining how many labels there are in proportion to the overall size of the dictionary and, second, by considering whatJohnson meant by them. 1 I am grateful to the AHRC for funding the research on which this article is based. Dictionaries:Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America 30 (2009), 108-118 Johnson's Prescriptive Labels — a Reassessment109 Number and Proportion of Prescriptive Labels Quantifications ofJohnson's prescriptive labels are usually based on a comparison between the number of usage labels and the number of headwords in the dictionary. As noted above, Allen used this method (based on a manual count) to arrive at a total of about 2.5%. Barnbrook (whose analysis is based on computational searches of the first and fourth editions) claims that "more than 10 percent of the headwords in both editions... contain u…
date: 2009
language: en
date submitted: 2023-03-15 21:55:48
pages: 108–118

Dictionaries: Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America
type: Journal
volume: 30
identifier: DOI 10.1353/dic.2009.0003
number: 1
alternative: Dictionaries
identifier: ISSN 2160-5076

Johnson's Prescriptive Labels — a Reassessment
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
subject: Johnson
date submitted: 2023-03-15 21:55:50
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Hester Lynch Piozzi (Mrs. Thrale)
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Clarendon Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Clifford
  given name: James L.
is referenced by: CGV entry 5:264. A revised edition with a revised bibliography.
is referenced by: Includes bibliographical references.
subject: 18th
subject: Piozzi
date: 1968
language: en
subject: PR3619.P5 C5 1987
identifier: ISBN 978-0-231-06389-0
edition: 2nd ed.
num pages: 495

CGV entry 5:264. A revised edition with a revised bibliography.
type: Memo

Includes bibliographical references.
type: Memo

Hester Thrale Piozzi: Portrait of a Literary Woman
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of North Carolina Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Chapel Hill
authors: Person
  surname: McCarthy
  given name: William
is referenced by: Bibliography: p. [287]-296.
is referenced by: CGV entry 5:471.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Gender
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Piozzi
abstract: This study challenges the traditional view of Piozzi as a mere accidental author or Johnsonian satellite, asserting her status as a deliberate and versatile literary professional. McCarthy examines her career through the lens of authorial competence and gender politics, arguing that Piozzi’s "fearless" and "incautious" temperament led her to compete directly in male-dominated genres such as philology, politics, and world history. The biography reinterprets her relationship with Johnson not as a parodic apprenticeship but as a complex intellectual rivalry. McCarthy posits that Piozzi used her writings—specifically "Anecdotes" and her edition of Johnson's letters—to innovate biographical methods and elevate the familiar letter to a literary status. Furthermore, the text analyzes her travel writing in "Observations and Reflections" as a successful revision of the "rhetoric of spleen" found in Smollett and Johnson. Despite contemporary critical dismissals based on male standards of "Learning and Correctness," McCarthy demonstrates Piozzi’s historical priority as a pioneering female historian and the "mother of English synonymy." The work concludes that Piozzi’s estimable achievement represents a significant, if flawed, insurgence into the eighteenth-century republic of letters. Chapter 1, "The Education of a Welsh Girl," traces the subject's early life and rigorous intellectual training, examining how her superior education prepared her for a literary career while simultaneously placing her in conflict with the conventional expectations of her gender. Chapter 2, "Marriage and Streatham," explores the complex dynamics of her life with Henry Thrale, detailing how the Streatham estate became a unique intellectual salon where she functioned as both a domestic manager and a vital participant in the period's most famous literary circle. Chapter 3, "The Thrale-Johnson Relationship," analyzes the deep emotional and intellectual bond with Samuel Johnson, arguing that her role as…
date: 1985
language: en
subject: PR3619.P5 M34 1985
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8078-1659-2
num pages: 306

Bibliography: p. [287]-296.
type: Memo

CGV entry 5:471.
type: Memo

Aspects of Samuel Johnson: Essays on His Arts, Mind, Afterlife, and Politics
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Delaware Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Newark
authors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Politics
subject: Jacobitism
subject: Abstract
abstract: Weinbrot examines the intellectual and moral development of Samuel Johnson by analyzing his major works, including the Dictionary, London, The Vanity of Human Wishes, and Rasselas. By comparing the 1747 Plan of the Dictionary with the 1755 Preface, Weinbrot identifies a shift from a "brash" and "other-directed" novice seeking noble patronage from Chesterfield to a "mature and weary" lexicographer who accepts human achievement's "infinite importance and infinite irrelevance." Weinbrot rejects ideological readings of Johnson's illustrative quotations, arguing instead that Johnson "does not form, but register the language" through "irenic generalizing" and broad Christian commonplaces. The collection further explores Johnson's "dramatically figurative prose," his use of "domestic metaphors" to bring abstractions into daily life, and his rejection of skepticism in favor of "celestial wisdom." Finally, Weinbrot situates Johnson's politics against the "neo-Jacobite" controversy, maintaining a "habitual distrust of the a priori" in assessing Johnson's relationship with the Hanoverian state. Critical reception of this collection characterizes it as a formidable exercise in "Archaeo-Historicism" that reinforces the subject's status as a "rigorous moral thinker." Lock and Lynch both emphasize the importance of the sixteen gathered essays, noting that their "erudition and insight" gain significant impact when read together, particularly those that were previously inaccessible. Reviewers frequently highlight the "combative" and "polemic" nature of the work, especially regarding the controversy over the subject's putative Jacobitism. Lock and Lynch both note the vigorous refutation of political allegories in poems like The Vanity of Human Wishes, while Hudson observes how the analysis invites readers to become "partners in creating the text." Lambert praises the "Chicago-school approach" for its historical grounding, yet Clingham offers a more tempered critique. He suggests that…
date: 2005
language: en
subject: PR3534 .W45 2005
identifier: ISBN 978-0-87413-874-0
num pages: 417

Facts and Inventions: Selections from the Journalism of James Boswell
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Yale University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New Haven
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Tankard
  given name: Paul
contributors: Person
  surname: Marr
  given name: Lisa
subject: 18th
subject: Journals
subject: Discarded
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: This edition gathers 133 identified items of Boswell’s extensive and often anonymous periodical output, providing a comprehensive view of his thirty-five-year career in the British press. Editorial policy emphasizes presenting Boswell’s journalism as primary text rather than mere historical context, using five thematic sections—Reports and Interviews, Execution Intelligence, The Rampager, The Lives of Johnson, and Essays and Letters—to create cohesive narratives from disparate news paragraphs, celebrity profiles, and letters. Tankard preserves eighteenth-century typographical practices and incorporates Boswell’s own manuscript corrections from archived press cuttings at Yale University. The collection highlights Boswell’s versatile skills in character sketching and anecdotal craftsmanship while documenting his public interactions with Johnson, Piozzi, and other contemporaries. In 'The Lives of Johnson' section, Tankard details the competitive biographical landscape following Johnson’s death, featuring Boswell’s strategic use of the press to defend his authority against rivals like Piozzi and Hawkins. Salient entries include Boswell’s reports on the 1769 Stratford Jubilee and his 'Rampager' political essays, where he often employed 'inventions' to maintain public focus on specific interests. The reception of this edition is characterized by widespread acclaim for its "monumental" effort in recovering a significant, often neglected body of work by a major author. Huch and DeMaria applaud the "decade-long project" for revealing the subject's "versatility, imagination," and "amoral jauntiness," particularly his skillful use of public media for "self-promotion." Radner and Schweizer commend the "judicious selection" of 133 pieces—including the first complete reprinting of the Rampager series—which makes accessible a diverse range of "reports, interviews, essays, letters, and ‘inventions’" previously largely unavailable. Sider Jost highlights the volume’s success in captu…
date: 2014
language: en
short title: Facts and Inventions
subject: PR3325 .A6 2014
identifier: ISBN 978-0-300-14126-9

A Dictionary of the English Language: In Which the Words Are Deduced from Their Originals, and Illustrated in Their Different Significations by Examples from the Best Writers
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: printed by W. Strahan, for W. Strahan, J. & F. Rivington, T. Davies, J. Hinton, L. Davis [and 20 others in London]
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
is referenced by: Bought 31 May 2023 on eBay from Guzzi1969 for $628.39.
is referenced by: Front board of vol. 1 detached.
is referenced by: The fourth edition, revised by the author. An 'Advertisement to the Fourth Edition' was added.
is referenced by: The titlepages in red and black
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Reference
subject: Religion
abstract: The first major revision, constituting Johnson's final version published in his lifetime. It is widely accepted as the best textual authority, incorporating over 15,000 changes, corrections, and additions accumulated by Johnson since 1755. A distinctive feature was the deliberate addition of illustrative quotations, particularly from High Church and sometimes Stuart-sympathizer writers, reinforcing Anglican orthodoxy and conservatism in both political and theological contexts. Illustrative quotations were often edited, clipped, or compressed. Despite minimizing the revisions in the accompanying Advertisement, Johnson received a £300 payment for this intensive labor.
date: 1773
language: en
short title: Dictionary
number of volumes: 2
edition: 4th ed., revised by the author

Bought 31 May 2023 on eBay from Guzzi1969 for $628.39.
type: Memo

Front board of vol. 1 detached.
type: Memo

The fourth edition, revised by the author. An 'Advertisement to the Fourth Edition' was added.
type: Memo

The titlepages in red and black
type: Memo

Paroxysm Lost: Volatility and Evanescence in the 'Life of Johnson' Manuscript
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Privately Printed by Stinehour Editions for the Johnsonians
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Providence
editors: Person
  surname: Bonnell
  given name: Thomas F.
subject: 18th
subject: Bibliography
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
subject: Manuscripts
subject: Paperback
date: 2023
language: en
short title: Paroxysm Lost

The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
  name: Printed for J. Buckland, J. Rivington & Sons, T. Payne & Sons, L. Davis, B. White and Son, T. Longman, B. Law, J. Dodsley, H. Baldwin, J. Robson, J. Johnson, C. Dilly, T. Vernor, W. Nicoll, G.G.J. and J. Robinson, T. Cadell, T. Carnan, J. Nichols, J. Bew, R. Baldwin, N. Conant, P. Elmsly, W. Goldsmith, J. Knox, R. Faulder, Leigh & Sotheby, G. Nicol, J. Murray, A. Strahan, W. Lowndes, T. Evans, W. Bent, S. Hayes, G. and T. Wilkie, T. & J. Egerton, W. Fox, P. Macqueen, D. Ogilvie, B. Collins, and E. Newbery
authors: Person
  surname: Hawkins
  given name: John
is referenced by: Bought 5 Nov. 2023 on eBay from AntiquarianBooks-UK for GBP 122.61.
is referenced by: item_56709
is referenced by: item_174529
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
subject: Law
subject: Medicine
abstract: Hawkins's Life is the first substantial, full-dress biography of Johnson, published as the introductory volume to an eleven-volume edition of Johnson’s collected Works. Hawkins was Johnson’s executor and oldest friend, having known him longer than Boswell, granting him access to private papers and unique personal material. The work contains exclusive anecdotes, notably details of the Ivy Lane Club and an account of the all-night party celebrating Lennox's first novel. Hawkins employs a strict chronological form and conceives of the work as a "life and times," which includes numerous "miscellaneous matter" or digressions concerning eighteenth-century customs, institutions, and professions like law, music, and medicine. Hawkins also incorporates Johnson’s original texts, such as the Latin poem Ad Urbanum and lengthy political excerpts, elements which critics frequently cite as retarding the biographical narrative. Hawkins's Life achieved initial sales success, prompting a second edition soon after publication. But the original 1787 reception of this biography was overwhelmingly hostile, with contemporary critics denouncing it as a "ponderous," "tedious," and "multifarious" composition that constitutes an "iniquitous cruelty" toward its subject. Reviewers severely censure the author for producing a "daubing" and derogatory portrait characterized by "rank malevolence" and "rancour," accusing him of acting as a "laborious drudge" who fills a "maze" of narrative with "errant trifling" and "Historical Annals of Grub-street." The work is frequently mocked for its "turgid eloquence" and a legalistic style likened to the "Statutes at Large," which critics argue serves only to highlight the author's own "self-importance" and "egotism." Particular condemnation is reserved for the biographer's "brutal" treatment of contemporaries like Fielding and Garrick, his "abject" political views, and his "remiss" understanding of moral philosophy. Furthermore, the inclusion of "misplaced m…
date: 1787
language: en
subject: PR3533 H38

Bought 5 Nov. 2023 on eBay from AntiquarianBooks-UK for GBP 122.61.
type: Memo

item_56709
type: Memo
value: CGV entry 3:27. This work is Volume 1 of 'The Works of Samuel Johnson', 1787. A second, corrected edition was also published in 1787. Extracts are reprinted in G. B. Hill's 'Johnsonian Miscellanies' (1897).

item_174529
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Critical Review 63 (June 1787): 417–24; English Review 9 (April 1787): 259–69; Gentleman’s Magazine 57, no. 5 (1787): 435; Arthur Murphy, Monthly Review 76 (April 1787): 273–92; Arthur Murphy, Monthly Review 76 (May 1787): 369–84; Arthur Murphy, Monthly Review 77 (July 1787): 56–70; Arthur Murphy, Monthly Review 77 (August 1787): 131–40; Richard Porson, Gentleman’s Magazine 57, no. 2 (1787): 652–53; Richard Porson, Gentleman’s Magazine 57, no. 3 (1787): 751–53; Richard Porson, Gentleman’s Magazine 57, no. 4 (1787): 847–52.

Boswell, George Steevens, and the Johnsonian Biography Wars
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 22
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Tankard
  given name: Paul
subject: Johnson
subject: Authorship
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Tankard identifies and attributes numerous anonymous items published in the St. James's Chronicle in January 1785 to the Shakespeare scholar George Steevens. These contributions—including anecdotes, commentary, poems attributed to Johnson, and an account of Robert Levet—were part of the "biography wars" following Johnson's death. Steevens used the newspaper to promote Boswell as Johnson's rightful biographer, armed with superior materials and the Literary Club's implicit endorsement, while simultaneously disparaging the rival claims and abilities of Sir John Hawkins, toward whom Steevens harbored significant animosity.
date: 2012
language: en
pages: 73–95

Pale Fire and Johnson's Cat: The Anecdote in Polite Conversation
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Criticism: A Quarterly for Literature and the Arts
authors: Person
  surname: Silver
  given name: Sean R.
link: EBSCO Full Text
subject: 20th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Conversation
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
abstract: Silver examines the microhistory of a specific anecdote involving Johnson and his cat, Hodge, tracing its migration from Boswell's biography to the epigraph of Nabokov's Pale Fire. Silver disputes traditional interpretations of the anecdote as mere ornament, arguing instead that it functions as a "seductive opening" that introduces the unpredictable "real" into structured academic discourse. This study uses Lacanian psychoanalysis to analyze how Johnson uses a story about a cat-shooting gentleman to anchor moral arguments, only to have the traumatic signifier "shot" disrupt the conversational flow. Silver chronicles how Boswell, Nabokov, and later critics repeat this anecdote to recuperate historical trauma into a "conversation without end." Silver concludes that polite conversation and academic inquiry use the anecdote to master contingency and ward off the "death of the conversation." The article identifies the "pathological public sphere" as a space where sociality and the wound remain inseparable, framing the Johnsonian style as a tool for managing such tensions.
date: 2011-03
language: en
date submitted: 2015-11-21 13:49:00
pages: 241–264

Criticism: A Quarterly for Literature and the Arts
type: Journal
volume: 53
identifier: DOI 10.1353/crt.2011.0009
number: 2
alternative: Criticism
identifier: ISSN 0011-1589

EBSCO Full Text
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2015-11-21 13:49:00
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

Johnson and Boswell: The Story of Their Lives
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Heinemann; Harper & Brothers
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London; New York
authors: Person
  surname: Pearson
  given name: Hesketh
is referenced by: CGV entry 3:204.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 24.
is referenced by: Reprinted by Cassell, 1987.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Death
subject: Johnson
abstract: Pearson provides a comprehensive dual biography of Johnson and Boswell, tracing their development from provincial origins to literary prominence. The narrative identifies four defining traits in Johnson's character: a passion for truth, an affectionate disposition, wit, and a love of power. Pearson details Johnson's early struggles with scrofula, poverty, and hypochondria, alongside his professional milestones including the 'Dictionary', 'The Rambler', and his edition of Shakespeare. The text explores Boswell's 'protean' nature and 'human chameleon' quality, attributing his success as a biographer to a lack of a 'prime characteristic' which permitted total immersion in his subjects. Pearson examines their famous meeting at Thomas Davies's bookshop and subsequent travels, including the 1773 tour of the Hebrides. Significant attention is directed to their social circles, featuring full accounts of Reynolds, Garrick, Goldsmith, and Burke. The role of Piozzi is described through her transition from Johnson's 'guardian angel' to the wife of Gabriel Piozzi, a shift that Pearson identifies as the 'death-knell' of Johnson's social comforts. Pearson emphasizes the 'filial' and 'paternal' nature of the central relationship, concluding with Boswell's production of the 'Life of Samuel Johnson' as an exercise in both 'sacred love of truth' and personal 'bad taste.' Chapter 1, 'The Depression of Poverty,' examines the foundational characteristics of Samuel Johnson’s temperament, tracing his intellectual precocity and lifelong battle with melancholia to the discordant domestic environment and physical infirmities of his childhood. Chapter 2, 'Self-Education,' delineates the unconventional path of Johnson's intellectual development, from his formative exposure to elegant society through his cousin Cornelius Ford to his desultory but profound period of study at home and his aborted tenure at Oxford. Chapter 3, 'Morbidity and Marriage,' addresses the acute onset of Johnson's mental d…
date: 1958
language: en
short title: Johnson and Boswell
subject: PR3533 .P34
num pages: 390

CGV entry 3:204.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 24.
type: Memo

Reprinted by Cassell, 1987.
type: Memo

Sale Catalogues of the Libraries of Samuel Johnson, Hester Lynch Thrale (Mrs. Piozzi) and James Boswell
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Oak Knoll Books
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New Castle
editors: Person
  surname: Eddy
  given name: Donald D.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Reference
subject: Boswell
subject: Piozzi
subject: Bibliography
subject: Abstract
abstract: Reproduces photographically the sale catalogue of Samuel Johnson's library from the facsimile edition of A. Edward Newton ... catalogues of Mrs. Piozzi's library produced in 1972 by Dr. Stephen Parks ... James Boswell's library is reproduced from a copy owned by Oak Knoll Books.
date: 1993
language: en
identifier: ISBN 978-0-938768-44-9
num pages: 320

The Correspondence of James Boswell with David Garrick, Edmund Burke, and Edmond Malone
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell: Research Edition: Correspondence
publisher: McGraw-Hill
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
contributors: Person
  surname: Garrick
  given name: David
contributors: Person
  surname: Burke
  given name: Edmund
contributors: Person
  surname: Malone
  given name: Edmond
editors: Person
  surname: Kahrl
  given name: George Morrow
editors: Person
  surname: Copeland
  given name: Thomas W.
editors: Person
  surname: Baker
  given name: Peter S.
editors: Person
  surname: McClellan
  given name: Rachel
editors: Person
  surname: Osborn
  given name: James M.
subject: Boswell
subject: Correspondence
subject: Abstract
abstract: A specialized "subject volume" for scholars, isolating correspondence with David Garrick, Edmund Burke, and Edmond Malone, crucial figures for understanding Boswell’s career and the production of his major works. The collection spans from a 1772 letter by Thomas Percy to one from Malone to James Boswell, Jr., in 1808. It comprises 391 letters or portions, including 160 letters written by Boswell and 231 addressed to him, plus 23 other papers. Notably, it contains the complete extant Boswell-Malone correspondence, illuminating the period of gathering information and composing the Life of Johnson, specifically 1786 to 1791. The editorial policy adheres strictly to the Yale Research Edition's style sheet, requiring scrupulous reproduction of original manuscripts, and the apparatus has since served as a standard for other Yale scholarly editions. Supplemental materials include a detailed introduction by P. S. Baker surveying the Boswell-Malone relationship, copious contextual notes on persons and events, and a general index. This volume follows prior correspondence volumes and focuses on Malone's extensive assistance with The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides and the urging/design of the Life of Johnson. Critics are generally favorable, praising the expert scholarship and meticulous annotation while exploring the distinct relational dynamics documented in the text. Rogers, in the TLS, finds this installment less commanding than previous ones, noting the correspondence with Garrick is scrappy and that Burke kept Boswell at arm's length due to political leaks; however, he emphasizes that the Malone letters dominate the volume, acting as a structural bridle against the imagination. Quennell's review in the Financial Times enthusiastically contrasts Boswell's talent for expanding his social circle with his later decline, highlighting Malone's essential role in improving the major biographies and defending his companion's character. In AJ, Kinsella celebrates the meticulousl…
date: 1987
language: en
subject: PR3325 .A83 1966
identifier: ISBN 978-0-07-003463-1
num pages: xxviii, 480

Samuel Johnson: Disclaiming a Patron
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Hardly Harmless Drudgery: A 500-Year Pictorial History of the Lexicographic Geniuses, Sciolists, Plagiarists, & Obsessives Who Defined the English Language
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-56792-807-5
publisher: Godine
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Boston
authors: Person
  surname: Garner
  given name: Bryan A.
authors: Person
  surname: Lynch
  given name: Jack
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Reference
abstract: Garner and Lynch describe the 'lexicographic quarrel' between Johnson and Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, following the latter's failure to provide substantial support during the Dictionary's nine-year compilation. The authors analyze Chesterfield's 1754 'courtly device'—two flattering essays in The World intended to secure a dedication—as a 'bizarre reversal' of roles. Johnson rejected Chesterfield’s 'honeyed words' and 'cock-boats,' responding with the 7 February 1755 letter. Garner and Lynch characterize this 'masterpiece of insolence' as a 'Magna Carta of the modern author,' marking the shift from noble patronage to market-based self-sufficiency. They note that Johnson’s final 'jab' appeared in the Dictionary itself, where he redefined 'patron' as a 'wretch who supports with insolence.'
date: 2024
language: en
subject: PE1611
pages: 99–102

Boswell's Books: Four Generations of Collecting and Collectors
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Oak Knoll Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New Castle
authors: Person
  surname: Seymour
  given name: Terry
subject: Boswell
subject: Bibliography
subject: Family
subject: Abstract
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "Since Boswell published The Life of Johnson in 1791, he has ranked among great authors. Seymour reconstructed the Boswell family library, containing over 4,500 titles belonging to five generations, including Boswell himself. Using forensic methods, Seymour documents the library's history and flow after Boswell's death. This extensive reconstruction uncovers book provenance, including connections with Johnson and Garrick, shedding new light on Boswell's life and methods."
date: 2016
language: en
short title: Boswell's books
subject: Z997.A2
identifier: ISBN 978-1-58456-344-0
num pages: 556

Thomas Percy: A Scholar-Cleric in the Age of Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Philadelphia
authors: Person
  surname: Davis
  given name: Bertram H.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
abstract: Davis provides a detailed account of the intellectual and personal relationship between Johnson and Percy. Their connection began in 1756 when Grainger introduced them in London. Johnson encouraged Percy's scholarly ambitions, specifically urging the publication of the folio manuscript of ancient ballads that eventually became the Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. During 1761, Johnson and Percy frequently met in London to discuss ballad selection and editorial policy, including decisions to include Scottish poems and imitation ballads. Percy also facilitated the first meeting between Johnson and Goldsmith on May 31, 1761, witnessing Johnson's unusual attention to neatness in dress as a pedagogical example for the slovenly Goldsmith. While Johnson offered critical notes and "council of war" advice for Percy's various projects, including his edition of Buckingham and translation of Ovid, he notably delayed a long-promised visit to Percy's vicarage at Easton Maudit for several years.
date: 1989
language: en
subject: PR29.P4 D39 1989
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8122-8161-3
num pages: 361

The Latin Poems
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: Rudd
  given name: Niall
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Classics
subject: Abstract
abstract: Rudd presents a complete edition of Johnson’s Latin corpus, organized into early poems, works from 1738–1749, later poems (1750–1784) including translations from the Greek Anthology, contributions to other authors, and poems of doubtful authenticity. The editorial policy prioritizes a "fairly literal translation" to assist readers with "residual Latin" and identifies "a surprising number" of textual errors in the 1964 Yale and 1974 Oxford editions. Rudd argues that the Latin medium allowed Johnson to "reveal things about himself that he would not have expressed in English," specifically regarding his "morbid melancholy," the labor of the Dictionary, and his personal devotions. Commentary identifies classical allusions, noting Horace as the most frequent source due to his "brilliant" versification and shared temperament regarding depression. The introduction highlights the biographical significance of specific verses, such as those addressed to Dr. Lawrence, the odes on Skye and Inchkenneth, and the "Prayer on Losing the Power of Speech." Included are a bibliography, indexes of first lines and titles, and a table of abbreviations referencing the editions of Smith and McAdam, the Yale series, and Baldwin.
date: 2005
language: en
subject: PA8540.J63 A24 2005
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8387-5612-6
num pages: 153

Samuel Johnson and His Disgrace to English Literature
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Windhover Press, University of Iowa
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Iowa City
authors: Person
  surname: Stockdale
  given name: Percival
editors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Bibliography
date: 1988
language: en
num pages: 8

The Book That Missed the Last Truck to Houghton: A Keepsake in Commemoration of the 315th Birthday of Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Privately Printed
authors: Person
  surname: Seymour
  given name: Terry
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
date: 2024
language: en

Boswell's First and Second Person: The Yale-BBC Scotland Production of Boswell's London Journal and Boswell for the Defense
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Life
  type: Journal
  volume: 16
  number: 2
  alternative: ECL
  identifier: ISSN 0098-2601
authors: Person
  surname: Parke
  given name: Catherine Neal
subject: 18th
subject: Boswell
subject: Journals
subject: Scotland
date: 1992-05
language: en
pages: 139–142

Boswell's 'Life of Johnson': New Questions, New Answers
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Georgia Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Athens
editors: Person
  surname: Vance
  given name: John A.
is referenced by: CGV entry 4:275. A collection of twelve essays, including a critical introduction by the editor on the state of 'Life' scholarship. Dedicated to Bertram H. Davis.
is referenced by: Cochrane entry 278. A collection of essays addressing key questions in Boswell studies. Contains items 208, 235, 245, 267, 269, 270, 273, 274, 275, 279, 280, and 281.
is referenced by: item_75146
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
abstract: Vance assembles a collection of twelve essays that reassess Boswell’s biographical methods and the resulting portrait of Johnson. The contributors engage in a 'literary warfare' between 'Johnsonians,' who scrutinize the text for biographical accuracy and find it deficient, and 'Boswellians,' who emphasize its status as a literary masterpiece. Rader and Dowling argue that the work functions as a self-contained 'objective correlative' or 'heroic tradition' where artistic selection creates a 'concrete universal' character superior to mere historical recording. But Greene and Schwartz attack the text as an 'inadequate record' and a 'gross distortion,' suggesting Boswell used 'hero-worship' as a mask for suppressed resentment to 'cut Johnson down to size.' Burke counters this 'subjective bias' by demonstrating that the narrative incorporates testimony from numerous members of the Johnson circle, while Siebenschuh examines how human memory and 'fictional techniques' influenced the 'second crop of memory' used to reconstruct Johnson’s famous conversations years after the fact. Critical reaction is mixed, with reviewers dividing over the collection's balance between historical accuracy and literary artistry, as well as its lack of a unified methodology. In ECCB, Bloom presents a composite review where Rader commends the volume's defense of literary craftsmanship, but Greene severely strips the biographer of historical value, while Damrosch and Bogel express skepticism regarding structural critiques and circuitous arguments. Alkon's review in SEL praises the pedagogical value and classroom accessibility of the text, while Korshin, also in SEL, applauds the thoughtful introduction but notes that some essays fail to add fresh information. Writing in N&Q, Clayton commends the volume as a coherent debate that successfully balances anti-Boswellian critiques with an appreciation for artistic design, highlighting central confrontations over the historical versus constructed subject…
date: 1985
language: en
short title: Boswell's Life of Johnson
subject: PR3533.B63 B67 1985
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8203-0765-7
num pages: xii, 273

CGV entry 4:275. A collection of twelve essays, including a critical introduction by the editor on the state of 'Life' scholarship. Dedicated to Bertram H. Davis.
type: Memo

Cochrane entry 278. A collection of essays addressing key questions in Boswell studies. Contains items 208, 235, 245, 267, 269, 270, 273, 274, 275, 279, 280, and 281.
type: Memo

item_75146
type: Memo
value: Reviews: Paul Alkon, SEL 29, no. 3 (1989): 579–620; Edward A. Bloom, ECCB, n.s., vol. 11 (1985): 508–10; Paul Clayton, N&Q 34 [232], no. 4 (1987): 548–49; Greg Clingham, English: The Journal of the English Association 36, no. 155 (1987): 168–78; Paul J. Korshin, SEL 26, no. 3 (1986): 562–63; Colby H. Kullman, South Central Review 4, no. 2 (1987): 104–6; Irène Simon, English Studies 68, no. 6 (1987): 563–65; Edward Tomarken, South Atlantic Quarterly 86, no. 2 (1987): 186–89.

James Boswell: Psychological Interpretations
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: St. Martin's Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
editors: Person
  surname: Newman
  given name: Donald J.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Psychology
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "James Boswell: Psychological Interpretations brings the insights of modern psychological and psychoanalytic theories to bear on the paradoxical tensions in Boswell's life and thus explicates a personality that seems to defy rational explanation. Drawing from an array of theoretical perspectives, the writers in this volume investigate Boswell's contradictions to reveal the hidden logic of psychic conflict and suggest ways in which these tensions manifested themselves in the biographer's work. As much attention is given to Boswell's less-celebrated works as to the London Journal and The Life of Johnson. Essays include the effect of Boswell's early reading of The Spectator on his desire to become a writer, the impact on his sense of identity of Rasselas, and the psychological dynamics of his relationships with the demanding Lord Auchinleck and the domineering Samuel Johnson."
date: 1995
language: en
subject: PR3325 .J36 1995
identifier: ISBN 978-0-312-12142-6
num pages: 222

Samuel Johnson and the Education of Women
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: 1650–1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era
authors: Person
  surname: Kennedy
  given name: Deborah
subject: Johnson
subject: Education
subject: Gender
subject: Abstract
abstract: Samuel Johnson's long-standing support of women's education is a component of his well-known interest in the writing, the accomplishments, and the conversation of women. Women gravitated to Johnson, and, as Norma Clarke has pointed out, "the image of Johnson holding forth among ‘the ladies' was so common and for different reasons had such currency that it has circulated as one of the many definitive images of Samuel Johnson. In its most sentimental version, Johnson is a grizzly bear and the ladies are tinkling visions of elegance." At the core of these social vignettes stands Johnson's respect for women's capabilities.
date: 2024
language: en
pages: 3–27

1650–1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era
type: Journal
volume: 29
alternative: 1650–1850
identifier: ISSN 1065-3112

Reading Samuel Johnson: Reception and Representation, 1750–1960
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Clemson University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Clemson
authors: Person
  surname: Jones
  given name: Philip
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Jones investigates the multifaceted reception of Samuel Johnson over two centuries, examining how he transitioned from a contemporary moral authority to a versatile cultural icon. The monograph identifies three primary modes of representation: the biographical "Great Cham" established by James Boswell and Hester Lynch Piozzi, the Romantic and Victorian "Hero as Man of Letters" popularized by Thomas Carlyle and Thomas Babington Macaulay, and the modernist subject of psychological and formalist critique. Jones argues that Johnson’s "representational plasticity" allowed him to be co-opted by diverse movements, including the anti-Jacobin reaction, the development of English Studies, and the modernist experiments of Virginia Woolf and T. S. Eliot. The work uses a broad range of evidence, including literary criticism, pedagogical texts, and fictional depictions, such as Beryl Bainbridge’s According to Queeney. By analyzing the tensions between Johnson’s original texts and his subsequent "afterlives," Jones demonstrates how the "Johnsonian" persona often overshadowed the author’s actual prose. The study concludes with the mid-twentieth-century professionalization of Johnsonian scholarship, which sought to ground his reputation in rigorous archival and editorial standards. Chapter 1, 'Johnson: Accounting for the Self,' addresses how the related practices of spiritual self-surveillance in personal diaries and the discourse of commerce in The Rambler function as methods for evaluating individual moral worth and imposing order on the elusiveness of time. It argues that while the diaries use numbers and plain prose to enact a self-audit against existential fears, The Rambler reframes identity as a form of property that must be prudently managed to achieve self-actualization through active mental performance. Chapter 2, 'Boswell’s "Life of Johnson": Theatre, Conversation, Voice,' examines the theatrical techniques employed to stage Johnson as a heroic lead character, prioritizin…
date: 2023
language: en
identifier: ISBN 978-1-63804-077-4 978-1-63804-078-1

Annotating the Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Notes on Footnotes: Annotating Eighteenth-Century Literature
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-271-09397-0 978-0-271-09398-7 978-0-271-09432-8
publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: University Park
authors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
editors: Person
  surname: New
  given name: Robert, Jr.
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Robert, Jr.
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: DeMaria traces the evolution of scholarly annotation within the twenty-three volumes of the Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson, completed in 2018. He analyzes the original 1951 proposal by Hazen, which prioritized a "sound" text over discursive commentary. The text examines the 1956 "Explanatory Annotation" resolution, which instructed editors to hold notes down to error correction and identifying "puzzling allusions." DeMaria notes that while Hazen favored a casual approach to commentary, successors like Middendorf and individual editors like Kolb modified these protocols. The text discusses bibliographical "Hillean excess" in volume 1 and the "lean" annotation of the Rambler volumes, which drew criticism from scholars like Rawson. DeMaria concludes that the edition remains a monument to "informed literate readers" while moving toward digital cross-referencing to replace a never-compiled general index.
date: 2023
language: en
pages: 160–170

'The Opulent Treasury of Sylvanus Urban': A Latin Epigram Attributed to Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Philological Quarterly
  type: Journal
  volume: 101
  number: 1-2
  alternative: PQ
  identifier: ISSN 0031-7977
authors: Person
  surname: Brown
  given name: Robert D.
subject: Abstract
subject: Authorship
subject: Classics
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
abstract: The title page to volume 6 of the Gentleman's Magazine (1736) is followed by two poems celebrating the magazine and its editor "Sylvanus Urban," the pseudonym of Edward Cave–one in English signed by "Bardus" and this Latin epigram signed by "Rusticus." Here, Brown examines whether the same man composed all the poems signed by Rusticus in 1735-36 or whether the pseudonym was used simultaneously by different authors.
date: 2022
language: en
pages: 95–109

Adelung's English–German Dictionary (1783, 1796): Its Achievements and Its Relationship to the Dictionaries of Samuel Johnson and Johannes Ebers
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: 1569-9781; 0302-5160
authors: Person
  surname: Mclelland
  given name: Nicola
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Reference
date: 2023
language: en
pages: 62–93

1569-9781; 0302-5160
type: Journal
volume: 50
title: Historiographia Linguistica: International Journal for the History of the Language Sciences/Revue Internationale pour l'Histoire des Sciences du Langage/Internationale Zeitschrift für die Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaften
identifier: DOI 10.1075/hl.00131.mcl
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 1569-9781; 0302-5160

Samuel Johnson, Gregory Sharpe, and the Authorship of Some Remarks on the Progress of Learning (1746)
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Review of English Studies
  type: Journal
  is part of: n.s.
  volume: 73
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/res/hgab080
  number: 310
  alternative: RES
  identifier: ISSN 0034-6551
authors: Person
  surname: Lock
  given name: F. P.
subject: Abstract
subject: Authorship
subject: Johnson
abstract: Samuel Johnson wrote far more than he acknowledged or than his contemporaries could identify. Modern scholars have proposed many additions to the canon. Among the most recent of these is Some Remarks on the Progress of Learning (1746), a pamphlet ostensibly written to promote a new edition of Mario di Calasio's concordance to the Hebrew Bible, then in preparation by William Romaine. The evidence adduced for Johnson's authorship is partly circumstantial (his connections with the book trade) and partly internal (phrases and features of style that sound Johnsonian). No external evidence connects Johnson with the pamphlet. This article questions the attribution, arguing that neither the circumstantial nor the internal evidence is convincing. Further, the substance of the pamphlet itself, its politics, its religion (especially its view of the Reformation), and most of all its enthusiastic promotion of the study of Hebrew, are quite un-Johnsonian, and indeed contradict his known views.
date: 2022
language: en
pages: 506–520

Samuel Johnson, The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Handbook of the British Novel in the Long Eighteenth Century
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-3-11-064976-5 978-3-11-065044-0
publisher: De Gruyter
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Berlin
authors: Person
  surname: Menely
  given name: Tobias
editors: Person
  surname: Berndt
  given name: Katrin
editors: Person
  surname: Johns
  given name: Alessa
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
subject: Abstract
abstract: Samuel Johnson's Rasselas (1759) is a story about self-deception and consolatory fictions, the human tendency to wish-away difficult realities. Though Rasselas adopts the form of a timeless moral fable, it can be read as a proto-novel in its staging of the transition from a closed feudal society to a dynamic cosmopolitan world, in its attention to historical and cultural variation, and in its skeptical refusal of inherited wisdom or generalizable precept. Though Johnson has a reputation as a conservative defender of the status quo, recent criticism has shown that Rasselas gives expression to Johnson's critical perspective on European empire, his sympathy with North African culture, and his progressive attitude toward gender.
date: 2022
language: en
pages: 279–293

Samuel Johnson's In Birchium
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 69 [267]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjac053
  number: 2
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Brown
  given name: Robert D.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: The Latin translation of Johnson's Greek epigram In Birchium is by Johnson, likely composed in tandem with a preceding letter he wrote to "Mr Urban." The Greek original praises Birch for writing the lives of heroes and sages, expressing the hope that another Birch will write his biography after his death. The Latin version is structurally and thematically tied to Johnson's letter condemning uncritical political hacks, as it significantly enhances the theme of truth by portraying "Veri Fautrix" (Protectress of Truth) scrutinizing Birch's work for its "rare fidelity" and originality. Although critics have cited the Latin translation's omission of the Greek pun on bios ("life story" and "biological life") and perceived stylistic awkwardness, the author contends that the thematic link, the poem's unusual placement as filler following Johnson's letter, and the presence of an encouraging imperative (perge modo) found in another of Johnson’s poems provide strong evidence for his authorship.
date: 2022
language: en
pages: 141–143

Samuel Johnson's Greek Epigram on the Duke of Marlborough
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 69 [267]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjac051
  number: 2
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Brown
  given name: Robert D.
subject: Abstract
subject: Classics
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
abstract: Brown provides the first comprehensive context for Johnson’s Greek translation of a Latin epigram on John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. By examining Boswellian manuscripts, Brown establishes a terminus ante quem of 1775, refuting earlier theories that Johnson composed the poem during a 1776 visit to Blenheim. The study identifies the Latin source as an inscription for a statue of Marlborough by Giovanni Baratta, originally commissioned for Blenheim but later housed at the Duke of Chandos’s estate, Cannons. Brown discusses the iconography of the lost statue, the attribution of the Latin text to Anton Maria Salvini, and the technical merits of Johnson’s Homeric-influenced Greek rendering.
date: 2022
language: en
pages: 137–141

Biographical Writings: Soldiers, Scholars, and Friends
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: The Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson
publisher: Yale University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New Haven
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: Brack
  given name: O M, Jr.
editors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: The early writings include lives of figures such as Sir Francis Drake, Admiral Blake, Francis Cheynel, Herman Boerhaave, John Philip Barretier, Alexander the Great, and Confucius. Many of these early lives were professional "booksellers' jobs" relying on a single source. The editorial policy presents texts adhering to modern editorial principles. Annotation is notably fuller than in earlier volumes of the edition, though commentary avoids interpretive remarks.
date: 2016
language: en
identifier: ISBN 978-0-300-21095-8

Three Latin Poems Doubtfully Attributed to Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Humanistica Lovaniensia: Journal of Neo-Latin and New Ancient Greek Studies
authors: Person
  surname: Brown
  given name: Robert D.
subject: Abstract
subject: Authorship
subject: Classics
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
abstract: The "Poems of Doubtful Authorship" in modern editions of Samuel Johnson's poetry include three Latin poems that were first associated with Johnson in 1856. This article reveals the weakness of this alleged "attribution" and discusses the arguments for and against Johnson's authorship of each poem in turn. While certainty is impossible, it concludes that he possibly wrote the translation Ex cantico Solomonis but that Venus in Armour and The Logical Warehouse are unlikely to be his.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 97–114

Humanistica Lovaniensia: Journal of Neo-Latin and New Ancient Greek Studies
type: Journal
volume: 70
identifier: DOI 10.30986/2021.97
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 2593-3019; 0774-2908

Samuel Johnson: Infrastructuralist
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Philological Quarterly
  type: Journal
  volume: 100
  number: 3-4
  alternative: PQ
  identifier: ISSN 0031-7977
authors: Person
  surname: Alff
  given name: David
is referenced by: Cites Life: 1:207
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: So goes Samuel Johnson's bracing appraisal of Richard Savage's 1737 poem, Of Public Spirit in Regard to Public Works. A patronage plea in heroic couplets, Public Spirit credits its dedicatee, the crown prince, Frederick of Hanover, with inspiring Britons to capitalize land, expedite commerce, patronize the arts, and uplift the immiserated. The basic unit of Frederick's magnanimity is the public work, an undertaking for society's benefit that ranges in Savage's stanzas from fen drainage and harbor dredging to the erection of hospitals, theaters, and colleges. Johnson grumbles that where "more eminent Writers" dedicated entire compositions to individual works, Savage attempts to tackle "public works" in its categorical entirety. This essay pieces together the "analytical object" that Johnson imagined. Its intertextual archeology connects Life of Savage to other writings in which Johnson dwells upon works. My investigation yields no transcendent rhetorical formation, protomodern theory of the built world, or rival verses to outshine Public Spirit.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 443–461

Cites Life: 1:207
type: Memo

Samuel Johnson and Good Hating
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies
authors: Person
  surname: Leonard-Roy
  given name: Thomas
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: This article proposes a definition of Johnson's popular term, the ‘good hater,' in order to explore his ideas about malicious conversation and criticism. Good hating was a conversational and critical ideal for Johnson, in contrast to ‘bad hating' — hatred motivated by malice or malignity – which threatened civil discourse. Johnson's own malice and ‘roughness' are a vexed question in biographies by James Boswell, John Hawkins and Hester Lynch Piozzi. In spite of the efforts of Boswell, who has largely influenced the popular image of Johnson, I argue that Johnson fails to meet his own standards of good hating.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 41–57

Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies
type: Journal
volume: 44
identifier: DOI 10.1111/1754-0208.12718
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 1754-0208; 1754-0194

Samuel Johnson and the Allen Family
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 24
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Davis
  given name: Matthew M.
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Davis presents newly discovered manuscript evidence from the Bodleian Library—a family history written by Mary Allen Brooke in 1865—demonstrating Johnson's acquaintance not only with his landlord, the printer Edmund Allen, but also with Edmund's cousins, the Reverend Charles Allen and the Reverend John Allen (Vice-Principal of Magdalen Hall, Oxford). Davis evaluates Brooke's claims, including anecdotes about Johnson visiting Charles, John assisting with the Dictionary, and Johnson meeting Charles's young son William. While finding inconsistencies, Davis substantiates the core claim of wider friendships within the Allen family, adding biographical details about these newly identified Johnsonian associates.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 32–62

Mimesis and Understanding in Samuel Johnson's Notes to Shakespeare (1765)
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 24
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Walsh
  given name: Marcus
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Shakespeare
subject: Abstract
abstract: Walsh argues that Johnson's annotations in his 1765 Shakespeare edition, often overshadowed by the preface, stem from a consistent theoretical position centered on Aristotelian concepts of mimesis and cognition. Johnson believed poetry should offer "just representations of general nature," evoking pleasure and instruction through the reader's recognition of universal human experiences. Walsh demonstrates how Johnson's notes, particularly his frequent use of paraphrase and generalizing language, consistently interpret Shakespeare's characters and sentiments not as historically specific but as universal types and truths, reflecting shared human passions, principles, and moral lessons accessible through readerly recollection and understanding.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 15–31

Addison, Samuel Johnson, and the Test of Time
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Joseph Addison: Tercentenary Essays
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-881403-0
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
editors: Person
  surname: Davis
  given name: Robert, Jr.
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: DeMaria analyzes Johnson’s lifelong engagement with Addison as a "gauge of the ups and downs of Addison’s afterlife" in the eighteenth century. The study traces Johnson’s transition from youthful admiration to the "balanced" criticism found in the Lives of the Poets. DeMaria highlights Johnson’s use of Addison as a "model of correctness" in the Dictionary, adducing approximately 4600 quotations to exemplify "correct usage" and moral advice. While Boswell and Piozzi are identified as "acolytes" of the "Addison cult," Johnson maintained a more skeptical professional distance, faulting Addison for "penury of thought" when matter was "low or scanty." The argument suggests Johnson deliverered Addison to a "place secure" by prioritizing his status as a moralist and a "durable standard" for prose style. Finally, the analysis notes a private disparity in Johnson’s views, as Thrale recorded that Johnson "did never like, though he always thought fit to praise" Addison’s prose.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 251–271

Samuel Johnson and the 'Shackles of Lexicography'
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Words, Books, Images, and the Long Eighteenth Century: Essays for Allen Reddick
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-90-272-1063-0 978-90-272-5844-1
publisher: John Benjamins
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Amsterdam
authors: Person
  surname: Mugglestone
  given name: Lynda
editors: Person
  surname: Zlatar
  given name: Antoinina Bevan
editors: Person
  surname: Ittensohn
  given name: Mark
editors: Person
  surname: Steiner
  given name: Enit Karafili
editors: Person
  surname: Timofeeva
  given name: Olga
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Mugglestone explores Johnson’s use of "shackles" and "fetters" as metaphors for both his lexicographical "labour" and his "fear of madness." The text analyzes a 1771 diary entry where Johnson recorded "insane thoughts about foot-fetters," linking his "pathological melancholy" to the physical instruments of 18th-century "confinement." Mugglestone argues that Johnson viewed the Dictionary as a form of "imprisonment" that "shackled" his mind to the "drudgery" of defining words. The text details how Johnson’s "mad reflection" informed his definitions of madness in the Dictionary, drawing on citations from "King Lear." The study highlights the "frictions" between Johnson’s "cultural authority" and his personal struggles with "melancholy" and "metaphorical constraint."
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 59–79

Learning in Wartime: Samuel Johnson and Spiritual Transcendence in The Vanity of Human Wishes
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Literature in Times of Crisis
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-64265-754-8 978-1-64265-755-5
publisher: Salem Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Ipswich, Mass.
authors: Person
  surname: Schneeberger
  given name: Brandon
editors: Person
  surname: Evans
  given name: Robert C.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Religion
subject: Satire
abstract: Schneeberger examines Johnson as a figure of resilience whose literary production flourished under unfavorable conditions. Drawing parallels between Lewis and Johnson, Schneeberger argues that literature provides a necessary "transcendent quality" during societal crises. The analysis focuses on how Johnson uses historical perusal and "compact biographical sketches" to illustrate the futility of political preferment, military conquest, and "fatal Learning." Schneeberger contends that Johnson leads the reader through an experience of "pain and suffering" to prompt an "upward gaze" toward theological virtues. By re-imagining death as "nature's signal of retreat," Johnson uses faith to exceed reason and ground the "stagnant mind." The study concludes that Johnson performs a "surgery of the soul," teaching that true happiness requires embracing the difficulties of reality.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 62–79

Jane Austen and the Reception of Samuel Johnson in Japan: The Domestication of Realism in Soseki Natsume's Theory of Literature (1907)
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Johnson in Japan
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-242-9 978-1-68448-245-0
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Yoshino
  given name: Yuri
editors: Person
  surname: Ogawa
  given name: Kimiyo
editors: Person
  surname: Suzuki
  given name: Mika
editors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: Johnson
subject: 19th
subject: Abstract
abstract: Yoshino contends that Johnson's theories of fictional realism, particularly from Rambler No. 4, were indirectly endorsed in Meiji Japan through Sōseki Natsume’s critical admiration of Jane Austen. While Sōseki explicitly downplayed Johnson’s direct influence, Yoshino shows how his analysis of Austen's narrative techniques—her focus on ordinary life, plausible character development, and avoidance of overt sensationalism—aligns closely with Johnsonian ideals for the novel. By championing Austen's domestic realism in his influential Theory of Literature (1907), Sōseki effectively assimilated and transmitted Johnson's perspective on modern fiction into the framework of Japanese literary criticism.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 62–73

Scientific Curiosity in Samuel Johnson's Rasselas and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Johnson in Japan
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-242-9 978-1-68448-245-0
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Ogawa
  given name: Kimiyo
editors: Person
  surname: Ogawa
  given name: Kimiyo
editors: Person
  surname: Suzuki
  given name: Mika
editors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: Abstract
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
subject: Science
abstract: Ogawa investigates thematic and philosophical links between Johnson's Rasselas and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, centering on scientific inquiry, the limits of knowledge, and the mind-body connection. Situating Johnson within eighteenth-century scientific discourse, including materialism and theories of electricity, Ogawa argues for his deep engagement with contemporary medical ideas. Rasselas, read by Shelley during Frankenstein's composition, is presented as a significant influence, revealing parallels in the portrayal of ambitious scientists (Imlac, the astronomer, Frankenstein), the psychological dangers of solitude and obsessive intellectual pursuits (melancholy), and profound questions about life, consciousness, and happiness.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 41–61

Samuel Johnson and Spectral Media
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: ELH: English Literary History
  type: Journal
  volume: 87
  identifier: DOI 10.1353/elh.2020.0002
  number: 1
  alternative: ELH
  identifier: ISSN 0013-8304
authors: Person
  surname: King
  given name: Rachael Scarborough
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: King interprets Johnson's interest in ghosts and the Ossian controversy as a media-specific investigation into the reliability of the evolving print medium. She argues that Johnson used a "three-legged stool of verification" consisting of oral testimony, manuscript evidence, and printed records to authenticate knowledge. The article details Johnson's role in the Cock Lane ghost investigation, where he relied on gentlemanly consensus to dispute the hoax in the Gentleman’s Magazine. King contrasts this with the Ossian debate, where Johnson’s demand for Macpherson to "produce the manuscripts" led him to challenge the poems' authenticity. The study demonstrates how Johnson’s attempts to correct "fake news" in print often failed to control the circulation of rumors regarding his own credulity.
date: 2020
language: en
pages: 65–90

Samuel Johnson, A Voyage to Abyssinia (1735)
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Handbook of British Travel Writing
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-3-11-049983-4 978-3-11-049897-4 978-3-11-049705-2
publisher: De Gruyter
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Berlin
authors: Person
  surname: Fekadu-Uthoff
  given name: Sarah
editors: Person
  surname: Schaff
  given name: Barbara
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
subject: Abstract
abstract: Fekadu-Uthoff analyzes Johnson's 1735 translation of Father Jerónimo Lobo’s travels as a critical juncture in eighteenth-century travel literature. Although Johnson never visited Ethiopia, his selective translation and important Preface establish a nuanced ethical framework for travel and exploration. Fekadu-Uthoff demonstrates how Johnson uses Lobo’s "probable" and "truthful" eyewitness account to challenge contemporary penchants for "romantick absurdities." The text functions as Johnson's sustained contemplation on the universality of human nature, characterized as a "mixture of vice and virtue" across all cultures. Fekadu-Uthoff highlights Johnson's outspoken critique of European exploration as a disguise for "European cruelty" and imperial avarice. By correcting earlier French translations that emphasized religious differences, Johnson displays sympathy for Highland Ethiopians. Fekadu-Uthoff concludes that this work anticipates Johnson's later philosophical explorations of mobility and progress in Rasselas and his Scottish tour.
date: 2020
language: en
pages: 181–198

Samuel Johnson and the 'First English Dictionary'
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Cambridge Companion to English Dictionaries
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Lynch
  given name: Jack
editors: Person
  surname: Ogilvie
  given name: Sarah
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Lynch disputes the common myth that Johnson authored the first English dictionary, noting that at least twenty general monolingual predecessors exist. Johnson remains significant because his work represents the first English reference project with a well-documented production history. Lynch chronicles the genesis of the project, which began as a booksellers' commercial venture intended to rival continental academic dictionaries. While Johnson used established European lexicographical techniques, he introduced innovations to English practice, including the systematic use of numbered senses and the first detailed statement of lexicographical principles in his Plan. Lynch describes how Johnson marked books from the late sixteenth century to the mid-eighteenth century, employing amanuenses to process over 110,000 illustrative quotations. This method grounded the Dictionary in literary authority, particularly the works of Shakespeare and the Bible. Although contemporary critics like Tooke and Campbell challenged Johnson's Latinate definitions and word choices, the work gained status as the first "standard" dictionary. Lynch argues that the redefinition of "dictionary" to mean an authoritative, regulated standard allowed the work to achieve a cultural dominance that predecessors like Bailey or Martin never secured.
date: 2020
language: en
pages: 142–153

Samuel Johnson's Charity Sermon during War: St Paul's Cathedral 2 May 1745
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Review of English Studies
  type: Journal
  is part of: n.s.
  volume: 70
  number: 297
  alternative: RES
  identifier: ISSN 0034-6551
authors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Abstract
subject: Family
subject: Johnson
subject: Religion
abstract: On Johnson's ghost-written charity sermon for Aston in St Paul's Cathedral during the War of the Austrian Succession. Johnson uses elevated rhetoric and orthodox theology to establish Aston's credibility and urge the wealthy audience toward Christian charity. The sermon subtly contrasts this "universal happiness" of charity with excessive "zealous" patriotism, reminding listeners that their duty to mankind and their own eternal salvation transcends a purely national, potentially selfish, wartime fervor.
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 890–910

Two New Allusions: Samuel Johnson and the Book of Common Prayer, Boswell, and Apollonius of Rhodes
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Religion
abstract: Both Samuel Johnson and his disciple James Boswell were masters of deploying intertextual allusions to impart greater freight to their meaning. In Rambler 8 Johnson covertly alludes to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, while in the Tour to the Hebrides Boswell alludes to Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica. In both cases, these allusions offer considerable insight into characteristic aspects of the art and minds of the two authors. They share a dedication to intertextuality as an important literary technique. However, the two examples reveal important differences: Johnson emerges as a traditional public Christian humanist, while Boswell reveals himself as a private, proto-Romantic confessionalist.
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 144–148

ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews
type: Journal
volume: 32
identifier: DOI 10.1080/0895769X.2018.1527203
number: 3
alternative: ANQ
identifier: ISSN 0895-769X

Samuel Johnson, Chesterfield, and Rambler 153
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 66 [264]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjy198
  number: 1
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Essays
subject: Johnson
abstract: Lee focuses on the poet Samuel Johnson and the poem Rambler 153. Johnson first published his most celebrated poem, The Vanity of Human Wishes. One of the most famous couplets from the poem reads, 'There mark what ills the scholar's life assail, / Toil, envy, want, the garret, and the jail'. Five years later, when he revised the poem for republication in Robert Dodsley's Collection of Poems, Johnson substituted the word 'patron' for 'garret. Biographer James Boswell discusses Johnson's repudiation of patronage in his fierce 7 February 1755 letter to Philip Stanhope, the 4th Earl of Chesterfield.
date: 2019-03
language: en
pages: 111–114

Samuel Johnson and Anna Seward: Solitude and Sensibility
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Community and Solitude: New Essays on Johnson's Circle
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-022-7 978-1-68448-023-4 978-1-68448-024-1
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Kairoff
  given name: Claudia Thomas
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Kairoff re-examines the relationship between Johnson and fellow Lichfield native Anna Seward, focusing on Seward's pronounced criticism of Johnson, especially after his death. While acknowledging factors like professional jealousy and differing political views, Kairoff argues that a fundamental cause of their divergence lies in their contrasting attitudes toward sensibility, shaped by their different generations. This clash is explored through their respective writings on solitude, travel, and landscape, with Johnson representing a more Augustan skepticism towards overt emotional display, while Seward embodies the later eighteenth-century embrace of sentiment and sublime emotional responses.
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 191–213

Samuel Johnson, William Shakespeare, and the Vanity of Human Wishes
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Memoria di Shakespeare: A Journal of Shakespearean Studies
authors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Renaissance
subject: Drama
subject: Satire
subject: Shakespeare
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 127–138

Memoria di Shakespeare: A Journal of Shakespearean Studies
type: Journal
volume: 6
identifier: ISSN 2283-8759

Two Tales of a City: London in Ben Jonson's The Alchemist and Samuel Johnson's London
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Contemporary Literary and Cultural Studies
authors: Person
  surname: Boobani
  given name: Farzad
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Renaissance
subject: Drama
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 5–19

Contemporary Literary and Cultural Studies
type: Journal
volume: 1
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 2645-3533

Samuel Johnson in His 'Meridian Splendour': The Genealogy of a Metaphor
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 65 [263]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjy033
  number: 2
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Tankard
  given name: Paul
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Although Sir John Hawkins's 1787 biography of Samuel Johnson has only lived a shadowy half-life since being eclipsed in 1791 by Boswell, there are a number of memorable passages of Johnson's life to which Hawkins has an exclusive and inalienable right. One of these is the account of an all-night session of the Ivy Lane club, of which Hawkins was himself a member, held in late 1750 or early 1751 to 'celebrate either the writing or the publication' of Charlotte Lennox's first novel, The Life of Harriot Stuart, Written by Herself.
date: 2018-06
language: en
pages: 252–255

Samuel Johnson and Milton's 'Mighty Bone'
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 65 [263]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjy022
  number: 2
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
is referenced by: Noted by Steven Scherwatzky in The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats 52, no. 1 (Autumn 2019): 21.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
abstract: In the Hyde Edition of The Letters of Samuel Johnson, Bruce Redford observes of the phrase 'shorn of his beams' from the Jul 3, 1778 letter to James Boswell. Meanwhile, another serial appropriation of a Miltonic line is examined, one achieving a similar effect, but more than doubling the triplet structure noted by Redford. Johnson quoted from Milton frequently, in both his private and public writings.
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 250–252

Noted by Steven Scherwatzky in The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats 52, no. 1 (Autumn 2019): 21.
type: Memo

Samuel Johnson, Richard Glover, and 'Hosier's Ghost'
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 65 [263]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjy021
  number: 2
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
is referenced by: Noted by Steven Scherwatzky in The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats 52.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
abstract: In his Grammar of the English Tongue, published as part of A Dictionary of the English Language in 1755, Samuel Johnson included a section on versification. In it, he quotes from a poem by Richard Glover, one of the twenty authors cited but once in the Grammar entire. This comes from the politically inflammatory 'Admiral Hosier's Ghost'. Richard Glover (1712-85), an ardent and prominent Whig and Patriot, seems an odd choice for Johnson, given the political differences separating the two men in the 1750.
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 244–247

Noted by Steven Scherwatzky in The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats 52.
type: Memo

Samuel Johnson's Rasselas: Two Presentation Copies
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Poetica: An International Journal of Linguistic-Literary Studies
authors: Person
  surname: Edwards
  given name: Christopher
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 99–107

Poetica: An International Journal of Linguistic-Literary Studies
type: Journal
volume: 89-90
identifier: ISSN 0287-1629

Some Early Collectors and Owners of Samuel Johnson's Books and Manuscripts
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Poetica: An International Journal of Linguistic-Literary Studies
  type: Journal
  volume: 89-90
  identifier: ISSN 0287-1629
authors: Person
  surname: Woudhuysen
  given name: H. R.
subject: Johnson
subject: Manuscripts
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 83–97

Two Allusions in Samuel Johnson's The False Alarm
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 64 [262]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjx087
  number: 3
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
abstract: Lee identifies two previously misattributed or overlooked allusions in Johnson’s political tract The False Alarm used to demonize Wilkes and his supporters. He argues that a proverb regarding "infatuation" likely derives from Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy rather than Duport, aligning with Johnson's recurring imagery of epidemic disease and madness. Additionally, Lee traces the "pseudo-archaic" phrase "dead-doing" to Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, identifying Wilkes with the vainglorious imposter Braggadoccio. These intertextual connections demonstrate that Johnson’s allusions are not merely ornamental but constitute integral components of his political rhetoric and creative originality.
date: 2017-09
language: en
pages: 491–493

'Gaping Heirs': Line Forty-Eight of Samuel Johnson's The Vanity of Human Wishes
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Explicator
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Satire
subject: Abstract
abstract: Previous commentators have had little to say about line l.48 of Samuel Johnson's 1749 poem, The Vanity of Human Wishes: "Th'insidious Rival and the gaping Heir." Evidence from Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language suggests the influence of a passage from one of Johnson's seminal precursors. It appears that Johnson, when he set himself to the task of rendering Juvenal's Satire 10 in 1749, is recalling an image from Dryden's version of Juvenal's third Satire (one that he himself had imitated more than a decade earlier, as London).
date: 2017
language: en
pages: 160–165

Explicator
type: Journal
volume: 75
number: 3
identifier: ISSN 1939-926X; 0014-4940

Dr. Johnson on Trial: Catherine Talbot and Jemima Grey Responding to Samuel Johnson's The Rambler
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Women's Writing: The Elizabethan to Victorian Period
authors: Person
  surname: Orchard
  given name: Jack
subject: Abstract
subject: Essays
subject: Johnson
abstract: This article is an analysis of contemporary critical approaches to the relationships between Dr. Johnson and women, particularly with reference to The Rambler, followed by the introduction of previously unpublished letters which display a female reader of the periodical, Jemima Campbell, Marchioness Grey, choosing not to write for The Rambler and instead opting to produce a satirical attack on "Mr Rambler" within the private sphere of a familiar letter to her friend Catherine Talbot. Talbot did write an essay for Johnson's periodical, and this article looks at the two documents as different case studies in responses to Johnson's moralizing persona. Essentially, criticism on The Rambler has undergone a shift from celebratory analysis of his positive and nuanced representations of his female characters and relationships with contemporary women writers, since James Basker and Isobel Grundy in the late 1980s and early 1990s, to a reappraisal of his relationships with women through lo
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 193–210

Women's Writing: The Elizabethan to Victorian Period
type: Journal
volume: 23
identifier: DOI 10.1080/09699082.2015.1084684
number: 2
identifier: ISSN 1747-5848; 0969-9082

Imposed Identity through Foucauldian Panopticism and Released Identity through Deleuzian Ressentiment in Samuel Johnson's The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Advances in Language and Literary Studies
authors: Person
  surname: Eslamieh
  given name: Razieh
subject: Abstract
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
abstract: The despotic society of classical era, run by a despot, who had "the right to decide life and death" of the dominated subjects (Foucault, History of Sexuality Vol. I 135), had indeed the system of observance and surveillance of Foucauldian panoptical system. The present paper scrutinizes the Happy Valley of Samuel Johnson's The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, as the symbolic representation of a panoptic structure in which dominant discourses are institutionalized in the captives and inmates of the Happy Valley. In essence, the central theme of Foucault's theories of power is "the methods with which modern civilization creates and controls human subjects, through institutions" (Habib, A History of Literary Criticism 766) as well as discourses. The present paper contends that such institutions and discourses also existed in classical era and in the despotic society run by the despot, seemed to be the focal point or the center of power, but who indeed remained ineffective without discourses and institutions which dispersed his power.
date: 2017
language: en
pages: 125–132

Advances in Language and Literary Studies
type: Journal
volume: 8
identifier: DOI 10.7575/aiac.alls.v.8n.1p.125
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 2203-4714

C. S. Lewis and Samuel Johnson: A Study in Affinity
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: CSL: The Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society
authors: Person
  surname: Short
  given name: Edward
subject: Johnson
date: 2017
language: en
pages: 1–12

CSL: The Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society
type: Journal
volume: 48
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 0883-9980

Samuel Johnson's Practical Sermon on Marriage in Context: Spousal Whiggery and the Book of Common Prayer
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Modern Philology
  type: Journal
  volume: 114
  identifier: DOI 10.1086/687115
  number: 2
  alternative: MP
  identifier: ISSN 0026-8232
authors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
is referenced by: Noted in The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats 52, no. 1 (Autumn 2019): 25–26.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
subject: Religion
abstract: Johnson's practical sermon on marriage, reflecting mid-eighteenth-century cultural shifts, quietly revises the Book of Common Prayer's emphasis on a wife's strict subjection. By excluding the traditional demands for wifely obedience and reverence, Johnson promotes a model of marriage based on "perpetual and indissoluble friendship" and "spousal whiggery." This practical divinity stresses mutual social obligations and limited, humane governance over absolute domestic tyranny, aligning with a changing, more "enlightened" social ethic.
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 310–336

Noted in The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats 52, no. 1 (Autumn 2019): 25–26.
type: Memo

Samuel Johnson's View of History
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: CLIO: A Journal of Literature, History, and the Philosophy of History
  type: Journal
  volume: 45
  number: 2
  alternative: CLIO
  identifier: ISSN 0884-2043
authors: Person
  surname: Lock
  given name: F. P.
subject: Johnson
subject: History
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 159–180

The Gentleman's Magazine, Samuel Johnson, and the Symbolic Economy of Eighteenth-Century Poetry
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Review of English Studies
  type: Journal
  is part of: n.s.
  volume: 66
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/res/hgv047
  number: 277
  alternative: RES
  identifier: ISSN 0034-6551
authors: Person
  surname: Sider Jost
  given name: Jacob
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Periodicals
subject: Poetry
abstract: Between 1733 and 1736, Edward Cave offered a series of eight poetry contests in his newly founded Gentleman's Magazine . These competitions varied widely in theme and scale, ranging from an offer of free back issues for the best set of epigrams to a substantial £50 prize for the best poem, in English or Latin, on a weighty devotional topic. Taken as a whole, Cave's contests were an attempt to appropriate and supplant incumbent sources of literary prestige, particularly the traditional model of courtly and aristocratic patronage. Just as Richard Savage set himself up in the 1730s as a ‘volunteer laureate', the Gentleman's Magazine offered itself to English elites as a volunteer patron and would-be tastemaker. This attempt to assert the magazine's critical authority by adapting traditional patronage models and appealing to the Whiggish Hanoverian court was a failure; even today, the critical judgements and canonical consecrations of opposition figures like Pope are dominant. I close by suggesting that Cave's contests may have a further legacy as an influence on the career of the young Samuel Johnson.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 915–935

In Praise of Idling: Johnson, Austen, and Literary Leisure
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Modern Language Quarterly
  type: Journal
  volume: 84
  identifier: DOI 10.1215/00267929-10189270
  number: 1
  alternative: MLQ
  identifier: ISSN 0026-7929
authors: Person
  surname: Yahav
  given name: Amit S.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Yahav examines the theory of leisure that Johnson presents in the Idler series. While productivity and vigilance become unassailable values in an emergent capitalist society, Johnson publishes popular works designed to insert breaks into the culture of ceaseless striving. Johnson revalues idling as a state of beneficial, transient mindlessness. The Idler uses a proliferation of points of view to defense the value of reading materials that solicit relaxation. This theory transforms idling from a characterological deficiency into a periodic respite necessary for all. Johnson names this repose from rationality "semi-slumbers," which he explains is "a voluntary dream, a temporary recession from the reality of life to airy fictions." Johnson aims to provide "ease at a cheap rate" by multiplying seekers' points of view to urge release from continued searches for knowledge and assessment.
date: 2023
language: en
pages: 1–25

Exeunt the Kit-Cats, Pursued by Pope, Reviewed by Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: English Studies: A Journal of English Language and Literature
publisher: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Netherlands
authors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: The two great literary events of 1721 were the death of Matthew Prior and the publication of the Works of Joseph Addison, the beloved public figure who had died in 1719. These events are representative of a turning point in the history of authorship in Britain, which was accompanied by a change in the nature of poetry. Authors became more professional and specialised, less dependent on patrons and social connections. At the same time the genres of panegyric and epic were largely abandoned in favour of satire and mock-epic. The history of these changes is complicated, however, as this essay shows in an examination of Addison's celebration of the Battle of Blenheim, The Campaign (1705), and Prior's celebration of the Battle of Ramilies, An Ode, Humbly Inscrib'd to the Queen on the Glorious Success of Her Majesty's Arms, 1706.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 918–936

English Studies: A Journal of English Language and Literature
type: Journal
volume: 102
identifier: DOI 10.1080/0013838X.2021.1997464
number: 7
alternative: English Studies
identifier: ISSN 0013-838X

The Highland Tour through the Spectacles of Books: Johnson, Pastoral, and Improvement in Late-Georgian Scotland
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Philological Quarterly
  type: Journal
  volume: 100
  number: 3-4
  alternative: PQ
  identifier: ISSN 0031-7977
authors: Person
  surname: Boyd
  given name: Bradford Q.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: Contrary to received opinion, Samuel Johnson does not dispatch but instead revives the pastoral mode in English as, prior to the sixteenth century, normatively practiced and theorized. He achieves this improvement by a self-conscious return to sources, valorizing and reactivating the mode's specifically Greco-Roman tonal and thematic repertoire, in particular the ironized characters, religious traditionalism, and skepticism of "schemes of political improvement" of Theocritus's Idylls and Vergil's Eclogues. This Johnsonian revaluation operates both in theory — in Rambler and other essays and individual Lives of the Poets which purge pastoral of its Renaissance-era romance accretions — and in practice: Johnson's own imaginative writing, dating back to boyhood but expressed most clearly in passages of pastoral (and georgic) prose in A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and in the Latin poems that he wrote from Skye.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 463–491

Johnson's 'French Authors': Rambler 5 and 87
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews
  type: Journal
  volume: 34
  identifier: DOI 10.1080/0895769X.2019.1652555
  number: 2
  alternative: ANQ
  identifier: ISSN 0895-769X
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Essays
subject: Johnson
abstract: There are three unidentified allusions in the Johnsonian corpus that form a triad, given that all are tagged with the vaguely enigmatic phrase "a French author." In Rambler 5, Johnson writes: A French author has advanced this seeming paradox, that very few men know how to take a walk; and, indeed, it is true, that few know how to take a walk with a prospect of any other pleasure, than the same company would have afforded them at home. In Rambler 87: The preacher, may spend an hour in explaining and enforcing a precept of religion, without feeling any impression from his own performance, because he may have no further design than to fill up his hour.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 121–128

Is Historical Fiction Still Revolutionary?: Two Novels Set in Johnson's World
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 24
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Bennett
  given name: Eric
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
subject: History
subject: Abstract
abstract: Bennett reviews Philip Baruth's The Brothers Boswell and Michael Dean's I, Hogarth, evaluating their success as historical fiction. He praises Baruth's novel for vividly animating Boswell and Johnson while inventively introducing homoerotic possibilities and exploring themes of secrecy, repression, and the constructedness of historical reputation, thereby unsettling the past and connecting it powerfully to the present. Conversely, Bennett critiques Dean's fictional autobiography of Hogarth as psychologically shallow, marred by an uncritical first-person perspective that indulges in self-praise and presents troubling depictions of sexual encounters without adequate self-awareness, ultimately failing to transcend nostalgic cliché.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 191–196

Johnson (and Boswell) in the Lists: A View of Their Reputations, 1933–2018
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 24
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Tankard
  given name: Paul
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: Tankard surveys the inclusion (or exclusion) of Johnson and Boswell in fifty-seven "great books" lists and similar publications from 1933 to 2018. Tracing the evolution of such lists—from mid-century institutional projects emphasizing cultural heritage and self-improvement to later compilations focusing more on readerly pleasure, millennial summations, and eventually book history—Tankard analyzes the fluctuating presence and representation of both authors. While Boswell's Life initially features more prominently, Johnson as an author gains ground later. Tankard concludes by reflecting on the challenges of maintaining the cultural relevance of classic authors in the contemporary media landscape.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 78–120

'Con Amore': Hester Piozzi's Annotations upon Johnson's Early Poetry
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 24
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Piozzi
subject: Abstract
abstract: Lee examines three annotations made by Piozzi in her copies of Boswell's Life of Johnson concerning Johnson's early poems: "To a Lady on Her Birthday," "Virgil's Pastoral the First," and "The Young Author." Lee uses Piozzi's brief comments—identifying a potential source for a line, correcting a detail about Virgil's crow, and praising a concluding couplet "con Amore"—as springboards for deeper analysis. Lee explores the intertextual resonances, etymological richness, structural sophistication, and biographical significance of these poems, arguing for their surprising complexity and maturity while highlighting Piozzi's insightful, though often neglected, critical perspective on Johnson's work.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 63–77

'These Kings of Me': The Provenance and Significance of an Allusion in Johnson's Taxation No Tyranny
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: 1650–1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era
  type: Journal
  volume: 26
  alternative: 1650–1850
  identifier: ISSN 1065-3112
authors: Person
  surname: Davis
  given name: Matthew M.
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
subject: Abstract
abstract: Davis argues that Johnson’s allusion to the phrase "kings of Me" in Taxation No Tyranny is a deliberate, revealing comparison. The phrase originates from Dryden’s heroic play The Conquest of Granada, spoken by the anti-authoritarian warrior Almanzor. Davis demonstrates that Johnson likely borrowed this rhetorical strategy from the nonjuror Charles Leslie, who, decades earlier, used the Almanzor parallel to satirize Whig claims of "original rights" and the "state of nature." The allusion works on plot: like Almanzor, the Americans must "sink down" from "demigods of independence" to subjects.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 42–64

Johnson's Translated Works and Criticisms in Japanese
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Johnson in Japan
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-242-9 978-1-68448-245-0
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Eto
  given name: Hideichi
editors: Person
  surname: Ogawa
  given name: Kimiyo
editors: Person
  surname: Suzuki
  given name: Mika
editors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Abstract
abstract: Eto compiles a comprehensive bibliographic appendix documenting the Japanese reception of Johnson, Boswell, and Piozzi from 1882 to 2017. The record lists twenty-five primary translations of Johnson's major works, including multiple editions of Rasselas, the Lives of the Poets, and travel writings. Eto identifies early pedagogical uses of Johnson in nineteenth-century textbooks and chronicles the translation of verse and hymns by Izumitani. The list details twenty-seven critical monographs and essay collections focusing on Johnson's lexicography, his relationship with Boswell, and his travels with Piozzi. Entries specify original titles, Japanese titles, translators, publishers, and publication dates. This bibliography serves as a tool for tracking the "metamorphosis of Rasselas" and the historical significance of the Dictionary within Japanese scholarship.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 155–162

An Analysis of Johnson's View of Knowledge: A Corpus-Stylistic Approach
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Johnson in Japan
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-242-9 978-1-68448-245-0
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Ogura
  given name: Masaaki
editors: Person
  surname: Ogawa
  given name: Kimiyo
editors: Person
  surname: Suzuki
  given name: Mika
editors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Ogura uses corpus-stylistic methods to investigate Johnson's concept of "knowledge" within The Rambler. The analysis reveals "knowledge" as a key term, frequently used by Johnson and collocating strongly with "world," "extent," "virtue," and "life." Ogura argues Johnson conceptualizes knowledge as multifaceted, deriving from both textual learning and empirical experience ("knowledge of the world"). It is presented as essential for moral development ("virtue") and practical living ("life"), yet also potentially corrupting ("cunning"). Johnson emphasizes the pursuit of broad understanding ("extent") and stresses the importance of balancing book learning with worldly observation for true wisdom.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 130–144

Johnson's Prose Style and His Notion of the Periodical Writer
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Johnson in Japan
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-242-9 978-1-68448-245-0
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Fukumoto
  given name: Tadayuki
editors: Person
  surname: Ogawa
  given name: Kimiyo
editors: Person
  surname: Suzuki
  given name: Mika
editors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
subject: Style
abstract: Fukumoto contrasts Johnson's approach to periodical writing with that of predecessors like Steele and Addison, viewed against Pope’s satire of hack writers in The Dunciad. Fukumoto notes that early periodicals often used accessible, conversational styles for broad audiences, which Pope critiqued. Johnson, while recognizing the value of conversation, aimed his periodicals (Rambler, Adventurer, Idler) at a more learned readership, employing an elevated, Latinate style intended for literary permanence rather than ephemeral instruction. Though capable of rapid composition like hacks, Johnson differentiated his work through meticulous stylistic craft and extensive revision, defining a distinct role for the periodical essayist.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 116–129

Johnson and Garrick on Hamlet
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Johnson in Japan
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-242-9 978-1-68448-245-0
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Iwata
  given name: Miki
editors: Person
  surname: Ogawa
  given name: Kimiyo
editors: Person
  surname: Suzuki
  given name: Mika
editors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Shakespeare
subject: Abstract
abstract: Iwata challenges the conventional opposition between Johnson (representing the text) and David Garrick (representing the stage) by examining their interactions regarding Shakespeare's Hamlet. Iwata highlights Johnson's sole acknowledgment of Garrick in his Shakespeare edition—a note on Hamlet crediting Garrick with an interpretive point. She argues that Garrick possessed considerable textual knowledge and that his controversial 1772 stage adaptation of Hamlet, despite later criticism, incorporated elements reflecting Johnson's neoclassical preferences for tragic unity and moral clarity, particularly through significant alterations to the play’s conclusion, suggesting a more complex interplay between critic and actor.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 88–104

Abyssinian Johnson
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Johnson in Japan
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-242-9 978-1-68448-245-0
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Hattori
  given name: Noriyuki
editors: Person
  surname: Ogawa
  given name: Kimiyo
editors: Person
  surname: Suzuki
  given name: Mika
editors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Hattori examines Johnson's choice of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) for the setting of Rasselas, analyzing its imaginative resonance within eighteenth-century Orientalist and geographical discourse. Contrasting Johnson's portrayal with works by Behn, Montagu, and Defoe, Hattori emphasizes Abyssinia's dual identity as exotic "Orient" and Christian land. He focuses on the symbolic centrality of the Nile, representing life-giving fertility but also destructive power and the unknown source, mirroring the tale's exploration of utopian confinement and the elusive search for happiness. The ambiguity of the setting reflects the narrative's blend of realistic travelogue elements and philosophical romance.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 105–115

Johnson the Tea Poet: A Scholarly Role Model and a Literary Doctor in Modernizing Japan
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Johnson in Japan
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-242-9 978-1-68448-245-0
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Suzuki
  given name: Mika
editors: Person
  surname: Ogawa
  given name: Kimiyo
editors: Person
  surname: Suzuki
  given name: Mika
editors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Abstract
abstract: Suzuki analyzes the unique reception of Johnson by Tamotsu Morowoka, a Japanese physician and scholar, who termed Johnson a "tea poet" (cha shi jin). Suzuki explains that Morowoka viewed Johnson not merely as a tea aficionado but as an embodiment of the ideal scholar: learned, sociable, independent, and engaged with public life, albeit eccentric. Finding personal parallels, Morowoka used the "tea poet" designation to celebrate Johnson’s role as a conversational catalyst and intellectual model outside traditional academia. This framing allowed Morowoka to integrate his admiration for Johnson with his research on tea culture and navigate complex feelings toward Britain.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 74–87

Hester Piozzi's Annotations to the Adventurer and Johnson's Rambler: Beyond the Case Study
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Marginal Notes: Social Reading and the Literal Margins
  type: Book
  is part of: New Directions in Book History
  identifier: ISBN 978-3-030-56311-0 978-3-030-56312-7
publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Tankard
  given name: Paul
editors: Person
  surname: Spedding
  given name: Patrick
editors: Person
  surname: Tankard
  given name: Paul
contributors: Person
  surname: Sherman
  given name: William H.
subject: Johnson
subject: Essays
subject: Piozzi
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 85–113

Murphy and Johnson: Prolegomenon to a New Edition
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: 1650–1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era
  type: Journal
  volume: 25
  alternative: 1650–1850
  identifier: ISSN 1065-3112
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Lee outlines the editorial rationale and plan for a modern critical edition of Murphy’s Johnsonian writings. He identifies Murphy as a significant historical witness who introduced Johnson to the Thrales and secured his government pension. The prolegomenon advocates for restoring Murphy’s status among Johnson’s biographers, noting that his work was more widely read in the nineteenth century than Boswell’s. Lee details an editorial policy based on early copy-texts and provides a comprehensive register of Murphy's plays, essays, and satires that illuminate his deep professional and personal relationship with Johnson.
date: 2020
language: en
pages: 86–104

The Deipnosophists and Dr. Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Lexicographica: International Annual for Lexicography/Revue Internationale de Lexicographie/Internationales Jahrbuch für Lexikographie
authors: Person
  surname: Witty
  given name: Michael
subject: Johnson
date: 2020
language: en
pages: 311–324

Lexicographica: International Annual for Lexicography/Revue Internationale de Lexicographie/Internationales Jahrbuch für Lexikographie
type: Journal
volume: 36
identifier: DOI 10.1515/lex-2020-0016
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 1865-9403; 0175-6206

Dr. Johnson's Palliative Care: The Spiritual Economics of Dissipation in The Life of Savage
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Studies
  type: Journal
  volume: 52
  identifier: DOI 10.1353/ecs.2019.0025
  number: 4
  alternative: ECS
  identifier: ISSN 0013-2586
authors: Person
  surname: Goergen
  given name: Corey
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
subject: Religion
abstract: This article argues that Samuel Johnson's The Life of Savage both responds to and challenges eighteenth-century anxieties about dissipation as a spiritual, bodily, and economic problem. Read in the context of Richard Bentley's sermons, The Folly of Atheism, Johnson's Life demonstrates the importance of dissipation to histories of both addiction and disability. Johnson and Bentley's shared insistence that dissipation's most telling symptoms are economic traces a common logic between the early, moral models of addiction and disability and later, medical models that are often understood to be distinct and even contradictory. But Johnson, in narrating Savage's repeated failures to escape his cycle of dissipation through spiritual or intellectual means, ultimately raises questions about the capacity for moral or medical interventions to effect a satisfactory cure.
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 379–394

The Progress of Johnson's Shakespeare: Subscription, Text, and Printing
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America
  type: Journal
  volume: 113
  identifier: DOI 10.1086/703050
  number: 2
  alternative: PBSA
  identifier: ISSN 0006-128X
authors: Person
  surname: Hone
  given name: Joseph
authors: Person
  surname: McLaverty
  given name: James
subject: Abstract
subject: Bibliography
subject: Drama
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Shakespeare
abstract: Bibliographers have long puzzled over Samuel Johnson's edition of The Plays of William Shakespeare, started in 1756 but repeatedly delayed until its eventual publication in 1765. Back in 1979 Brian Vickers wrote that, although "we do not yet have a full bibliographical study," it was nonetheless "evident that Johnson's Shakespeare had an erratic career in the printing-house." More than twenty years earlier Arthur Sherbo had assembled a chronology of most of the known facts about the publication of the edition, though confessed there were "all too few references to particular volumes and plays" in his list and that evidence concerning the printing of the edition was scarce at best. The publication of David Fleeman's seminal A Bibliography of the Works of Samuel Johnson in 2000 has since shed considerable light on some specific bibliographical problems. And yet, despite Fleeman's advances, much still remains unknown about the printing and publication of this important literary edition. How was Johnson's subscription planned? How successful was it? How much money did Johnson and his publishers make? What copy did the printer use? When were the various parts of the edition finished? Why was publication, promised for Christmas 1757, delayed for nearly eight years?
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 121–147

'The March of Intimacy': Dr. Burney and Dr. Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Life
  type: Journal
  volume: 42
  identifier: DOI 10.1215/00982601-4384527
  number: 2
  alternative: ECL
  identifier: ISSN 0098-2601
authors: Person
  surname: Sabor
  given name: Peter
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Sabor explores the three-decade evolution of the relationship between Charles Burney and Johnson, viewing the connection through the lens of eighteenth-century sociability and "soft" patronage. Challenging earlier depictions of Burney as a hapless sycophant, Sabor argues that Burney adroitly navigated the literary world to secure professional advancement and bridge the gap between his musical profession and the literary elite. Johnson acted as a mentor and patron, providing "encouragement," "favor," "authority," and introductions despite his notorious, general disdain for music. Sabor highlights Johnson's formally unattributed contributions to Burney's work, identifying him as the ghostwriter of several pieces, including the dedication to Queen Charlotte in the History of Music, the dedication to George III in An Account of the Commemoration of Handel, and a translation. The account, which involves Boswell and Piozzi, documents their roles in recording Johnsonian anecdotes and facilitating social interactions at Streatham. Sabor details how Burney transitioned from a lowly musician to a respected man of letters, noting that Johnson eventually viewed Burney as a "man for all the world to love" and a model for travel writing. This "complex exchange of benefit" allowed Burney to use his "prodigious success" in networking to leverage social capital into professional advancement.
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 38–55

Johnson, Warton, and the Popular Reader
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Community and Solitude: New Essays on Johnson's Circle
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-022-7 978-1-68448-023-4 978-1-68448-024-1
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Catanese
  given name: Christopher
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Catanese compares Johnson and his friend, the Oxford academic Thomas Warton, as embodying different responses to the burgeoning popular readership of the mid-eighteenth century. Contrasting Johnson's position within London's commercial book trade with Warton's scholarly insulation, Catanese analyzes Johnson's defensive self-fashioning in The Rambler alongside Warton’s historicist literary criticism (particularly on Spenser and romance). Both writers, despite their different contexts, grapple with anxieties about readerly interpretation and authorial control, revealing shared strategies for negotiating the shifting literary landscape and anticipating later Romantic concerns with audience and market pressures.
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 214–231

Johnson and China: Culture, Commerce, and the Dream of the Orient in Mid-Eighteenth-Century England
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: 1650–1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era
  type: Journal
  volume: 24
  alternative: 1650–1850
  identifier: ISSN 1065-3112
authors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Clingham investigates the cultural and commercial significance of China in mid-eighteenth-century England, focusing on Samuel Johnson’s intellectual engagement with the Orient. The text argues that while the fashion for chinoiserie and trade with China were expanding, Johnson remained relatively disengaged compared to his contemporaries. Clingham examines Johnson’s specific remarks on the Great Wall and his broader interest in non-Western civilizations. The work suggests that Johnson’s "Dream of the Orient" was shaped by the tensions between British commercial interests and Enlightenment perceptions of cultural "otherness."
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 178–242

Dryden, Pope, and Milton in Gay's Rural Sports and Johnson's Dictionary
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 65 [263]
  number: 2
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Renaissance
abstract: Lee demonstrates how Johnson’s Dictionary serves as a tool for identifying the "genealogy of sentiments" in John Gay’s Rural Sports. By juxtaposing Gay’s verses with those of Dryden, Pope, and Milton, Johnson highlights Gay’s extensive intertextual reliance on these predecessors—a fact that complicates Johnson’s later claim that he "rarely" exhibited such connections. Lee identifies specific ligatures involving hunting imagery from Dryden’s Virgil and "whistling plowmen" from Milton’s "L'Allegro." The analysis suggests that Johnson’s frequent use of Gay as an authority reveals a deeper appreciation for his craft than his lukewarm "Life of Gay" indicates.
date: 2018-06
language: en
pages: 241–243

Johnson's Textual Landscape
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation
  type: Journal
  volume: 59
  identifier: DOI 10.1353/ecy.2018.0003
  number: 1
  alternative: ECTI
  identifier: ISSN 0193-5380
authors: Person
  surname: Taylor
  given name: David Francis
subject: Abstract
subject: Family
subject: Johnson
subject: Locations
abstract: Taylor examines Johnson's encounter with the landscape of Macbeth in his Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. Traveling through the Hardmuir, Johnson declares it "classic ground," an act of cultural annexation that simultaneously anchors him to English culture and opens him to the non-rational and affective power of the play's supernatural elements. Boswell's Tour to the Hebrides then shifts the focus, using recitations of Macbeth to frame Johnson as an archetypal Englishman—a "living monument"—and to highlight the contrast between Johnson’s fixed, metropolitan identity and the unfamiliar, "waste" Scottish landscape, making his presence a form of performance.
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 65–83

Searching for Dr. Johnson: The Digitisation of the Burney Newspaper Collection
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Travelling Chronicles: News and Newspapers from the Early Modern Period to the Eighteenth Century
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-90-04-34040-4 978-90-04-36287-1
publisher: Brill
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Leiden
authors: Person
  surname: Prescott
  given name: Andrew
editors: Person
  surname: Brandtzæg
  given name: Siv Gøril
editors: Person
  surname: Goring
  given name: Paul
editors: Person
  surname: Watson
  given name: Christine
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Prescott uses Samuel Johnson as a case study to challenge the deceptive simplicity of digital newspaper archives, arguing that uncritical reliance on search hits can produce historical mirages. By comparing digital results to Helen McGuffie’s manual checklist, Prescott demonstrates that basic searches for Johnson miss over 90% of relevant items due to Optical Character Recognition (OCR) failures involving the long s and poor image quality. While fuzzy searching improves retrieval, it still fails to capture allusive or parody-based references, such as Pensioner J. Prescott highlights that the Burney Collection, while vast, represents only half of the titles citing Johnson found in manual searches and excludes advertisements, which often contain more accurate OCR. The chapter advocates for desultory reading and collaborative annotation to overcome the structural deficiencies of current digital paradigms.
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 51–71

Johnson's Life of Savage as Romance, Antiromance, and Novel
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Ways of Fiction: New Essays on the Literary Cultures of the Eighteenth Century
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-5275-0828-6
publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Newcastle upon Tyne
authors: Person
  surname: Wilcox
  given name: Lance E.
editors: Person
  surname: Crowe
  given name: Nicholas J.
subject: Biography
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
subject: Lives
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 231–256

Johnson on Truth, Fiction, and 'Undisputed History'
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Ways of Fiction: New Essays on the Literary Cultures of the Eighteenth Century
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-5275-0828-6
publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Newcastle upon Tyne
authors: Person
  surname: Smallwood
  given name: Philip
editors: Person
  surname: Crowe
  given name: Nicholas J.
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
subject: History
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 198–212

In Two Minds: Johnson, Boswell, and Representation of the Self
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Writing and Constructing the Self in Great Britain in the Long Eighteenth Century
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-5261-2336-7 978-1-5261-2335-0
publisher: Manchester University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Manchester
authors: Person
  surname: Ingram
  given name: Allan
editors: Person
  surname: Baker
  given name: John
editors: Person
  surname: Leclair
  given name: Marion
editors: Person
  surname: Ingram
  given name: Allan
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: Ingram analyzes how Johnson and Boswell demonstrate self-awareness of their own thought processes through their writing. Using Boswell’s journals, Ingram illustrates a mind deeply engaged with contemporary materialist ideas from David Hartley and Joseph Priestley, as Boswell frequently attempts to 'perceive my faculties operating as machinery.' Ingram contrasts Johnson’s reluctance to publish accounts of his mental suffering with Boswell’s proactive self-scrutiny. While Johnson maintains a 'manly' and ordered ordering of life to suppress carnal chaos and periodic melancholy, Boswell uses his journal as a 'vehicle for self-scrutiny' while actively undergoing suffering. Ingram notes that Boswell extended this practice to the public sphere by publishing monthly essays as 'The Hypochondriack' in the London Magazine between 1777 and 1783. Ingram concludes that Boswell’s obsession with recording his own symptoms and psychological shifts differs markedly from Johnson’s more guarded public persona, yet both men used the written word to negotiate a stable sense of self against the threat of mental alienation.
date: 2025
language: en
pages: 135–150

'A Hundred Visions and Revisions': Malone's Annotations to Johnson's Dictionary
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Historical Dictionaries in Their Paratextual Context
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-3-11-057497-5 978-3-11-057296-4 978-3-11-057286-5
publisher: Max Niemeyer Verlag
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Berlin
authors: Person
  surname: Iamartino
  given name: Giovanni
editors: Person
  surname: McConchie
  given name: Roderick
editors: Person
  surname: Tyrkkö
  given name: Jukka
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Reference
abstract: lamartino examines Edmond Malone's extensive manuscript annotations to Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language, added between 1808 and 1811. Malone sought to "counter the steady corruption" of the work by booksellers and improve its coherence by adding nearly three thousand notes, including new entries and etymologies. The analysis reveals Malone's use of Samuel Dyer's notes and his collaboration with Boswell on the Life of Johnson. Malone quotes Piozzi to highlight that Johnson excluded "writers dangerous to religion or morality" from his authorities to avoid misleading the mind. The study demonstrates how annotated copies highlight the viewpoints of the "cultural élite" and their reception of Johnson's lexicographical achievement.
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 115–148

Johnson's Unacknowledged Debt to Thomas Edwards in the 1765 Edition of Shakespeare
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Philological Quarterly
  type: Journal
  volume: 95
  number: 1
  alternative: PQ
  identifier: ISSN 0031-7977
authors: Person
  surname: Dussinger
  given name: John A.
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Renaissance
subject: Authorship
subject: Shakespeare
subject: Abstract
abstract: In the Preface to Shakespeare Johnson attacks Thomas Edwards and Benjamin Heath as William Warburton's most relentless critics, who are allegedly not even worthy of comparison with the bishop. Yet Johnson's contemporaries and some modern scholars alike have remarked his unacknowledged debt to these two critics in his 1765 edition. Immediately after Johnson's edition appeared in 1765 William Kenrick, a learned but libelous journalist, reviewed it at length and demonstrated some of the many lapses in giving credit to Edwards's commentary. For the revisions of 1773 and 1778, George Steevens even cited Kenrick favorably for some readings and also made a point of including not only Edwards's relevant commentary from the Canons of Criticism but also new Edwards manuscript material he had acquired in time for the revisions. It was not until the twentieth century that fresh allegations of plagiarism were leveled against the 1765 Shakespeare. This essay reviews the charges presented and conclu
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 45–100

'Sudden Glories': Johnson, Hobbes, and Thoughts on Falkland's Islands
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 63 [261]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjw195
  number: 4
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Samuel Johnson's aversion to Thomas Hobbes is well known. In his 1785 A Biographical Sketch of Dr. Samuel Johnson, Thomas Tyers reported Johnson as saying in a conversation one morning, 'When I published my Dictionary, I might have quoted Hobbes as well as many other writers of his time: but I scorned, sir, to quote him at all; because I did not like his principles.' Johnson mentions Hobbes' just a few other times in his writings. He does so once in the 'Life of John Philips', where he remarks of the poet, 'he could refute Hobbes with as much solidity as some of greater name, and expose him with as much wit as Echard'.
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 612–615

Johnson's Mr. Maitland
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 63 [261]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjw223
  number: 4
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: McConchie
  given name: R. W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Samuel Johnson is known to have had six amanuenses assisting him with his dictionary at various timesâ€"Francis Stewart, Alexander and William McBean, Robert Shiels, V. J. Peyton, and a Mr Maitland. How regularly they were employed and under what circumstances is not very clear; Allen Reddick speculates that 'Johnson took them on as his dependents, and they, either through necessity or desire, no doubt a mixture of both, accepted his generosity'. Boswell has a little to offer about some of these helpers: 'Mr. Stewart, son of Mr. George Stewart, bookseller at Edinburgh; and a Mr. Maitland. The sixth of these humble assistants was Mr. Peyton, who, I believe, taught French, and published some elementary tracts.
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 603–605

On Definition and Explanation in the Preface to Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Modern Language Review
authors: Person
  surname: Taylor
  given name: T. M.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Reference
abstract: The distinction between explanation and definition is commonly neglected in discussions of Johnson's Dictionary . I briefly trace the demand for comprehensiveness in the history of monolingual English lexicography. I discuss definition in the terms of Locke and consider its application to Johnson's Dictionary. Johnson resolves the tension between the demand for comprehensiveness and the demand for definition by offering explanations of the meanings of words. Johnson's espousal of explanations illuminates his creativity, and by extension the necessary creativity of the lexicographer.
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 311–332

Modern Language Review
type: Journal
volume: 111
identifier: DOI 10.5699/modelangrevi.111.2.0311
number: 2
alternative: MLR
identifier: ISSN 0026-7937

Johnson on Milton's Allegorical Persons: Understanding Eighteenth-Century Attitudes toward Allegory
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Literary Imagination: The Review of the Association of Literary Scholars and Critics
authors: Person
  surname: Gulya
  given name: Jason John
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Poetry
subject: Renaissance
subject: Milton
subject: Abstract
abstract: Johnson's criticism of Milton's allegorical figures Sin and Death in Paradise Lost does not signal a rejection of allegory itself, but rather reflects an eighteenth-century commitment to representational consistency. Johnson clearly approves of allegory; his objection is that Sin and Death, as unreal allegorical persons, perform "real and sensible" actions like building a bridge and interacting with the literal character Satan, thereby creating an undesirable "incongruity" within the dominant literal narrative. He advocates separating the literal and allegorical, confining conceptual abstractions to figurative terms and limiting their agency, a focus on "literary decorum" and reader response that was central to critics like Addison and Kames.
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 1–16

Literary Imagination: The Review of the Association of Literary Scholars and Critics
type: Journal
volume: 18
number: 1
alternative: Literary Imagination
identifier: ISSN 1752-6566; 1523-9012

Why Should Hester Lynch Piozzi Be 'Dr. Johnson's Mrs. Thrale'?
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Names: A Journal of Onomastics
authors: Person
  surname: Berglund
  given name: Lisa
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Family
subject: Johnson
subject: Piozzi
abstract: Our subject lived for 20 years as Hester Lynch Salusbury, and more than 40 years as the wife, then widow, of Gabriel Piozzi. Her bestselling literary works appeared under the name Hester Lynch Piozzi and yet she is recognized for her 20 years as Mrs Thrale: friend, confidante, amanuensis, and muse of Samuel Johnson. Upon her second marriage, "Piozzi" became a hostile signifier for a woman who defied her family and social opinion to choose a new husband and a new name; later biographers would recast her as "Dr. Johnson's Mrs Thrale," the wife of one man, the possession of another. Meanwhile, modern critics have employed more than 20 different names, variously signaling emotional loyalty, theoretical affiliation, political correctness, or sensitivity to the academic marketplace. The naming of Hester Lynch Piozzi continues to complicate our understanding of one of the eighteenth century's most distinguished and inscrutable figures.
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 189–201

Names: A Journal of Onomastics
type: Journal
volume: 64
identifier: DOI 10.1080/00277738.2016.1236490
number: 4
alternative: Names
identifier: ISSN 1756-2279; 0027-7738

Johnson and the Teutonic Roots of English
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Harp and the Constitution: Myths of Celtic and Gothic Origin
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-90-04-30637-0 978-90-04-30638-7
publisher: Brill
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Leiden
authors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
editors: Person
  surname: Parker
  given name: Robert, Jr.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Science
abstract: DeMaria examines Johnson's unlikely role as a catalyst for the eighteenth-century Gothic movement. While Johnson personally favored classical humanism and "Athens rather than the northern," DeMaria argues that the Dictionary served as the primary vehicle for his participation in Gothic revisionism. By using George Hickes's Thesaurus and correctly diagnosing English as a Teutonic language, Johnson shifted the philological focus away from southern, Latinate origins. DeMaria highlights that Johnson "styled himself as a Goth rather than a Roman" in his Preface by describing his research as "ransacking" northern learning. The article details Johnson's rejection of Macpherson's Ossianic forgeries and his distaste for the "puerilities of obsolete mythology," yet demonstrates how his scientific commitment to "modern" learning encouraged a national conception of the English as a Teutonic people. DeMaria concludes that Johnson's scholarly commitments placed him in the camp of historically oriented critics like Warton, despite his lack of Romantic enthusiasm for the primitive.
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 47–65

Meteors and Mist: Identity Elements in Johnson's Style
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Explicator
  type: Journal
  volume: 74
  number: 1
  identifier: ISSN 1939-926X; 0014-4940
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 19–23

Dr. Johnson and the Great Anglo Tradition
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Quadrant
authors: Person
  surname: Carroll
  given name: John
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Carroll positions Johnson as the "paradigm English philosopher" whose legend rests on his "phenomenal warmth" and mastery of the language. He argues that while Johnson left no "single work of the absolute first rank," his "immense persona" constitutes his greatest achievement. The text explores Johnson’s influence on Burke and Austen, highlighting a shared "moderate English conservatism." Carroll emphasizes Johnson’s pursuit of the "stability of truth" as a secular faith against "unworldly abstraction." He concludes that Johnson’s "domineering talk" and "wrestling to tame" the English language provide an "enduring lesson" for the Anglo world.
date: 2016-12
language: en
pages: 74–80

Quadrant
type: Journal
volume: 60
number: 12
identifier: ISSN 0033-5002

Loose Sallies of the Mind: Distraction and the Essay
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Cambridge History of the British Essay
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-316-51650-8 978-1-009-03037-3
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Phillips
  given name: Natalie M.
authors: Person
  surname: Logsdon
  given name: Sydney
editors: Person
  surname: Gigante
  given name: Denise
editors: Person
  surname: Childs
  given name: Jason
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: This chapter traces the history of the essay against the backdrop of changing theories of distraction in the long eighteenth century. As the population of urban centres grew, readers’ seemingly waning attention spans had to counter a barrage of auditory and visual stimuli. Everyday diversions were compounded by literary ones: falling paper costs led to an explosion of print material, forcing the periodical essay to compete with a dizzying array of prose fiction, poems, sermons, and histories. Focusing on a series of prominent eighteenth-century and Romantic essayists, particularly Samuel Johnson, Leigh Hunt, and Charles Lamb, we argue that the essay form is powerfully shaped by its engagement with the wandering mind. Debates over distraction that began in the Enlightenment continue to shape the genre today, as modern essay forms – New York Times essays, blogs, Twitter feeds – continue to structure themselves around assumptions about short attention spans.
date: 2024
language: en
pages: 167–182

Fixing the Language: Samuel Johnson and His Dictionary
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Landmarks in the History of the English Language
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-003-27505-3 978-1-032-22989-8 978-1-032-22990-4
publisher: Routledge
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Keith
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Reference
abstract: Landmarks in the History of the English Language identifies twelve key landmarks spread throughout the language's history to provide a lively and interesting introduction to the history of English. Each landmark focuses on one individual associated with the key moment which helps to engage the reader and provide the history of the language with a ‘human face'. The landmarks range from Alfred the Great and his attempts to further English through its use in education, to the spread of English worldwide and the work of the linguist Braj Kachru. The final chapter takes a look into the future through the writings of David Crystal. Whilst focusing on the specific events and people, the book includes a broad outline of the history of English so that the reader can locate each landmark within the language's history. Written in a student-friendly style and with short activities available online, this book provides a brief introduction for those coming to the topic for the first time, as well a
date: 2024
language: en
pages: 74–84

Annotating The Rambler / The Annotated Rambler
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Notes on Footnotes: Annotating Eighteenth-Century Literature
publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: University Park
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
editors: Person
  surname: New
  given name: Melvyn
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: Essays
subject: Abstract
abstract: Lee examines the editorial history of Johnson's Rambler, specifically criticizing the "emaciated" annotation in the 1969 Yale Edition. He contrasts this with Johnson's own meticulous annotative practice in his editions of Shakespeare and Sir Thomas Browne. Lee identifies four types of annotation used by Johnson: word glosses, explanatory notes, source identification, and passage elucidation. Arguing that the Yale editors' "lean" style masks authorial intent and hinders modern readers who lack Latin, Lee presents his own project, The Annotated Rambler. This new edition uses the 1756 text and features "fertile" annotation to flesh out Johnson's "dense allusiveness." Lee restores original orthography to preserve tropes like personification and provides endnotes to minimize "notational distraction" while following Lonsdale's model for the Lives of the Poets.
date: 2023
language: en
pages: 171–184

Floating in the Breath of the People: Ossianic Mist, Cultural Health, and the Creation of Celtic Atmosphere, 1760–1815
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Romanticism: The Journal of Romantic Culture and Criticism
authors: Person
  surname: Kaminsky-Jones
  given name: Rhys
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
subject: Abstract
abstract: This essay uses Samuel Johnson's characterization of Gaelic culture as an essentially airborne phenomenon as the starting point for a wide-ranging consideration of the links between atmospheric and Celtic discourses during the Romantic era. This period has been deemed foundational to the literary ‘appearance' of air and the conceptual formation of Celticity, but these two cultural phenomena have rarely been considered in tandem. Beginning with a discussion of the atmospheric ideas that underpin the Poems of Ossian's infamous mists, the essay argues that critics have largely ignored the complexity of Macpherson's medicalized ecologies of air. The essay then moves on to consider the development of comparable cloudy symbolism during the Welsh cultural revival of the 1790s, when overcast skies became an organising metaphor used to express the cultural benightedness of Wales. The often-unexamined cliché of ‘Celtic mistiness' is revealed as a vital metaphor for the allure and imperfection o
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 135–148

Romanticism: The Journal of Romantic Culture and Criticism
type: Journal
volume: 27
number: 2
identifier: ISSN 1750-0192; 1354-991X

Milton at Bolt Court
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 24
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Clarke
  given name: Stephen
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Locations
subject: Abstract
abstract: Clarke traces the provenance of a framed engraving of John Milton by Jacobus Houbraken that once hung in Johnson's study at Bolt Court. Purchased after Johnson's death by his friend John Hoole, the print passed through several generations of the Hoole family and later the Toynbee family before being bequeathed to Dr. Johnson's House in 1952. Clarke contextualizes the print within Johnson's documented interest in collecting portrait prints and his complex, though ultimately admiring, relationship with Milton's poetic achievement, arguing that despite Johnson's political and personal distaste for Milton, his profound respect for the poet made the portrait a fitting decoration.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 3–14

From Writing Lives to Scaling Lives in Joseph Priestley's Chart of Biography
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation
  type: Journal
  volume: 62
  identifier: DOI 10.1353/ecy.2023.a906887
  number: 3-4
  alternative: ECTI
  identifier: ISSN 0193-5380
authors: Person
  surname: Hanlon
  given name: Aaron R.
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
subject: Philosophy
abstract: Joseph Priestley is often credited with the invention of the timeline for representing past lives and events, mainly in the Chart of Biography (1765) and Chart of History (1769). These efforts place Priestley squarely within the history of data visualization. This article argues that we should also consider Priestley's Chart of Biography as part of the history of biography or life writing, particularly because Priestley's A Description of a Chart of Biography, a written account of the Chart ‘s purpose and methodology, accompanied the Chart itself. Toward that end, this article tracks the similarities between the epistemological and methodological aims of biographers such as Samuel Johnson and those of Priestley in his effort to represent lives "without the intervention of words," as he put it. In so doing, this article also identifies Priestley's contributions to the long history of the concept of data, from seventeenth- and eighteenth-century usages of the term to the formation of the modern "data subject," the representation of a person as an aggregation of available data about them.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 279–293

A Brief History of Johnsonian Studies in Japan
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Johnson in Japan
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-242-9 978-1-68448-245-0
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Eto
  given name: Hideichi
editors: Person
  surname: Ogawa
  given name: Kimiyo
editors: Person
  surname: Suzuki
  given name: Mika
editors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: Johnson
subject: History
subject: Abstract
abstract: Eto presents a chronological history of Johnson's reception and academic study in Japan, spanning from the Meiji era to the early twenty-first century. He documents the transformation of Johnson's image, initially regarded as a moral guide through Rasselas, which was widely used in education, into a subject of serious literary scholarship focusing on his diverse works. Eto discusses key publications, translations by scholars like Fukuhara, the impact of Ishida's work, the establishment of the Johnson Society of Japan, and the broadening scope of research, including lexicography, while noting a recent decline in output.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 10–26

Hearne, Roper, More, and Rambler 71
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 67 [265]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjaa110
  number: 3
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Essays
subject: Johnson
abstract: Lee discusses that it is lamented by Hearne, the learned antiquary of Oxford, that this general forgetfulness of the fragility of life, has remarkably infected the students of monuments and records; as their employment consists first in collecting and afterwards in arranging or abstracting what libraries afford them, they ought to amass no more than they can digest; but when they have undertaken a work, they go on searching and transcribing, call for new supplies, when they are already over-burdened, and at last leave their work unfinished.
date: 2020-09
language: en
pages: 422–426

The Sociable Philosopher: David Hume and the Philosophical Essay
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: On Essays: Montaigne to the Present
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-870786-8
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Parker
  given name: Fred
editors: Person
  surname: Karshan
  given name: Thomas
editors: Person
  surname: Murphy
  given name: Kathryn
subject: Johnson
subject: Philosophy
subject: Abstract
abstract: David Hume’s philosophical essays of the 1740s offer to bring intellectual reflection into ‘the conversible world’, posing the question of whether this compromises or exemplifies the task of philosophy. Comparisons are drawn with Shaftesbury’s philosophical worldliness, facilitated by the selective nature of the ‘Club’ for whom he writes, Johnson’s more strenuous negotiations between intellectual and social being, and the edgy raillery with which Fielding addresses his public in the essay-chapters of Tom Jones. Against these contexts, the urbanity of Hume’s essay-writing is explored in relation to the implications of the Treatise; the importance of convention and civility; and qualities of ‘reserve’ or ‘modesty’ and the kind of detachment implied in Hume’s ‘delicacy of taste’. The sense of an elusive intentionality, poised against the overt hospitality to contingency and spontaneity which the essay-form equally enables, is traced in particular in the essays that make up the first Enquiry.
date: 2020
language: en
pages: 115–131

Eovaai and the Fiction of Fantasy in Eighteenth-Century England
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Approaches to Teaching the Works of Eliza Haywood
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-60329-462-1 978-1-60329-424-9 978-1-60329-425-6 978-1-60329-426-3
publisher: Modern Language Association of America
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Ballaster
  given name: Ros
editors: Person
  surname: Potter
  given name: Tiffany
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
date: 2020
language: en
pages: 155–161

Creating the 'Classless' Author: Authorship and the Social Hierarchy, 1660–1800
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Textual Practice
authors: Person
  surname: Hudson
  given name: Nicholas
subject: Abstract
subject: Authorship
subject: Johnson
abstract: This essay addresses the following question: ‘What is the social class of the author?' Previous scholarship on the rise of modern authorship in the eighteenth century has generally answered this question in two different ways. According to some scholars, the ‘author' emerged during this period in order to articulate and propagate ‘bourgeois' ideology. According to other scholars, however, capitalist society increasingly excluded the literary artist from its governing aims and values. In revisiting this issue, I trace the emergence of the modern author from the late seventeenth to the eighteenth century. Beginning with the first literary biographies or ‘lives of the poets' after the restoration, I argue that the problem of defining the author's social status became problematic during the debates over literary property in the eighteenth century. It was left to authors and critics of the late century to define a space for authorship separate from the emergent social hierarchy.
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 1577–1596

Textual Practice
type: Journal
volume: 33
identifier: DOI 10.1080/0950236X.2018.1467484
number: 9
identifier: ISSN 1470-1308; 0950-236X

'Less of the Heroine than the Woman': Parsing Gender in the British Novel
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830
authors: Person
  surname: Carlile
  given name: Susan
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
subject: Gender
subject: Abstract
abstract: This essay offers two methods that will help students resist the temptation to judge eighteenth-century novels by twenty-first-century standards. These methods prompt students to parse the question of whether female protagonists in novels—in this case, Daniel Defoe's Roxana (1724), Samuel Johnson's Rasselas (1759), and Charlotte Lennox's Sophia (1762)—are portrayed as perfect models or as complex humans. The first method asks them to engage with definitions of the term "heroine," and the second method uses word clouds to extend their thinking about the complexity of embodying a mid-eighteenth-century female identity.
date: 2017
language: en
pages: 1–10

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830
type: Journal
volume: 7
number: 1
alternative: ABO
identifier: ISSN 2157-7129

Who Killed Tom Cumming the Quaker? Recovering the Life Story of an Eighteenth-Century Adventurer
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Modern Philology
  type: Journal
  volume: 116
  number: 3
  alternative: MP
  identifier: ISSN 0026-8232
authors: Person
  surname: New
  given name: Melvyn
authors: Person
  surname: Walker
  given name: Robert G.
subject: Johnson
subject: Essays
subject: Abstract
abstract: New and Walker investigate Cumming, highlighting his multiple engagements with Johnson's circle and his varied career. The authors analyze material from Piozzi's Anecdotes and Boswell's Life and Journal to confirm Cumming's friendship with Johnson and his controversial reputation. The analysis draws on diverse sources, including Tobias Smollett's accounts and documents from the Annapolis Tuesday Club, to delineate Cumming's roles as a shorthand teacher, printer, and the controversial architect of the 1758 Senegal expedition. The text also explores the unsubstantiated claims in the 1774 Town and Country satire regarding Cumming's death, positing a hostile observer's animus as a possible motive.
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 262–298

The Edge of Satire: Post-Mortem and Other Effects
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Oxford Handbook of Eighteenth-Century Satire
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-872783-5
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Robinson
  given name: Peter
editors: Person
  surname: Bullard
  given name: Paddy
subject: Johnson
subject: Satire
subject: Abstract
abstract: Robinson identifies the edge where satire most sharply cuts and where, simultaneously, it may stop being satire. Responding to remarks of Jackson Bate’s on Johnson as a satirist manqué, an analysis of ‘On the Death of Dr. Robert Levet’ and other poems explores varieties of ways in which mortality in a Christian context displaces grounds for judgement, yet occasions criticism of literary pretension, the limits of friendship, and self-interest in the professional care of others. By contrast, a passage from Dryden’s ‘An Ode, on the Death of Mr. Henry Purcell’ rebukes the musician’s rivals so as to underline his loss to the world. Yet such a rebuke is edgeless to the extent that the rivalry it pinpoints has been nullified by the greater man’s demise. Thus, among relevant post-mortem and other effects here is the role death plays as a satirist of the impulse to satire.
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 629–644

In the First Circle: The Four Narrators of the Life of Savage
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Community and Solitude: New Essays on Johnson's Circle
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-022-7 978-1-68448-023-4 978-1-68448-024-1
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Wilcox
  given name: Lance E.
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
subject: Lives
abstract: Wilcox analyzes Johnson’s 1744 An Account of the Life of Mr Richard Savage by identifying four distinct narrative voices: the Sage, the Historian, the Memoirist, and the Friend. Each persona adopts a specific perspective, tone, and rhetorical strategy to navigate the complexities of Savage’s life, his troubled interactions with his own literary circle (including figures like Steele and Pope), and Johnson’s personal relationship with him. Wilcox argues that understanding this multi-voiced narrative structure reveals Johnson’s methods for exploring Savage’s character and suggests how this early biographical project informed Johnson's later principles of community and association.
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 132–152

Thalesian Lessons: Mad Astronomers in British Fiction of the Long Eighteenth Century
item type: conferencePaper
is part of: Reading Swift: Papers from the Seventh Münster Symposium on Jonathan Swift
  type: Journal
  identifier: ISBN 978-3-7705-6397-5 978-3-8467-6397-1
publisher: Wilhelm Fink Verlag
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: München
authors: Person
  surname: Klaeger
  given name: Florian
editors: Person
  surname: Bischof
  given name: Janika
editors: Person
  surname: Juhas
  given name: Kirsten
editors: Person
  surname: Real
  given name: Hermann J.
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
subject: Abstract
abstract: Taking its cue from the representation of astronomy in Book Three of Gulliver’s Travels and versions of Thales of Miletus’ stargazing accident circulating in eighteenth-century England, this essay examines ‘mad’ astronomers in fictions of the long eighteenth century. In Margaret Cavendish’s The Blazing World, Swift’s Voyage to Laputa, Charlotte Lennox’s The Female Quixote, Dr. Johnson’s Rasselas, and Mary Shelley’s The Last Man, it explores the links that stargazers establish between reason, represented by the practice of astronomy as a ‘pure’ observational science, and the imagination, represented by madness and fiction. Either overly cerebral or motivated by the most basic drives, fictional astronomers hold up for consideration various kinds of madness that offer insight into the developing relationship between science and the imagination, and in particular the legitimacy and dangers of fictionalizing.
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 283–310

'I Mourn Their Nature, but Admire Their Art': Anna Seward's Assertion of Critical Authority in Maturity and Old Age
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: ES Review: Spanish Journal of English Studies
authors: Person
  surname: Blanch Serrat
  given name: Francesca
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Correspondence
subject: Criticism
subject: Gender
abstract: Blanch Serrat provides a theoretically informed analysis of the public paper-war between Anna Seward and Boswell in the Gentleman's Magazine during 1786--1787 and 1793--1794. The dispute arose over Boswell's biographical treatment of Johnson and his decision to suppress Seward's anecdotal contributions from the Life of Johnson. Seward, writing initially under the pseudonym Benvolio, challenged Boswell to adopt a more balanced, rational approach rather than blind idolatry toward Johnson's moral character. Blanch Serrat uses the framework of age and gender studies to demonstrate that Boswell actively dismissed Seward's literary and critical authority by weaponizing her status as an old maid and an amateur writer against her. Seward resisted this professionalized, male-gendered shift in Romantic literary aesthetics by maintaining her objective, ethical critical stance and ungendering intellectual skill.
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 11–31

ES Review: Spanish Journal of English Studies
type: Journal
volume: 40
identifier: DOI 10.24197/ersjes.40.2019.11-31
number: 40
identifier: ISSN 2531-1654; 2531-1646

The Eighteenth Century: Print, Professionalization, and Defining the Author
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Cambridge Handbook of Literary Authorship
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-316-71751-6 978-1-107-16865-7
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Schellenberg
  given name: Betty A.
editors: Person
  surname: Berensmeyer
  given name: Ingo
editors: Person
  surname: Buelens
  given name: Gert
editors: Person
  surname: Demoor
  given name: Marysa
subject: Johnson
subject: Authorship
subject: Abstract
abstract: On the unstable category of authorship, noting how Johnson aligned himself with booksellers as his patrons and professionalized authorship. It contrasts this with sociable authorship cultivated by Hester Thrale (Piozzi). The aftermath of Donaldson v. Becket created more work for Johnson.
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 133–146

'What We Want in Elegance, We Gain in Copiousness': Eighteenth-Century English and Its Empire of Tongues
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation
  type: Journal
  volume: 57
  identifier: DOI 10.1353/ecy.2016.0005
  number: 1
  alternative: ECTI
  identifier: ISSN 0193-5380
authors: Person
  surname: DeWispelare
  given name: Daniel
subject: Abstract
subject: Empire
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
abstract: Recognizing the simultaneous rise of the English standardization movement and the British Empire, this article addresses how eighteenth-century attempts at "correcting, improving, and ascertaining the English tongue" can be read as political and social allegories offering insight into the expanding empire's emerging self-image. With close readings of Daniel Defoe, Samuel Johnson, and Hugh Blair, this article focuses in particular on the many contentious resonances of English as a 'copious' language, one whose hybridity seemed capable at times of both worsening and alleviating the empire's fissures. By using language theory to locate the original articulation of copiousness as problem and solution, this article continues with a reading of a poem by Sir William Jones, a writer who saw a specific form of cultural and linguistic syncretism as a way to advance both literature and empire.
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 121–140

'The Warrior Dwindled to a Beau': The War on Adopting French Language and Manners in 18th-Century Britain
item type: conferencePaper
is part of: Enlightenment Liberties / Libertés des Lumières: Actes du séminaire de la Société internationale d'étude du XVIIIe siècle
  type: Journal
  identifier: ISBN 978-2-7453-4558-5 978-2-7453-4559-2
publisher: Honoré Champion
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Paris
authors: Person
  surname: Mason
  given name: Jon-Kris
editors: Person
  surname: Ehrsam
  given name: Raphaël
editors: Person
  surname: Solomonescu
  given name: Yasmin
editors: Person
  surname: Ansart
  given name: Guillaume
editors: Person
  surname: Seth
  given name: Catriona
subject: Johnson
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 183–200

Charlotte Brontë Refashions Rasselas
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Ways of Fiction: New Essays on the Literary Cultures of the Eighteenth Century
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-5275-0828-6
publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Newcastle upon Tyne
authors: Person
  surname: Watkin
  given name: Amy
editors: Person
  surname: Crowe
  given name: Nicholas J.
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 213–230

The Classicists' Myopia and the Neo-Classicists' Foresight in Perceiving the Superiority of Epic over Tragedy: A Critical Survey
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Language in India
authors: Person
  surname: Jayraj
  given name: S. Joseph Arul
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Classics
subject: Abstract
abstract: This critical survey establishes the superiority of epic over tragedy by examining the arguments of classical and neo-classical critics. It traces the views of Plato and Aristotle, suggesting that Aristotle's framework is biased toward tragedy. The analysis then uses the arguments of John Dryden, Joseph Addison, and Samuel Johnson to objectively highlight epic poetry's greater length, scope for the marvelous, and elevated content, thereby asserting epic's distinction as the greater work of human nature.
date: 2017
language: en
pages: 63–80

Language in India
type: Journal
volume: 17
number: 4
identifier: ISSN 1930-2940

Literature, London, and Lives of the English Poets
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: London and Literature, 1603–1901
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-4438-1275-7
publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Newcastle upon Tyne
authors: Person
  surname: Harada
  given name: Noriyuki
editors: Person
  surname: Ralph
  given name: Barnaby
editors: Person
  surname: Davenport
  given name: Angela Kikue
editors: Person
  surname: Nakatsuma
  given name: Yui
contributors: Person
  surname: Dickens
  given name: Gerald
contributors: Person
  surname: Sasaki
  given name: Toru
subject: 19th
subject: Biography
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
subject: Lives
subject: Poetry
date: 2017
language: en
pages: 65–77

'I Feel Your Pain': Some Reflections on the (Literary) Perception of Pain
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Hurt(ful) Body: Performing and Beholding Pain, 1600–1800
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-78499-516-4
publisher: Manchester University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Manchester
authors: Person
  surname: Sawday
  given name: Jonathan
editors: Person
  surname: Macsotay
  given name: Tomas
editors: Person
  surname: Haven
  given name: Cornelis van der
editors: Person
  surname: Vanhaesebrouck
  given name: Karel
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Sawday investigates the shared human phenomenon of pain perception and its historical mediation through language and art. He focuses on the 18th-century 'intensive theory' of pain, notably as articulated by Samuel Johnson, who found the representation of Cordelia’s death in King Lear unendurable. Drawing on Locke, Johnson perceived pain as an excess of sensation that 'shocks' the mind. Sawday argues that literary imitations produce pain not by being mistaken for reality, but by bringing 'realities to mind,' a process governed by the imaginative capacity and what Adam Smith termed 'fellow-feeling.' The text concludes by bridging these historical views with modern neurological theories of 'word induced pain' and 'mirror neurons.'
date: 2017
language: en
pages: 97–114

From Grief to Leisure: 'Lycidas' in the Eighteenth Century
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Modern Language Quarterly
  type: Journal
  volume: 77
  identifier: DOI 10.1215/00267929-3331586
  number: 1
  alternative: MLQ
  identifier: ISSN 0026-7929
authors: Person
  surname: Brady
  given name: Andrea
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Milton
subject: Poetry
abstract: Milton's elegy for Edward King was widely admired and imitated in the eighteenth century. These imitations tend to celebrate the poem as an ornamental, musical work while suppressing its politics. By contrast, Samuel Johnson recognized that the poem's prosody and its generic heterogeneity were intrinsically related to its political critique. His objections to "Lycidas" also reflected his view that pastoral depicted an idealized life of rural leisure to distract and entertain city men. This ancient association between pastoral and leisure may have informed eighteenth-century readers' delight in the poem's "ease and variety," but it is also a fundamental misreading of the ethics of labor set out in the poem. In its enactment of the spiritual and writerly work of the shepherd, in Milton's revisions, and in its monodic form, "Lycidas" offers readers a choice between sensual dalliance and arduous song. Monody was both a collective song, performed during work to relieve its strains, and an individual utterance. This form reasserts the labor idealized by pastoral as a spiritual necessity. The eighteenth-century reception of "Lycidas" reveals how the revolutionary potential of lyric was converted to entertainment, a moment whose legacies may be perceived in some contemporary theories of lyric.
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 41–63

Fraudulence and Savagery in Three Eighteenth-Century British Writers
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Il Confronto Letterario: Quaderni di Letterature Straniere Moderne e Comparate dell'Università di Pavia
authors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
subject: Abstract
subject: Deception
subject: Johnson
abstract: Literary fraudulence is a well-known hallmark of eighteenth-century British writing from George Psalmanazar to William Lauder to James Macpherson, Thomas Chatterton, and Samuel Ireland. The “savage,” in the sense both of the wild and the brutal, is also a well-catalogued concern of the same period. How these two preoccupations might be related, however, has not been discussed. Looking at the writings of Psalmanazar, Swift, and Samuel Johnson, this essay attempts to reveal the hidden association between acts of savagery and acts of fraudulence in writing. The essay suggests that there is in the eighteenth century a sort of kinship between savagery and fiction or, in other words, that savagery is a hallmark of the fictional and the fraudulent in art at this time.
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 37–53

Il Confronto Letterario: Quaderni di Letterature Straniere Moderne e Comparate dell'Università di Pavia
type: Journal
volume: 33
number: 65 [1]
identifier: ISSN 0394-994X

The Horatian Tradition in Odes on Spring by English and Russian Poets
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Ways of Being in Literary and Cultural Spaces
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-4438-9751-8
publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Newcastle upon Tyne
authors: Person
  surname: Kistanova
  given name: Anastasia
editors: Person
  surname: Loveday
  given name: Leo
editors: Person
  surname: Parpală
  given name: Emilia
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Abstract
abstract: Kristanova examines the reception of the Horatian spring ode tradition among eighteenth-century English and Russian poets, focusing on Johnson and Gray in the former group. Gray's "On the Spring" fuses Horatian themes of carpe diem and memento mori with English pastoral, elegiac, and Pre-Romantic elements. Johnson's "Spring" reflects rational Neoclassicism, replacing mythological figures with allegorical ones, and interprets spring not as an invitation to pleasure but as an appeal to Stoic principles and rationalistic contemplation, aligning its philosophy with the mature Horace. The study then analyzes the Horatian influence in the Russian odes of Trediakovsky, Muravyov, and Kapnist, noting Trediakovsky's creation of the first Russian landscape poem, Muravyov's detailed Thomsonian descriptions, and Kapnist's fusion of classical motifs with Russian folk traditions.
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 157–169

Two Quotations in Marx's Capital Identified
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Science & Society
authors: Person
  surname: Bhattacharya
  given name: Ramkrishna
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: This essay identifies two unacknowledged quotations in Marx's Capital, Volume I. The first, Marx's motto "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti!," is an adaptation of a line spoken by Virgil to Dante in La Divina Commedia: Purgatorio. The second quotation, the definition of humans as "a tool-making animal," is attributed by Marx to Franklin. The author traces this definition to Boswell's Life of Johnson, where Johnson offers a naive retort to the definition. Johnson's documented reading of Shakespeare, edited by Johnson, suggests Marx may have encountered the definition via Boswell.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 610–613

Science & Society
type: Journal
volume: 79
number: 4
identifier: ISSN 0036-8237

From Moated Castle to Modern Parlour: Anna Letitia Barbauld's Theorization of Wonder, Women, and the Novel
item type: conferencePaper
is part of: Lumen: Selected Proceedings from the Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies / Travaux choisis de la Société canadienne d'étude du dix-huitième siècle
  type: Journal
  volume: 39
  identifier: DOI 10.7202/1069406ar
authors: Person
  surname: Ready
  given name: Kathryn
subject: Abstract
subject: Fiction
subject: Gender
subject: Johnson
abstract: As a literary critic Anna Letitia Barbauld provides important evidence for those who have sought to challenge a long-established critical view that the development of the novel was premised on a renunciation of the wonders of romance which went hand in hand with the project of Enlightenment science and its rejection of miracles and the supernatural. At the same time, she presents an alternative perspective from that of influential eighteenth-century male critics such as Samuel Johnson regarding the relationship between novels and romances, and a sharply contrasting view of the place of wonder within the overall history of fiction. Against male contemporaries, she makes a case for women's continuing special claims as readers and writers of fiction based in part on their greater receptivity to emotions such as that of wonder, challenging Johnson's implicit positioning of men as the leaders of a developing form of literary realism that required a broad knowledge of nature and society.
date: 2020
language: en
short title: Lumen
pages: 113–131

Literary and Aesthetic Theory
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Cambridge Companion to Eighteenth-Century Thought
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-107-08248-9 978-1-139-99838-3
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Smallwood
  given name: Philip
editors: Person
  surname: De Bruyn
  given name: Frans
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Smallwood examines the emergence of aesthetics in the eighteenth century, showing that it was neither a discrete field nor independent of other disciplines. He notes that Johnson, a great literary critic of the age, was not immune to the vocabulary of aesthetics. Johnson's Preface to The Works of William Shakespeare defines poetic genius via the aesthetic criterion of "general nature." This aligns with Kant’s later formulation of inter-subjective judgment. Johnson also explored what constitutes the pleasure derived from tragedy in a discussion noted for its brevity and astuteness. The author states that Boswell’s record notes Johnson’s observation that reading Samuel Richardson for the plot would "fret" a reader.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 205–226

Twelfth Night's 'Fustian Riddle': A Puzzle with No Solution?
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Shakespeare
authors: Person
  surname: Embry
  given name: Thomas J.
subject: Abstract
subject: Drama
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Shakespeare
abstract: This essay makes the controversial claim that it has finally solved Twelfth Night's "fustian riddle," the riddle Maria devises to entrap Malvolio. Paying close attention to First Folio spellings, Elizabethan pronunciation, and uncommon meanings of key words and phrases, it uncovers essential hints and clues that have been obscured by the passage of time but would have been readily accessible to Twelfth Night's original audiences. The most helpful of these, it turns out, are embedded in Fabian's quip — made as Malvolio is trying to discover the correct "alphabetical position" of the letters M.O.A.I. – "And O shall end, I hope." As Samuel Johnson long ago proposed, this remark alludes to the subject of hanging: the "O" makes a visual pun on the hangman's noose, with "end" of course being a reference to the fate of the person being hanged. In addition to this figurative meaning, Fabian's comment provides literal clues about the correct ordering of the four letters, the most obvious being
date: 2020
language: en
pages: 356–372

Shakespeare
type: Journal
volume: 16
identifier: DOI 10.1080/17450918.2020.1800808
number: 4
identifier: ISSN 1745-0926; 1745-0918

Spectacle and Speculation on James Boswell's German Tour, 1764
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: SEL: Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900
authors: Person
  surname: Glover
  given name: Brian
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
abstract: While in Samuel Johnson and others James Boswell chases men of distinguished accomplishments, in the journals and letters of his 1764 tour of German Courts his imagination is fired by the idea of hierarchical greatness in itself. Among the petty princes of Germany he fantasizes about a sense of importance that transcends not only the judgment of the observer but also anything anyone might write about them in the public sphere of print. Yet in his writings he can only imagine that greatness through a critical consciousness shaped by print culture. This article explores publicness as an aesthetic category in Boswell's writing.
date: 2017
language: en
pages: 561–581

SEL: Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900
type: Journal
volume: 57
identifier: DOI 10.1353/sel.2017.0024
number: 3
alternative: SEL
identifier: ISSN 1522-9270; 0039-3657

Quotation and Example in Johnson's Abridged Dictionary (1756–78)
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: International Journal of Lexicography
authors: Person
  surname: Osselton
  given name: Noel E.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Reference
abstract: Osselton disputes the common scholarly opinion that Johnson removed all quotations in his abridged octavo. He demonstrates that Johnson selectively retained and tweaked quotations for function words like from, of, and to to serve didactic purposes. Osselton finds that Johnson often rewrote authorial texts, using them as templates for creating new illustrative examples to address a wider, less educated public while maintaining the Johnson brand through mass authorization with authors' names.
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 475–484

International Journal of Lexicography
type: Journal
volume: 31
identifier: DOI 10.1093/ijl/ecy002
number: 4
identifier: ISSN 1477-4577; 0950-3846

'Life beyond Life': Reading Milton's Areopagitica through Enlightenment Vitalism
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Studies
  type: Journal
  volume: 49
  number: 3
  alternative: ECS
  identifier: ISSN 0013-2586
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Erik L.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Science
abstract: Scientific attempts to define life, familiarly linked to romanticism and to poetic form, had an earlier and broader impact on literary interpretation. John Milton's Areopagitica, which metaphorically treats books as living things, rose to preeminence during the eighteenth century as readers paid increasing attention to its literary qualities. A free adaptation by Honoré de Mirabeau on the eve of the French Revolution minimized Milton's republicanism and drew out the tendencies toward vitalism inherent in his figurative language. Together with British responses to Samuel Johnson's critical 1779 Life of Milton, Mirabeau's adaptation demonstrates a way of reading informed by Enlightenment vitalism.
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 353–370

item_15262
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Intelligencer
  type: Journal
  volume: 29
  number: 1
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: Journals
subject: Boswell
subject: Journalism
subject: Editing
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
title: Editing, Editions, Essays, and Lives: Johnson, Boswell, and Other Usual/Unusual Suspects, 2014 [review of Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century, by Howard D. Weinbrot; Editing Lives: Essays in Contemporary Textual and Biographical Studies in Honor of O M Brack, Jr., by Jesse G. Swan; and Facts and Inventions: Selections from the Journalism of James Boswell, by James Boswell, Paul Tankard, and Lisa Marr]
abstract: Lee rates Weinbrot’s Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century as an essential classic, praising its lovely aesthetics and scholarly rigor in linking minute textual details to broader historical contexts, exemplified by the essays' quality. Swan’s Editing Lives is a fine festschrift, successfully blending austere textual criticism with moving subjective humanity. Its strength is the comprehensive tribute and rigorous scholarly essays, while its title is noted for its subtle ambiguity. Tankard’s Facts and Inventions is a major contribution to Boswellian studies, providing a well-annotated, accessible archive of Boswell’s journalism, but its narrative organization is noted. The early journalistic pieces show a restrained, tonally neutral Boswell, lacking the fluent dialogue of his later works.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 43–50

Boswell's Dictionary and the Status of Scots Dialect in the Eighteenth Century
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: SEL: Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900
  type: Journal
  volume: 60
  identifier: DOI 10.1353/sel.2020.0020
  number: 3
  alternative: SEL
  identifier: ISSN 1522-9270; 0039-3657
authors: Person
  surname: Walle
  given name: Taylor
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Reference
subject: Scotland
abstract: This article examines James Boswell's still-unpublished "Dictionary of the Scots Language," contextualizing it within eighteenth-century debates about Scots and emphasizing the ways that it diverges from the work of Boswell's peers. While Samuel Johnson's dictionary follows literary precedent, and the work of the Scottish literati encourages readers to minimize the Scottishness of their speech and writing, Boswell's dictionary features a surprisingly familiar and conversational form of the Scots language. As such, the dictionary both highlights Boswell's own interest in the vernacular and points to an alternative thread in eighteenth-century thinking about Scots.
date: 2020
language: en
pages: 485–506

Samuel Johnson and the Powers of Friendship
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Routledge Studies in Eighteenth-Century Literature Series
publisher: Routledge
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
editors: Person
  surname: Cousins
  given name: A. D.
editors: Person
  surname: Derrin
  given name: Daniel
editors: Person
  surname: Napton
  given name: Dani
subject: Abstract
subject: Family
subject: Johnson
abstract: Cousins, Derrin, and Napton’s edited volume provides the first book-length assessment of Johnson’s multi-faceted insights into friendship throughout his literary career. The collection explores Johnson’s engagement with ancient philosophies and subsequent reformulations of that inheritance. Several chapters illuminate Johnson’s understanding of friendship in both private and public spheres, focusing on its therapeutic capacity to ameliorate personal experience and its transformative impact on civil life. Contributors analyze Johnson’s portrayals of his own social circles, including well-known figures such as Boswell and Piozzi, alongside his fictional representations across various genres. The volume includes specific investigations into Johnson’s political friendships, his relationships with women writers, and the role of amity in his periodical essays and travel writing. These essays collectively present a re-evaluation of the Johnson canon, identifying friendship as a critical element of eighteenth-century British civility. The front matter provides biographical information on contributors and an introduction outlining three core themes: the enlargement of selfhood, the healing of damaged consciousness, and the interaction of men and women within and beyond marriage.
date: 2024
language: en
identifier: ISBN 1-003-33026-6
identifier: DOI 10.4324/9781003330264

Famous Authors: Samuel Johnson, 1709–1784
type: Recording
item type: videoRecording
publisher: TMW Media
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Venice, California
directors: Person
  surname: Hossick
  given name: Malcolm
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Samuel Johnson was one of the most interesting figures of literature in 18th c England. He founded a literary magazine The Rambler and compiled the first major dictionary of English. He is best remembered as the subject of a biography by his friend Boswell. This film by Malcolm Hossick explores his life and the influence he had on the thought and manners of his age. It is followed by an overview of his work.
date: 2017
language: en

Samuel Johnson: Selected Works
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Yale University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New Haven
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
editors: Person
  surname: Fix
  given name: Stephen
editors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
abstract: A one-volume collection of the prose and poetry of eighteenth-century Britain's pre-eminent lexicographer, critic, biographer, and poet Samuel Johnson. Samuel Johnson was eighteenth-century Britain's preeminent man of letters, and his influence endures to this day. He excelled as a moral and literary critic, biographer, lexicographer, and poet. This anthology, designed to make Johnson's essential works accessible to students and general readers, draws its texts from the definitive Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson. In most cases, texts are included in full rather than excerpted. The anthology includes many essays from The Rambler and other periodicals; Rasselas; the prefaces to Johnson's Dictionary and his edition of Shakespeare; the complete Lives of Cowley, Milton, Pope, Savage, and Gray, as well as generous selections from A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. Some parts are arranged thematically, allowing readers to focus on such topics as religion, marriage, war, and literature. The anthology includes a biographical introduction, and its ample annotation updates and enlarges the commentary in the Yale Edition.
date: 2021
language: en
identifier: ISBN 0-300-25800-3
identifier: DOI 10.12987/9780300258004

The Fortunes of Francis Barber: The True Story of the Jamaican Slave Who Became Samuel Johnson's Heir
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Yale University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New Haven
authors: Person
  surname: Bundock
  given name: Michael
is referenced by: item_174503
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Death
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
subject: Slavery
abstract: The story of the extraordinary relationship between a former slave and England's most distinguished man of letters This compelling book chronicles a young boy's journey from the horrors of Jamaican slavery to the heart of London's literary world, and reveals the unlikely friendship that changed his life. Francis Barber, born in Jamaica, was brought to London by his owner in 1750 and became a servant in the household of the renowned Dr. Samuel Johnson. Although Barber left London for a time and served in the British navy during the Seven Years" War, he later returned to Johnson's employ. A fascinating reversal took place in the relationship between the two men as Johnson's health declined and the older man came to rely more and more upon his now educated and devoted companion. When Johnson died he left the bulk of his estate to Barber, a generous (and at the time scandalous) legacy, and a testament to the depth of their friendship. There were thousands of black Britons in the eighteenth century, but few accounts of their lives exist. In uncovering Francis Barber's story, this book not only provides insights into his life and Samuel Johnson's but also opens a window onto London when slaves had yet to win their freedom. Chapter 1, "The House in Gough Square," addresses the initial meeting between Samuel Johnson and the young, Jamaican-born Francis Barber, establishing the contrast between the unkempt lexicographer and his newly arrived servant within the busy context of 18th-century London. Chapter 2, "'The Dunghill of the Universe,'" argues that Barber’s early identity was rooted in the brutal chattel slavery of Jamaican sugar plantations, identifying his likely birth as "Quashey" to a woman named Grace on Colonel Richard Bathurst’s estate. Chapter 3, "A New Name," examines Barber’s arrival in England in 1750, his subsequent baptism—a ritual of contested legal significance—and his early education at a remote Yorkshire school intended to keep him out of his former owne…
date: 2015
language: en
short title: Fortunes of Francis Barber
identifier: ISBN 0-300-21390-5
num pages: 288
identifier: DOI 10.12987/9780300213904

item_174503
type: Memo
value: Reviews: John Carey, Sunday Times (London), April 19, 2015; Stanley L. Engerman, Journal of British Studies 55, no. 1 (2016): 171–72; Gretchen H. Gerzina, NR, Series F, no. 18 (2014): 89–92; Ryan Hanley, JNL 67, no. 2 (2016): 54–57; Henry Hitchings, The Guardian, 2015; Anthony W. Lee, Choice 52, no. 12 (2015): 2088; Douglas Mann, Historian (Kingston) 80, no. 1 (2018): 143–44; Charles Nicholl, LRB 37, no. 14 (2015): 21–23; Publishers Weekly, January 26, 2015; Edward Short, Weekly Standard, September 28, 2015; Kathryn Sutherland, TLS, no. 5861 (2015): 8–9; Ian Thomson, New Statesman, May 22, 2015; Frances Wilson, The Spectator 328, no. 9743 (2015): 42.

The Literary Criticism of Samuel Johnson: Forms of Artistry and Thought
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Smallwood
  given name: Philip
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Abstract
abstract: Smallwood argues for experiencing Johnson's critical texts as artworks in their own right, suggesting his judgments often spring from emotional sources of great personal intensity and depth. He challenges the view of Johnson as a dry evaluator, highlighting instead a deep emotional responsiveness and criteria of the heart that inform his literary estimates. Smallwood examines Johnson’s compassion through his biographical depictions of Pope and Swift, noting an unsentimental pity and an unshrinking grasp of human suffering. The text explores Johnson’s impassioned prose and his use of neo-Latin as an emotional proxy to manage personal grief. Smallwood further analyzes Johnson’s critical relations with figures like John Dennis and Thomas Warton, framing Johnson's approach as a critical anti-philosophy that privileges the stability of truth and general nature over abstract theory. By reviewing recent editions of the Lives of the Poets, Smallwood seeks to recover the artistic organization of Johnson’s final major work, emphasizing its enduring status as living literature. Chapter 1, "Johnson’s Compassion," addresses the emotional foundations of the subject's critical practice, arguing that his unsentimental pity for human suffering serves as a primary criterion for evaluating the moral depth of literary works. Chapter 2, "'The tears stand in my eyes': Johnson and Emotion," explores the relationship between personal grief and critical judgment, contending that the subject's mastery of Latin functioned as a necessary psychic shield to restrain emotional excess while allowing for the expression of profound feeling. Chapter 3, "Petty Caviller or 'Formidable Assailant': Johnson Reads Dennis," examines the subject's engagement with the combative critic John Dennis, identifying a shared commitment to rational disputatiousness that elevates the status of the critic to that of a formidable intellectual opponent. Chapter 4, "Readers Curious and Common: Johnson, Thomas Warton and H…
date: 2023
language: en
identifier: ISBN 978-1-009-37001-1

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness: Britain and the American Dream (1740–1776) with Benjamin Franklin — William Strahan — Samuel Johnson — John Wilkes — Catharine Macaulay — Thomas Paine
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Chatto & Windus
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Moore
  given name: Peter
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: A history of the British thinkers who developed the Enlightenment-era ideas and ideals that drove the American Revolution"— Provided by publisher. "The most famous phrase in American history once looked quite different. "The preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness" was how Thomas Jefferson put it in the first draft of the Declaration, before the first ampersand was scratched out, along with "the preservation of." In a statement as pithy — and contested — as this, a small deletion matters. And indeed, that final, iconizing revision was the last in a long chain of revisions stretching across the Atlantic and back. The precise contours of these three rights have never been pinned down — and yet in making these words into rights, Jefferson reified the hopes (and debates) not only of a group of rebel-statesmen but also of an earlier generation of British thinkers who could barely imagine a country like the United States of America. Peter Moore's Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness tells the true story of what may be the most successful import in US history: the "American dream." Centered on the friendship between Benjamin Franklin and the British publisher William Strahan, and featuring figures including the cultural giant Samuel Johnson, the ground-breaking historian Catharine Macaulay, the firebrand politician John Wilkes, and revolutionary activist Thomas Paine, this book looks at the generation that preceded the Declaration in 1776. Everyone, it seemed, had "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" on their minds; Moore shows why, and reveals how these still-nascent ideals made their way across an ocean and started a revolution.
date: 2023
language: en
identifier: ISBN 978-1-78474-319-2

Samuel Johnson's 'Lives of the Poets': Ethical Literary Criticism
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Palgrave Studies in the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Cultures of Print
publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cham, Switzerland
authors: Person
  surname: Tomarken
  given name: Edward
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Lives
subject: Medicine
subject: Milton
subject: Poetry
abstract: Tomarken presents a comprehensive study of the literary-critical sections of Johnson's final major work, arguing that these portions document the "ethical function of poetry" in culture. Using Ralph Cohen’s genre methodology, the monograph converts Johnson’s moral commentary into ethical literary criticism that addresses human problems and "the good life." Tomarken characterizes Johnson as an "eclectic thinker" who expanded traditional genre methods to accommodate insights into his age's literature. The analysis focuses on how genre interpretation relates literature to life, emphasizing that Johnson’s value judgements are not absolute but "contextualized and goal-directed." Key chapters examine metaphysical poetry, the pastoral elegy, and the epic, with particular attention to the "interpretive turn" in the Life of Savage. Tomarken asserts that Johnson’s criticism remains relevant for twenty-first-century readers because it provides a "middle ground" for civilized interchange and the preservation of civilization's best values through evaluative interpretation. Chapter 1, 'Why Genre', establishes Ralph Cohen’s historical genre theory as a framework for converting traditional moral commentary into ethical literary criticism that addresses contemporary human problems. Chapter 2, 'A Literary-Critical Tragedy: The Interpretive Turn in the Life of Savage', addresses the biographical intermingling of life and verse to frame Savage’s failures as a moral-literary paradox. Chapter 3, 'Metaphysical Poetry and Pastoral: Genre in Relation to Value Judgements and History', argues that genre provides the necessary structure for discriminating between successful innovation and derivative, formulaic repetition in poetic traditions. Chapter 4, 'Genre Combination and Interpretation: Johnson on Paradise Lost', analyzes the integration of allegory and narrative, contending that this mixture undermines the epic's core purpose by diminishing human interest. Chapter 5, 'Genre and Periodiza…
date: 2024
language: en
identifier: ISBN 978-3-031-61842-0
num pages: 172
identifier: DOI 10.1007/978-3-031-61842-0

Lives of Houses
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Princeton University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Princeton
authors: Person
  surname: Kennedy
  given name: Kate
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Hermione
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
subject: Locations
abstract: A group of notable writers — including UK poet laureate Simon Armitage, Julian Barnes, Margaret MacMillan, and Jenny Uglow — celebrate our fascination with the houses of famous literary figures, artists, composers, and politicians of the past. What can a house tell us about the person who lives there? Do we shape the buildings we live in, or are we formed by the places we call home? And why are we especially fascinated by the houses of the famous and often long-dead? In Lives of Houses, a group of notable biographers, historians, critics, and poets explores these questions and more through fascinating essays on the houses of great writers, artists, composers, and politicians of the past. Editors Kate Kennedy and Hermione Lee are joined by wide-ranging contributors, including Simon Armitage, Julian Barnes, David Cannadine, Roy Foster, Alexandra Harris, Daisy Hay, Margaret MacMillan, Alexander Masters, and Jenny Uglow. We encounter W. H. Auden, living in joyful squalor in New York's St. Mark's Place, and W. B. Yeats in his flood-prone tower in the windswept West of Ireland. We meet Benjamin Disraeli, struggling to keep up appearances, and track the lost houses of Virginia Woolf and Elizabeth Bowen. We visit Benjamin Britten in Aldeburgh, England, and Jean Sibelius at Ainola, Finland. But Lives of Houses also considers those who are unhoused, unwilling or unable to establish a home — from the bewildered poet John Clare wandering the byways of England to the exiled Zimbabwean writer Dambudzo Marechera living on the streets of London.With more than forty illustrations, Lives of Houses illuminates what houses mean to us and how we use them to connect to and think about the past. The result is a fresh and engaging look at house and home.
date: 2020
language: en
identifier: ISBN 0-691-20194-3
identifier: DOI 10.1515/9780691201948

Notes on Footnotes: Annotating Eighteenth-Century Literature
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Penn State Series in the History of the Book Series
publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: University Park
authors: Person
  surname: New
  given name: Melvyn
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: This collection presents fourteen essays on annotating eighteenth-century literature. Authored by editors and annotators of current standard editions — such as California's Works of John Dryden, the Florida Edition of the Works of Laurence Sterne, and the Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson — this book explores theoretical perspectives on critical editing and the practical work of annotation. Through examples from their own editorial work, the contributors illuminate the personal dilemmas and decisions confronting the annotator of texts: What information in the text needs annotation? When does one stop annotating? How does one manage the annotation-versus-interpretation problem? Brimming with erudition, Notes on Footnotes showcases the precision and attentiveness of some of the world's foremost editors and annotators. The book is necessary reading — not only for scholars of the eighteenth century but also for scholarly editors of texts of all historical periods, book historians, and book lovers in general. In addition to the editors, the contributors include Kate Bennett, Robert DeMaria Jr., Michael Edson, Robert D. Hume, Stephen Karian, Elizabeth Kraft, Thomas Lockwood, William McCarthy, Maximillian E. Novak, Shef Rogers, Robert G. Walker, and Marcus Walsh.
date: 2023
language: en
identifier: ISBN 0-271-09432-X
identifier: DOI 10.1515/9780271094328

Johnson in Japan
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
editors: Person
  surname: Ogawa
  given name: Kimiyo
editors: Person
  surname: Suzuki
  given name: Mika
contributors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
abstract: Ogawa and Suzuki assemble international scholars to examine how Johnson’s literary and biographical presence has been 'recuperated' by Japanese readers. Eto and Harada trace the historical shift from viewing Johnson as a 'moral teacher' to a 'man of letters', noting the pervasive use of Rasselas as an English textbook during the Meiji era's modernization. Ogawa and Yoshino investigate Johnson’s influence on Romanticism and realism, linking Rasselas to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Sōseki Natsume’s theories of domestic realism via Jane Austen. Suzuki explores the unique cultural appropriation of Johnson as a 'tea poet' by medical doctor Tamotsu Morowoka, while Iwata and Hattori analyze Johnson’s critical reception regarding Shakespeare and the imaginative role of 'Abyssinian' settings. Technical contributions by Fukumoto and Ogura use corpus stylistics to examine Johnson’s prose style and 'view of knowledge'. The volume concludes with Suwabe’s reconstruction of Johnson’s deathbed scene, advocating for the weight of eyewitness Sastres's account. Overall, the collection demonstrates that the 'Japanese Johnson' is an integral part of the country’s intellectual history, providing a lens through which to understand the interplay of tradition and westernization.
date: 2021
language: en
identifier: ISBN 1-68448-245-3
identifier: DOI 10.36019/9781684482450

The International Companion to James Macpherson and 'The Poems of Ossian'
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: International companions to Scottish literature
publisher: Scottish Literature International
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Glasgow
authors: Person
  surname: Moore
  given name: Dafydd
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Abstract
abstract: James Macpherson's "Poems of Ossian," first published from 1760 as Fragments of Ancient Poetry, were the literary sensation of the age. Attacked by Samuel Johnson and others as "forgeries," nonetheless the poems enthralled readers around the world, attracting rapturous admiration from figures as diverse as Goethe, Diderot, Jefferson, Bonaparte and Mendelssohn. This International Companion examines the social, political and philosophical context of the poems, their disputed origins, their impact on world literature, and the various critical afterlives of Macpherson and of his literary works.
date: 2017
language: en
identifier: ISBN 1-908980-20-6

Character and Morality in Eighteenth-Century British Thought
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: A Sincere and Teachable Heart: Self-Denying Virtue in British Intellectual Life, 1736–1859
  type: Book
  is part of: Scientific and Learned Cultures and Their Institutions
  identifier: ISBN 90-04-26335-7
publisher: Brill
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Leiden
authors: Person
  surname: Bellon
  given name: Richard
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Bellon demonstrates that respectability and authority in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain were not grounded foremost in ideas or specialist skills but in the self-denying virtues of patience and humility. Three case studies clarify this relationship between intellectual standards and practical moral duty. The first shows that the Victorians adapted a universal conception of sainthood to the responsibilities specific to class, gender, social rank, and vocation. The second illustrates how these ideals of self-discipline achieved their form and cultural vigor by analyzing the eighteenth-century moral philosophy of Joseph Butler, John Wesley, Samuel Johnson, and William Paley. The final reinterprets conflict between the liberal Anglican Noetics and the conservative Oxford Movement as a clash over the means of developing habits of self-denial.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 51–76

Dr. Johnson's Friend and Robert Adam's Client Topham Beauclerk
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Newcastle upon Tyne
authors: Person
  surname: Noy
  given name: David
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Noy chronicles the complex, twenty-one-year friendship between Johnson and the aristocratic Topham Beauclerk. The narrative explores how Beauclerk's connections to the Aston and Hervey families initially facilitated their intimacy, despite their disparate social backgrounds. Noy details their shared activities, including the famous "frisk" in Covent Garden and a visit to Cambridge in 1765. The author highlights Beauclerk’s unique ability to "tease him and tyrannize over him," noting that Johnson admired the young man's effortless conversational wit. The work also examines Beauclerk's role as a founder of The Club and his testimony, alongside Johnson, in the 1769 murder trial of Giuseppe Baretti. Noy suggests that Beauclerk served as a surrogate father figure for Johnson, while Johnson provided a stable intellectual anchor for the volatile aristocrat.
date: 2016
language: en
identifier: ISBN 1-4438-9325-0

Scandal Nation: Law and Authorship in Britain, 1750–1832
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Cornell University Press,
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Ithaca
authors: Person
  surname: Temple
  given name: Kathryn
subject: Abstract
subject: Authorship
subject: Johnson
subject: Law
abstract: Kathryn Temple argues that eighteenth-century Grub Street scandals involving print piracy, forgery, and copyright violation played a crucial role in the formation of British identity. Britain's expanding print culture demanded new ways of thinking about business and art. In this environment, print scandals functioned as sites where national identity could be contested even as it was being formed.Temple draws upon cases involving Samuel Richardson, Samuel Johnson, Catharine Macaulay, and Mary Prince. The public uproar around these controversies crossed class, gender, and regional boundaries, reaching the Celtic periphery and the colonies. Both print and spectacle, both high and low, these scandals raised important points of law, but also drew on images of criminality and sexuality made familiar in the theater, satirical prints, broadsides, even in wax museums. Like print culture itself, the "scandal" of print disputes constituted the nation-and resistance to its formation. Print transgression destabilized both the print industry and efforts to form national identity. Temple concludes that these scandals represent print's escape from Britain's strenuous efforts to enlist it in the service of nation.
date: 2018
language: en
identifier: ISBN 1-5017-1762-6
identifier: DOI 10.7591/9781501717628

Boswell, un libertin mélancolique: Sa vie, ses voyages, ses amours et ses opinions
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: UGA Éditions
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Grenoble
authors: Person
  surname: Lévy
  given name: Maurice
relation: 978-2-84310-030-7
subject: Boswell
subject: Travel
date: 2018
language: fr
identifier: ISBN 2-37747-152-8
identifier: DOI 10.4000/books.ugaeditions.7569

Nation-Space in Enlightenment Britain: An Archaeology of Empire
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Routledge studies in eighteenth-century literature
publisher: Routledge
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Choudhury
  given name: Mita
subject: Abstract
subject: Empire
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
abstract: "Nation-Space in Enlightenment Britain: An Archaeology of Empire is a provocative intervention that extends the parameters of on-going dialogues about British identity during the Enlightenment. Drawing on literary, theatrical, artistic, and other cultural productions, this book describes how British identity emerges not despite of but because of its fluid, volatile, and subversive impulses and expressions. The imperial establishment—codified in the logics of the corporation, the academy, the cathedral, the theater, as well the private parlor or garden — derives its power from scripting and championing a resistance to precisely those subversive elements which threaten or undermine the foundations of order and liberalism in civil society. Choudhury argues that imperial Britain can best be understood in terms of this culture's investment in spatial alignments which celebrated a radial interface with remote points of commercial interest. The volume shows that Daniel Defoe, Arthur Onslow, David Garrick, Joseph Banks, Daniel Solander, Hans Sloane, Francis Barber, Samuel Johnson, Charles Burney, and George Frideric Handel were not only part of a dazzling line-up of the empire's architects. In retrospect, their contributions reflect a remarkably modern pattern: the spatial dimension of corporate culture, and this culture's dependence on, and thus its collusion with, global commerce" — Provided by publisher.
date: 2019
language: en
identifier: ISBN 1-351-10873-5
identifier: DOI 10.4324/9781351108751

The Splintering of Culture: Reading versus Salon
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Sociability and society: literature and the symposium
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 1-5036-3485-X
  identifier: DOI 10.1515/9781503634855
publisher: Stanford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Stanford
authors: Person
  surname: Pfeiffer
  given name: K. Ludwig
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Today, churches, political parties, trade unions, and even national sports teams are no guarantee of social solidarity. At a time when these traditional institutions of social cohesion seem increasingly ill-equipped to defend against the disintegration of sociability, K. Ludwig Pfeiffer encourages us to reflect on the cultural and literary history of social gatherings — from the ancient Athenian symposium to its successor forms throughout Western history. From medieval troubadours to Parisian salons and beyond, Pfeiffer conceptualizes the symposium as an institution of sociability with a central societal function. As such he reinforces a programmatic theoretical move in the sociology of Georg Simmel and builds on theories of social interaction and communication characterized by Max Weber, George Herbert Mead, Jürgen Habermas, Niklas Luhmann, and others. To make his argument, Pfeiffer draws on the work of a range of writers, including Dr. Samuel Johnson and Diderot, Virginia Woolf and Marcel Proust, Dorothy Sayers, Joseph Conrad, and Stieg Larsson. Ultimately, Pfeiffer concludes that if modern societies do not find ways of reinstating elements of the Athenian symposium, especially those relating to its ritualized ease, decency and style of interaction, they will have to cope with increasing violence and decreasing social cohesion.
date: 2023
language: en
pages: 79–95

Samuel Johnson: Stella, Irene and Aspasia
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Donna Angelica and the British Enlightenment Poets: Six Studies from Butler to Crabbe
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-003-38689-6
publisher: Routledge
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Cousins
  given name: A. D.
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Renaissance
subject: Drama
subject: Abstract
abstract: This chapter investigates the donna angelica topos in the early lyrics and the tragedy Irene. The analysis details how Johnson personalizes the angelic lady motif in To Miss Hickman Playing on the Spinet and The Winter's Walk by engaging in implicit dialogue with Shakespeare, Donne, and Dryden. In Irene, the motif functions as an interrogation of the topos itself through the polarized characterizations of Aspasia and Irene. Aspasia embodies a Neostoic ideal of constantia and virtuous resistance to tyrannic power, whereas Irene represents a failed angelic lady whose thirst of empire leads to apostasy. The author argues that Johnson uses these female characters to stage a version of the Choice of Hercules, evaluating human instability against a Christianized ideal of conduct. The chapter concludes that Johnson demonstrates the continuing moral persuasiveness of the motif while associating Irene’s fall with a Faustian trajectory of guilt and despair.
date: 2024
language: en

Writing Revolution as Essential Recovery: Samuel Johnson's Return to Scotland after Ossian
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Essential Scots and the Idea of Unionism in Anglo-Scottish Literature, 1603–1832
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 1-61148-679-3
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Swenson
  given name: Rivka
subject: Johnson
subject: Scotland
subject: Abstract
abstract: Swenson analyzes Johnson’s Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland as a response to the "Idea" of Scotland and the trope of the durable Scottish traveler. Navigating a landscape affected by heavy emigration in the 1770s, Johnson balances the "reality of a Scotland left behind" with a desire for cultural restoration. Swenson argues that Johnson’s authorial "task" is to "return" readers to subjects "negligently regarded," such as the ruined cathedral at Arbroath or the "tragic island" of Iona. By suggesting that readers "form an exact ground-plot" of ruins, Johnson encourages a "long second-sight view" of Scotland's place within unionism. The text positions Iona as a potential future "instructress of the Western Regions," illustrating Johnson’s belief in the "revolutions of the world" and the possibility of recovering "piety" from "neglected feminized ground."
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 111–139

Samuel Johnson and London
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Home and Nation in British Literature from the English to the French Revolutions
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 1-316-44392-2
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Gottlieb
  given name: Evan
editors: Person
  surname: Cousins
  given name: A. D.
editors: Person
  surname: Payne
  given name: Geoff
subject: Johnson
subject: Family
subject: Abstract
abstract: In a world of conflicting nationalist claims, mass displacements and asylum-seeking, a great many people are looking for "home" or struggling to establish the 'nation." These were also important preoccupations between the English and the French revolutions: a period when Britain was first at war within itself, then achieved a confident if precarious equilibrium, and finally seemed to have come once more to the edge of overthrow. In the century and a half between revolution experienced and revolution observed, the impulse to identify or implicitly appropriate home and nation was elemental to British literature. This wide-ranging study by international scholars provides an innovative and thorough account of writings that vigorously contested notions and images of the nation and of private domestic space within it, tracing the larger patterns of debate, while at the same time exploring how particular writers situated themselves within it and gave it shape.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 141–153

Inventing the Myths: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Fictional Lives of Shakespeare
  type: Book
  is part of: Series
  identifier: ISBN 0-367-89159-X
publisher: Routledge
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Gilvary
  given name: Kevin
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Shakespeare
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Gilvary examines the emergence of unverified anecdotes and cultural myths surrounding Shakespeare during the Restoration and Enlightenment. Johnson features as a pivotal figure who formalizes the biographical approach to literary appreciation by "relating criticism to a chronological framework." Despite promoting the genre, Johnson never attempts a biography of Shakespeare, a failure arising from a "lack of biographical material." He views the loss of personal knowledge regarding Shakespeare as "irrecoverably lost" and notes that "Lives can only be written from personal knowledge". Johnson reluctantly includes Rowe’s account in his 1765 edition, though he finds it lacks "elegance or spirit". While Johnson establishes the popularity of the subgenre with his own collections, he remains skeptical of reconstructing a life without primary evidence, famously lamenting the inability to know the "petty habits" or "modes of composition" of the dramatist.
date: 2017
language: en
pages: 55–57

A Sociolinguistic History of British English Lexicography
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Routledge
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Abingdon
authors: Person
  surname: Yong
  given name: Heming
authors: Person
  surname: Peng
  given name: Jing
subject: Abstract
subject: History
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "Johnson established the prescriptive paradigm in British lexicography with his 1755 Dictionary, aiming to preserve purity and ascertain idiom. His Plan for a Dictionary of the English Language (1747) served as a foundation-laying manifesto, prioritizing the codification of pronunciation and the use of literary quotations from 'polite writers' to illustrate meaning. While Johnson expressed sorrow over the 'drudgery' of his toil, he successfully integrated methodology from predecessors like Bailey and Philips. His meticulously refined definitions, such as the witty and sometimes biased entries for 'oats' and 'excise,' surpassed earlier works in length and polysemous discrimination. Boswell later secured Johnson's status as an internationally renowned figure through his 1791 biography. Although critics dispute Johnson's etymological accuracy and highlight his occasional subjectivity, his dictionary remains a monumental milestone that transitioned English lexicography from a focus on hard words to a comprehensive record of the language. This work dominated the field until the historical principles of the nineteenth century gained prominence."
date: 2022
language: en
identifier: ISBN 1-003-18347-6

Samuel Johnson: Selected Works
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
authors: Person
  surname: Walker
  given name: Robert G.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Fix
  given name: Stephen
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
abstract: Walker describes the anthology as a vade mecum that provides a neutral approach to the works while including explanatory notes and cross-references to the Yale edition. Walker commends the topical arrangement of the periodical essays and the informative biographical headnotes that link the canon to the life story. He identifies minor quibbles regarding inconsistent capitalization in the poetry section and the limited space allotted to religious writings. Walker argues that the inclusion of the sermon for William Dodd would have further strengthened the connection between the life and the moral works. He concludes that the edition successfully encourages direct engagement with the writings without sacrificing Boswell’s helpful biographical details.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 166–169

The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
type: Journal
volume: 54
identifier: DOI 10.5325/scriblerian.54.1-2.0166
number: 1-2
identifier: ISSN 0190-731X

A Political Biography of Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly
  type: Journal
  volume: 38
  identifier: DOI 10.1353/bio.2015.0040
  number: 3
  alternative: Biography
  identifier: ISSN 0162-4962
authors: Person
  surname: Walker
  given name: Robert G.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Hudson
  given name: Nicholas
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
subject: Review
abstract: Walker provides an approving review of Hudson’s political biography, which challenges traditional views of Johnson’s Toryism. The review highlights Hudson’s argument that Johnson’s political identity was shaped more by his "sheer physical playfulness" and "elasticity of mind" than by rigid party loyalty. Walker notes that Hudson effectively uses biographical evidence to present Johnson as a figure whose political writings were often responses to immediate social contexts rather than abstract theory. The review emphasizes Hudson’s focus on Johnson’s early years and his complex relationship with the government, concluding that the work offers a "fresh and persuasive" account of a frequently misunderstood aspect of Johnson’s public life.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 425–435

Samuel Johnson, Infrastructure, and the Spirit of Progress
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Studies
  type: Journal
  volume: 58
  identifier: DOI 10.1353/ecs.2024.a944065
  number: 1
  alternative: ECS
  identifier: ISSN 0013-2586
authors: Person
  surname: Hudson
  given name: Nicholas
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
abstract: Samuel Johnson advocated the building and maintenance of roads, bridges, canals and other infrastructure as the defining difference between "civilized" and "barbaric" or "feudal" societies. His promotion of infrastructure is most clearly shown in his Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775) where he comments repeatedly on roads or their absence, implying that only improved means of transport and communication will bring the Highlands into the fold of modern civilization, exemplified by England. Johnson added something of his own in his promotion of what I call "literary infrastructure," meaning his Dictionary and other works that he describes as roads to linguistic and scholarly progress.
date: 2024
language: en
pages: 101–116

Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Times Literary Supplement
authors: Person
  surname: Carter
  given name: Laurence
is referenced by: Letter to the editor.
subject: Johnson
date: 2023-07-21
language: en
pages: 6

Times Literary Supplement
type: Journal
number: 6277
alternative: TLS
identifier: ISSN 2517-7729

Letter to the editor.
type: Memo

item_15912
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Гуманитарные и юридические исследования
authors: Person
  surname: Eremin
  given name: V. S.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Review
title: The Many Faces of Doctor Johnson [review of Kosykh, Сэмюэл Джонсон и его эпоха: Британия и мир глазами английского интеллектуала XVIII в. = Samuel Johnson and his Era: Britain and the World through the eyes of an 18th-century English intellectual]
abstract: Eremin’s approving review of Tatiana Kosykh’s monograph, Samuel Johnson and His Era, highlights the study's integration of Johnson into the "ideational and socio-political contexts" of Georgian Britain. The review commends Kosykh’s use of diverse sources, including Johnson’s personal library auction list, to illustrate his "intellectual base" and broad interests. Eremin emphasizes Kosykh's analysis of the Dictionary of the English Language as a tool for linguistic standardization and "nation-building" that reflected British imperial ambitions and anti-French sentiment. The review notes Kosykh's examination of Johnson's complex "othering" of Scotland, America, and the East, alongside his conservative political disputes with John Wilkes. Eremin finds the monograph successfully uses Johnson’s biography to address the "nerve of the era," portraying him as a "literary dictator" whose skepticism and philanthropy coexist within the framework of the Midland Enlightenment.
date: 2024
language: ru
pages: 731–736

Гуманитарные и юридические исследования
type: Journal
volume: 10
identifier: DOI 10.37493/2409-1030.2023.4.24
number: 4
identifier: ISSN 2409-1030

Some Unpublished Latin Verses on Chronology by Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Humanistica Lovaniensia: Journal of Neo-Latin and New Ancient Greek Studies
authors: Person
  surname: Brown
  given name: Robert D.
is referenced by: item_33260
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Classics
subject: Manuscripts
subject: Abstract
abstract: This is the first known publication of some Latin verses written by Samuel Johnson on the last page of his Welsh Diary. The left column lists the dates of various historical events. The right column contains dactylic hexameters that versify the dates of eleven of these events. The article supplies a text and translation of the verses, together with annotations and a discussion of their content.
date: 2022
language: en
pages: 125–140

Humanistica Lovaniensia: Journal of Neo-Latin and New Ancient Greek Studies
type: Journal
volume: 71
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 0774-2908

item_33260
type: Memo
value: This is the first known publication of some Latin verses written by Samuel Johnson on the last page of his Welsh Diary. The left column lists the dates of various historical events. The right column contains dactylic hexameters that versify the dates of eleven of these events. The article supplies a text and translation of the verses, together with annotations and a discussion of their content.

The Libraries of Twelve Early Members of The Club: Part 12: Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Book Collector
authors: Person
  surname: Clarke
  given name: Stephen
subject: Johnson
subject: Bibliography
subject: Abstract
abstract: Of the libraries of Club members, none have been the subject of so much study in proportion to their inherent bibliographical importance as that of Samuel Johnson himself. The Johnson Club in 1892 printed a facsimile of an unpriced copy, but two surviving copies that list both prices and purchasers have also been reproduced in facsimile. Club members, however, were buying relics of their friend, and in the subsequent two and half centuries Johnson's own copies of books have been treated as just that, treasured for their associational value. Books from Johnson's library are extremely scarce in trade. Of the books marked up by Johnson for quotations in the Dictionary, Graham Nicholls recorded in 1990 that only thirteen marked-up copies had been found, despite quarter of a million quotations the Dictionary containing about a from about 640 authors.
date: 2023
language: en
pages: 545–552

Book Collector
type: Journal
volume: 72
number: 3
identifier: ISSN 0006-7237

The Place of Samuel Johnson in the Spiritual Life of British Society in the Second Half of the 18th Century
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Известия Саратовского университета. Новая серия. Серия: История. Международные отношения
authors: Person
  surname: Krelenko
  given name: Natalia S.
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
abstract: The review is devoted to the analysis of the monograph, which examines the place and role of the educator S. Johnson in the spiritual life of British society in the second half of the 18th century. The reviewer shows that the author of the monograph was able to convincingly prove that the intellectual heritage of the compiler of the "Dictionary of the English Language," a moralist and literary critic, most fully reflected the trend towards self-identification that dominated contemporary English culture. The reviewer's attention is focused on considering how this problem was solved.
date: 2024
language: ru
pages: 135–138

Известия Саратовского университета. Новая серия. Серия: История. Международные отношения
type: Journal
volume: 24
identifier: DOI 10.18500/1819-4907-2024-24-1-135-138
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 1819-4907

Samuel Johnson and Irish
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Times Literary Supplement
  type: Journal
  number: 6280
  alternative: TLS
  identifier: ISSN 2517-7729
authors: Person
  surname: Edwards
  given name: John
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Edwards responds to a previous letter by offering a nuanced view of Johnson's and Daniel O'Connell’s attitudes toward the Irish language. While Johnson famously deemed Gaelic a "rude speech of a barbarous people," Edwards argues that Johnson also criticized the neglect of Gaelic instruction and the efforts to suppress its use in religious scripture. Johnson asserted that "languages are the pedigree of nations," recognizing that the language’s extinction would deprive its speakers of their "mothertongue." Edwards contrasts this with O'Connell's "utilitarian" view, noting O'Connell supported the shift to English but might have ultimately endorsed bilingualism given Irish’s deep cultural embedding.
date: 2023-08-11
language: en
pages: 6

Vies des poètes anglais
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: XVII–XVIII: Bulletin de la société d'études anglo-américaines des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles
authors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Bonnecase
  given name: Denis
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Morère
  given name: Pierre
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 309–312

XVII–XVIII: Bulletin de la société d'études anglo-américaines des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles
type: Journal
volume: 73
identifier: DOI 10.4000/1718.787
alternative: XVII–XVIII
identifier: ISSN 0291-3798

Samuel Johnson and the Journey into Words
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Dictionaries: Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America
  type: Journal
  volume: 38
  identifier: DOI 10.1353/dic.2017.0006
  number: 1
  identifier: ISSN 0197-6745
authors: Person
  surname: Considine
  given name: John
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Mugglestone
  given name: Lynda
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Review
subject: Travel
abstract: Considine's review of Mugglestone’s Samuel Johnson and the Journey into Words praises its witty and eloquent engagement with Johnson’s texts and its presentation of his lexicography as flexible and complex, driven by his imagery as a "traveler and discoverer." The book is based on familiar texts, focusing on Johnson’s methodology, handling of loanwords, and the interplay of description and prescription within his definitions. Considine commends the use of the Yale Digital Edition to track word occurrences and values the balanced and sympathetic picture of Johnson as a flexible lexicographer rather than a dogmatic prescriptivist. However, the review identifies numerous linguistic and historical errors, particularly regarding Latin and the handling of etymologies, including misrepresenting Johnson's definitions and misinterpreting source confirmation. Considine challenges several of Mugglestone’s claims, specifically disputing her use of the word "confirm" when relating the Dictionary to other sources and noting a failure to distinguish between Johnson’s dictionary definitions and his actual linguistic practice. Despite these flaws and limitations, Considine recommends the book for the general reader due to its attractive style, rich context, and rich engagement with Johnson's language.
date: 2017
language: en
pages: 123–131

Melancholy and the Body in the Eighteenth Century: The Example of Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies
authors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
subject: Psychology
abstract: Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), the great lexicographer and essayist, suffered from melancholy all his life. He believed that the disorder was congenital and that it afflicted his mind. To some degree, he saw the problem as arising in his abnormally large and partially disabled body. Locating the source of melancholy in his body, gave Johnson a way to deal with it, and it partially relieved him of the guilt and shame he felt concerning the disease. Johnson's greatest fear concerning his condition was that it touched not only his mind but also his soul. In the form of scruples and spiritual torpor, melancholy weighed Johnson down and stimulated his fears of death and damnation. As a physical body, Johnson was perhaps deformed, but he was courageous. No physical danger frightened him, but he trembled for the life of his soul, and his melancholy, even if it was psycho-somatic (avant la lettre), was his greatest threat.
date: 2017
language: en
pages: 11–18

ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies
type: Journal
volume: 70
identifier: DOI 10.13130/2282-0035/9352
number: 2
identifier: ISSN 1492-9732

The Johnson of History or the Johnson of Boswell?
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: ISAA Review
authors: Person
  surname: Keese
  given name: Ian
subject: Johnson
subject: History
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: What most people know of Samuel Johnson, the famous lexicographer, literary critic and essayist, comes primarily through The Life of Samuel Johnson written by James Boswell.1 One of the great assets of this biography is the detailed reports of conversations that took place at dinners or clubs, when Johnson was meeting with some of the leading intellectual, cultural and political figures of the second half of the eighteenth century: the politicians John Wilkes and Edmund Burke; literary figures such as Elizabeth Montagu and Francis Burney; the artist Joshua Reynolds; or the music historian Charles Burney.
date: 2023
language: en
pages: 67–75

ISAA Review
type: Journal
volume: 19
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 1444-0881

Phrases Constituting Periodic Sentences of Samuel Johnson: A Case of The Rambler
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: International Journal of English Linguistics
authors: Person
  surname: Ogura
  given name: Masaaki
subject: Abstract
subject: Essays
subject: Johnson
abstract: Samuel Johnson, an 18th-century lexicographer, was also a producer of The Rambler (1750-1752). This is a periodical collection of the essays, in which he is said to have written what he hoped to write. In this work, he sought to have his readers reflect on their own life by what The Rambler texts had to offer, but this essay collection is hard to decipher regarding language because of its complex syntax, which has been referred to as being periodic. However, it has not been clarified what constitutes periodic sentences. This paper investigates, based on five frequent 5-gram patterns, what makes Johnson’s sentences periodic. The editorial board announced that this article has been retracted on May 16, 2018. If you have any further question, please contact us at: ijel@ccsenet.org
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 6–9

International Journal of English Linguistics
type: Journal
volume: 8
identifier: DOI 10.5539/ijel.v8n5p6
number: 5
identifier: ISSN 1923-869X

La recepción española de la obra de Samuel Johnson en las traducciones al castellano
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Odisea
authors: Person
  surname: Pascual Garrido
  given name: María Luisa
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: The present study analyses the reception of Samuel Johnson in Spain through the translation of his works into Spanish. Despite the immense influence Samuel Johnson has had in the English-speaking world as one of the most significant representatives of enlightened Humanism, the knowledge of his works and his figure have been rather belated in the Hispanic world. His marked "Englishness" may be considered one of the causes why his works went unnoticed among his Spanish contemporaries and the following generations at a time when political and cultural alliances linked Spain to France rather than to Great Britain. A determining factor in the process of making Samuel Johnson better-known in Spain has been the development of English Studies as an academic discipline, especially since the 1980's. The second important factor is the availability of Spanish translations of the famous biography signed by James Boswell.Resumen: El presente estudio analiza la recepción de la obra de Samuel Johnson en España a través de las traducciones al castellano. Pese a la inmensa influencia de la que goza Samuel Johnson en el mundo angloparlante como máximo representante del humanismo ilustrado, la difusión tanto del autor como de su obra ha sido tardía en el ámbito hispánico. Su marcado carácter "inglés" puede considerarse como una de las causas del aparente desinterés que su obra despertó entre sus coetáneos y las generaciones inmediatamenteposteriores en una época en las que las alianzas políticas y culturales ligabanEspaña a Francia. Un factor determinante en la divulgación de la obra de Johnson ha sido el desarrollo como disciplina académica de los Estudios de Filología inglesa, en especial a partir de la década de 1980. El segundo factor es la aparición de varias traducciones españolas de la famosa biografía sobre la vida de Johnson firmada por James Boswell.
date: 2017
language: es
pages: 329–342

Odisea
type: Journal
identifier: DOI 10.25115/odisea.v0i11.339
number: 11
identifier: ISSN 1578-3820

A Reading of Samuel Johnson's 'The Vanity of Human Wishes: The Tenth Satire of Juvenal, Imitated' (1749)
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Mouseion
authors: Person
  surname: Davies
  given name: Richard A.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: O'Flaherty
  given name: Patrick
subject: Classics
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Satire
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 165–168

Mouseion
type: Journal
volume: 15
identifier: DOI 10.3138/mous.15.1.165
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 1496-9343

Traducir literatura de ideas: un modelo de análisis y su ilustración mediante un ensayo de Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Hermēneus
authors: Person
  surname: Marco Borillo
  given name: Josep Manuel
subject: Abstract
subject: Correspondence
subject: Johnson
abstract: El principal objetivo del presente artículo es proponer un modelo de análisis traductológico del ensayo. Para ello, en primer lugar se destacan los rasgos que definen el ensayo en tanto que género diferenciado de los otros tres grandes géneros literarios (narrativa, teatro y poesía) y se revisan las principales contribuciones teóricas el estudio de su traducción. Las cuestiones tratadas en la bibliografía se agrupan en cuatro bloques: el contenido, las voces que se oyen en el texto y su interacción, la linealidad del texto y la dimensión cultural. Estos cuatro bloques se corresponden, respectivamente, con las tres funciones del lenguaje identificadas por la lingüística funcional-sistémica (ideacional, interpersonal y textual) y con el contexto de cultura. Finalmente, se ilustra el modelo de análisis propuesto mediante su aplicación al ensayo de Samuel Johnson y su traducción al español.
date: 2017
language: es
pages: 164–194

Hermēneus
type: Journal
volume: 19
identifier: DOI 10.24197/her.19.2017.164-194
number: 19
identifier: ISSN 1139-7489

Anecdotal Death: Samuel Johnson's Lives of the English Poets
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Routledge Companion to Death and Literature
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-367-61905-3
  identifier: DOI 10.4324/9781003107040-28
publisher: Routledge
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Davies
  given name: Laura
editors: Person
  surname: Wang
  given name: W. Michelle
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Death
subject: Johnson
subject: Lives
subject: Poetry
subject: Religion
abstract: This chapter explores Johnson's attempts, through the narrative construction of the Lives, to negotiate challenges and to acknowledge if not resolve the moral, theological, and existential questions that they raise. A useful starting point for such an analysis is Johnson's own Dictionary definition of coherence: The texture of a discourse, by which one part follows another regularly and naturally. The "Life of William Collins" is organized around his poverty, mental "disorder," and the twists of fortune and misfortune that befell him. Johnson was famously the subject of numerous anecdotes, but read, recommended, and collected them himself. In historiographical studies the anecdote "has always stood in close relation to the longer, more elaborate narratives of history, sometimes in supportive role, as examples and illustrations, sometimes in a challenging role, as the repressed of history — "la petite histoire." Incomplete, it consists only of a scene set at Bolt Court in which the characters reflect on the nature and meaning of death.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 307–318

Style of the Language Systems as Reflected in A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson (1755) and A Dictionary of the Russian Academy ('Slovar' Akademii Rossiyskoy,' 1789–1794)
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Rhema
authors: Person
  surname: Hazanova
  given name: Olga E.
subject: Abstract
subject: Family
subject: Johnson
subject: Reference
abstract: The article considers some stylistic aspects of the Russian and English language systems based on A Dictionary of The English Language… by Samuel Johnson, and A Dictionary of The Russian Academy (‘Slovar Academii Rossiyskoy'), 18th c., that laid a foundation of the British and Russian national lexicography. A comparison of major literary sources of the dictionaries and approaches applied in these lexicographic traditions reveals significant differences between the styles of the two language systems, which has an impact on the national mentalities, ways of perception of a mother tongue and а foreign language, as well as methods of teaching the two languages.
date: 2019-01
language: en
pages: 86–107

Rhema
type: Journal
volume: 4
identifier: DOI 10.31862/2500-2953-2019-4-86-107
identifier: ISSN 2500-2953

'The Hunger of Imagination': Approaching Samuel Johnson's Melancholy
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Anatomy of Madness: Essays in the History of Psychiatry
  type: Book
  volume: 1
  identifier: ISBN 0-415-32383-5
  identifier: DOI 10.4324/9781315017099-4
publisher: Tavistock
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Porter
  given name: Roy
editors: Person
  surname: Bynum
  given name: William
editors: Person
  surname: Porter
  given name: Roy
editors: Person
  surname: Shepherd
  given name: Michael
is referenced by: Reprinted (Routledge, 2004).
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
subject: Piozzi
subject: Psychology
abstract: This chapter explores a particular instance of mental disturbance and threatened collapse into madness from crucial period. It is the case of a man who suffered the torments of melancholy on and off all his life, who feared that his melancholy would career downhill into madness proper; a man who recorded symptoms, speculated on causes, and reported his experience of that affliction and attempted remedies in some detail. The chapter explores the course, nature, and possible explanations of Samuel Johnson's melancholy. Johnson was thus haunted by dread that his "mind corrupted with an inveterate disease of wishing," would eventually succumb to monomania. Christianity gave Johnson a prospect of managing mortality, a vision of triumph over the Grim Reaper, an earnest of life eternal. The chapter concludes by briefly indicating what wider conclusions Johnson's sufferings might help us to draw about mental disturbance in Georgian England.
date: 1985
language: en
pages: 63–88

Reprinted (Routledge, 2004).
type: Memo

Samuel Johnson and Chaucer: 'The First of Our Versifyers Who Wrote Poetically'
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Chaucer in the Eighteenth Century: The Father of English Poetry
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 0-19-286262-6
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/oso/9780192862624.003.0009
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Hopkins
  given name: David
authors: Person
  surname: Mason
  given name: Tom
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
abstract: This chapter investigates the presence of Chaucer in Samuel Johnson's Dictionary (1755, 2nd edn, 1773). There are considerable difficulties in reconciling remarks in Johnson's Lives of the Poets, his plans for an edition of Chaucer, and his references to Chaucer in different parts of the Dictionary. Johnson presented Chaucer with difficulties of every kind, as a historian of the language, as a historian of the course of English poetry, and as a literary critic. His decision to confine his illustrative examples to works composed during and after the sixteenth century should have excluded Chaucer entirely. But Chaucer creeps in (often via Junius's Etymologicon). Johnson cites lines that appear nowhere in Chaucer's texts, and misquotes some that do. Some Chaucerian words and phrases (‘Mars armipotent', ‘gladder') are attributed to Dryden rather than to their source in Chaucer, and the reader of the Dictionary is offered a great many passages of Chaucer via Dryden. So frequent, indeed, is citation of Dryden's Chaucerian versions, that some works (e.g. The Character of a Good Parson) appear piecemeal almost entire in the Dictionary.
date: 2022
language: en
pages: 252–275

The Fortunes of Francis Barber
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Journal of British studies
authors: Person
  surname: Engerman
  given name: Stanley L.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Bundock
  given name: Michael
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Slavery
abstract: Engerman finds Bundock's biography of Francis Barber well told and quite interesting, providing much useful context. He notes Bundock is generally sympathetic to Barber's actions, but points out the difficulty in using Barber's atypical life to generalize about British racial beliefs because of the limited knowledge of Barber's own thinking.
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 171–172

Journal of British studies
type: Journal
volume: 55
identifier: DOI 10.1017/jbr.2015.205
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 0021-9371

Conflicted Representations: Language, Lexicography, and Johnson's 'Langscape' of War
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Life
  type: Journal
  volume: 44
  identifier: DOI 10.1215/00982601-8718666
  number: 3
  alternative: ECL
  identifier: ISSN 0098-2601
authors: Person
  surname: Mugglestone
  given name: Lynda
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
abstract: Mugglestone explores the linguistic representation of war in the eighteenth century, specifically through Johnson's Dictionary. While the Oxford English Dictionary views "war word" as a twentieth-century phenomenon, Mugglestone identifies a "langscape" of conflict in Johnson's work. Johnson early proposed a military dictionary to Edward Cave in 1738, suggesting a facilitating work for "reading of war in books." The Dictionary defines "war" using Walter Raleigh's authorizing voice as the "exercise of violence under sovereign command." Johnson treats information from other dictionaries with distrust if he cannot confirm usage with direct evidence. The Dictionary systematically reflects disapproval for national disorder, as Johnson's consciousness of "evil" as a collocate for war is "incontrovertible." The "attentive reader" of the Dictionary notices Johnson's preference for texts that present war negatively to impose ideological distance.
date: 2020
language: en
pages: 75–95

'A Little Charity': Dr. Johnson and His Household
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Book Collector
  type: Journal
  volume: 69
  number: 3
  identifier: ISSN 0006-7237
authors: Person
  surname: Bundock
  given name: Michael
subject: Johnson
subject: Bibliography
subject: Family
subject: Abstract
abstract: Bundock cites that in the house in Gough Square where Samuel Johnson once lived there hangs an engraving of a well-known painting of the great man of letters. Seated at dinner with Johnson are some of the most celebrated figures of the day: David Garrick, the actor and theatre manager, Joshua Reynolds, first President of the Royal Academy, the statesman Edmund Burke, the playwright Oliver Goldsmith, James Boswell, Johnson's biographer, and others too. It forms a sort of eighteenth-century Who's Who. This is a familiar image of Johnson: the focal point of a group of accomplished men, declaiming, arguing and contradicting. But there was another Johnson, the domestic figure, living at the center of a very different group. One of them can be glimpsed in the portrait, the black servant at the back of the scene, fetching something for the gathering to drink. This is probably intended to represent Francis Barber, once a slave, and now one of Johnson's dependants.
date: 2020
language: en
pages: 395–406

From Francis Bacon's Historia Literarum to Samuel Johnson's Literary History: The Catalogus Bibliothecae Harleianae (1743–1745)
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Libraries, Books, and Collectors of Texts, 1600–1900
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 1-138-59319-2
  identifier: DOI 10.4324/9780429489600-9
publisher: Routledge
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Wright
  given name: Alex
editors: Person
  surname: Bautz
  given name: Annika
editors: Person
  surname: Gregory
  given name: James
subject: Abstract
subject: History
subject: Johnson
abstract: The chapter is an account of Samuel Johnson's role compiling the sale catalogue of the printed books owned by Robert and Edward Harley. It takes seriously Johnson's claim in the preface that the catalogue was a work of literary history by studying his debts to the early modern genre of historia literaria pioneered by Francis Bacon and thereafter systematised by a series of mostly German scholars. Particularly, it concentrates on what Johnson learnt from the catalogues-all printed towards the end of the seventeenth century-of the libraries owned by Cardinal Francesco Barberini, the French parliamentarian and historian Jacques Auguste de Thou, and the Dutch textual critic Nicholas Heinsius.
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 139–154

Johnson, Statius, and the Classical Motto
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
  type: Journal
  volume: 52
  number: 1
  identifier: ISSN 0190-731X
authors: Person
  surname: Corse
  given name: Taylor
subject: Abstract
subject: Classics
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
abstract: In his article Johnson, Statius, and the Classical Motto, Lee argues that Johnson's deployment of classical mottoes is integral to the larger structure of his essays and other writings. He parts company with Donald Greene, Bruce Redford, and others who view Johnson's citation of Latin and Greek authors as more decorative than functional. He closely analyzes lines from Statius's Thebaid (4.400–401) that appear in Rambler 2 and Adventurer 45.
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 20

Contra las 'Belles infidèles': La primera traducción al español del Rasselas de Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: TRANS
authors: Person
  surname: Pajares Infante
  given name: Eterio
subject: Abstract
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
abstract: Durante el siglo XVIII, la tendencia en la traducción de textos ingleses al español, que no perseguían ser adaptaciones sino tender al polo de aceptabilidad, era seguir la moda francesa de las "belles infidèles" mayoritariamente imperante entonces. Se llegó incluso a decir que era mejor no ser fieles en la traducción de textos ingleses, dada la distancia ética y estética que separaba la producción de Gran Bretaña con respecto a lo que se elaboraba en el continente. Sufrieron este proceso, por mencionar los ejemplos más significativos, las tres novelas de Richardson y Tom Jones y Amelia de Fielding. Sin embargo, el Rasselas de Johnson conoció una suerte muy diferente. La finalidad de este ensayo es analizar por qué la versión de esta novela se aparta de los cánones establecidos y señalar qué tipo de versión se ofreció al lector español del dieciocho.
date: 2017
language: es
pages: 89–99

TRANS
type: Journal
identifier: DOI 10.24310/TRANS.2000.v0i4.2520
number: 4
identifier: ISSN 1137-2311

Samuel Johnson and the Vocation of the Author
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: Oxford University
authors: Person
  surname: Hitchens
  given name: Daniel
subject: Johnson
subject: Philosophy
subject: Abstract
abstract: Much has been written about Samuel Johnson as a Christian, and much about him as an author; this study is about where the two meet, in the idea of the literary vocation. Though Johnson only uses the word ‘vocation" a handful of times, it holds both the quotidian sense of a job and the more exalted notion of a divine call, a tension which informs Johnson's thinking. I begin with Johnson's development as a religious writer, influenced by William Law's contention that any form of life can be devout and holy, and by Bernard Mandeville's unsentimental candour. Johnson's writing bears the marks of both. He revised Irene, for instance, to make it less overtly Christian: a reminder that Johnson's religious convictions bring an invisible pressure to bear on apparently secular works. In his early years on the Gentleman's Magazine Johnson develops the principle that authorship, being a public act, carries great responsibilities. It is, in fact, a vocation, and unpacking this concept takes up Chapter 2. Johnson sees writing as a potential form of public service, adding that a solitary writer "naturally sinks from omission to forgetfulness of social duties." Too few commentators have grasped that Johnson sees morality in social terms — as a matter of answering the needs of others, according to one's place in an order overseen by divine providence. But again and again he refers to the human need 'to seek from one another assistance and support' (Rambler 104). Instances of mutual help 'by frequent reciprocations of beneficence unite mankind in society and friendship'. Johnson's well-known emphasis on friendship is only one expression of this deeper sense that society is held together by trust; and therefore, by the truth. Writers' communication of truth defines their own social duties. While Johnson can sound close to Shaftesbury when he writes of mankind's sociability, there is really a significant gap between them, because Johnson's view of human nature is more jaded. He expec…
date: 2016
language: en
type: DPhil thesis

Boswell's Entail: A Study in Legal Reasoning
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Real Property, Trust, and Estate Law Journal
authors: Person
  surname: Frazer
  given name: Douglas H
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Law
subject: Abstract
abstract: Author 's Synopsis: At each nomination of a United States Supreme Court justice, a discussion is renewed about textual interpretation and legal reasoning. This Article will show-by analyzing a classic estate planning problem considered by two eighteenth-century giants, Samuel Johnson and his amanuensis, James Boswell-that the principles giving rise to these questions are mostly unchanged. The colloquy illustrates the intersection of law, morals, and manners (customs) in the exercise of power. This, of course, is what judges and lawyers do for a living. Judges exercise power in deciding cases using and weighing various principles and reasoning techniques. Lawyers advise clients in a similar way. The issue of Boswell's entail, as considered by Johnson, is a window into the world of eighteenth-century legal thinking. Johnson provides Boswell great insight and wisdom. At the same time, Johnson provides us, the modern reader, with an appreciation of just how enduring these classic lines of legal thinking are.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 369–379

Real Property, Trust, and Estate Law Journal
type: Journal
volume: 56
number: 3
identifier: ISSN 2159-4538

John Opie's Portraits of Dr. Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Harvard Library Bulletin
authors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: Johnson
subject: Art
subject: Abstract
abstract: Clingham re-examines the extant portraits of Johnson by Opie, suggesting that three versions exist, not two, and questioning the traditional chronology. The canonical portraits are at Harvard's Houghton Library and the National Portrait Gallery (NPG), London. The third, an unacknowledged version, resides at Balcarres House, Fife, and is argued to be the original painted during Johnson's sittings in 1783-1784, or at least the earliest. The three portraits differ significantly. The NPG version is seen as a thinly-painted copy. The Houghton portrait presents a formal, immutable "public persona," while the Balcarres version is more sensitive, capturing a "real-time authenticity" and Johnson's human vulnerability. The provenance of the Balcarres painting suggests it was purchased directly from Opie. Analysis of engravings by Heath (1786) and Townley (1792) suggests both worked from the Houghton version, supporting the idea that the Balcarres portrait remained private. The question of which portrait resulted from the live sitting remains, but the Balcarres portrait's aesthetic qualities support it as the likely original.
date: 2017
language: en
pages: 57–80

Harvard Library Bulletin
type: Journal
is part of: n.s.
volume: 28
number: 2
identifier: ISSN 0017-8136

Confronting Samuel Johnson
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Gender, Religion, and Radicalism in the Long Eighteenth Century: The 'Ingenious Quaker' and Her Connections
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-8153-8918-7
publisher: Ashgate
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Aldershot
authors: Person
  surname: Jennings
  given name: Judith
subject: Johnson
subject: Gender
subject: Piozzi
subject: Abstract
abstract: Jennings examines a series of social encounters between Samuel Johnson and Mary Knowles, a Quaker artist and polemicist. Drawing on Boswell’s journals and Life of Johnson, it details Knowles's direct challenges to Johnson's views on women’s liberty and religious agency. At dinners hosted by the Dilly brothers, Knowles disputed Johnson’s support for unequal social standards for the sexes and defended Jane Harry's decision to join the Quakers. While Boswell portrays Johnson as "roaring" in anger against pro-American sentiments, he also records Johnson’s sparked interest in Knowles's "fine application" of scripture. The study highlights Johnson's complex attitudes toward women, noting his friendship with Hester Thrale alongside his demeaning comparisons of female preachers. It frames Dilly's dining room as an "associative social space" where these figures shaped print culture and public opinion through spirited, "mixed" conversation.
date: 2006
language: en
pages: 49–71

Uses of Knowledge: Samuel Beckett and Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Journal of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Tokyo Medical and Dental University
authors: Person
  surname: Sugimoto
  given name: Bunshiro
subject: 20th
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 31–40

Journal of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Tokyo Medical and Dental University
type: Journal
volume: 45
identifier: DOI 10.11480/kyoyobukiyo.45.0_PAGE31
identifier: ISSN 0386-3492

Johnson's Milton
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 23
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Walsh
  given name: Marcus
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Rees
  given name: Christine
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Walsh praises Rees's scholarly and nuanced study of Johnson's complex relationship with Milton. Rees argues against viewing Johnson's engagement as merely antagonistic, demonstrating instead a continuous, open, and revealing interaction rooted in a shared Christian humanist tradition. Walsh highlights Rees's comprehensive approach, covering Johnson's essays, poetry, Rasselas, tracts, and criticism, and her effective analysis of subtle Miltonic allusions woven throughout Johnson's work. The book compellingly shows Johnson's deep familiarity with and questioning responses to Milton, offering a richer, more positive delineation of "Johnson's Milton" valuable to both Johnsonians and Miltonists.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 347–349

Boswell, Johnson, and the Biographical Project
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 23
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Radner
  given name: John B.
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: Johnson fiercely longed for personal immortality, hoped for salvation but feared being judged not to have made full use of his prodigious talents, and preferred even damnation to annihilation. Besides wanting his works to be read and admired, he also wanted to be remembered, even by those he met only once. [...] Johnson's enjoyment of this first session formally preparing Boswell to write his Life, along with his awareness that Boswell — and also Thomas Percy — were gathering materials for biographies, may have prompted Johnson to begin writing his autobiography. Because Boswell had such rich material and had the challenge and the opportunity of describing for Johnson what they had said and done, including those exchanges that most troubled him, he wrote more about their first nine weeks of travel than about any other nineweek period. [...] by referring to his upcoming trip to Paris simply as "another journey," Johnson kept his biographer from realizing until later that he was traveling abroad for the first time.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 33–56

Johnson, Newton, and the 'Equal Motion' of Politeness
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 23
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: Science
subject: Abstract
abstract: Lee explicates Johnson's phrase "equal motion" in Rambler 98 as a scientific allusion to Isaac Newton's first law of motion. He argues that Johnson analogizes the imperceptibility of uniform motion (motion without acceleration because of external force) to the workings of politeness, which goes unnoticed until it falters. Lee supports this interpretation with evidence from Johnson's Dictionary definition of "equal," related illustrative quotations (especially Dryden's translation of Juvenal's tenth Satire), and Johnson's imitation in The Vanity of Human Wishes, linking "equal temper" to Stoic philosophy. Johnson's known admiration for Newton further corroborates the reading.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 83–88

Dr. Johnson's Apology for the Married Life of Hester Thrale: Hester Lynch Piozzi's Letters to and from the Late Samuel Johnson, LL.D.
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Writing Lives in the Eighteenth Century
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-227-6
  identifier: DOI 10.36019/9781684482306-002
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Berglund
  given name: Lisa
editors: Person
  surname: Caldwell
  given name: Tanya M
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Correspondence
subject: Johnson
subject: Piozzi
abstract: Berglund argues that Piozzi published Johnson's correspondence to obliquely vindicate her controversial marriage to Gabriel Piozzi. The collection serves as an exculpatory biography where Johnson’s own words "show the value that he placed on their friendship" and justify her conduct. Piozzi anticipated critical focus on "domestick and familiar events," such as "little Sophy’s headache," which contemporary reviewers found trivial. However, Berglund notes the letters provided a unique view of Johnson in a "homely context," where he called the Streatham world "home." By omitting Johnson's "cruel letter" regarding her second marriage, Piozzi curated a narrative of mutual respect to counter "scurrilous gossip" and abandonment by her social circle.
date: 2020
language: en
pages: 19–44

Johnson & Johnson: How Samuel Shaped Boris
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Spectator
authors: Person
  surname: Hitchens
  given name: Dan
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Hitchens examines the intellectual and rhetorical influence of Samuel Johnson on the political worldview of Boris Johnson. The article details how the politician views the lexicographer as a pioneer of "compassionate conservatism," citing Samuel's defense of monarchy and hierarchy alongside his tireless campaigning against slavery and debtors' prisons. Hitchens notes that Boris interprets Samuel’s legendary rudeness as a sign of truth-telling in a nation "addicted to evasion." The narrative draws parallels between both men’s "volcanic ambition" following academic setbacks at Oxford and explores Samuel’s economic views on the "trickle-down effect" of luxury spending. Hitchens highlights Boris’s frequent citation of Samuel’s skepticism toward "schemes of political improvement" and his belief that the state cannot cure most human suffering. The text concludes by comparing the monumental task of compiling the "Dictionary of the English Language" to the political challenges of Brexit, reflecting on Samuel's own self-assessment of having "done it very well."
date: 2019-07-27
language: en
pages: 15

The Spectator
type: Journal
volume: 340
number: 9961
identifier: ISSN 0038-6952

Nineteen More Johnsonian Designs: A Supplement to ''That Great Literary Projector''
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 23
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Tankard
  given name: Paul
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Tankard adds nineteen newly identified or previously uncatalogued literary projects conceived by Johnson to the ninety-one discussed in his 2002 article. These additions, including one newly discovered entry in Johnson's "Designs" notebook, bring the total known projects to 110. The supplement lists and briefly describes schemes ranging from early proposals for editions of Politian (1734) and Sarpi's History of the Council of Trent (1737), and the first Shakespeare proposal (1745), to later ideas like an epitaph for Gilbert Walmesley (1751), a collection of voyages (1752), a sequel to Rasselas (c. 1759), editions of Walton's Lives (1774), and biographies of various figures including Joseph Simpson (1776), Lord Hardwicke (1781), and Ignatius Sancho (1782).
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 141–158

Samuel Johnson Among the Modernists
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: 1650–1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era
  type: Journal
  volume: 26
  identifier: DOI 10.36019/9781684483242-017
  alternative: 1650–1850
  identifier: ISSN 1065-3112
authors: Person
  surname: Sitter
  given name: John
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: 20th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
abstract: Sitter reviews this collection putting Johnson in dialogue with early twentieth-century writers. The essays find Johnson's skepticism toward progress and empire anticipating Conrad and Joyce, and his ambivalence toward urbanity connecting him with Eliot. His emotional struggles and anxieties, not his magisterial persona, fascinated Beckett, leading to a planned play. The book documents Woolf's deep thematic and biographical interest and reveals new information about Borges's plans for an edition and a translation of the Lives of the Poets.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 263–265

Organizing a Life and the 'Lives': Samuel Johnson and the Yale Edition of Johnson's Lives of the Poets[review of The Lives of the Poets, by Samuel Johnson and John H. Middendorf]
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 24
  identifier: DOI 10.36019/9781684483044-010
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Venturo
  given name: David F.
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Lives
subject: Poetry
subject: Review
abstract: Venturo reviews John Middendorf's three-volume Yale Edition of Johnson's Lives of the Poets, contextualizing it as the culmination of Johnson's career penchant for large-scale projects and a monumental achievement in modern scholarly editing. Venturo summarizes the fifty-five-year history of this specific editorial undertaking within the larger Yale Johnson Works project. He praises the edition's meticulous textual scholarship (based on the first edition with subsequent revisions noted), comprehensive annotations, and informative introduction detailing Johnson's sources, methods, evolving critical perspectives, and biographical approach focused on truth over panegyric. Venturo deems it an essential, though perhaps unrepeatable, contribution.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 175–190

Why Was Helen Burns Reading Rasselas?: Jane Eyre and Searchers for Happiness from Samuel Johnson to Charlotte Brontë
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Brontë Studies: The Journal of the Brontë Society
authors: Person
  surname: Harada
  given name: Noriyuki
subject: 19th
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
date: 2020
language: en
pages: 15–27

Brontë Studies: The Journal of the Brontë Society
type: Journal
volume: 6
identifier: DOI 10.57383/brontesocietyjapan.6.6_15
number: 6
alternative: Brontë Studies
identifier: ISSN 0913-8617

'An Isthmus Which Joins Two Great Continents': Johnson, Boswell, and the Character of the Travel Writer in An Account of Corsica
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 23
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Tung
  given name: Shirley F.
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: Tung examines Boswell's An Account of Corsica (1768) as a precursor to his later biographical works, focusing on his self-presentation as a travel writer. Using Boswell's metaphor of himself as an "isthmus" connecting Johnson and Pascal Paoli, Tung analyzes how Boswell constructs his authorial persona. This persona mediates the Corsican experience for British readers, blending historiography with personal observation. However, Tung argues Boswell's attempt to portray Paoli and Corsica sympathetically is complicated by his overlaying of Scottish nationalist fantasies and British imperial identity, ultimately displacing his subjects geographically and temporally and undermining his political aims.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 21–32

'Under the Shade of Exalted Merit': Arthur Murphy's A Poetical Epistle to Mr. Samuel Johnson, A.M.
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Community and Solitude: New Essays on Johnson's Circle
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-026-5
  identifier: DOI 10.36019/9781684480265-009
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
abstract: Lee examines Murphy's "A Poetical Epistle to Mr. Samuel Johnson, A.M." as a sophisticated intertextual defense of his mentor that simultaneously serves as a personal apologia. While Murphy provided Johnson with critical life support—including introducing him to the Thrales and facilitating his government pension—Lee argues the poem uses models from Boileau and Pope to elevate Murphy's own literary standing. Though Murphy apostrophizes Johnson's "transcendant genius" and "classic lore," the text primarily retaliates against personal foes like Francklin. Lee concludes that by positioning himself as Boileau to Johnson's Molière, Murphy "emerged a few steps out of 'the shade of exalted merit'" to establish his own place within late Augustan culture while preserving Johnson's legacy.
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 153–166

James Elphinston and Samuel Johnson: Contact, Irritations, and an 'Argonautic' Letter
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Community and Solitude: New Essays on Johnson's Circle
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-026-5
  identifier: DOI 10.36019/9781684480265-004
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Jackson-Holzberg
  given name: Christine
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Jackson-Holzberg examines the long-standing, though not intensely close, friendship between Johnson and Scottish schoolmaster James Elphinston, beginning in the late 1740s. using Elphinston’s extensive published correspondence, the study traces their interactions, shared acquaintances (like William Strahan), and mutual support, such as Elphinston’s role in publishing Johnson’s Rambler essays in Edinburgh. It also highlights points of friction and difference, particularly focusing on the history and eventual circulation of Johnson’s significant 1750 letter of condolence to Elphinston, revealing aspects of Johnson’s social circle and the reception of his work through this relationship.
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 31–52

Identifying Distributional Patterns in Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Discourse and Interaction
authors: Person
  surname: Brocklebank
  given name: Paul
subject: Abstract
subject: Essays
subject: Johnson
abstract: Author's abstract: "This paper investigates the distribution of words and clusters within a single corpus and across a pair of related corpora. With a corpus containing Samuel Johnson's periodical essays as the target corpus and a corpus of Addison's essays as the reference corpus, it is shown how standard techniques for identifying keywords can be extended to identifying distributional tendencies within texts at the levels of sentence, paragraph and whole section/essay. Supplementing the investigation with collocational and concordance data, the main keywords, including TO at sentence, AND at paragraph, BY at essay level, and the main three-word clusters at the various levels, are discussed. It is argued that the methods described are useful additions to the corpus stylistic researcher's arsenal of techniques."
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 5–19

Discourse and Interaction
type: Journal
volume: 8
identifier: DOI 10.5817/di2015-1-5
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 1802-9930

Samuel Johnson's Struggle with Pope
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Literary Authority: An Eighteenth-Century Genealogy
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-5036-3086-4
  identifier: DOI 10.11126/stanford/9781503630864.003.0006
publisher: Stanford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Stanford
authors: Person
  surname: Willan
  given name: Claude
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Willan argues that Johnson constructed a closed system of literary authority by simultaneously engaging in an agon with previously existing forms and maintaining a proprietary sense of belatedness. Willan demonstrates how Johnson successfully absorbed the Age of Pope into a subsequent Age of Johnson by transmuting the verse couplet into a prose couplet structure. These compressed, ironic prose structures allow Johnson to engineer moral prescriptions as foundations for aesthetic judgments, rendering his authority insuperable. Willan analyzes Johnson’s major monuments, including the Dictionary, the edition of Shakespeare, and the Lives, to show how Johnson achieved a complete fusion of his personal and his literary authorities. The text highlights Johnson's virtuosic performative writing and his ability to assimilate, emulate, and even outshine the literary culture of Pope. Willan concludes that modern Wordsworthian taste is a first-order consequence of the critical taste Johnson forged in his struggle for dominance.
date: 2023
language: en
pages: 193

Christopher Nolan's Gotham in View of Samuel Johnson's London
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Bioscience Biotechnology Research Communications
authors: Person
  surname: Narayan
  given name: Ridhima
subject: Johnson
subject: Locations
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 86–89

Bioscience Biotechnology Research Communications
type: Journal
volume: 14
identifier: DOI 10.21786/bbrc/14.8.21
number: 8
identifier: ISSN 2321-4007

The Case of the Missing Hottentot: John Dun's Conversation with Samuel Johnson in Tour to the Hebrides as Reported by Boswell and Dun
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Community and Solitude: New Essays on Johnson's Circle
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-026-5
  identifier: DOI 10.36019/9781684480265-005
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Caudle
  given name: James J.
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Conversation
subject: Johnson
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: Caudle investigates the literary quarrel between Boswell and his former tutor, John Dun, regarding the accuracy of a conversation reported in the Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. The dispute centers on an altercation at Auchinleck on November 5, 1773, where Johnson allegedly told Dun, "Sir, you know no more of our church than a Hottentot." Caudle identifies a rediscovered 1791 letter in the Whitehall Evening Post where Dun disputes this "Johnsonese" phrasing, claiming the actual retort was "Sir, you know nothing of the matter." The text analyzes Boswell’s biographical methodology, noting his reliance on a brief scrap of notes for the period when his fully written journal had lapsed. Despite Dun’s protests and threats to publish a denial, Boswell stubbornly maintained his version, asserting that contemporaneous notes surpass later memory. Caudle uses this incident to explore the wider scholarly "Truth versus Art" debate, questioning whether Boswell recorded ipsissima verba or constructed verisimilitudinous reconstructions. The "Hottentot" epithet is presented as a deliberate "Flemish Portrait" touch, illustrating Boswell’s willingness to prioritize vivid characterization over the sensibilities of living subjects.
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 53–76

The Fortunes of Francis Barber
type: Article
item type: newspaperArticle
is part of: The Guardian
authors: Person
  surname: Hitchings
  given name: Henry
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Bundock
  given name: Michael
subject: Johnson
subject: Slavery
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Hitchings reviews Michael Bundock’s biography of Francis Barber, Johnson's manservant and chief beneficiary. The reviewer commends Bundock for meticulously documenting Barber’s life and clarifying misconceptions. Hitchings notes the biography explores the complex relationship between Barber and Johnson, including the lexicographer’s efforts to discharge Barber from the navy and finance his schooling. The review highlights Bundock’s judicious approach in examining Barber’s later penurious years and the attacks on his reputation by Johnson’s executor, Hawkins. Hitchings concludes that the biography effectively recreates the textures of black life in 18th-century England.
date: 2015
language: en

The Guardian
type: Newspaper
identifier: ISSN 0261-3077

Samuel Johnson Among the Modernists
type: Article
item type: magazineArticle
is part of: The Lamp
authors: Person
  surname: Hitchens
  given name: Dan
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: 20th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Journals
subject: Review
abstract: Both Samuel Johnson and Virginia Woolf excelled in several genres—fiction, essay-writing, journals and diaries, biography, and criticism—and both held common attitudes toward a number of important topics. Furthermore, Woolf's writings betray an admiration for and attraction to Johnson, as is suggested in the title of the chapter, "‘Saint Samuel of Fleet Street': Johnson and Woolf," which contrasts and compares a number of topics linking the two. The chapter then looks more closely at two particular genres, literary criticism and biography, and concludes with a meditation upon Johnson and Woolf's intertextual engagements.
date: 2022-03-15
language: en

The Politics of Formal Verse Satire, 1598–1808: Juvenal, Boileau, Johnson and Cottreau
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Changing Satire: Transformations and Continuities in Europe, 1600–1830
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-5261-4611-3
  identifier: DOI 10.7765/9781526146120.00008
publisher: Manchester University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Manchester
authors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
editors: Person
  surname: Rosengren
  given name: Cecilia
editors: Person
  surname: Sivefors
  given name: Per
editors: Person
  surname: Wingård
  given name: Rikard
subject: Abstract
subject: Classics
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Politics
subject: Satire
abstract: This chapter provides a broad perspective on verse satire throughout almost the entire time span of the collection. The chapter demonstrates how classical imitation persisted even to the very end of the period. It also demonstrates the extent of parallel developments in England and on the continent, with ancient Rome transmogrified into the Paris of Boileau and the London of Johnson, each with their own political and aesthetic bias. Satire in the period recalibrates the age-old satirical dichotomy of urban and rural, Juvenalian and Horatian, in new and surprising ways. The chapter ranges from continental Renaissance scholarship over the changes of formal verse satire in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries down to a little-known text by Jean-Baptiste Hugues Nelson Cottreau, a nominal imitation from 1808 of Samuel Johnson's imitation of Juvenal. The chapter thus emphasises that despite the extensive changes satire underwent in the period, it was also characterised by certain thematic and formal continuities.
date: 2022
language: en
pages: 37–59

The Literary Criticism of Samuel Johnson: Forms of Artistry and Thought
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Modern Philology
  type: Journal
  volume: 122
  identifier: DOI 10.1086/731745
  number: 2
  alternative: MP
  identifier: ISSN 0026-8232
authors: Person
  surname: Adams
  given name: Michael
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Smallwood
  given name: Philip
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
abstract: Adams provides an approving review of Philip Smallwood’s study on the motives and operations of Johnson’s criticism in Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets. He praises the tight, linear argument that identifies compassion as the heart of Johnson’s critical practice. Adams highlights the successful contrast between Johnson’s conviction and the decorum-focused views of John Dennis, as well as the exploration of the hybrid balance between history and criticism shared with Thomas Warton. While Adams challenges Smallwood’s decision to exclude the Dictionary as a critical work, he commends the analysis of Johnson’s time-conscious inner life and the unsystematic nature of his master, Shakespeare. The review concludes that the work offers an elegant, generative perspective on what matters in Johnson’s criticism.
date: 2024
language: en
pages: 36–39

Careful and Careless: Epic Tales in the Editing of Dr. Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Times Literary Supplement
  type: Journal
  number: 5840
  alternative: TLS
  identifier: ISSN 2517-7729
authors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
is referenced by: Noted in The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats 53, no. 1 (Autumn 2020): 19.
subject: Johnson
subject: Editing
subject: Abstract
abstract: DeMaria chronicles the sixty-year history of the Yale Edition of the "Works of Samuel Johnson," exploring scholarship, controversies, and the "collecting, selecting for publication and editing of his works." Launched in 1955 by scholars including Hazen and Liebert, the project—which grew to twenty-three volumes in print and 21 available online for free—faced internal conflicts between British specialists like Chapman, who favored leanness, and American editors who pushed for exhaustive bibliographical detail. The history of these "battles over the scope, method and reasons for publishing" gives readers an encapsulated look at 20th and 21st century conflicts over the nature of literary biography and literary criticism. DeMaria explains how the edition evolved from Hazen’s early modernize-and-simplify approach to the rigorous standards of Kolb and Middendorf. Despite Johnson’s own editorial carelessness and his rapid completion of the Dictionary, the Yale project required decades to establish a sound text, transitioning from print to digital accessibility in a collaborative effort to create a "metaphysical connection" between modern readers and the author.
date: 2015-03-06
language: en
pages: 14–15

Noted in The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats 53, no. 1 (Autumn 2020): 19.
type: Memo

Samuel Johnson and the Journey into Words
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Journal of English Linguistics
authors: Person
  surname: Beal
  given name: Joan C.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Mugglestone
  given name: Lynda
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Review
subject: Travel
abstract: Beal highlights Mugglestone’s use of metaphors, such as the "sea of words," to track Johnson’s lexicographical progress. The review emphasizes that Johnson "steers a difficult course" between prescriptivism and pragmatism, often favoring usage over rigid rules once freed from Chesterfield’s influence. Beal notes Mugglestone’s defense of Johnson against charges of misogyny, citing his inclusion of female contemporaries and his recognition of gendered language deficiencies. The text disputes the "myth" of Johnson as a conservative who "fixed" English, showing instead his acceptance of linguistic change.
date: 2017-03
language: en
pages: 95–98

Journal of English Linguistics
type: Journal
volume: 45
identifier: DOI 10.1177/0075424216685406
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 0075-4242

Samuel Johnson, Neglected Lexicographer
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: World & I
authors: Person
  surname: Timko
  given name: Mike
subject: Johnson
date: Feb. 2016
language: en

World & I
type: Journal
volume: 31
number: 2
identifier: ISSN 0887-9346

Samuel Johnson and the Journey into Words
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: International Journal of Lexicography
authors: Person
  surname: Reddick
  given name: Allen
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Mugglestone
  given name: Lynda
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Review
subject: Travel
abstract: Reddick's enthusiastic review of Mugglestone's eloquent study of Johnson's lexicographical metaphors and practices notes that Mugglestone challenges "popular mythography" regarding Johnson’s supposed conservative insistence on linguistic fixity. Instead, she presents a more "liberal" and "modern" figure who recognizes custom as the primary driver of language change. The review highlights her analysis of Johnson's "citadel" metaphor for protecting the English language, though she demonstrates how he ultimately accepts unassimilated loanwords through a process of "descriptive prescriptivism". While praising her forays into literary criticism—specifically regarding Johnson's censures of Shakespeare—Reddick disputes her treatment of the 1773 Dictionary revisions, noting hasty errors regarding abridged editions and amanuenses. He concludes that despite minor sketches in the appendix, the book offers deep erudition and a convincing appreciation of Johnson's regenerative view of language.
date: 2017
language: en
pages: 382–387

International Journal of Lexicography
type: Journal
volume: 30
identifier: DOI 10.1093/ijl/ecw009
number: 3
identifier: ISSN 0950-3846

Between the Inland Countries of Africk and the Ports of the Red Sea: African Impressions amid Fact and Fancy in Samuel Johnson's Rasselas
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: African Impressions: How African Worldviews Shaped the British Geographical Imagination across the Early Enlightenment
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-8139-4789-1
publisher: University of Virginia Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Charlottesville
authors: Person
  surname: Mitsein
  given name: Rebekah
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
subject: Abstract
abstract: In an article in a 1774 issue of the London Magazine about James Bruce's travels in Abyssinia, James Boswell introduces his subject by noting that "Abyssinia has become an object of interest and pleasing attention in Europe, since the publication of Mr. Samuel Johnson's tale, called Rasselas Prince of Abyssinia." He goes on to describe the generic balance of Rasselas as "a work in which that eminent writer has displayed a rich fund of moral instruction, embellished with oriental imagery, and rendered interesting by a well conducted story, in the tissue of which several real facts concerning that country are
date: 2023
language: en

'This New Species of Affliction': Self-Destruction and the Eighteenth-Century Ethic of Self-Improvement
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: University of California at Irvine
authors: Person
  surname: Nieman
  given name: John
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: This dissertation tests the eighteenth century's narrative of individual agency as the source of modern personal autonomy, and argues that there is a subtle but problematic conflation between agency and autonomy; rather than assume increased personal agency guarantees a corresponding surge in the experience of autonomy, I suggest that autonomy is ultimately eroded by the modern self's dependence on social identities that must be continuously maintained, objectified, and circulated as forms of social currency. My approach is founded upon an extensive examination of nonfiction (puritan autobiographies, science writing, essays, etc.) married to close readings of eighteenth-century fictional texts by Defoe, Lennox, Johnson, and others. This nonfictional foundation provides a historical record of the individuated enterprise of self-production, the true genesis of the self-help industry, and the fiction serves as the experimental testing ground that reveals the limits and hazards of this quintessentially modern enterprise. The primary insight of this dissertation is the counter-intuitive revelation that modern selfhood is needful of comic perception to transform exertions of agency squandered within social institutions into exercises of improvisation that buoy the individual rather than burden it. My first chapter focuses on recovering the neglected comic subtext of Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, and by including analysis of Puritan autobiographies, I demonstrate that this form which is produced in the novel can be re-read through its comic elements to reveal the limiting nature of the process of self-production inaugurated by Puritan nonfiction. Lennox's The Female Quixote and Johnson's Rasselas anchor the next two chapters, and I chose two fictions not usually associated with discourse on the "self" because of their unique capacity to complement the first chapter by showing first how any model of "self" is inherently social and subsequently what destructive political conseque…
date: 2015
language: en
type: PhD thesis

Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly
  type: Journal
  volume: 38
  number: 3
  alternative: Biography
  identifier: ISSN 0162-4962
authors: Person
  surname: Walker
  given name: Robert G.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Abstract
subject: Bibliography
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
abstract: Walker reviews a collection of essays edited by Weinbrot that explores Johnson’s literary and historical surroundings. The review discusses several contributions, including Weinbrot’s own analysis of Johnson’s "notorious dislike of Swift" and the figure of the mad astronomer in Rasselas. Walker also highlights Folkenflik’s research on the "Blinking Sam" portrait, noting Johnson’s documented objection to Reynolds: "he may paint himself as deaf if he chuses... but I will not be blinking Sam." Additionally, the review covers DeMaria’s investigation into the publishing history of Johnson’s collected works, agreeing that the 1825 edition lacks textual value. Walker concludes that the collection successfully advances scholarship by placing Johnson within "new and revealing" eighteenth-century contexts.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 425–435

Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies
authors: Person
  surname: Smallwood
  given name: Philip
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
abstract: Smallwood offers an approving review of this essay collection, noting its success in providing deep-level scholarship free from the excessive control of a single thesis. Smallwood highlights David Fairer's discussion of the agile Johnson and Tom Keymer's analysis of repetitions in Johnson's poetry as touchstones of the volume. The review commends Marcus Walsh's study of the editorial style in Johnson's Shakespeare edition and Freya Johnston's sensitive treatment of Johnson's biographical prose and his relationship with Byron. Smallwood praises the shift away from mid-twentieth-century fixations on neoclassical contexts, though he notes that James Engell's contribution on Johnson and Walter Scott feels over-leisurely. The collection successfully expands the traditionally tested range of Johnsonian studies.
date: 2017
language: en
pages: 299–300

Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies
type: Journal
volume: 40
identifier: DOI 10.1111/1754-0208.12403
number: 2
identifier: ISSN 1754-0194

A Biography as Great as Its Subject: James Boswell's 'Life of Johnson' Helped Ensure the Posterity of the Ever Quotable Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: newspaperArticle
is part of: Wall Street Journal
authors: Person
  surname: Epstein
  given name: Joseph
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Boswell's Life of Johnson (1791) is the world's greatest biography, establishing a form and content that remains unsurpassed. The essay notes that Boswell, a depressive and inconstant figure, transformed his 21-year relationship with Johnson into a literary masterpiece despite meeting with Johnson on only approximately 400 days. The biography's publication was preceded by Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785) and competed with accounts by Sir John Hawkins and Hester Thrale Piozzi. Epstein asserts that Boswell created the first biography to probe the subject's inner life, presenting Johnson with all his oddities and faults—including his famous "bow-wow way" and slovenliness—against a larger view of his greatness. The work's core strength lies in its meticulous preservation of Johnson's conversation and aphorisms, which "Johnsonised the land" and secured Johnson's enduring fame.
date: 2015-09-11
language: en

Wall Street Journal
type: Newspaper
identifier: ISSN 2574-9579

The Slave and the Lawyers: Francis Barber, James Boswell and John Hawkins
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Britain's Black Past
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-78962-160-0
  identifier: DOI 10.3828/liverpool/9781789621600.003.0003
publisher: Liverpool University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Liverpool
authors: Person
  surname: Bundock
  given name: Michael
editors: Person
  surname: Gerzina
  given name: Gretchen H.
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Law
abstract: Bundock examines the divergent biographical treatments of Francis Barber, Johnson's Jamaican-born servant and heir, by Boswell and Hawkins. Bundock argues that while Hawkins presents a hostile, racially charged portrait characterized by 'vitriolic condemnation' of Barber's interracial marriage and 'ostentatious bounty,' Boswell constructs a sympathetic narrative of a 'faithful negro servant' and 'humble friend.' The text details how Boswell actively recruited Barber's assistance to 'state the truth fairly' and 'render abortive the unworthy and false proceedings' of Hawkins's biography. Bundock analyzes the tactical nature of Boswell's advocacy, noting it served both as a weapon in his rivalry with Hawkins and as a reflection of 'genuine respect and affection.' Bundock further explores Barber's role as a primary source for Johnson's final moments, contrasting Hawkins's 'severe cross-examination' of a distressed Barber with Boswell's public assertion of Barber's 'creditworthiness.' The study concludes by situating Barber within the legal context of the 18th century, suggesting he may have been present when Boswell read Johnson the Scottish 'Knight v Wedderburn' judgment regarding the illegality of slavery.
date: 2020
language: en
pages: 27–44

What If the Hoax of Ossian Is True After All? Samuel Johnson Denounced Ancient Tales of the Gaelic Bard as Fake but It Is Time to Look Again
type: Article
item type: newspaperArticle
is part of: The Times
publisher: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Linklater
  given name: Magnus
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Deception
subject: Johnson
abstract: Linklater examines the long-standing dismissal of James Macpherson's Ossian poems as a hoax, noting that Samuel Johnson was central to denouncing Macpherson as a "mountebank, a liar and a fraud" and discrediting the Gaelic bard's work. The article introduces John McShane's new book, which challenges Johnson's view by arguing that Macpherson drew on genuine Gaelic sources for the heroic sections describing the mythical warrior Fingal, and only "embroidered material of his own" in the less effective, later verses. McShane's central argument is that the Fingal verses possess genuine literary quality and a captivating narrative, suggesting they derive from an original Gaelic manuscript. Linklater concludes that while McShane has not located the original sources, his work necessitates a re-evaluation of Johnson's charge of fakery and suggests that Ossian may warrant recognition as a rich addition to Celtic culture, possibly influencing the Romantic movement.
date: 30 Aug. 2021
language: en
pages: 32

The Times
type: Newspaper
identifier: ISSN 0140-0460

Samuel Johnson and the Journey into Words
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Times Higher Education
authors: Person
  surname: Maley
  given name: Willy
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Mugglestone
  given name: Lynda
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Review
subject: Travel
abstract: Maley's enthusiastic review of Samuel Johnson and the Journey into Words by Lynda Mugglestone highlights the tension between Johnson's self-characterization as a harmless drudge and his authoritative role as a judge of language. Maley notes that Mugglestone challenges the view of Johnson as purely prescriptive, arguing instead that he adopted a more descriptive approach to lexical borrowing and foreign terms. The review emphasizes the qualitative and subjective nature of the definitions in the Dictionary, where Johnson’s active, partisan mind often surfaces. Maley explores the colonial metaphors Johnson used to describe his labor, likening his work to a painful voyage or the efforts of a pioneer. The review concludes that Mugglestone effectively demonstrates how dictionaries serve as non-neutral, political instruments through her study of the lexicographer's linguistic journey.
date: 2015-09-24
language: en
pages: 42

Times Higher Education
type: Journal
number: 2,222
identifier: ISSN 0049-3929

The Literary Criticism of Samuel Johnson: Forms of Artistry and Thought
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Choice
  type: Journal
  volume: 61
  identifier: DOI 10.5860/CHOICE.61-2986
  number: 11
  identifier: ISSN 0009-4978
authors: Person
  surname: Kraft
  given name: Elizabeth
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Smallwood
  given name: Philip
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
abstract: Kraft's enthusiastic review launches a high recommendation for Smallwood's study, which argues that affective response and lived experience, rather than rational analysis, drive Johnson's critical enterprise. The review highlights Smallwood's focus on the Shakespeare edition and Lives of the Poets, alongside an exploration of Johnson's real and imagined conversations with figures ranging from Montaigne to Leavis. Kraft notes that Smallwood presents Johnson's criticism as a creative, deeply human endeavor shaped by compassion and the awareness of death. The review praises the book's erudition and accessibility, claiming its methodology models a compelling approach for literary critics beyond the circle of Johnsonians.
date: 2024-07
language: en
pages: 1149

Capital Chap: Samuel Johnson Is Best Remembered Not as a Grouch, but as an Enlightened Londoner Whose Views on Life Are Still Relevant Today
type: Article
item type: newspaperArticle
is part of: Evening Standard
publisher: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Hitchings
  given name: Henry
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Hitchings challenges the popular caricature of Johnson as a "pedant" or "finicky grump," arguing instead that he was an enlightened and empathetic thinker whose observations remain pertinent to the digital age. The article credits Johnson's diverse experiences in London—from the "jobbing authors" of Grub Street to his residence at Gough Square—with shaping his "gritty realism" and "crusader's ardour." Hitchings highlights Johnson's fierce opposition to slavery and his support for women’s education and writers, including Mary Wollstonecraft. The narrative traces Johnson's 1737 arrival in the capital with David Garrick and his subsequent "literary opportunism" as a poet, satirist, and lexicographer. Hitchings suggests that Johnson’s insights into consumer culture and the "mass production of news" mirror contemporary concerns with social media and the stability of truth. The account concludes that Johnson’s most striking quality is his capacity to convert personal suffering—plagued by depression and likely Tourette's syndrome—into a perceptive and humane analysis of the human condition.
date: 2018-06-07
language: en
pages: 38

Evening Standard
type: Newspaper
identifier: ISSN 2041-4404

Conjecturing Oral Societies: Global to Gaelic
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Invention of the Oral: Print Commerce and Fugitive Voices in Eighteenth-Century Britain
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-226-45696-6
  identifier: DOI 10.7208/chicago/9780226457017.003.0009
publisher: University of Chicago Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Chicago
authors: Person
  surname: McDowell
  given name: Paula
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Travel writings constituted a major branch of the book trade, and the dissemination of information about sophisticated global populations seemingly without writing generated interest in what we might now call oral societies. Texts by diplomats, missionaries, and others addressed oral tradition in societies from China to Peru. These texts influenced debates concerning Homeric illiteracy, and they generated new interest in the possibility of oral traditions within Britain. Meanwhile the Ossian debate inspired readers to imagine how tradition worked. The second half of this chapter reads Samuel Johnson's Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland as a critique of conjectural history and a political argument pertaining to orality and literacy. Conjectural historians attempted to make sense of the diversity of human societies by placing these societies along a single evolutionary chain, but in so doing they arguably separated them further from one another. Departing from earlier interpretations, this chapter argues that the Journey exposes the implications of the elite idealization of oral tradition at a time when many Britons (including most Highlanders) could not read. Johnson's distrust of his contemporaries' valorization of oral tradition was tied to his sense that in the world of print, poverty and illiteracy would go together.
date: 2017
language: en
pages: 251–284

Johnson's Brexit Dictionary; or, An A to Z of What Brexit Really Means
type: Article
item type: newspaperArticle
is part of: The Guardian
  type: Newspaper
  identifier: ISSN 0261-3077
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Eyres
  given name: Harry
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Myerson
  given name: George
subject: Abstract
subject: Humor
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Politics
subject: Reference
subject: Review
subject: Satire
abstract: Poole’s negative review critiques a satirical lexicon that adopts the persona of Johnson to lampoon contemporary British political rhetoric. The review notes the use of eighteenth-century grammar, archaic spelling, and fictionalized quotations attributed to figures such as "Sir Boris" and "Mistress May." Poole disputes the book's effectiveness as linguistic analysis, characterizing its approach as "pseudo-antiquarian weak humour" that lacks engagement with actual Brexit discourse. Poole contrasts this "tiny squib" with the authentic Johnson, who defined "cant" as a "whining pretension to goodness" or a "corrupt dialect." The review concludes that the rhetoric of the Brexit movement would have prompted Johnson to identify it as cant in every sense of his own definition.
date: 2018
language: en

I'm Coming, My Tetsie! [review of Samuel Johnson, by David Womersley]
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: London Review of Books
authors: Person
  surname: Johnston
  given name: Freya
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Johnston praises Womersley's single-volume Samuel Johnson selection as a superb new edition that successfully integrates Johnson's vast and varied writings with his life. She argues that by organizing texts according to their composition date rather than genre, the edition achieves biographical and critical coherence that the multi-volume Yale edition, organized by genre, cannot. This approach allows the reader to connect Johnson's works—including poetry, fiction, the Dictionary, and private prose—with his "radically wretched" yet triumphant existence. Johnston concludes that this slab of a book offers a way to put Johnson’s life and writing back together, suggesting comparisons between self-lacerating diary entries and public polemics, thereby restoring the full scope of his versatility.
date: 9 May 2019
language: en
pages: 17

London Review of Books
type: Journal
volume: 41
number: 9
alternative: LRB
identifier: ISSN 0260-9592

Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Forum for Modern Language Studies
  type: Journal
  volume: 51
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/fmls/cqu080
  number: 1
  identifier: ISSN 0015-8518
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
abstract: This outstanding collection revisits familiar texts and addresses under-studied aspects of Johnson’s corpus. Contributors employ diverse literary approaches to reassess Johnson as a lexicographer, critic, and poet, while others evaluate his political thought, religious debates, and editorial treatment of Shakespeare. Biographical essays examine his letters and humor, and a final section explores Johnsonian reception through portraiture, national characterization, and the history of his collected works.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 89

The Fortunes of Francis Barber
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Choice
  type: Journal
  volume: 52
  identifier: DOI 10.5860/CHOICE.191529
  number: 12
  identifier: ISSN 0009-4978
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Bundock
  given name: Michael
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Slavery
abstract: Lee describes Bundock's monograph as a readable and comprehensive summation of the life of Barber, Johnson's manservant and heir. Lee notes that Bundock relies primarily on secondary sources and breaks little new ground for scholars. However, Lee praises the narrative panache used to chronicle the rare status of a free black man in eighteenth-century London. The review highlights that Bundock provides the best available account of Barber, providing an accurate synthesis of extant historical facts.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 2088

Diario de un viaje a las Hébridas con Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: El Ciervo
authors: Person
  surname: Guasp
  given name: Joan
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Rivero Taravillo
  given name: Antonio
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
subject: Scotland
subject: Boswell
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Guasp finds reading the travel journal with Johnson a sublime intellectual pleasure and the spiritual joy complete because Boswell narrates with simplicity and excellence. He praises Boswell for adding the necessary complement to Johnson's own Journey, ensuring literary pleasure from the beginning.
date: 2017
language: es
pages: 47

El Ciervo
type: Journal
volume: 66
number: 762
identifier: ISSN 0045-6896

The Fortunes of Francis Barber
type: Article
item type: magazineArticle
is part of: New Statesman
authors: Person
  surname: Thomson
  given name: Ian
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Bundock
  given name: Michael
subject: Johnson
subject: Slavery
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Thomson’s approving review praises the work’s punctilious archival research. The review details the relationship between Johnson and Barber, who arrived in Johnson’s household in 1752 and served as his valet for over thirty years. Thomson highlights Johnson’s genuine antipathy toward slavery, evidenced by his 1777 toast to "the next insurrection of Negroes" and his decision to make Barber the residual legatee of his estate. The narrative describes how Johnson paid for Barber’s education and refused to let him perform menial tasks like buying fish for the cat, Hodge. Thomson notes that Barber eventually settled in Lichfield, serving as a Methodist minister and potentially Britain’s first Black schoolmaster. The article also situates their "father-son relationship" within the broader context of Johnson’s work on the Dictionary, his social circles involving the Thrales and amanuenses, and his disdain for the Earl of Chesterfield. Thomson concludes that Bundock’s study provides a compelling account of Georgian-era racial interaction and Johnson's compassionate conservatism.
date: 2015-05-22
language: en
pages: 45

New Statesman
type: Periodical
volume: 144
number: 5263
identifier: ISSN 1364-7431

The Mind of the Moralist [review of Samuel Johnson: 21st-Century Oxford Authors, by David Womersley]
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Claremont Review of Books
authors: Person
  surname: Valiunas
  given name: Algis
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
abstract: Valiunas's positive review describes David Womersley's edition of Johnson's writings as the most comprehensive volume available, while evaluating Leo Damrosch's volume on the Club as exuberant. Valiunas tracks Johnson's literary career through early Grub Street hardships, the creation of the dictionary, and the major moral essay series. The review emphasizes Johnson's persistent clinical depression, childhood illnesses, and physical tics, which modern biographers connect to obsessive compulsive disorder and Tourette syndrome. Valiunas examines Johnson's foundational Christian commitment, explaining how his acute fear of divine judgment and personal unworthiness driven by perceived indolence dictated his literary output. The narrative details Johnson's deep involvement with the Club alongside Boswell, Joshua Reynolds, Oliver Goldsmith, and Edmund Burke, noting that Johnson talked for victory during weekly tavern meetings. Valiunas underscores Boswell's biographical achievement in preserving Johnson's conversation, concluding that Johnson's literary genius resided in elevating subsidiary genres like editing, lexicography, and journalism into serious literature.
date: Spring 2020
language: en
pages: 87

Claremont Review of Books
type: Journal
volume: 20
number: 2
identifier: ISSN 1554-0839

The Fortunes of Francis Barber
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Spectator
  type: Journal
  volume: 328
  number: 9743
  identifier: ISSN 0038-6952
authors: Person
  surname: Wilson
  given name: Frances
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Bundock
  given name: Michael
subject: Johnson
subject: Slavery
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Wilson’s review describes the work as a search for a "missing person" that uses social history to fill biographical gaps. The narrative follows Barber from his birth into Jamaican slavery to his thirty-year tenure as Johnson's servant and eventual heir. Wilson notes that while Johnson’s household—including Anna Williams, Robert Levet, and Elizabeth Desmoulins—was marked by internal animosity, Johnson maintained a high opinion of Barber, on whom he became increasingly dependent. The review highlights the identification between the two men as social outcasts: Barber due to his race and Johnson due to his perceived physical monstrosity. Wilson discusses the varied contemporary opinions of Barber, contrasting the "nasty" accounts of Piozzi and John Hawkins with the favorable views of Boswell and Bundock. The review concludes by noting Barber’s rapid financial decline and poverty following Johnson’s death, despite inheriting the bulk of the estate and an annuity. Wilson praises Bundock’s diligent research but observes that Barber remains an "invisible man" despite these efforts.
date: 2015-05-23
language: en
pages: 42

The Johnson Circle: A Group Portrait
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Choice
  type: Journal
  volume: 55
  number: 9
  identifier: ISSN 0009-4978
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Larsen
  given name: Lyle
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Larsen's accessible book introduces general readers to Johnson's circle through nine principal friends: Boswell, Goldsmith, the Thrales, Garrick, Reynolds, Langton, Beauclerk, and Burney. The chronological structure and omission of figures like Burke and Strahan impair its value as a reference. It offers little original research for serious students.
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 1078

Big Talkers [review of The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age, by Leo Damrosch]
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: New York Review of Books
authors: Person
  surname: Uglow
  given name: Jenny
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
subject: Conversation
abstract: Uglow reviews Damrosch’s study of the Literary Club, examining how the group served as a remedy for Johnson’s "black depression" and a catalyst for Eighteenth-century intellectual life. The text details the friendship between the "lumbering genius" Johnson and the "peacock" Boswell, noting their shared dread of mental illness. Uglow highlights the inclusion of figures such as Reynolds, Burke, and Smith, while also exploring the "shadow club" at Streatham Place led by Piozzi. The reviewer emphasizes the role of women in this milieu, including Burney and More, and notes Damrosch’s analysis of Johnson’s "obsessive-compulsive" tendencies. Uglow finds the work an infectious and astute guide to a world of "noise and nonsense" where conversation shaped the age.
date: 2019-05-23
language: en
pages: 26

New York Review of Books
type: Journal
volume: 66
number: 9
alternative: NYRB
identifier: ISSN 0028-7504

The Life of Mr. Richard Savage
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Times Literary Supplement
  type: Journal
  number: 5957
  alternative: TLS
  identifier: ISSN 2517-7729
authors: Person
  surname: Rivero
  given name: Albert J.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Wilcox
  given name: Lance E.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Seager
  given name: Nicholas
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Review
subject: Savage
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Rivero reviews the new classroom edition of Johnson's Life of Richard Savage, recognized as the prototype of the modern critical biography. The review notes the psychological depth in the biography, such as the comparison of Savage's mother, Mrs. Brett (the former Countess of Macclesfield), to Lady Macbeth. Rivero also recounts Reynolds's anecdote of being so engrossed in the narrative that his arm became numb, underscoring Boswell's assessment of it as one of the most interesting narratives in the English language.
date: 2017-06-02
language: en
pages: 31

A Melancholy Apparition
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Fantasy & Science Fiction
authors: Person
  surname: Creasey
  given name: Ian
subject: Johnson
subject: Psychology
subject: Medicine
subject: Abstract
abstract: A short story in a pastiche of eighteenth-century style, narrated by Boswell and featuring his famous real-life subject, Johnson. The pair visit a man whose life has been ruined by a gambling addiction, and who is experiencing what appear to be visitations from the ghost of his recently deceased daughter.
date: September-October 2016
language: en
pages: 49

Fantasy & Science Fiction
type: Journal
volume: 131
number: 3-4
identifier: ISSN 1095-8258

Discussion about Patriots and Patriotism in Britain in the 1760s–1770s
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Izvestiâ Uralʹskogo federalʹnogo universiteta. Seriâ 2, Gumanitarnye nauki
authors: Person
  surname: Kosykh
  given name: T. A.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
abstract: The article studies the history of the notions of "patriot" and "patriotism" in the political and social life of 18th-century Britain. The methodology of research is based on the approach of the Cambridge School of the history of political thought, consisting in the analysis of certain notions in the context of the epoch. The material of the paper is pamphlets of John Wilkes, and his main opponent Samuel Johnson as well as some anonymous journalistic essays. The paper focuses on the problem of interpretation of "patriot" and "patriotism" as notions by followers of different political views. John Wilkes acted as a "patriot," supposing that it implied opposition to power until the "natural" rights and liberties of Englishmen were restored. Another understan-ding is reflected in Doctor Johnson's and his supporters' pamphlets. According to them, a patriot is "he whose public conduct is regulated by one single motive, the love of his country." The author comes to the conclusion about Samuel Johnson's victory in the discussion, because he took the notion of "patriot” beyond the limits of political space. Moreover, the discussion about “false” and “true” patriotism indicated the formation of the public sphere and civil society in England of the 1760s–1770s.
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 241–249

Izvestiâ Uralʹskogo federalʹnogo universiteta. Seriâ 2, Gumanitarnye nauki
type: Journal
volume: 18
identifier: DOI 10.15826/izv2.2016.18.3.057
number: 3 (154)
identifier: ISSN 2227-2283

Rivalry in Literary Biography: Boswell's Life of Johnson and Holmes' Dr. Johnson and Mr. Savage
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Crossroads
publisher: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Białystok
authors: Person
  surname: Shah
  given name: Zeynep Harputlu
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: This study aims to discuss the complicated nature of literary biography by focusing on the intertextual relations and anxiety of influence among biographers of a single subject. Taking Samuel Johnson's life and outlook on literary biography as a starting point, the article examines two influential works that are separated by a significant amount of time, Life of Johnson (1791) by James Boswell and Dr. Johnson and Mr Savage (1993, 2005) by Richard Holmes, suggesting that in both there is a strong sense of rivalry with their subject and an anxiety about the influence of their predecessors. Both authors exhibit love for or interest in their subject while they strive for superiority in literary biography with their distinctive narrative technique and commentaries on Johnson's character and life. In this study, I utilise Harold Bloom's theory of influence in an attempt to show how anxiety and rivalry function as part of a creative process and driving force that leads to original contributions to the field.
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 33–45

Crossroads
type: Journal
volume: 4
identifier: DOI 10.15290/cr.2018.23.4.03
number: 23
identifier: ISSN 2300-6250

Samuel Jonhson ve Mutluluğu Aramak: Habeşistan Prensi Rasselas Bir Hikâye Üzerine Bir İnceleme
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Sakarya Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi
authors: Person
  surname: Yıldırım
  given name: Tamer
subject: Abstract
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
abstract: Habeşistan Prensi Rasselas Bir Hikâye, Dr. Samuel Johnson'ın (1709–1784) eserlerinin en popüler olanlarından biridir. Eserin ilk okuyucuları onu felsefî ve pratik açıdan önemli bir eser olarak görmüş ve bir roman olarak sınıflandırmanın zor olduğunu düşünmüştür. Johnson, eserini yaklaşık 250 yıl önce yazmasına rağmen bugün de okuyucuya hayatın, ölümün, evliliğin, öğrenmenin, eyleme karşı eylemsizliğin anlamını ve diğer birçok konuyu keşfettirmeye çalışmaktadır. Johnson, ahlak teorilerinden hareketle mutluluğu ele almamaktadır. Ahlakî failin kendisinden, insandan ve insanın yaşadığı hayat ve bunun koşullarından hareketle konuyu anlatmaktadır. Mutluluk anlamında temele alınacak olan fail ve onun içinde bulunduğu şartları değerlendirmektedir. Mutluluk, elde edilenden veya elde etmekten çok arama ve başarmada bulunabilir. Habeşistan Prensi, Voltaire'in (1694–1778) iyimserlik sistemini çürütmek için yazdığı Candide adlı esere, planı ve yapısı bakımından benzerlik göstermektedir. Fakat vardıkları sonuç birbirlerinden oldukça farklıdır. İnsanların mutluluğu bulmayı düşündükleri hemen her unsur ele alınıp bunların istenileni veremeyeceğinin belirtildiği Habeşistan Prensi, yöneticilerden hizmetçilere, yaşlılardan gençlere, bilgelerden cahillere varıncaya kadar her kesimden insanı örneklemektedir. Bütün olaylar mutluluk umuduyla başlamış fakat hayal kırıklığıyla sona ermiştir. Sonuçta romanda kurgusal bir yolculuk aracılığıyla ahlakî bir gerçeklik ortaya konulmaya çalışılmıştır. Johnson, Türkiye'de çok fazla tanınmadığı için makalenin giriş kısmında hayatı ve eserlerinin Habeşistan Prensi ile ilgili olan yönlerine kısaca değindik. Çalışmada yöntem olarak nitel araştırmanın imkanlarından yararlanılmış, literatür ve doküman analizi metotları kullanılarak Habeşistan Prensi'nde mutluluk, kötümserlik, iyimserlik konuları incelenmiştir.
date: 2024
language: tr
pages: 574–589

Sakarya Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi
type: Journal
volume: 26
identifier: DOI 10.17335/sakaifd.1526234
number: 50
identifier: ISSN 2146-9806

'Clean, Fix, and Grant Splendor': The Making of Diccionario de Autoridades
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: International Journal of Lexicography
  type: Journal
  volume: 35
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/ijl/ecab025
  number: 2
  identifier: ISSN 0950-3846
authors: Person
  surname: Stavans
  given name: Ilan
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
abstract: Hailed as the foundation of modern Spanish-language lexicography, the Diccionario de Autoridades was developed over a period of thirteen years. While it is a window to appreciate the impact of Enlightenment ideas in Spain, it also showcases some of the country's most entrenched phobias, both within and throughout its colonies across the Atlantic. This essay looks at its planning, structure, and publication in political, cultural, and linguistic terms. It analyses its legacy over the Dicionario de la Lengua Española, which is the organ of the Real Academia Española and on other Spanish-language lexicons. And it compares it with the work of Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language and Noah Webster's An American Dictionary of the English Language. The xenophobic motto of the Real Academia Española, ‘Clean, Fix, and Grant Splendor', long a subject of controversy, is the philosophy behind Autoridades.
date: 2022
language: en
pages: 261–271

Samuel Johnson and the Origins of Writing
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Why Modern Manuscripts Matter
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-267034-2
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/oso/9780192856517.001.0001
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Sutherland
  given name: Kathryn
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Manuscripts
abstract: Sutherland identifies Johnson as the "epitome of the writer in the great age of print" who pioneered biographical criticism and evidence-based textual inquiry. The analysis contrasts Johnson’s "anxious usage" of authenticity with Boswell’s "marketing ploy" in the Life of Johnson. Sutherland argues that Johnson used manuscript drafts and personal anecdote to "narrow the gap between writer and reader" in a commercialized market. The study examines Johnson’s "fascination with habits of composition," particularly in his "Pope," where he examined holograph manuscripts to "trace the mind from the rudeness of its first conceptions to the elegance of its last." Despite Johnson’s claims of effortless composition, Sutherland uses manuscript evidence to "dispute" his "bravura" of rapid, unrevised writing. Thrale and Burney provide "living information" that complicates the narrative of Johnson’s professional practice. The argument concludes that Johnson secularized the literary career by grounding authorial identity in "local evidence" and the struggles of composition.
date: 2022
language: en
pages: 59–84

The Highlands and Their Inhabitants through the Eyes of 18th Century Englishmen: On Stereotypes in Intercultural Communication
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Izvestiâ Uralʹskogo federalʹnogo universiteta. Seriâ 2, Gumanitarnye nauki
  type: Journal
  volume: 19
  identifier: DOI 10.15826/izv2.2017.19.2.034
  number: 2 (163)
  identifier: ISSN 2227-2283
authors: Person
  surname: Kosykh
  given name: T. A.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: This article deals with the formation of the image of the Highlands in the English intellectual space of the 18th century. The research methodology is based on the concept of the image of the "Other," implying a concrete historical analysis of different peoples' collective ideas about each other. More particularly, the article focuses on the study of stable ethnic and cultural stereotypes as solidified images. Referring to Samuel Johnson's <cit>A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775) the author describes the crucial English stereotypes about the inhabitants of the Highlands. Like many of his contemporaries, Dr. Johnson was convinced of the superiority of the English over the inhabitants of the Highlands. At the same time, his travel notes demonstrate his desire to scrupulously describe the life and customs of the Highlanders, show the peculiar features of mountaineers' lifestyles, so different from those of Englishmen. The author comes to the conclusion about the predominance in English society of notions about the Highlands as an internal colony of Britain in need of being introduced to civilisation by means of Anglicisation. Dr. Johnson's A Journey… is a valuable source for the study of stereotypes of English intellectual culture in the process of intercultural communication in Britain in the 18th century.
date: 2017
language: en
pages: 180–189

Reading Dr. Johnson: Reception and Representation (1750–1960)
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: University of Birmingham
authors: Person
  surname: Jones
  given name: Philip
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: The thesis examines the response of imaginative writers to Samuel Johnson; arguing that these authors' refashioning of Johnson involved a profoundly creative process. Chapter 1 examines Johnson's own self-accounting, revealing an instability of self-imaging, linked to the different textual forms employed by Johnson. Chapter 2 argues that James Boswell's biography theatricalised the representation of Johnson, introducing Boswell into the drama of Johnson's self-reflexivity. Chapter 3 focuses on the Romantics, arguing that William Hazlitt misread Johnson's criticism as mechanical, while Lord Byron drew upon Johnson's authority to challenge Romantic orthodoxies. Chapter 4 focuses on the Victorians, arguing that Thomas Carlyle focused on Johnson's powers of self-creation, epitomised in action; while Matthew Arnold's abridged version of The Lives of the English Poets, helped tutor a new reading public. George Birkbeck Hill's edition of Boswell's biography represented a turn to the encyclopaedic. Chapter 5 explores the Modern response to Johnson. T. S. Eliot's critical revolution enlisted Johnson to support Eliot's anti-Romantic animus. Beckett was interested in Johnson's obsession with madness, death and numbers; themes which dominated his own writing. Jorge Luis Borges admired Rasselas, and was fascinated by Johnson's friendship with Boswell, which mirrored his own relationship with the writer Adolfo Bioy Casares.
date: 2019
language: en
type: PhD thesis

Virginia Woolf's 'New School of Biographies' and Eighteenth-Century Life-Writing: A Sense of Kinship
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Sillages critiques
authors: Person
  surname: Thirriard
  given name: Maryam
subject: 20th
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
abstract: Thirriard explores the affinity between Virginia Woolf’s "New Biography" and eighteenth-century life-writing, particularly the works of Johnson and Boswell. While Woolf and fellow biographers Harold Nicolson and Lytton Strachey vocally rejected Victorian hagiography, Thirriard argues they viewed the eighteenth century as a "golden age" for the genre. The article examines how these modernists used Johnson and Boswell as models for artistic, "pure biography" that prioritizes the "truth of personality" over a "granite-like" accumulation of facts. Thirriard highlights the importance of the "anecdotal" and the "observant eye" in capturing the "pith and essence" of a character. The analysis demonstrates that Woolf’s engagement with Johnson and Boswell was dialogical, allowing her to detect a "conversational dimension" in their work that mirrored her own aesthetic practices. Thirriard also considers the influence of Laurence Sterne’s narrative experimentation on Woolf’s conceptualization of "mind time" and the subjective narrator. Finally, Thirriard notes Woolf’s eventual ambivalence toward this patriarchal tradition as she sought to create a distinct literary voice for women. Thirriard concludes that the New Biographers cultivated a "sense of kinship" with eighteenth-century forerunners to craft a revolutionary biographical form.
date: 2024
language: en

Sillages critiques
type: Journal
volume: 37
identifier: DOI 10.4000/13198
identifier: ISSN 1272-3819

Out of Johnson's Shadow: James Boswell as Travel Writer
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: Open University
authors: Person
  surname: Griffin
  given name: Julian
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: This doctoral thesis examines James Boswell’s literary evolution as a travel writer, arguing that his travelogues were essential precursors to his biographical success and deserve independent scholarly assessment outside the shadow of Samuel Johnson. Griffin identifies Boswell as a hybrid figure who integrated eighteenth-century conventions of the Grand Tour, domestic travel, and Pacific exploration into a sophisticated, self-reflexive style. Ranging from the private London Journal to the published accounts of Corsica and the Hebrides, Griffin contends that Boswell used travel as a trope for self-discovery and developed a 'meta-travelogue' method by documenting fellow travellers as 'men as monuments.' Griffin traces the critical history of these works, noting their nineteenth-century neglect and the subsequent mid-twentieth-century revival fueled by the discovery of the Malahide papers. The thesis highlights Boswell’s innovation in combining socio-economic history with personal narrative, particularly in his 'fratriotic' defense of Corsican liberty, which established his reputation as 'Corsica Boswell' long before his association with Johnson. Griffin further explores how Boswell’s Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides functions as a parallel narrative to Johnson’s own account, shifting the focus from landscape to human association. Ultimately, Griffin argues that Boswell’s legacy resides in his ability to transcend the transitory nature of travel writing through a revealing, 'televisual' focus on the human face of the traveller, making him a perennial companion for modern readers.
date: 2017
language: en
type: PhD thesis

Annotated Copies of Early Editions of Johnson's Dictionary: A Preliminary Account
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Library: Transactions of the Bibliographical Society
authors: Person
  surname: Considine
  given name: John
subject: Abstract
subject: Bibliography
subject: Johnson
subject: Piozzi
abstract: Considine provides a preliminary account and survey of twenty-one annotated copies of eighteenth-century editions of Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language. These copies were marked up with "critical or informative additions" by various readers, including prominent figures and members of Johnson's circle such as Samuel Dyer, Edmund Burke, John Horne Tooke, Edmond Malone, Hester Piozzi, George Steevens, Leigh Hunt, Noah Webster, and John Wilkes. Annotators focused on five main themes: etymology, usage, the addition of new words or senses, the addition of new quotations, and improved referencing of sources. While some of these copies are extant in institutional or private collections, others remain unlocated. Considine describes the "Sneyd-Gimbel" copy as pre-eminent among these, containing annotations by Johnson himself and his amanuensis William Macbean. These early responses, which were sometimes very extensive, reflect the contemporary reception of Johnson's work and the establishment of "dictionary authority."
date: 2021-06
language: en
pages: 135–154

The Library: Transactions of the Bibliographical Society
type: Journal
volume: 22
identifier: DOI 10.1093/library/22.2.135
number: 2
alternative: Library
identifier: ISSN 0024-2160

At Table with Dr. Johnson: Food for the Body, Nourishment for the Mind
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Not Just Porridge: English Literati at Table
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-78491-578-0
  identifier: DOI 10.2307/j.ctv1pzk2f2.6
publisher: Archaeopress Publishing
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Iamartino
  given name: Giovanni
editors: Person
  surname: Francesca Orestano
editors: Person
  surname: Michael Vickers
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Science
abstract: Samuel Johnson epitomises the spirit of the eighteenth century in England. His life (1709–1784) spans three quarters of the century; his literary and critical output both embodies and shapes the taste of the day, connecting himself and his readers to other great names of the English and European literary traditions. His famous Dictionary of the English Language (Johnson 1755) provides evidence of both the linguistic usage of his world and the literary and scientific culture which lay at the heart of that world. Extraordinary as a writer, therefore; but also unique as a man, both for his personality and the
date: 2017
language: en
pages: 17–34

Energy in Early English Lexicography
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: A History of the Cultural Travels of Energy
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 1-032-34445-8
  identifier: DOI 10.4324/9781003322184-14
publisher: Routledge
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Hjertholm
  given name: Peter
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: This chapter explores how energy has been defined and explained in early English-language dictionaries. Based on the cultural history of the term proposed in the preceding chapters, this chapter surveys the historical development of energy in the English language, as presented in the early English dictionaries and in Samuel Johnson's famous dictionary. Examining both early bilingual Latin–English and French–English dictionaries and monolingual English dictionaries (from Cawdrey to Johnson), the chapter shows that the various senses recorded in early English lexicography were derived from the basic meaning of the activity-of-being, and that the specific contexts in which these senses were used tend to cohere with a deeper and shared context, in which energy was used to speak about the inherent nature of things. Thus, whereas the original meaning and senses of energy in the English language has long been thought to have travelled from context to context in an ad hoc manner, this chapter shows that usage of the term travelled within a common context that tied all senses together in a shared reference to inherent nature.
date: 2023
language: en
pages: 243–261

In Silence and Darkness: Johnson's Verdicts on Artistic Failure
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: A Clubbable Man: Essays on Eighteenth-Century Literature and Culture in Honor of Greg Clingham
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-351-8
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Rounce
  given name: Adam
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Shakespeare
subject: Abstract
abstract: Rounce examines Johnson's focus on human failure and limitation in the Lives of the Poets. He argues Johnson uses a critical style based on diminution to dramatize the discrepancy between intentions and achievements. Johnson depicts minor poets as victims of the vanity of human wishes, where talent is often unequal to grandiose ambition. Rounce highlights Johnson’s deadpan register in cases like Blackmore, whose epics were relegated to silence and darkness. The analysis shows that Johnson saves his most satirical responses for those making hyperbolic claims of genius or trying too hard to ensure earthly fame. Rounce concludes that these accounts of failure are essential for appreciating the achievement of exceptional writers like Pope and Milton.
date: 2022
language: en
pages: 54–70

The Gentleman's Magazine, a Panoramic View of Eighteenth-Century Life and Culture
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Book Collector
  type: Journal
  volume: 69
  number: 3
  identifier: ISSN 0006-7237
authors: Person
  surname: Pooley
  given name: Julian
subject: Abstract
subject: Bibliography
subject: Death
subject: Johnson
subject: Periodicals
abstract: Pooley cites that according to Samuel Johnson, Edward Cave (1691–1754), founder and first editor of the Gentleman's Magazine in 1731, "never looked out of the window but with a view to the Gentleman's Magazine." This view encompassed the diversity of Georgian life, politics and culture. It captivated Cave's readers and established the magazine as the leading periodical of its day. It was the world's first magazine as we understand the word, a monthly compendium of useful and entertaining information aimed at an increasingly literate public in Georgian Britain. Readers approached the magazine in different ways. Some turned straight to the back to scan the obituaries, while others, like "Veritas," asked their servant to carefully cut the leaves so that they could peruse the table of contents and read the valuable parts first. In defiance of its title, the magazine was popular with women, who both read and contributed to its pages.
date: 2020
language: en
pages: 407–419

Rasselas's 'Conscious Virtue': Cosmopolitan Civics in Johnson and Ellis Cornelia Knight
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Orienting Virtue: Civic Identity and Orientalism in Britain's Global Eighteenth Century
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-8139-4760-0
  identifier: DOI 10.2307/j.ctv2w8kbkb.9
publisher: University of Virginia Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Charlottesville
authors: Person
  surname: Williamson
  given name: Bethany
subject: Abstract
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
abstract: In this theoretically informed essay, Williamson examines how Johnson and Knight use the oriental tale to parse British civic commitments amidst global commercial expansion. Williamson argues that Johnson defines virtue as an internal "quietness of conscience" rather than a visible reward, reflecting anxieties that luxury and profit deprave national manners. Knight's sequel, Dinarbas, attempts to resolve this tension by framing "conscious virtue" as active, patriotic duty and resignation to "Providence." Williamson contends both texts orient virtue by distinguishing Western potential from Eastern "stagnation," ultimately presenting national integrity as a "deferred" ideal maintained through the narrative space of the oriental fable.
date: 2022
language: en
pages: 168–194

Laughter as Social Commodity: Hester Thrale and Friends
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Laughing Histories: From the Renaissance Man to the Woman of Wit
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-032-16206-5
  identifier: DOI 10.4324/9781003247517-8
publisher: Routledge
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Wiltenburg
  given name: Joy
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Piozzi
abstract: Hester Lynch Thrale is best known to literary scholars for her friendship (and later break) with the formidable Samuel Johnson, but Thrale was also an author in her own right. Her extended project in self-writing, the Thraliana, began as a collection of anecdotes and finished as a diary. She archly referred to it as a "jestbook"; laughter provided the frame and impetus for preserving her life's memories. In the course of it, she also drew up a remarkable table rating her acquaintances for their various qualities, giving numerical value to each. Wit and humor had special prominence in this assessment of social performance. Her friend Arthur Murphy, author of highly successful comedies and assiduous student of laughter-as witness his enormous compilation of laughter lore-also topped the ranks of wit in Hester's social scale. She and James Boswell not only enjoyed Johnson's company, but each turned Johnson's witty sayings to account in literary productions of their own. Part of a social circle tied to the literary marketplace, Thrale and her circle show the gendered impact of laughter's increasing status as a commodity, both in actual sales and in social currency.
date: 2022
language: en
pages: 147–168

Who Was Johnson's 'Common Reader'?: Reconfiguring Rhetoric and Performance in the Eighteenth Century
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Speech, Print and Decorum in Britain, 1600–1750: Studies in Social Rank and Communication
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 1-4724-6725-6
  identifier: DOI 10.4324/9781315610337-7
publisher: Routledge
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Abingdon
authors: Person
  surname: Jajdelska
  given name: Elspeth
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Printed texts in the late seventeenth century could be realised in speech: preaching to a hierarchically organised congregation; exchanging recipes in the home. But when print norms detach from speech norms, then texts can detach from these spoken contexts. Without that context, meanings can be harder to pin down and readers may resort to model contexts to resolve ambiguity. In this I suggest that eighteenth-century readers and writers converged on an implicit model context for printed texts, a model founded on the seventeenth-century rhetorical landscape. In particular, eighteenth-century readers preserved the seventeenth-century understandings of: authorship as performative; authorial intention as the arbiter for texts" meanings; and authorial speech as the test for resolving textual ambiguities. They also developed the seventeenth-century idea of a "common reader," nowadays associated with the criticism of Samuel Johnson. Johnson's common reader, I will argue, combined positive features of "common" — that which is shared — with stigmatised features such as "unsophisticated" or "ignorant." The seventeenth-century critic, with his right to pass judgement on performances, acquired a new role as the gentlemanly friend and protector of the common reader. In combination the common reader and the polite critic produced, I suggest, a model context for text comprehension, one in which authors were performers to a notional, "common," reader, while an expert critic reader observed them.
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 177–195

The Creators of Information in Eighteenth-Century Britain
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: University of Toronto
authors: Person
  surname: Patterson
  given name: Melissa
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Piozzi
subject: Science
abstract: In twenty-first-century accounts of how knowledge was transmitted at second hand in the early modern period and the eighteenth century, the idea of information has played a crucial role. "Information" refers to the content that was compiled and stored on paper and shared in reference books and periodical sheets. My thesis argues that eighteenth-century Britons understood printed information through the lens of cultural discourses that privileged engagements with books that we would now call "literary." By re-thinking the transmission of information as a textual object in eighteenth-century Britain, I argue, we can better understand the complex ways in which information was credited, acquired, and shared. I show how the author-function played a role in the public sharing of information in Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language (1755). Johnson's rhetoric of personal sacrifice in the "Preface" and Plan of an English Dictionary (1747), I argue, should be contrasted with the methods of Johnson's rival, Nathan Bailey. Bailey's Universal Etymological English Dictionary (1721–1802) offers an example of the failure of compiled information to gain cultural authority without authorial control. I argue that Jonathan Swift's satires on textual criticism, cryptanalysis, and scientific languages can be seen as critiques of mechanical reading "devices" that extracted information from texts. A direct challenge to informational uses of language was offered at the end of the eighteenth century in the work of Johnson's friend, Hester Lynch Piozzi. Piozzi's English-language reference work, British Synonymy (1794), showed how direct engagement with the "redundant" material of language provided a knowledge of texts that was difficult to communicate but necessary to observe. I suggest that the mediation of public information in eighteenth-century Britain was balanced in important ways by literary discourses that argued for the importance of the specific ways in which knowledge…
date: 2015
language: en
type: PhD thesis

Concerns about Facts and Form in Literary Biography
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: A Companion to Literary Biography
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-118-89629-7
  identifier: DOI 10.1002/9781118896433.ch8
publisher: John Wiley & Sons
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Chichester
authors: Person
  surname: McVeigh
  given name: Jane
editors: Person
  surname: Bradford
  given name: Richard
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
abstract: Some literary biographies can be ‘literary' without conforming to the standard conception of the genre. The way in which a biography has been written and its rhetorical features may be as significant as the details of the life or lives being told. In these instances, biography becomes a form of remembrance that portrays characteristics of both the fidelity and the adherence to the facts that were important to Samuel Johnson, as well as evocative storytelling. Twentieth-century questions about authenticity in non-fiction biography raised concerns about biography's use of facts, what we can really know about creativity, and the move toward fiction by some writers. Some critics sought to apply theoretical approaches to encapsulate biography. In the twenty-first century, biography has embraced change, making a case for literary biography in a range of different forms in which the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction are fluid and group biographies as an antidote to single life portrayals flourish, reinforcing the social nature of the genre. The nature of fidelity in biography has become central to contemporary fiction and non-fiction forms as literary biography explores the dialogic and discursive nature of life and writing and can be understood as a type of parable.
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 143–158

Influences from the Scottish Enlightenment: St James's Place, 1760–66
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Catharine Macaulay's Republican Enlightenment
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-367-49810-8
  identifier: DOI 10.4324/9780429342530-3
publisher: Routledge
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Green
  given name: Karen
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Philosophy
subject: Scotland
abstract: This chapter deals with her marriage to George Macaulay, his connections with elements in the Scottish Enlightenment, and the political situation in Great Britain immediately after the accession of George III, during which period the first three volumes of the history were written. This chapter provides an account of the content of those volumes, her exchanges with David Hume and Samuel Johnson, and the contemporary reception of her work more broadly. This chapter deals with Catharine Macaulay's marriage to George Macaulay, his connections with elements in the Scottish Enlightenment, and the political situation in Great Britain immediately after the accession of George III, during which period the first three volumes of the history were written. It provides an account of content of those volumes, her exchanges with David Hume and Samuel Johnson, and the contemporary reception of her work more broadly. The marriage of George and Catharine would, presumably, have been equally approved of by Austen, had it not been before her time, being likewise based on friendship and mutual respect. Catharine was fortunate to find a husband who had developed rather different ideas of women's appropriate activities to those that were then still predominant, and he has been called "a feminist" by his biographers. His sympathy for his wife's determination to become an historian is evident in fact that he showed no opposition to her publishing under her own name.
date: 2020
language: en
pages: 29–63

Johnson's Rasselas and the Best Possible Storyworld
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: A Prehistory of Cognitive Poetics: Neoclassicism and the Novel
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 0-19-063476-6
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Kukkonen
  given name: Karin
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
subject: Abstract
abstract: Kukkonen examines the role of the unities and the imagination in Samuel Johnson’s Rasselas, exploring how the unities constrain the coherence of the fictional world while the imagination extends it. Kukkonen argues that Johnson navigates a tension between the brain's "default mode network"—associated with stimulus-free thinking, mind-wandering, and a general state of mind when thinking is not concentrated on a particular object—and the need for narrative coherence. While the opening of Rasselas presents the Happy Valley as a perfectly unified but static storyworld, the protagonist’s imaginative "mental time travel" provides the necessary impetus for the plot, relating the wandering of the imagination to the unities' coherence. Johnson explores the dangers of the imagination through characters like the astronomer, whose fancy leads to delusion, and this tension in Rasselas does not develop into a stringent trajectory of narrative events. Kukkonen contrasts Johnson’s conclusion, in which "nothing is concluded," with Ellis Cornelia Knight’s continuation, Dinarbas, which replaces Johnson’s philosophical inquiry into the "choice of life" with a tightly structured event model. Knight changes the situational logic of the unities to achieve a narrative trajectory and closure characterized by neoclassical restraint. Additionally, the chapter discusses how both authors use the "orientalist vogue" and the ways Western and oriental modes of narrative were imagined in the eighteenth century to negotiate choices for narrative structuration and spatiotemporal unity.
date: 2017
language: en
description: DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190634766.003.0008

The Way Forward
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Unmasking of English Dictionaries
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-108-43334-1
  identifier: DOI 10.1017/9781108377508.016
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Dixon
  given name: R. M. W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
abstract: Previous chapters have recounted the story of monolingual dictionaries. Samuel Johnson established English lexicology, and only minor improvements have been made since his time. Johnson combined erudition, imagination, and application. He also had a sense of perspective, according to each word a length of entry appropriate to its role in the language. Legal, medical, and agricultural terms were taken — with acknowledgement – from standard works. Highly technical terms were avoided, these being accessible in specialist manuals.Johnson's innovations included recognising several senses for those words which have a wide range of meaning, including quotations to demonstrate how a word was used by the ‘best authors', plus basic grammatical information concerning word class, and transitivity value for verbs.His work has been criticised for not paying sufficient attention to usage in everyday discourse. This is only partly justified. Johnson did confine his quotations to the ‘best authors', but his definitions would have been informed by the conversational round in London for which he was a central figure. (The same could not be said of his predecessors and successors.) Another (justified) criticism is that the senses within a definition could have been more thoughtfully organised, around a ‘central meaning', with extensions in different directions from this.What Johnson absolutely failed to do was make any attempt to contrast words of similar meaning, providing criteria and clues concerning the circumstances in which it would be more felicitous to use one word rather than another. Each word was regarded as an isolated entity, its definition autonomous.Johnson's definitions were original, avoiding the ‘theft' of unattributed plagiarism. The same applied for Charles Richardson in 1835–7, but his huge tome lies a little outside the mainstream. The OED worked in its own way, although it sometimes did utilise elegant portions of Johnson, shown by ‘(J)'. For example, how could t…
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 218–229

John Armstrong's 'Finer Souls' in an Early Boswell Journal
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 63 [261]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjv243
  number: 1
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Walker
  given name: Robert G.
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Journals
abstract: Walker suggests that Boswell's phrase "finer souls," which he uses in his Journal of My Jaunt Harvest 1762 to describe those greatly influenced by their imagination, is a direct allusion to John Armstrong's popular poem, The Art of Preserving Health (1744). The poem, well-known to Boswell, contains the lines warning "ye finer Souls" to indulge love with caution, as they are "Form'd to self luxury." Boswell's selection of this phrase reflects his lifelong tendency to use literary allusions and indicates a sense of self-justification: that his melancholy and imaginative volatility were concomitant with a finer, more exquisite sensibility, an idea he returned to in later writings.
date: 2016-03
language: en
pages: 86–87

Ascertaining English: The Eighteenth Century
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The History of Late Modern Englishes: An Activity-based Approach
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-367-14836-2
  identifier: DOI 10.4324/9780429243493-2
publisher: Routledge
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Keith
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
abstract: This chapter focuses on English in Britain during the eighteenth century. It begins by looking at the complaints of authors like Jonathan Swift about the inadequacies of the language, together with the calls that he and others made for the language to be "improved." A section looks at how prescription and proscription were introduced as means of ameliorating the language, as well as of developing a standard form for it. Various ways in which this was done are considered, beginning with "usage guides." The work of William Lowth is particularly focused on. Attention then turns to the most influential eighteenth-century work related to the English language: Samuel Johnson's Dictionary. This is described and discussed in some detail. A description of eighteenth-century British English then follows, looking in turn at graphology, grammar, and lexis. A final section argues that although prescription was a preoccupation of the century, many linguistic works of the time, including Johnson's Dictionary, provided valuable descriptions of the language.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 11–31

The Authority of Entertainment: John Hawkesworth's An Account of the Voyages
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Modern Philology
  type: Journal
  volume: 113
  identifier: DOI 10.1086/685390
  number: 4
  alternative: MP
  identifier: ISSN 0026-8232
authors: Person
  surname: Binney
  given name: Matthew W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
abstract: Imagine his confusion and consternation, after having been mentored by Samuel Johnson, the eminent writer and personality of his day, after having been applauded as a writer and editor for the Adventurer (1752–54), after having received a degree of doctor of laws from the archbishop of Canterbury for his work on the Adventurer in 1756, and after having received the unheard of sum of 6,000 pounds to edit the journals of James Cook and Joseph Banks in order to publish the first account of Cook's celebrated first voyage to the South Pacific in An Account of the Voyages (1773), as John Hawkesworth surveyed the criticism of his collection and read such lines as "Sir, I once had an esteem for you, and a respect for your character; but you cannot expect that I should now express any." Here, Binney details the novelty of Hawkesworth's collection within eighteenth-century travel writing.
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 530–549

From English Empire to British Atlantic World
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Nation and Migration: The Making of British Atlantic Literature, 1765–1835
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-027255-5
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Shields
  given name: Juliet
subject: Abstract
subject: Empire
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
subject: Slavery
abstract: Rhetorical comparisons between the Celtic peripheries and American colonies appear frequently in the debates surrounding American Independence. British writers such as Edmund Burke and Samuel Johnson regarded England's political relationships with its Celtic peripheries as precedents that might help to resolve Parliament's conflicts with the American colonies, and as models of how to balance imperial and local forms of government. In the years following independence, American writers including John Jay and Alexander Hamilton again looked to the British archipelago as an example of a multinational state as they sought to define the balance of power between federal and state governments in the new United States. By tracing comparisons between the Celtic peripheries and the American colonies or states from the prewar to the postwar period, this chapter illuminates the unsettling of an Anglocentric British Atlantic world, as non-English regions found potential sources of strength in their shared secondariness.
date: 2016
language: en
description: DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190272555.003.0002
pages: 21–39

'Quando?' (When?) in Romeo and Juliet
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Circumstantial Shakespeare
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-965710-0
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Hutson
  given name: Lorna
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Shakespeare
subject: Abstract
abstract: This chapter shows how belief in the autonomy and depth (or plenitude) of Shakespearean character has been inseparable from an assumption that Shakespeare's plots are relatively informal, merely following the order of events as given in his source texts. The chapter shows how this belief has lasted from the eighteenth century (Samuel Johnson, Charlotte Lennox) to the present. It has survived the ‘unediting' deconstruction of ‘Authentic Shakespeare'. The chapter analyses the plot of Romeo and Juliet, showing that Shakespeare does not merely follow his sources (Boaistuau and Arthur Brooke) but rather identifies a key circumstantial topic of argument—the question of Time, of whether the time is ripe for Juliet's marriage—and goes on to build dialogue, scenes, and action around this question. A circumstantial question thus implies an offstage world and helps create our sense of Juliet's ‘unconscious' and of adolescent ‘sexuality'.
date: 2015
language: en
description: DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199657100.003.0002
pages: 36–69

Mirrored Minds: Johnson and Shakespeare
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: A Clubbable Man: Essays on Eighteenth-Century Literature and Culture in Honor of Greg Clingham
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-354-9
  identifier: DOI 10.36019/9781684483549-003
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Smallwood
  given name: Philip
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Shakespeare
abstract: Smallwood disputes the perception that Johnson and Shakespeare are beyond comparison due to their differing historical contexts. He argues for mirrored minds, asserting that both writers possess an extensive view and an intense fascination with unchanging human nature. Smallwood notes that both writers transitioned from provincial origins to London success, navigating financial instability through writing. Johnson’s criticism reveals a shared anti-theoretical skepticism toward rational consolation and established philosophical doctrines. While Johnson failed as a playwright, Smallwood contends he understood dramatic form from the inside, applying a Shakespearean test of dramatic merit to other poets. The analysis suggests that viewing each through the other's eyes reveals them to be strangely more alike than traditionally recognized.
date: 2022
language: en
date submitted: 2025-03-26 02:50:18
pages: 3–21

The General and the Particular: Paradox and the Play of Contraries in the Criticism of Pope, Johnson, and Reynolds
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: A Clubbable Man: Essays on Eighteenth-Century Literature and Culture in Honor of Greg Clingham
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-354-9
  identifier: DOI 10.36019/9781684483549-004
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Hopkins
  given name: David
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
abstract: Hopkins challenges the charge that eighteenth-century criticism privileged the general over concrete particularity. He examines the intellectual relationship between Johnson and Joshua Reynolds, noting how Johnson qualified Reynolds's mind to think justly. Hopkins argues that Johnson's concept of general nature is not disembodied abstraction but is manifested in the particularities of existence. Using the both/and method, Johnson avoids the either/or opposition of terms, demonstrating how generality and particularity are conducive to each other. Hopkins shows that for Johnson and Reynolds, successful art requires a delicate balance where significant details recall the original to every mind. The essay concludes that these critics used a sophisticated play of paradox rather than rigid theoretical systems.
date: 2022
language: en
date submitted: 2025-03-26 02:50:30
pages: 22–38

'The Caliban of Literature': Spenser, Shakespeare, and Johnson's Intertextual Scholarship
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: A Clubbable Man: Essays on Eighteenth-Century Literature and Culture in Honor of Greg Clingham
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-354-9
  identifier: DOI 10.36019/9781684483549-005
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Shakespeare
abstract: Lee explores Johnson's intertextual engagement with Spenser and Shakespeare, viewing the Dictionary and the Shakespeare edition as amalgamated concordances of esteemed authorities. He analyzes Johnson's genealogies of sentiments, which reveal submerged criticism and private responses to texts. Lee focuses on the wicked weed and wicked dew dyad, linking Spenser’s Mother Hubberds Tale with Shakespeare’s The Tempest. He argues Johnson identified with marginalized outsiders like Caliban, reflecting his own socially ambivalent position as a needy adventurer who rose through industry. The study suggests that Johnson's scholarly structures provide apertures into vital intertextual activities, where he uses borrowed ornaments to display judgment. Lee concludes that Johnson's scholarship is as alive and life-giving as his literary criticism.
date: 2022
language: en
short title: “The Caliban of Literature”
date submitted: 2025-03-26 02:50:35
pages: 39–53

'The March of Intimacy': Dr. Burney and Dr. Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
  type: Journal
  volume: 52
  number: 1
  identifier: ISSN 0190-731X
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: In "The March of Intimacy': Dr. Burney and Dr. Johnson, Sabor traces the "social machinations" by which the friendship was established, and the material benefits Burney received from it. Even before meeting Johnson, while still a mere organist in a provincial church, Burney sent elaborately flattering letters of praise to the author of the Dictionary and Rambler; the praise pleased, and the two became friends when Burney moved back to London, and the friendship deepened when Burney became a regular visitor to the Thrales, where he often met Johnson.
date: 2019-09
language: en
pages: 23–24

The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Choice
  type: Journal
  volume: 57
  number: 1
  identifier: ISSN 0009-4978
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Damrosch
  given name: Leo
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
subject: Conversation
abstract: Lee identifies Leopold Damrosch’s study as a fluid, accessible survey aimed at the common reader. Lee notes that the work focuses primarily on the relationship between Johnson and Boswell while providing individual chapters on Reynolds, Garrick, Burke, Smith, and Gibbon. The review explains that the monograph traces the history of the literary circle founded in 1764. While Lee praises the generally sound scholarship, Lee observes that specialists will find "nothing of substance" new in the text. Lee concludes that the work offers an up-to-date study of public intellectuals who, much like the Bloomsbury Group, conversed across diverse artistic and cultural veins.
date: 2019-09
language: en
pages: 49

Generous Liberal-Minded Men: Booksellers and Poetic Careers in Johnson's Lives of the Poets
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Yearbook of English Studies
authors: Person
  surname: Lynch
  given name: Jack
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Lives
subject: Milton
subject: Poetry
abstract: Lynch examines how Johnson integrated the "grubby" realities of the book trade into his biographical narratives, positioning the author as a professional within a commercial system. Unlike earlier biographers who ignored business dealings or Romantic successors who viewed commerce as an affront to genius, Johnson treated contracts, edition sizes, and copyright negotiations as essential to understanding a poetic career. Case studies of Milton, Pope, and Savage illustrate Johnson's nuanced historical and economic perspective. He defends Milton’s contract for Paradise Lost against later claims of exploitation, noting that writers of that era had no expectation of wealth. Conversely, he details Pope’s innovative use of subscriptions for the Iliad, which yielded over five thousand pounds and marked a revolution in literary finance. In the Life of Savage, however, Johnson uncharacteristically adopts the "neglected genius" trope, blaming avaricious booksellers for the poet's misery. Lynch concludes that Johnson’s focus on print culture—a term coined long after his death—anticipates modern scholarship by recognizing publishing as a collaborative system involving authors, booksellers, and consumers. By documenting these financial milestones, Johnson redefined the literary biography as a record of both creative and commercial labor.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 93–108

Yearbook of English Studies
type: Journal
volume: 45
identifier: DOI 10.5699/yearenglstud.45.2015.0093
alternative: YES
identifier: ISSN 0306-2473

Famous People with Tourette's Syndrome: Dr. Samuel Johnson (yes) & Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (May Be): Victims of Tourette's Syndrome?
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology
authors: Person
  surname: Bhattacharyya
  given name: Kalyan
authors: Person
  surname: Rai
  given name: Saurabh
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
abstract: Bhattacharyya and Rai provide a retrospective clinical diagnosis of Tourette syndrome in Johnson, citing contemporary accounts of his "uncontrollable tics and gesticulations." Descriptions by Boswell, Frances Reynolds, and Fanny Burney reveal complex motor behaviors, such as compulsive lamp-post touching and "meaningless vocalizations" like grunting and whistling. While some neurologists historically suggested a psychological etiology, the authors argue that Johnson’s multifocal tics and changing symptom intensity make the diagnosis "unassailable." The study contrasts Johnson’s likely echolalia with his known hatred of profanities, suggesting that friends may have suppressed reports of coprolalia to protect his reputation. The authors conclude that Johnson's "tics, antics, obsessions and compulsions" only ceased with his death from cerebrovascular complications in 1784.
date: 2015-04
language: en
pages: 157–161

Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology
type: Journal
volume: 18
identifier: DOI 10.4103/0972-2327.145288
number: 2
identifier: ISSN 09722327

Facts and Inventions: Selections from the Journalism of James Boswell
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 23
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Radner
  given name: John B.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Tankard
  given name: Paul
subject: Journals
subject: Boswell
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Radner commends Tankard's edition for making accessible a significant selection (133 pieces) of Boswell's diverse and voluminous journalism, previously largely unavailable except for the Hypochondriack essays. Radner notes the exclusion of certain topics but praises the inclusion of varied material, including reports, interviews, essays, letters, and "inventions," particularly items concerning public executions and Johnson. He highlights the value of Tankard's extensive contextualization through introductions, headnotes, and footnotes. Radner finds the thematic organization helpful but suggests chronological reading might better reveal the range of Boswell's activity during specific periods.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 349–358

Enchaining Syllables and Lashing the Wind: Samuel Johnson, Thomas Sheridan, and the Ascertainment of Spoken English
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Textus: English Studies in Italy
authors: Person
  surname: Mugglestone
  given name: Lynda
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: This paper examines approaches to pronunciation, and its prescriptive reform by means of lexicography via the 18th-century nexus of Samuel Johnson, his biographer James Boswell, and the elocutionist Thomas Sheridan (who attempted to teach Boswell to modulate his accent towards metropolitan norms). While Johnson's engagement with fixing pronunciation forms a staple part of the remodelled lexicography he described in his 'Scheme' of 1746, and his Plan of 1747, the paper explores both Johnson's problematisation of the pragmatics of prescriptivism, and his careful detailing of variation and change within the entries he composed. As Johnson argues, prescriptivism and the formulation of appropriate edicts for reform are, of necessity, merely one half of the story. The other consists of those who must try to implement or adopt what is prescribed. Johnson's critical reading of prescriptive practice, and his scepticism of the innovations Boswell advocated and Sheridan endeavoured to introduce,.is made the basis of a critical examination of the pronouncing dictionary as institution, and the project of elocutionary reform per se.
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 33–58

Textus: English Studies in Italy
type: Journal
volume: 29
identifier: DOI 10.7370/87581
number: 3
alternative: Textus
identifier: ISSN 1825-6589

Dryden, Pope, and Milton in Gay's Rural Sports and Johnson's Dictionary
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
authors: Person
  surname: Scherwatzky
  given name: Steven D.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Reference
subject: Renaissance
abstract: In his article "Dryden, Pope, and Milton in Gay's Rural Sports and Johnson's Dictionary," Lee addresses the frequency of allusions in Gay's Rural Sports (1713) and Johnson's ability to detect them. He notes that Johnson's Dictionary definition of "prick" includes illustrative examples from both Virgil's Georgics and Gay's Rural Sports: Virgil, in Dryden's translation, observes, "The fiery courser, when he hears from far / The sprightly trumpets and the shouts of war / Pricks up his ears," while Gay speaks of "The tuneful noise the sprightly courser hears / Paws the green turf, and pricks his trembling ears."
date: Autumn 2019
language: en
pages: 9

The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
type: Journal
volume: 52
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 0190731X

Dr. Johnson on Trial: Catherine Talbot and Jemima Grey, Responding to Samuel Johnson's The Rambler
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
  type: Journal
  volume: 53
  number: 1
  identifier: ISSN 0190731X
subject: Johnson
subject: Essays
subject: Abstract
abstract: Orchard revises the work of earlier scholarship that advanced a view of Johnson as a relatively enlightened and generous patron of women. He focuses in particular on the ambivalent responses of women readers.
date: Autumn 2020
language: en
pages: 19–20

De Quincey, Dictionaries, and Casuistry
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: ELH: English Literary History
  type: Journal
  volume: 84
  identifier: DOI 10.1353/elh.2017.0026
  number: 3
  alternative: ELH
  identifier: ISSN 0013-8304
authors: Person
  surname: Smith
  given name: J. Mark
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: In his dictionary, the various illustrative quotations that followed the definition of the headword were all subordinated to and anchored in the etymon.Because of this theoretical conviction, Richardson strongly disapproved of certain implications set in motion by the lexicographical method of his great predecessor Samuel Johnson.Lamarck's hypotheses about change in living organisms went hand in hand with the assertion (against widely held eighteenth-century beliefs) that none of the earth's extant species are "as old as Nature" and that not all of these have been in existence for an equal period (Z, 36).[...]he noted, as zoologists fill the collections of natural history museums with the diversity of living beings, "the greater becomes our difficulty in determining what should be regarded as a species, and still more in finding the boundaries and distinctions of genera" (Z, 37).[...]it is her appropriation of this language-‘the artificial dialect of books' ([Masson ed.] X. 149)-that arms her against him, and that results in his being put to flight."According to Richardson, "[t]he lexicographer can never assure himself that he has attained the meaning of a word, until he has discovered the thing, the sensible object-res, quae nostros sensus feriunt;-the sensation caused by that thing or object (for language cannot sever them), of which that word is the name" (New Dictionary [1836-37], 1:43).
date: Fall 2017
language: en
pages: 689–713

Three Bibliopoles
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: 1650–1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era
  type: Journal
  volume: 22
  alternative: 1650–1850
  identifier: ISSN 1065-3112
authors: Person
  surname: Scanlan
  given name: J. T.
subject: Johnson
subject: Bibliography
subject: Abstract
abstract: Scanlan advocates for acknowledging the collaborative nature of literary production by focusing on the roles of Johnson, James M. Osborn, and Ludwig Bemelmans as "bibliopoles" or friends of literature. Johnson exemplified this through his work with the Gentleman's Magazine and support for various literary figures. Osborn fostered collaboration as a collector and mentor at Yale. Bemelmans, a writer and artist, created a convivial atmosphere in the mid-twentieth-century New York publishing scene, illustrating a shared literary community that deserves greater recognition.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 145–168

Community and Solitude: New Essays on Johnson's Circle
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: 1650–1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era
  type: Journal
  volume: 26
  alternative: 1650–1850
  identifier: ISSN 1065-3112
authors: Person
  surname: Burke
  given name: John J., Jr.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Burke reviews this collection on Johnson’s circle, which takes inspiration from Radner's work on Johnson's friendships. The essays explore Johnson's paternal role for younger men (Langton, Chambers, Boswell, Murphy) and highlight contemporary issues, particularly the exclusion of women in scholarly attention. The book includes essays on Goldsmith's The Traveller, Johnson’s friendship with James Elphinston, and analyses of Johnson’s volatile moments with John Dun and Frances Burney. Lambert's essay uses Burke's views to critique Boswell's defense of slavery. A closing theme is the shift toward the Romantic "transport" of solitude.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 252–258

Vies des poètes anglais
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Editions du Sandre
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Brussels
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: Bonnecase
  given name: Denis
editors: Person
  surname: Morère
  given name: Pierre
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "Pour l'Angleterre du XVIIIe siècle, Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) est the Great Cham, le grand manitou des lettres. Suscitant en son temps l'attention et la crainte, il reste l'un des monuments de la critique littéraire anglaise, que discuteront encore Virginia Woolf ou T.S. Eliot. Ses Vies des poètes anglais remontent au XVIIe siècle (Cowley, Dryden ou Milton) pour suivre le fil qui les mène à Swift, à Pope, puis aux contemporains immédiats de Johnson, comme Shenstone, Gray ou Akenside. Couvrant une vaste période, l'oeuvre de Johnson témoigne du fait que les Lumières ne furent pas l'apanage des seuls philosophes et des romanciers, mais animèrent aussi une myriade de poètes, célèbres ou tombés dans l'oubli. Les Vies des poètes, dont il est ici donné une sélection inédite, ne sont pas uniquement des biographies : elles sont singulièrement attentives aux conditions historiques et sociales de la création poétique — notamment à la dépendance du poète à l'égard des mécènes – et constituent à ce titre un précieux document. Mais surtout elles révèlent une conception nouvelle de la lecture du poème : conservateur et nourri de culture ancienne, à la fois fidèle au classicisme et ouvert à l'originalité, Johnson invente une forme de critique aussi savante qu'empirique, une critique fondée sur les notions d'authenticité et de plaisir, dans laquelle la dimension humaine, voire humaniste, passe au premier plan."
date: 2016
language: fr
identifier: ISBN 978-2-35821-108-6
num pages: 651

The Life of Mr. Richard Savage
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Modern Language Review
  type: Journal
  volume: 113
  number: 1
  alternative: MLR
  identifier: ISSN 0026-7937
authors: Person
  surname: Lines
  given name: Joe
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Wilcox
  given name: Lance E.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Seager
  given name: Nicholas
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Review
subject: Savage
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Lines describes the Seager and Wilcox edition of Johnson's biography as an essential resource that preserves the full notes and quotations of the 1748 second edition. The volume functions as a teaching resource by including Johnson's poem London and essays from The Rambler and The Idler. Seager and Wilcox correct errors of fact in the original biography while providing a glossary and contemporary perspectives on Savage's career. The edition concludes with extracts from biographies by Hawkins and Boswell. Lines highlights Boswell's dispute of Savage's claim to noble illegitimacy, noting that Boswell leaves the truth of Savage's mysterious origins in a state of uncertainty.
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 229–230

Samuel Johnson’s Favourite Cat
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Pug Who Bit Napoleon: Animal Tales of the 18th and 19th Centuries
publisher: Pen & Sword History
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Barnsley
authors: Person
  surname: Matthews
  given name: Mimi
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Matthews examines the benevolent character of Johnson through his well-documented affection for his cat, Hodge. Drawing primarily from Boswell, the text recounts Johnson’s personal habit of purchasing oysters for the animal to prevent servant resentment. Matthews highlights Johnson’s physical indulgence of the cat, noting Boswell’s own "antipathy" and unease during these displays. The account includes Johnson’s defensive verbal restoration of Hodge’s "countenance" after suggesting he had liked other cats better. Matthews incorporates Stockdale’s 1809 memoirs to illustrate Johnson’s "softened" demeanor and his final efforts to ease the cat’s passing using valerian. The narrative concludes with the 1997 commemoration of Hodge in Gough Square, symbolizing Johnson’s broader "gentleness and humanity" toward all "dumb life" under his care.
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 101–104

Facts and Fictionality: Essay-Periodicals and Literary Novelty
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: University of York
authors: Person
  surname: Buckley
  given name: Jenifer
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
subject: Essays
subject: Abstract
abstract: This thesis is about the influence of the periodical essay on the novel — and vice versa — in the early years of the eighteenth century. Focusing on the period 1700–1760, it addresses the interchange between essay-periodicals and longer form prose writing and, in so doing, begins to close the distance between the two separate fields of periodical studies and histories of the novel. The thesis engages these two areas to challenge, at the same time as taking seriously, the divisions that result from subsuming other print media into a broader narrative of the "rise" of the novel. I argue that fiction, and more specifically fictionality, is not synonymous with the novel (as is often assumed to be the case), but is a mode of literary expression that resulted from the cross-fertilization of periodical and long form prose writing. Yet while attention has been paid to the relationship between the essay-periodical and dramatic writing, there is no current study of the relationship between the essay-periodical and the novel in this period; the significance of the concomitant emergence of these two forms within the complex print ecology of the early eighteenth century has received comparatively little attention. Chapter One explores the emergence of the essay-periodical as a new genre of writing and argues that this form belongs squarely to the eighteenth century. Chapters Two through Five offer four author studies: Daniel Defoe; Eliza Haywood; Henry Fielding; Samuel Johnson. These demonstrate how the terminology of novel studies intersects with periodical studies. Each chapter addresses a specific trait that emerges as a key feature of that author's periodicals and novels: conversability and inclusivity; witness testimony and credibility; taste and self-conscious innovation; and anxieties over different literary forms.
date: 2020
language: en
type: PhD thesis

Sinos do Inferno
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: As Aventuras de Samuel Johnson
publisher: Bertrand Brasil
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Rio de Janeiro
authors: Person
  surname: Connolly
  given name: John
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Continuação da série Samuel Johnson iniciada com Os PortõesSamuel Johnson está em apuros. Sua visão ruim o faz passar o maior vexame, e o demônio sra. Abernathy está com sede de vingança desde que seus planos de invadir a Terra foram frustrados pelo jovem. Ela planeja aprisioná-lo e, quando o Grande Colisor de Hádrons é religado, a oportunidade bate à porta. Samuel e seu fiel bassê, Boswell, são arrastados para as profundezas do Inferno, onde serão caçados pela sra. Abernathy e seus lacaios infernais.Mas apanhar Samuel não será nada fácil para o demônio, que já testemunhou de perto a bravura e a inteligência do garoto e seu cão, além da leal amizade entre Samuel e o infeliz demônio Nurd. Ela também não conta com a presença de dois incompetentes policiais e de um azarado — no sentido mais otimista da palavra — sorveteiro.Tampouco poderia esperar a intervenção de um grupo de pequenos seres que confirmam que Samuel e Boswell não são os únicos habitantes da Terra a pararem de uma hora para outra no Inferno.Se você pensava que demônios eram assustadores, espere até encontrar Os Elfos do Sr. Merryweather.
date: 2015
language: pt
identifier: ISBN 978-85-286-1943-0

Poetic Numbers: Measurement and the Formation of Literary Criticism in Enlightenment England
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: Columbia University
authors: Person
  surname: Swidzinski
  given name: Joshua
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Poetry
subject: Abstract
abstract: This dissertation examines the importance of the concept of measurement to poets and literary critics in eighteenth-century England. It documents attempts to measure aspects of literary form, especially prosodic phenomena such as meter and rhythm, and it explores how these empirical and pseudo-empirical experiments influenced the writing and reading of poetry. During the Enlightenment, it argues, poets and critics were particularly drawn to prosody's apparent objectivity: through the parsing of lines and counting of syllables, prosody seemed to allow one to isolate and quite literally measure the beauty and significance of verse. Inquiries into the social and historical functions of literature routinely relied on this discourse, exploring questions of style, politics, and philosophy with the help of prosodic measurement. By drawing on works and artifacts ranging from dictionaries and grammars to mnemonic schemes and notional verse-making machines, and through close readings of poet-critics such as John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Thomas Gray, and Samuel Johnson, "Poetic Numbers" contends that the eighteenth century's fascination with prosody represents a foundational moment in the history of literary criticism: a moment whose acute self-consciousness about literary critical methods, as well as about whether and how these methods can aspire to count and account for aspects of literary experience, anticipates many of the methodological questions that mark our own time.
date: 2015
language: en
type: PhD thesis

Twin Stars: Shakespeare and the Idea of the Theatre in the Eighteenth Century
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: University of Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Harriman-Smith
  given name: James
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Shakespeare
subject: Abstract
abstract: This thesis draws the line of a rise and a fall, an ironic pattern whereby the English stage of the long eighteenth century, in its relation to Shakespeare in particular, first acquired powerful influence, and then, through the very effects of that power, lost it. It also shows what contemporary literary criticism might learn from the activities that constitute this arc of evolution. My first chapter interrogates the relationship between text and performance in vernacular writings about acting and editing from the death of Betterton in 1710 to the rise of Garrick in the middle decades of the century. From the status of a distinct tradition, performance comes to rely on text as a basis for the intimate, personal engagement with Shakespeare believed necessary to the work of the sentimental actor. Such a reliance grants the performer new potential as a literary critic, but also prepares a fall. The performer becomes another kind of reader, and so is open to accusations of reading badly. My second chapter analyses the evolving definition of Shakespeare as a dramatic author from Samuel Johnson onwards. An untheatrical definition of the dramatic (Johnson's) is answered by one which recognises the power and vitality of the stage, especially in its representation of sympathetic character (Montagu and Kenrick). Yet that very recognition leads to a set of altered critical priorities in which the theatre is, once more, relegated (Morgann and Richardson). My third and fourth chapters consider the practices and critical implications of theatrical performance of Shakespeare during Garrick's career. I focus on the acting of emotion, the portrayal of what Aaron Hill called "the very Instant of the changing Passion," and show that performance of this time, attentive to the striking moment and the transitions that power it, required from the actor both attention to the text and preternatural control over his own emotions. In return, it allowed Garrick and others to claim a special af…
date: 2016
language: en
type: PhD thesis

Academy Dictionaries 1600–1800
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Choice
  type: Journal
  volume: 52
  number: 10
  identifier: ISSN 0009-4978
authors: Person
  surname: Lynch
  given name: Jack
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Considine
  given name: John
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
abstract: The history of lexicography is the subject of a substantial literature. English lexicography is well covered, with wide-ranging histories and more focused books on Samuel Johnson, Noah Webster, Peter Mark Roget, and the OED.
date: Jun 2015
language: en
pages: 1649

Wordplay in Earliest Shakespeare
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Philological Quarterly
authors: Person
  surname: Bruster
  given name: Douglas
authors: Person
  surname: McKeown
  given name: Nell
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Shakespeare
subject: Abstract
abstract: Shakespeare is unimaginable without wordplay. Although they sometimes challenge their patience, his puns, quibbles, and witty plays on words remain a central, even defining feature of his works. In Samuel Johnson's rich conceit, puns have the uncanny property of enticing Shakespeare from the true way of his journey. Shakespeare's earliest days as a writer were busier still; before and perhaps during the watershed interval of the playhouse closures circa 1592–94, he appears to have composed parts of at least eight works. Taking Johnson's insight seriously, Bruster and McKeown trace wordplay's emergence in the early canon in order to gain a deeper appreciation of the textures as well as the distinctiveness of Shakespeare's compositional habits.
date: Summer 2017
language: en
pages: 293–322

Philological Quarterly
type: Journal
volume: 96
number: 3
alternative: PQ
identifier: ISSN 00317977

Abyssinia's Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Research in African Literatures
authors: Person
  surname: Kurtz
  given name: J. Roger
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Belcher
  given name: Wendy Laura
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Religion
subject: Review
abstract: Kurtz reviews Belcher’s provocative study of Johnson’s relationship with Africa, praising it for its originality, depth, and rigorous scholarship. Belcher proposes a model of “discursive possession,” arguing that Johnson was "infected" by Habesha (Ethiopian) discourse while translating Jerome Lobo's Voyage to Abyssinia. This possession, Belcher contends, influenced his later works such as Irene and Rasselas. The study suggests that the Orthodox Christianity of the Habesha provided Johnson with arguments against Catholicism and that his personal vulnerability during illness made him particularly susceptible to this African influence. While Kurtz finds the "discursive possession" concept stimulating and the evidence persuasive, he notes limits to the metaphor—questioning whether Africans can truly be considered co-creators of Johnson's representations—and finds the work somewhat limited in scope. However, he deems the study an imaginative and rare combination of scholarship and fresh postcolonial insight. Kurtz ultimately welcomes the work for valuing a model of African agency in shaping European writing and for challenging the standard Orientalist view of Johnson’s African tales.
date: Fall 2015
language: en
pages: 239–241

Research in African Literatures
type: Journal
volume: 46
identifier: DOI 10.2979/reseafrilite.46.3.239
number: 3
identifier: ISSN 00345210

The Seizure of Literary History in the Eighteenth Century
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: Stanford University
authors: Person
  surname: Willan
  given name: Alexander Claude Nazzari Di Calabiana
subject: Abstract
subject: History
subject: Jacobitism
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Poetry
subject: Politics
subject: Religion
subject: Satire
abstract: "The Seizure of Literary History in the Eighteenth Century" argues that Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson established the dominant modes of reading and writing literature in the eighteenth century. It first uncovers the modes of reading and writing that Pope and Johnson displaced, and then traces the history of Pope and Johnson's success at recasting literary value. The animating irony of the project is that these displaced modes provided Pope and Johnson with the very tools they used to achieve their domination. This literary genealogy traces the development of literary forms as tools for political cultures, and then shows how those forms were latterly repurposed to serve purely literary ends. The political cultures I analyze both developed in reaction to the political upheaval surrounding the Revolution of 1688/9. They are Jacobite manuscript poetry and Whig non-fiction prose.Jacobite manuscript poets deployed formal devices and de-sacralized typologies to form a community of cognoscenti who could decipher the true meaning of a text. Recovering this tradition and understanding it on its own terms allows us to reconsider some of our pre-received ideas about the value and function of literature. Jacobite manuscript poetry inculcated a private readerly sensibility as a way to develop and support readers" intuitions about, and future actions in, public, political life.Whig non-fiction prose taught readers that public virtue and order should govern private actions. Writers like John Dennis, Jospeh Addison, Shaftesbury and William Derham showed that this order corresponded to governing systems of science, morality, physico-theology, and aesthetic appreciation. Whig non-fiction prose writers developed solidarity between the reader and the state, with the prospect of reform of future, readers.Whether these political attitudes appealed to Pope as politics is not a question I treat. I argue that Pope severed both literary cultures from their political origins and used their…
date: 2015
language: en
type: PhD thesis

'Armed with the Tomahawk and Scalping-Knife': William Kenrick Versus Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Poetica: An International Journal of Linguistic-Literary Studies
authors: Person
  surname: Sabor
  given name: Peter
subject: Johnson
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 45

Poetica: An International Journal of Linguistic-Literary Studies
type: Journal
volume: 84
identifier: ISSN 02871629

Samuel Johnson and the Journey into Words
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Review of English Studies
  type: Journal
  is part of: n.s.
  volume: 67
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/res/hgw033
  number: 281
  alternative: RES
  identifier: ISSN 0034-6551
authors: Person
  surname: Reddick
  given name: Allen
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Mugglestone
  given name: Lynda
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Review
subject: Travel
abstract: Reddick's approving review of Mugglestone’s study of the Dictionary highlights her analysis of Johnson’s lexicographical attitudes and presents the dictionary-making process as a dynamic journey rather than the work of an inert lexicographer. Reddick praises Mugglestone’s expertise in historical linguistics, showing Johnson as a modern, "liberal," and non-prescriptive lexicographer who recognized language change and the importance of context, often using hedging language that contrasts with Chesterfield’s desire for certainty. Mugglestone traces Johnson’s metaphors of travel, warfare, and nautical themes, revealing his nuanced positions on foreign borrowings and orthography. Furthermore, Reddick emphasizes Mugglestone’s contribution to the reassessment of Johnson and women, noting his groundbreaking use of female writers like Charlotte Lennox as authorities. While the review praises the thorough, contextualized discussions, Reddick notes a genial tone that occasionally obscures comparisons with previous scholarship and points out shortcomings in Mugglestone's treatment of the quotations’ voice and her appendix on the 1773 revision. Nevertheless, he concludes the book is a valuable reassessment of Johnson’s linguistic legacy.
date: 2016
language: en
pages: 807–809

New Essays on Samuel Johnson: Revaluation
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Intelligencer
  type: Journal
  volume: 34
  number: 1
authors: Person
  surname: Sider Jost
  given name: Jacob
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
date: Spring 2020
language: en
pages: 47–49

James Boswell and Corsica, 1728–1768: The Development of British Opinion During the Corsican Revolt
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: History of European Ideas
authors: Person
  surname: Long
  given name: Luke
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Travel
abstract: James Boswell (1740–1795) is most famous for writing the masterly biography of his friend and mentor The Life of Samuel Johnson, published in 1791, only a few years before his own death. However, during Boswell's own lifetime he was far more famous for his other major work, the Account of Corsica (1768). The Account of Corsica has been rather neglected by modern scholarship. This article will attempt show its importance in the context of the mid eighteenth century. Boswell's Account was in fact the latest in a series of British publications concerning the island of Corsica during the eighteenth century. This article will attempt to trace the evolution of the ideas of Corsica that developed in Britain; beginning with the outbreak of the Corsican revolt in 1728, and culminating with the publication of Boswell's Account of Corsica in 1768. Corsica became an important case study for British self-reflection, concerning the type of Empire they would become. The main question raised by the case study of Corsica was whether Britain should be an empire that protects liberty across the globe, or a metropolitan commercial state?
date: Sep 2019
language: en
pages: 817–841

History of European Ideas
type: Journal
volume: 45
identifier: DOI 10.1080/01916599.2019.1592937
number: 6
identifier: ISSN 0191-6599

Johnson's Irene and Rasselas, Richardson's Pamela Exalted: Contexts, Polygamy, and the Seraglio
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 23
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
subject: Abstract
abstract: Weinbrot contextualizes Johnson's Irene and Rasselas and Richardson's later Pamela volumes within eighteenth-century debates about polygamy. Weinbrot details the surprising prevalence of arguments defending polygamy, often drawing on Old Testament precedents, perceived population needs, or critiques of European monogamy. He outlines counterarguments emphasizing Christian doctrine, the unnaturalness of polygamy, its negative social consequences (neglected children, female degradation, jealousy, potential for polyandry), and its association with Eastern tyranny and the seraglio. Weinbrot shows how Richardson used Pamela's rejection of Mr. B's polygamous proposal and how Johnson engaged seraglio themes (tyranny, female agency, intellectual sterility) in Irene and Rasselas.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 89–140

Misreading Skepticism in the Long Eighteenth Century: Studies in the Rhetoric of Assent
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: University of Michigan
authors: Person
  surname: Sneed
  given name: Adam
subject: Johnson
subject: Philosophy
subject: Abstract
abstract: "Misreading Skepticism in the Long Eighteenth Century: Studies in the Rhetoric of Assent" revisits the intellectual historical conditions that contributed to the widespread internalization of skepticism as an error-reduction strategy during the Enlightenment. To do so, it abandons a longstanding emphasis the special philosophical tradition of epistemological skepticism associated with the Scottish philosopher David Hume and pursues an alternative intellectual history of Enlightenment skepticism centered on the Anglophone tradition of "constructive skepticism" that informed not only Hume's skeptical habits but those of other influential Anglophone Enlightenment thinkers more often set in opposition to Hume. "Misreading Skepticism" draws on this tradition of constructive skepticism to generate a much different picture of the character of Enlightenment skepticism than the one extrapolated from radical Humean skepticism: one that is not anxious but assured, not theoretical but pragmatic, not preoccupied with the threat of "radical uncertainty" but resolved to attaining "moral certainty" sufficient to justify belief and action despite irreducible uncertainty. Readings of the philosophy of John Locke, Thomas Reid, David Hume, Samuel Johnson, and Dugald Stewart recover the broader Enlightenment project of practical rationality that encouraged the widespread internalization and instrumentalization of constructive skepticism. Readings of eighteenth-century rhetorical and legal treatises trace how this constructive skeptical ethos was disseminated beyond epistemology and embraced within a generalized theory of assent. "Misreading Skepticism" approaches this broader "misreading" in the modern intellectual history of skepticism through the special lens of Romantic literary studies, where scholars have traditionally framed the rise of British Romanticism as a response to a supposed epistemological "crisis” posed by Humean skepticism. “Misreading Skepticism” argues that, to under…
date: 2018
language: en
type: PhD thesis

Immortal Utterances: A 'Conversation' with the Late, Great Author, Lexicographer and Letters Writer Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: American Bar Association Journal
authors: Person
  surname: Garner
  given name: Bryan A.
subject: Abstract
subject: Conversation
subject: Johnson
subject: Law
abstract: Garner constructs a simulated interview with Johnson, compiling his known sayings to explore his views on the legal profession, lawyers, and legal writing. The piece addresses the value of studying law, the challenges of the profession, and the definition of law, citing Johnson's statement that it is "the last result of human wisdom acting upon human experience for the benefit of the public." Johnson defends a lawyer's representation of a cause they personally believe is weak, arguing that every cause has a bad side and the lawyer's role is to present the client's case and then hear the judge's opinion. Johnson also observes that lawyers possess practical life knowledge a "bookish man" lacks.
date: 2016-03
language: en
pages: 24–25

American Bar Association Journal
type: Journal
volume: 102
number: 3
alternative: ABA Journal
identifier: ISSN 07470088

Critical Occasions
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: CLIO: A Journal of Literature, History, and the Philosophy of History
  type: Journal
  volume: 45
  number: 2
  alternative: CLIO
  identifier: ISSN 0884-2043
authors: Person
  surname: Vilmar
  given name: Christopher
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Smallwood
  given name: Philip
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Poetry
subject: Review
date: Spring 2016
language: en
pages: 251–258

False Patriotism
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Filipino Reporter
  type: Journal
  volume: 44
  number: 23
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
subject: Abstract
abstract: The write-up on this quote says James Boswell, writer and biographer of Samuel Johnson, tells us that Johnson made this famous pronouncement that patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel on the evening of April 7, 1775. He doesn't provide any information how the remark came about, so we don't really know for sure what was on Johnson's mind at the time.
date: 2016-05-06
language: en
pages: 16

Johnson and Boswell: A Biography of Friendship
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies
authors: Person
  surname: Smallwood
  given name: Philip
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Radner
  given name: John B.
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
abstract: Smallwood describes this work as a "highly original" study that tracks the "celebrated friendship" between Johnson and Boswell through careful analysis of visits and letters. Radner highlights the "relatively late stage" of their meeting and the "long periods" of separation that characterized their bond. Smallwood notes that the biography moves beyond Boswell's own narrative to examine how Johnson's "public image" was formed independently of his writings. He identifies the book as a "splendid achievement" that provides a "deep-level" understanding of the "rudiments of the relationship." Smallwood emphasizes Radner's ability to "reconfigure known material" into a "purposeful voice" that illuminates the "complex, under-explored" dynamics of their association. The text ultimately serves as a "touchstone" for scholars of 18th-century biography.
date: 2017
language: en
pages: 153–154

Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies
type: Journal
volume: 40
identifier: DOI 10.1111/1754-0208.12375
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 0141867X

Shakespeare's 'Scenes of Enchantment' and Johnson's Criticism
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Poetica: An International Journal of Linguistic-Literary Studies
  type: Journal
  volume: 84
  identifier: ISSN 02871629
authors: Person
  surname: Harada
  given name: Noriyuki
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Renaissance
subject: Drama
subject: Shakespeare
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 77

Interest and Connection in the Eighteenth Century: Hervey, Johnson, Smith, Equiano
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Intelligencer
  type: Journal
  volume: 35
  number: 2
authors: Person
  surname: Walker
  given name: Robert G.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Sider Jost
  given name: Jacob
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Sider Jost's Interest and Connection in the Eighteenth Century argues that the polysemous word "interest" serves as a central lens for understanding the intellectual and literary work of the British long eighteenth century. The monograph examines the expanding semantic strands of the word through close readings of key figures and texts, including Lord Hervey's memoirs, Johnson's Irene and Rasselas, Adam Smith's oeuvre, and Equiano's Interesting Narrative. Jost demonstrates how the concept connected realms from the erotic and political to economics and psychology, notably highlighting how Smith was more a Homo rhetoricus than a Homo economicus and deepening the understanding of passages like those in Clarissa and the sale of Equiano's freedom.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 32–36

Johnson in Japan
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Fiction
authors: Person
  surname: Berglund
  given name: Lisa
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Ogawa
  given name: Kimiyo
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Suzuki
  given name: Mika
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
abstract: Berglund's largely positive review examines an essay collection edited by Kimiyo Ogawa and Mika Suzuki that introduces Western readers to Japanese scholarship on Johnson. The volume details how Meiji-era students treated the writer as a Confucian moral mentor, focusing on Hawthorne's anecdote of the Uttoxeter market penance. While Berglund praises the historical accounts of Japanese reception and specific essays on Sastres and Garrick, she notes that the critical chapters rely too heavily on Western critical idioms and sources. The review finds the collection slightly descriptive rather than analytical but appreciates its testament to the vibrant global landscape of contemporary eighteenth-century studies.
date: 2022
language: en
pages: 493–496

Eighteenth-Century Fiction
type: Journal
volume: 34
identifier: DOI 10.1353/858268
number: 4
alternative: ECF
identifier: ISSN 0840-6286

Community and Solitude: New Essays on Johnson's Circle
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Life
  type: Journal
  volume: 47
  number: 1
  alternative: ECL
  identifier: ISSN 0098-2601
authors: Person
  surname: Boyd
  given name: Bradford Q.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Boyd focuses on Johnson’s relational dynamics with younger protégés and female contemporaries. Radner compares the 'defensive' early correspondence with Boswell to the more 'quotidian' letters sent to Langton and Chambers, noting how the Highland tour eventually transformed the Johnson–Boswell bond into an intimate 'affectionate' relationship. Francus explores the 'politics of literary celebrity,' contrasting Johnson’s desire for 'cultural authority' with Burney’s resistance to public intimacy. Kairoff contrasts Johnson's 'humanist' landscape views with Seward’s 'proto-Romantic' sensibility.
date: 2023
language: en
pages: 102–125

Regulating the Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essay: A Poetics from The Tatler, The Spectator and The Rambler
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Textus: English Studies in Italy
  type: Journal
  volume: 32
  number: 3
  alternative: Textus
  identifier: ISSN 1825-6589
authors: Person
  surname: Bugliani
  given name: Paolo
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Essays
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 13–33

Allen Walker Read's Unfinished Histories of Early English Lexicography
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 65 [263]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjy057
  number: 3
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Adams
  given name: Michael
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: History
subject: Johnson
abstract: On the unfinished history of English lexicography planned by Allen Walker Read, focusing on Johnson's Dictionary. Read's 1931 dissertation, The Place of Johnson's Dictionary in the History of English Lexicography, was foundational to his larger, unrealized project, The Rise of Dictionary Authority in English. After revisions to appease "hyper-sensitive Johnsonians," the work was accepted in 1933. The author suggests that Read's subsequent career path and the later publication of similar works by other scholars prevented him from completing and publishing his comprehensive history.
date: 2018-09
language: en
pages: 417

Debates in Parliament
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Life
  type: Journal
  volume: 39
  identifier: DOI 10.1215/00982601-3143887
  number: 3
  alternative: ECL
  identifier: ISSN 0098-2601
authors: Person
  surname: Horowitz
  given name: James
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Kaminski
  given name: Thomas
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Hoover
  given name: Benjamin B.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Law
subject: Politics
subject: Review
abstract: Horowitz's review of the Yale edition of Johnson's Debates in Parliament describes the work as Johnson's longest piece of prose. These "Debates in the Senate of Magna Lilliputia" were not simple reportage but "flights of ventriloquism" where Johnson "framed" speeches out of his own brain to elude censors. Horowitz notes that Johnson often jumbled names, such as "Walelop" for Walpole and "Ptit" for Pitt. The edition restores the "Lilliputian paraphernalia" and glossary, allowing readers to decode the "little language" of the Debates. Although Johnson reportedly harbored "scrupulous regrets" about writing them, Horowitz argues they represent a unique example of dramatic literature crafted from representative government. The review concludes that the Yale volumes provide a "glorious and long-awaited" reading text that approximates the debates as Johnson actually wrote them.
date: 2015-09
language: en
pages: 123–132

This Old House and Samuel Johnson's Scotland
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Against the Map: The Politics of Geography in Eighteenth-Century Britain
publisher: University of Virginia Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Charlottesville
authors: Person
  surname: Sills
  given name: Adam
subject: Johnson
subject: Scotland
subject: Locations
date: 2021
language: en

Two Ways of Being Wise: Shakespeare and the Johnsonian Montaigne
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Poetica: An International Journal of Linguistic-Literary Studies
  type: Journal
  volume: 84
  identifier: ISSN 02871629
authors: Person
  surname: Smallwood
  given name: Philip
is referenced by: Abridged in The Literary Criticism of Samuel Johnson Forms of Artistry and Thought.
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Drama
subject: Shakespeare
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 55–76

Abridged in The Literary Criticism of Samuel Johnson Forms of Artistry and Thought.
type: Memo

Philosophical and Oriental Tales
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Oxford History of the Novel in English: Volume 2: English and British Fiction, 1750–1820
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Ballaster
  given name: Ros
editors: Person
  surname: Garside
  given name: Peter
editors: Person
  surname: O'Brien
  given name: Karen
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
subject: Philosophy
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 353–369

The Best of Intentions
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture
authors: Person
  surname: Hershinow
  given name: Stephanie Insley
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: On the tension between literary criticism's "messy" concept of intention and analytical philosophy's precise distinctions, taking up an implicit call from Jonathan Kramnick. Hershinow then turns to Johnson's Dictionary to showcase the historical multiplicity of the term's meaning, observing that Johnson's definitions, such as "Intentionally: In will, if not in action," resist the strict separation of intention and action proposed by modern philosophers like G. E. M. Anscombe. The analysis suggests retaining this historical ambiguity for a more robust critical practice.
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 213–216

Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture
type: Journal
volume: 47
identifier: ISSN 1938-6133

The Johnson Circle: A Group Portrait
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Intelligencer
  type: Journal
  volume: 32
  number: 2
authors: Person
  surname: Walker
  given name: Robert G.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Larsen
  given name: Lyle
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Walker praises Larsen's book for its smooth and stylish narrative, which effectively blends well-known and previously unknown details of the Johnson Circle, and its rigorous and scholarly documentation in the majority of cases. Strengths include descriptions of Garrick’s stage innovations and Reynolds's art. A weakness noted is the awkward presentation of some material due to unclear audience focus, suggesting uncertainty in distinguishing original insights.
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 9–11

The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Theatre Research
authors: Person
  surname: Richards
  given name: Penny
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Damrosch
  given name: Leo
subject: Boswell
subject: Conversation
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 151–152

Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Theatre Research
type: Journal
volume: 33
identifier: DOI 10.5325/rectr.33.1-2.0151
number: 1/2
identifier: ISSN 0034-5822

Petty Caviller or 'Formidable Assailant'? Johnson Reads Dennis
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
  type: Journal
  volume: 52
  number: 1
  identifier: ISSN 0190-731X
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: In Petty Caviller or "Formidable Assailant'? Johnson Reads Dennis, Smallwood alludes to two of Johnson's characterizations of John Dennis, arguably the dominant literary critic of the first half of the century but largely forgotten by its end, forgotten, that is, except by Johnson. A third characterization, from manuscript notes for Johnson's biography of Pope, "reads starkly 'Madness of Dennis,"" and indeed the manner of Dennis's critical observations may have helped the demise of his reputation. Still, Johnson found much of value in Dennis and referred to his work frequently in his own criticism to an extent surprising to those of us who take our view of Dennis from Pope alone.
date: Autumn 2019
language: en
pages: 24

Isaac Watts's Occasional Conformities
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
  type: Journal
  volume: 48/49
  number: 2/1
  identifier: ISSN 0190731X
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Starting from Samuel Johnson's well- known evaluation of Watts-''Happy will be that reader whose mind is disposed by his verses, or his prose, to imitate him in all but his non-conformity''-Ms. Lewis yokes politics, religion, and aesthetics in the early eighteenth century: "'With its rule of twice-yearly communion in an Anglican church for those who wished to hold public office, the controversial practice of occa- sional conformity epitomized the uncer- tainty of formal expression between 1702 and 1714."'Ms. Lewis is on point, also, in her eval- uation of Watts's place in literary history: ''Watts's disappointing critical destiny re- flects his status as exemplary background within a long-standing reading practice that much prefers to look at the exceptional figures in the foreground."'[...]I could not determine which edition she used, because her careless treatment of capitalization, spelling, contractions, and italics makes any determination impossi- ble.
date: Spring-Autumn 2016
language: en
pages: 100

Careful and Careless: Epic Tales in the Editing of Dr. Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
  type: Journal
  volume: 53
  number: 1
  identifier: ISSN 0190-731X
subject: Johnson
subject: Editing
subject: Abstract
abstract: DeMaria examines the history of the Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson. He details its rather long gestational period. It is by no means unusual for such monumental scholarly undertakings to occupy decades. It is somewhat less common that the project "outlived all the original members of the editorial committee and most of their replacements. Johnson lived to be seventy-five, but it took him less time to write his work than it has taken Yale to edit them." He notes that such apparent dilatoriness is not a function of neglect so much as it is a function of genuine, if sometimes overwrought, disputes about editorial principles.
date: Autumn 2020
language: en
pages: 19–19

A New Johnson Self-Quotation in the Dictionary
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
  type: Journal
  volume: 52
  number: 1
  identifier: ISSN 0190731X
authors: Person
  surname: Scherwatzky
  given name: Steven D.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Reference
abstract: In A New Johnson Self-Quotation in the Dictionary, Lee found that the fourth edition of the Dictionary (1773) illustrates the definition of "bribe" ("To gain by bribes; to give bribes, rewards, or hire, to bad purposes") with a couplet from his prologue to Goldsmith's play The Good-Natured Man: "The great, "tis true, can still th" electing tribe/The bard may supplicate, but cannot bribe." These wry lines nicely supplement the definition by suggesting that poets cannot purchase applause in the way politicians can buy votes.
date: 2019-09
language: en
pages: 19–20

'A Morbid Oblivion': Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, and Remembering Not to Forget
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 23
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Barnes
  given name: Celia
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: Barnes explores the complex relationship between memory, forgetting, preservation, and destruction in biographical and archival projects, focusing on Johnson and Boswell. Using Johnson's Journey to the Western Islands and Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides as primary texts, alongside Boswell's Life of Johnson, Barnes argues that both writers recognized the inherent paradoxes of remembrance. Johnson valued written records against the perceived unreliability of oral tradition ("morbid oblivion"), yet acknowledged writing's flaws. Boswell embraced memory's subjective, refining nature. Johnson's burning of his papers becomes a paradoxical act enabling Boswell's biographical project, highlighting that preservation is founded on loss.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 1–19

'& Not the Least Wit': Jane Austen's Use of 'Wit'
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Humanities
authors: Person
  surname: Cox
  given name: Octavia
subject: 19th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Johnson notes that wit is subject to "changes and fashions," a polyvalency reflected in his Dictionary which balances mental faculty against quickness of fancy. Austen occasionally employs Johnson's "original signification" of wit as intellect, yet habitually applies the term pejoratively to denote social display, aggression, or "mis-use of the mind." In Pride and Prejudice, Mr Bennet's "wit" reveals a "want of penetration" and "defect of discretion," causing "pain to many a painful hour" rather than providing the delight required by the Addisonian model. Similarly, the "witticisms" of Caroline Bingley or the "insolent" outbursts of Emma Woodhouse represent "mean attempt[s] at wit" that prioritize "censure" over truth. Paradoxically, Austen reserves the qualities of "true Wit"—justness, surprize, and "elegantly adapted" thought—for heroines like Elizabeth Bennet without explicitly using the label. By aligning "wit" with fashionable conformity and "unfeeling" antagonism, Austen distinguishes between the mere performance of cleverness and the "genius, wit, and taste" that characterize the "greatest powers of the mind" within the novel genre.
date: 2022
language: en
pages: 132

Humanities
type: Journal
volume: 11
identifier: DOI 10.3390/h11060132
number: 6
identifier: ISSN 20760787

'Johnson and China: Culture, Commerce, and the Dream of the Orient in Mid-Eighteenth-Century England'
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
  type: Journal
  volume: 53
  number: 1
  identifier: ISSN 0190731X
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Clingham eschews a tight argument about the relationship between Johnson and China. He generously credits those who have gone before and he has read everything, or so it seems. Moreover, his generalized statements about Johnson's view of the Orient seem without exception correct.
date: Autumn 2020
language: en
pages: 17–19

Johnson's Unacknowledged Debt to Thomas Edwards in the 1765 Edition of Shakespeare
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
  type: Journal
  volume: 52
  number: 1
  identifier: ISSN 0190-731X
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Renaissance
subject: Authorship
subject: Shakespeare
subject: Abstract
abstract: Dussinger reviews the evidence and finds in favor of the defendant: "while producing the notes to the 1765 Shakespeare edition, even if he had wanted to, Johnson simply did not have the time and patience to sift through all previous commentary to identify the various claimants most worthy of remembering." The claim is fair, and in keeping with Johnson's practice in all his large-scale projects, including the Dictionary and the Lives of the Poets, where his practice–though astonishing for the work of a single person-rarely lived up to the high ideals he spelled out for himself.
date: Autumn 2019
language: en
pages: 19–19

'Look, My Lord, It Comes': Ghostly Silences in the Boswell/Johnson Archive
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
  type: Journal
  volume: 52
  number: 1
  identifier: ISSN 0190-731X
authors: Person
  surname: Scanlan
  given name: J. T.
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: In "‘Look, My Lord, It Comes': Ghostly Silences in the Boswell/Johnson Archive," Lee identifies a provocative, and somewhat amusing, subject: Johnson's presence, especially in conversation, as a ghost. Most readers tend to think of Johnson in social situations as an intellectual pugilist, inclined every now and then to toss and gore his combatants. Lee suggests that Johnson's initial silences in conversation are also meaningful.
date: Autumn 2019
language: en
pages: 20–21

The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Studies
  type: Journal
  volume: 53
  identifier: DOI 10.1353/ecs.2020.0013
  number: 2
  alternative: ECS
  identifier: ISSN 0013-2586
authors: Person
  surname: Redford
  given name: Bruce
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Damrosch
  given name: Leo
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Conversation
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
abstract: Redford calls Damrosch's book deficient for both scholars and the common reader. Redford faults the book for lacking a compelling central argument on the Club's program or its role in shaping the age. He argues that the book presents a distorted view of Johnson’s Dictionary as an "impersonal project" and relies on the negative stereotype of Boswell as a mere recorder rather than a masterful artistic selector.
date: 2020
language: en
pages: 321–323

Samuel Johnson: 21st-Century Oxford Authors
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Choice
  type: Journal
  volume: 56
  number: 8
  identifier: ISSN 0009-4978
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Womersley
  given name: David
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Lee's severe review of Womersley’s anthology acknowledges the volume as the most comprehensive and visually attractive collection of Johnson's poetry and prose. Lee praises the physical compactness and the inclusion of rare pieces and illustrations. However, Lee argues that pervasive technical errors fatally undercut these virtues. The review highlights miscued cross-references in the introduction and the lack of visible cues for endnotes. Lee concludes that these clumsy blunders leave readers floundering.
date: 2019-04
language: en
pages: 1001

Samuel Johnson's Practical Sermon on Marriage in Context: Spousal Whiggery and the Book of Common Prayer
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
  type: Journal
  volume: 52
  number: 1
  identifier: ISSN 0190731X
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
subject: Family
subject: Abstract
subject: Religion
abstract: In Samuel Johnson's Practical Sermon on Marriage in Context: Spousal Whiggery and the Book of Common Prayer, Weinbrot focuses on Johnson's sermon on marriage: "Therefore shall a man leave his father, and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife" (Genesis 2:24). This sermon was written while domestic life itself was undergoing significant transformations, and he notes some of these changes are reflected in Johnson's obiter dicta on marriage.
date: Autumn 2019
language: en
pages: 25–26

Samuel Johnson's View of History
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
  type: Journal
  volume: 52
  number: 1
  identifier: ISSN 0190731X
subject: Johnson
subject: History
subject: Abstract
abstract: In Samuel Johnson's View of History, Lock asserts that Macaulay's opinion that Johnson was "a bigot in religion, a reactionary Tory in politics, and a narrow-minded provincial who contemned travel and denigrated history" has been reversed by modern scholarship. But perhaps Macaulay's understanding of Johnson on history is not so far afield as recent views suggest. This solid essay contrasts the "Enlightenment" notion of history, as practiced by Bayle, Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Gibbon, among others, with an old-fashioned view that Johnson favored. Johnson leaned toward "humanist historians who compiled their narratives from the available printed sources. They did not undertake "research" of the kind begun by the seventeenth-century antiquarians and later absorbed into the mainstream of historical writing."
date: Autumn 2019
language: en
pages: 22–23

'Where the Climate Is Unkind, and the Ground Penurious': Johnson and the Alien Ecologies of the Highlands
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Philological Quarterly
  type: Journal
  volume: 100
  number: 3/4
  alternative: PQ
  identifier: ISSN 00317977
authors: Person
  surname: Markley
  given name: Robert
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
subject: Scotland
subject: Philosophy
subject: Abstract
abstract: Markley asserts that in a key passage in A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, Samuel Johnson and his party stop to rest and water their horses on what he sees as a little-traveled road to Glenshiels. Sitting in a "narrow valley, he finds that the high hills, hindering the eye from ranging, forced his mind to find entertainment for itself, a turning inward that ultimately leads him to conceive "the thought of this narration–the narrative of his travels through the Highlands and the Hebrides. Johnson's reaction–often bemused, sometimes horrified–to the Highlands' treeless landscape reflects this paradox. As he travels through this "uniformity of barrenness," Johnson finds himself searching for a descriptive and interpretive language in order to make sense of a landscape that seemingly resists the assumptions and values of his contemporaries thinking about ecology and resource management. In this essay, then, I argue that Johnson's characteristic skepticism extends to eighteenth-century efforts to treat the world, as John Locke does, as a storehouse of endlessly exploitable value open to human labor and ingenuity.
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 493–513

The Reformist Ideas of Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
  type: Journal
  volume: 52
  identifier: DOI 10.1353/scb.2020.0015
  number: 2
  identifier: ISSN 0190731X
authors: Person
  surname: Walker
  given name: Robert G.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Ritchie
  given name: Stefka
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
date: 2020
language: en
pages: 236–237

Samuel Johnson and Virgil
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual
  type: Journal
  volume: 23
  alternative: AJ
  identifier: ISSN 0884-5816
authors: Person
  surname: Baldwin
  given name: Barry
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Classics
subject: Abstract
abstract: Baldwin traces Johnson's lifelong engagement with Virgil, from his schoolboy translations of the Eclogues to mature critical assessments. Baldwin analyzes Johnson's early translations, noting stylistic choices and occasional inaccuracies. He discusses Johnson's varying opinions on Virgil's works, highlighting his critical coolness towards Eclogue 5 in the Adventurer, his preference for the Odyssey's story over the Aeneid's, and inconsistent comparisons between Virgil, Homer, and Theocritus. Baldwin also examines Johnson's use of Virgil for mottoes, quotations in letters and essays, commentary on Shakespeare, and influence on Johnson's own Latin poetry, concluding Virgil remained emotionally and intellectually significant throughout Johnson's life.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 57–82

Samuel Johnson and the Journey into Words
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Choice
  type: Journal
  volume: 53
  identifier: DOI 10.5860/CHOICE.197538
  number: 12
  identifier: ISSN 0009-4978
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Mugglestone
  given name: Lynda
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Travel
abstract: In this enthusiastic review, Lee describes the book as an accessible compendium and the "go-to guide" for the Dictionary. Lee notes that Mugglestone uses the metaphor of a journey to organize her examination of compilation history, lexicographical authority, and the tension between descriptive and prescriptive pressures. The review highlights the research into Johnson’s legacy and the admission of foreign words. Lee finds the study both informative and entertaining, situating it alongside essential scholarship by DeMaria and Lynch.
date: Aug 2016
language: en
pages: 1780

Samuel Johnson: 21st-Century Oxford Authors
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Intelligencer
  type: Journal
  volume: 32
  number: 2
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Womersley
  given name: David
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Womersley’s Samuel Johnson is the most comprehensive anthology of the major author's work, intended to replace Greene’s 1984 edition. Its 1,294 pages offer extensive chronological coverage and superior copy-texts, confirming Johnson’s status as a modern literary figure. However, the volume is flawed by truncated texts of the major Lives (Milton, Dryden, Pope) and a frustrating lack of visible markers for the endnotes, making annotation difficult to access for the student audience it targets.
date: 2018
language: en
pages: 13–19

New Essays on Samuel Johnson: Revaluation
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Life
  type: Journal
  volume: 47
  number: 1
  alternative: ECL
  identifier: ISSN 0098-2601
authors: Person
  surname: Boyd
  given name: Bradford Q.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Boyd examines the collection’s effort to reinstate Johnson’s unique voice at the center of English letters. Richetti presents Johnson as a 'heterodox poet' whose 'eloquent simplicity' and solidarity with the common reader challenged the pretentious artificiality of mid-eighteenth-century verse. Tankard and Kickel analyze the Prayers and Meditations, characterizing Johnson’s private devotions as 'actionable' responses to grief and spiritual anxiety that emphasize 'reformation' of character over empty ritual.
date: 2023
language: en
pages: 102–125

New Essays on Samuel Johnson: Revaluation
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 66 [264]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/gjz149
  number: 4
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Smallwood
  given name: Philip
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
abstract: Smallwood finds this collection offers 'outstanding penetration and originality' despite the typical fragmented quality of such volumes. Smallwood highlights Lynda Mugglestone’s research on Johnson's marginalia in Warburton’s Shakespeare and Greg Clingham’s essay on Johnson’s affection for children, including Thrale's daughter Queeney. The reviewer praises the volume’s literary-historical focus while noting that some attempts to link Johnson’s work to modern socio-political crises are occasionally over-written or theoretically dense.
date: 2019
language: en
pages: 603–605

Samuel Johnson Among the Modernists
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Life
  type: Journal
  volume: 47
  number: 1
  alternative: ECL
  identifier: ISSN 0098-2601
authors: Person
  surname: Boyd
  given name: Bradford Q.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: 20th
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Boyd highlights the volume’s exploration of 'Christian faith' as a defining link between Johnson and modernists like Eliot. New identifies a shared urban pessimism in London and Prufrock, defining their modernism as a 'persistent state of psychic depression' rooted in the fallen nature of humanity. Lynch traces the reception of Johnson during the Great War, revealing how his works provided an 'oasis of reasonableness' for soldiers while being partisanly recruited for both interventionist and pacifist propaganda.
date: 2023
language: en
pages: 102–125

Two Allusions in Samuel Johnson's The False Alarm
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
  type: Journal
  volume: 52
  number: 1
  identifier: ISSN 0190731X
authors: Person
  surname: Scanlan
  given name: J. T.
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
subject: Abstract
abstract: Lee demonstrates in miniature what Boswell in the Life calls Johnson's "certain continual power of seizing the useful substance of all that he knew." He argues in favor of a more meaningful source — Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, which Johnson knew well. Moreover, Burton, with his language of disease, agrees with the metaphorical language of disease in The False Alarm. In short, with a few words, Johnson elicits a range of associations that do much more than gild his writing.
date: Autumn 2019
language: en
pages: 22

978-5-7996-3509-1
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Izdatelʹstvo Uralʹskogo universiteta
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Ekaterinburg
authors: Person
  surname: Kosykh
  given name: T. A.
subject: Johnson
title: Сэмюэл Джонсон и его эпоха: Британия и мир глазами английского интеллектуала XVIII в.: монография / Sėmi︠u︡ėl Dzhonson i ego ėpokha: Britanii︠a︡ i mir glazami angliĭskogo intellektuala XVIII v.: monografii︠a︡ = Samuel Johnson and his Era: Britain and the World through the eyes of an 18th-century English intellectual
date: 2022
language: ru
short title: Сэмюэл Джонсон и его эпоха
identifier: ISBN 978-5-7996-3509-1
num pages: 289

Comment: Letter from the Western Isles
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Hudson Review
authors: Person
  surname: Jarman
  given name: Mark
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
subject: Jacobitism
subject: Abstract
abstract: Jarman retraces the 1773 itinerary of Johnson and Boswell through the Hebrides, using their separate accounts to navigate the modern Scottish landscape during the independence referendum. He notes that the memory of their trip is now preserved for tourism. Jarman observes the loss of the spirit of defiant independence that Boswell and Johnson previously remarked upon, and contrasts their difficult inter-island travel via rowboats with modern car ferries. The text links eighteenth-century Jacobite history to contemporary nationalism, finding Johnson’s bread and butter letter to Lady MacLeod still displayed at Dunvegan Castle.
date: 2015
language: en
pages: 533

Hudson Review
type: Journal
volume: 67
number: 4
identifier: ISSN 0018702X

The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age
type: Article
item type: newspaperArticle
is part of: New York Times Book Review
authors: Person
  surname: Gordon
  given name: Lyndall
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Damrosch
  given name: Leo
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
subject: Conversation
abstract: Gordon praises Leo Damrosch’s The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age, describing it as a brilliantly animated work that captures the nature of creative stimulus over twenty years. The review details the Friday night gatherings at the Turk’s Head Tavern where founding members like Samuel Johnson, Joshua Reynolds, Oliver Goldsmith, and Edmund Burke—along with later additions like James Boswell—shaped eighteenth-century British culture. Damrosch uses the individual voices of these members to explore their collective intellectual energy, and Gordon notes the book’s deep research and focus on individual character. From a modern vantage point, the narrative addresses the members' views on empire and women, specifically focusing on the "shadow club" of women such as Fanny Burney and Hester Thrale Piozzi, the latter of whom served as Johnson’s confidante and therapist. Gordon commends Damrosch for maintaining storytelling momentum while going behind the scenes of this male-dominated intellectual circle and highlighting Johnson’s friendship with Piozzi as a crucial alternative to the main group.
date: 2019-05-12
language: en
pages: 15

New York Times Book Review
type: Newspaper
identifier: ISSN 0028-7806

Selections from the Life of Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Dover Thrift Editions
publisher: Dover
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Mineola, N.Y.
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
date: 2018
language: en
subject: PR3533 .B6 2018
identifier: ISBN 978-0-486-82843-5
num pages: 147

约翰生评传 = A Critical Biography of Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: 国际文化出版公司
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: 北京 = Beijing
authors: Person
  surname: 蔡田明 = Cai Tianming
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: 本书采纳十余种流行且有影响的约翰生传记资源,分阶段叙述介绍约翰生一生及各位传记作者对其人其思想的评价,极力反映出不同时期尤其当代的约翰生传记写作和研究现况,提供较为完整的理解约翰生著书立说,知行同一的智慧人生画面,试图揭示约翰生何以成为谈不完的话题. = Drawing upon more than a dozen popular and influential biographical sources, this book provides a chronological account of Samuel Johnson’s life alongside various biographers' evaluations of his character and thought. It strives to reflect the current state of Johnsonian biographical writing and scholarship across different eras—particularly the contemporary period—offering a comprehensive portrait of a life defined by the wisdom of "the unity of knowledge and action" in his writings and conduct. Ultimately, the work seeks to reveal why Johnson remains an inexhaustible subject of discussion.
date: 2022
language: zh
identifier: ISBN 978-7-5125-1390-7
num pages: 371

希望の本質: サミュエル・ジョンソンの思想と文学 / Kibō no honshitsu: Samyueru Jonson no shisō to bungaku [The Essence of Hope: The Thought and Literature of Samuel Johnson]
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: 広島修道大学学術選書 = Hiroshima shūdō daigaku gakujutsu sensho
publisher: Shunpūsha
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Yokohama
authors: Person
  surname: 石井
  given name: 善洋
subject: Johnson
date: 2021
language: ja
short title: 希望の本質
identifier: ISBN 978-4-86110-776-4
num pages: 254

塞缪尔·约翰逊《诗人传》对英诗经典的建构 = Samuel Johnson's formation of a poetic canon in the Lives of the Poets
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: 厦门: 厦门大学出版社, 2020: Sha men da xue chu ban she
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Shamen
authors: Person
  surname: 叶丽贤 Ye
  given name: Lixian
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Canon
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Lives
subject: Poetry
abstract: 本书以约翰逊的《诗人传》为考察对象,从诗歌批评史的角度来检视这位18世纪大文豪的批评观如何塑造和影响《诗人传》某些传主的经典地位.本书讨论的是《诗人传》中的弥尔顿,德莱顿,蒲柏,还有两大诗人群体— — "玄学派"诗人和十八世纪中期诗人.Ben shu yi yue han xun de shi ren chuan wei kao cha dui xiang,Cong shi ge pi ping shi de jiao du lai jian shi zhei wei 18 shi ji da wen hao de pi ping guan ru he su zao he ying xiang shi ren chuan mou xie chuan zhu de jing dian di wei.Ben shu tao lun de shi shi ren chuan zhong de mi er dun,De lai dun,Pu bo,Hai you liang da shi ren qun ti"xuan xue pai"shi ren he shi ba shi ji zhong qi shi ren.
date: 2020
language: zh
identifier: ISBN 978-7-5615-7761-5
num pages: 326

Diario de un viaje a las Hébridas con Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Editorial Pre-textos
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Valencia
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
translators: Person
  surname: Rivero Taravillo
  given name: Antonio
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: En 1773, Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) y James Boswell (1740–1795) emprendieron un viaje por el norte de Escocia, que dio lugar a dos libros memorables. Asistimos en ellos a todo tipo de vicisitudes y personajes, curiosidades y anécdotas en un recorrido de cuatro meses que conduce a los autores por numerosos y pintorescos lugares. En el Diario hallamos dos caracteres bien distintos en delicioso diálogo: el de alguien que comenta, opina y tiene salidas de ingenio desde la madurez, y el de un hombre, aún joven, que aporta el conocimiento de primera mano del país y sus gentes. Como señaló Borges, Boswell quiso subrayar sus diferencias con Johnson como Cervantes marcó la disparidad entre Don Quijote y Sancho o como Arthur Conan Doyle haría lo propio entre Holmes y Watson. El libro, una fuente impagable de datos y erudiciones varias, posee un alto valor histórico y antropológico y ofrece una mirada privilegiada sobre un paisaje de enorme atractivo y una sociedad que aún se rige por el sistema de los clanes. Pero, sobre todo, es una obra de gran calidad literaria, en la que no faltan la finura psicológica y el humor. Aunque el Viaje de Johnson (1775) fue publicado hace algunos años en nuestra lengua, el Diario de Boswell (1785) no había sido vertido antes al español. Lo hace ahora Antonio Rivero Taravillo, traductor de grandes autores de la lengua inglesa y buen conocedor de la literatura gaélica.
date: 2016
language: es
identifier: ISBN 978-84-16453-45-0
num pages: 538

Vida de Samuel Johnson, doctor en leyes
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Acantilado
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Barcelona
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: La Vida de Samuel Johnson, de James Boswell, «delicia y orgullo del mundo de habla inglesa», según G. B. Hill, es considerada unánimemente la biografía más lograda que se ha escrito jamás. Pese a que Johnson, coloso de la literatura de su tiempo, era un personaje complejo, Boswell logra presentárnoslo en su insólita riqueza gracias a su conocimiento personal y al minucioso trabajo de recopilación de los testimonios de muchos otros contemporáneos: a través de las enjundiosas conversaciones con Johnson, de sus cartas, poemas, traducciones, panegíricos, críticas o artículos para revistas, va emergiendo el personaje desde su juventud hasta su consagración, con tal viveza que el lector tiene la impresión de conocerlo como si hubiera tenido el privilegio de tratarlo. Y así, merced a una prodigiosa combinación de afecto, respeto, destreza y rigor, Boswell consiguió dar vida al personaje retratado para que trascendiera su existencia temporal y propagara su influjo durante siglos. No es extraño que el tiempo haya convertido la Vida de Samuel Johnson en un auténtico modelo del género biográfico.
date: 2021
language: es
identifier: ISBN 978-84-18370-44-1
num pages: 1988

Critical Interpretation of Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Wisdom Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New Delhi
authors: Person
  surname: Sachdev
  given name: Rita
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
date: 2016
language: en
identifier: ISBN 978-93-82006-25-1
num pages: 264

へそ曲がりジョンソン博士の人生パズル: 十八世紀巨人のことば / Juhachiseiki kyojin no kotoba [The Puzzle of Dr. Johnson's Life: The Words of the Eighteenth Century Giants]
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Amazon
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: [Tokyo]
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
subject: Johnson
date: 2023
language: ja
identifier: ISBN 979-8-8582-9219-7
num pages: 75

约翰生传: 全译本 = The life of Samuel Johnson / Quan yi ben = The life of Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: 上海: 上海译文出版社有限公司: Shang hai yi wen chu ban she you xian gong si
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Shanghai
authors: Person
  surname: 鲍斯韦尔 = Boswell
  given name: James
authors: Person
  surname: Cha tu. Pu, Long
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: 本书记述了十八世纪著名英国诗人,散文家,批评家和英语词典编纂家约翰生的一生,并介绍了其代表作等.Ben shu ji shu le shi ba shi ji zhu ming ying guo shi ren,San wen jia,Pi ping jia he ying yu ci dian bian zuan jia yue han sheng de yi sheng,Bing jie shao le qi dai biao zuo< la sai la si> deng.
date: 2023
language: zh
short title: 约翰生传
identifier: ISBN 978-7-5327-8316-8
num pages: 1637

走近约翰生 = Approaching Samuel Johnson / Zou jin yue han sheng = Approaching samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: 北京: 社会科学文献出版社, 2018: She hui ke xue wen xian chu ban she
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Beijing
authors: Person
  surname: 蔡田明 = Cai tian ming
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: 本书汇集作者十余篇文论,分别介绍和约翰生小说,约翰生与启蒙运动,约翰生的诗学观及其政治,宗教,哲学和全球化思想.国外约翰生学研究概况,呈现英美澳的研究进展和学习活动常态.Ben shu hui ji zuo zhe shi yu pian wen lun,Fen bie jie shao yue han sheng chuan he yue han sheng xiao shuo xing fu gu,Yue han sheng yu qi meng yun dong,Yue han sheng de shi xue guan ji qi zheng zhi,Zong jiao,Zhe xue he quan qiu hua si xiang.Guo wai yue han sheng xue yan jiu gai kuang,Cheng xian ying mei ao de yan jiu jin zhan he xue xi huo dong chang tai.
date: 2018
language: zh
identifier: ISBN 978-7-5201-2420-1
num pages: 270

Entwürfe des Glücks und des guten Lebens in englischen Romanen vom 18. zum 20. Jahrhundert
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Anglistische Forschungen
publisher: Universitätsverlag Winter
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Heidelberg
authors: Person
  surname: Röder
  given name: Katrin
subject: Johnson
date: 2015
language: de
identifier: ISBN 978-3-8253-6444-1

978-84-9992-995-8
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Debate
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Barcelona
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
authors: Person
  surname: Torné
  given name: Gonzalo
link: Lien vers la notice du catalogue
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Renaissance
subject: Shakespeare
title: El diccionario de Samuel Johnson: Usos, costumbres y definiciones de las palabras que conforman la lengua inglesa: incluye términos que aparecen en Shakespeare y otros grandes autores de la literatura británica
abstract: This edition, translated and introduced by Gonzalo Torné, compiles the primary prefatory materials of Johnson’s 1755 Dictionary, including the Plan addressed to Lord Chesterfield, the Preface, and the History of the English Language. Torné’s introductory essay argues for the Dictionary’s status as a 'literary form,' highlighting Johnson’s aphoristic definitions and his struggle with the 'inevitable flexibility' of language. The Plan outlines Johnson’s early ambition to stabilize the English tongue, while the Preface famously records his transition from optimistic reformer to a weary scholar acknowledging that 'no dictionary dedicated to a living language can be perfect.' The History of the English Language provides a chronological survey of the tongue’s development from its Saxon roots through the Elizabethan 'Golden Age,' using excerpts from authors such as Chaucer, More, and Surrey to illustrate linguistic evolution. The main body of the work presents a curated selection of Johnson's original definitions, translated into Spanish, which preserve his distinctive wit and moralizing tone. Johnson identifies the lexicographer as a 'harmless drudge' and uses the dictionary format to offer 'brief lessons in morality' and detective-like etymological inquiries. Editorial policies focus on the tension between prescriptive goals and the descriptive reality of linguistic change caused by 'commerce, translation, and the passage of time.'
date: 2019
language: es
short title: El diccionario de Samuel Johnson
identifier: ISBN 978-84-9992-995-8
num pages: 400

Lien vers la notice du catalogue
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2026-04-27 13:49:01
link mode: 3
type: text/html

塞缪尔·约翰逊的道德关怀 / Sai mou erYue han xun de dao de guan huai [Samuel Johnson's moral concern]
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: 北京: 中国社会科学出版社, 2015: Zhong guo she hui ke xue chu ban she
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Beijing
authors: Person
  surname: 龚龑 = Gong Yan
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: 本书将约翰逊的观点置于当时相应的历史背景中, 主要聚焦于约翰逊的社会道德观, 政治观念和文学批评, 偶尔论及他的宗教思想.从文字上把握原文主旨, 尽可能利用较新的传记研究材料和18世纪历史, 政治, 文学和社会的研究成果, 证明约翰逊伦理思想同英国现代化情境的相关性.Ben shu jiang yue han xun de guan dian zhi yu dang shi xiang ying de li shi bei jing zhong, Zhu yao ju jiao yu yue han xun de she hui dao de guan, Zheng zhi guan nian he wen xue pi ping, Ou er lun ji ta de zong jiao si xiang. Cong wen zi shang ba wo yuan wen zhu zhi, Jin ke neng li yong jiao xin de chuan ji yan jiu cai liao he 18 shi ji li shi, Zheng zhi, Wen xue he she hui de yan jiu cheng guo, Zheng ming yue han xun lun li si xiang tong ying guo xian dai hua qing jing de xiang guan xing.
date: 2015
language: zh
identifier: ISBN 978-7-5161-6618-5
num pages: 214

978-7-5598-4793-5
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Guangxi shi fan da xue chu ban she
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Guiling
authors: Person
  surname: 叶丽贤 = Ye Lixian
subject: Johnson
title: 重返昨日世界: 从塞缪尔·约翰逊到亚当·斯密,一群塑造时代的人 / cong Saimiu'er Yuehanxun dao Yadang Simi, yi qun su zao shi dai de ren [Returning to Yesterday's World: From Samuel Johnson to Adam Smith, a Group of People Who Shaped an Era]
date: 2022
language: zh
short title: 重返昨日世界
identifier: ISBN 978-7-5598-4793-5
num pages: 554

A Reading of Samuel Johnson's 'The Vanity of Human Wishes: The Tenth Satire of Juvenal, Imitated' (1749)
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Long Beach Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
authors: Person
  surname: O'Flaherty
  given name: Patrick
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Classics
subject: Satire
date: 2016
language: en
identifier: ISBN 978-0-9680998-5-8

Vida de Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Gatopardo
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Barcelona
authors: Person
  surname: Manganelli
  given name: Giorgio
translators: Person
  surname: Clavel
  given name: Teresa
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
abstract: Vida de Samuel Johnson, habría logrado la obra de arte tan esperada. Giorgio Manganelli, tomándose las palabras de Schwob casi como un desafío, escribió este breve texto sobre la vida de Johnson, el intelectual inglés más importante del siglo XVIII. Escrita en 1961 para ser leída en el Terzo Programma de la Rai, la Vida de Samuel Johnson que aquí presentamos es el resultado de una cuidada labor de transcripción a partir del manuscrito de Manganelli. El escritor italiano no sólo cuenta la vida de Johnson desde el día en que, siendo muy joven, llegó a Londres procedente de Lichfield, sino que traza también un retrato colectivo a través de la visión de sus tres amigos, el escritor Richard Savage, el libertino Topham Beauclerk y su biógrafo James Boswell. Pese a que tanto Johnson como Manganelli pertenecen indudablemente a épocas distintas, constituyen sin embargo un fascinante caso de simbiosis. Manganeso sentía una gran afinidad por la obra y figura de Johnson, de quien dice que fue «el primer héroe de la sociedad de masas», de una sociedad capaz de inventarse mitos colectivos y desarrollarlos. Y no sólo eso: la melancolía, la hipocondría y la desventura de Johnson son también las de Manganelli. Autor y personaje mezclados en un texto extraordinario.
date: 2017
language: es
identifier: ISBN 978-84-946425-7-9
num pages: 91

My Sam Johnson: A Biography for General Readers
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: William & Park
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Ottawa
authors: Person
  surname: Jones
  given name: Wayne
subject: Johnson
subject: Biography
date: 2023
language: en
identifier: ISBN 978-1-7388960-0-4
num pages: 186

Samuel Johnson Illustrated
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: I2i Publishing
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Manchester
authors: Person
  surname: Ritchie
  given name: Stefka
subject: Johnson
subject: Family
subject: Abstract
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "Samuel Johnson Illustrated is a unique introduction to six of Johnson's allegories featured in the Rambler together with ‘The Vision of Theodore, the Hermit of Teneriffe, found in his Cell' which Johnson thought was the best of all he ever wrote. The keynote to the present compilation is the extraordinary imaginative power Johnson instils in his writings which in turn stimulates the reader's own personal creative experience. It is a new approach that draws attention to the influence of post-Newtonian science on mid-eighteenth-century art which valued mental imagery, ‘seeing in the mind's eye,' just as Newton had done to produce his synthesis of one universal law. For Johnson, too, ‘words were images of things' and he often used the power of creative visualisation in an act of contemplation in his allegories. The introduction as well as the analytical notes that precede each text aim to facilitate the reader's understanding of the peculiarities of mid-eighteenth-century aesthetics and of Johnson's own affinity to the arts. The contributors have also taken into account a striking characteristic of the mid-eighteenth century — that of the affinity between poetry and painting, in the words of Samuel Johnson, ‘two sister arts,' and the book has benefited from over fifty original illustrations by Dr. Ana Stefanova, a psychologist and amateur artist and Svetlan Stefanov, a visual artist. As an inter-disciplinary project, the book has allowed its four contributors to broaden their critical perspective in a truly mid-eighteenth-century fashion, and travelling beyond their own fields of study, they have produced a truly exciting compilation."
date: 2015
language: en
identifier: ISBN 978-0-9933714-5-5
num pages: 163

Samuel Johnson, David Garrick, and the Restoration of Shakespeare
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Dr Johnson's House
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Ruxin
  given name: Paul T.
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Shakespeare
date: 2015
language: en
identifier: ISBN 978-1-899284-10-8

The Reformist Ideas of Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Newcastle upon Tyne
authors: Person
  surname: Ritchie
  given name: Stefka
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "This book explores what remains an under-studied aspect of Samuel Johnson's profile as a person and writer — namely, his attitude to social improvement. The interpretive framework provided here is cross-disciplinary, and applies perspectives from social and cultural history, legal history, architectural history and, of course, English literature. This allows Johnson's writings to be read against the peculiarities of their historical milieu, and reveals Johnson in a new light — as an advocate of social improvement for human betterment. Considering the multiplicity of narrative modes that have been employed, the book points to the blurred boundaries and overlapping between history, testimony and fiction, and argues that a future biography of Samuel Johnson has to recognise that throughout his life he valued the utilitarian aspect of his manifesto as a writer to impart a more charitable attitude in the pursuit of a more caring society."
date: 2017
language: en
identifier: ISBN 978-1-4438-3181-9
num pages: 305

1773 Scotland: An Illustrated Account of Johnson & Boswell's Tour
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Loch Vale Fine Art
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Colorado
authors: Person
  surname: Mack
  given name: Brian C.
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Scotland
subject: Travel
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "In 1773, the Scottish James Boswell persuaded his English friend Samuel Johnson to accompany him on a tour through the Highlands of Scotland. Johnson was well known for his literary works and his dictionary. The two travelers set out from Edinburgh and skirted the eastern and northeastern coasts of Scotland. They proceeded into the Highlands and spent several weeks on various islands in the Hebrides. After a visit to Boswell's Estate at Auchinleck, the two returned to Edinburgh. Johnson published his Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland in 1775. A separate travel journal, The Journal of a tour to the Hebrides, with Samuel Johnson L.L.D., by Boswell was published in 1785. The two narratives are very different in approach — Johnson concentrated on Scotland, and Boswell focused on Johnson. This book contains excerpts form the original text and features historically re-created paintings of locations visited by the travelers. This illustrated book was completed in 2018 over 200 years after the original tour. It was the effort of a 20-year project beginning in 1998. Although the author and artist did not walk directly in the footsteps of Boswell and Johnson, their journey was retraced during multiple travels throughout Scotland. The project culminated in a stay at the restored familial home of Boswell — Auchinleck House. 1773 Scotland contains 65 illustrations that retrace Johnson & Boswell's tour."
date: 2019
language: en
short title: 1773 Scotland
subject: DA880.H4 M3355 2019
identifier: ISBN 978-1-950724-09-3
num pages: 207

'A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland' and 'A Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson'
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Oxford World's Classics
publisher: Oxford University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Oxford
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Barnes
  given name: Celia
editors: Person
  surname: Lynch
  given name: Jack
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Paperback
subject: Travel
subject: Journals
subject: History
subject: Scotland
subject: Politics
subject: Boswell
subject: Jacobitism
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: This edition presents the complete texts of Johnson’s 1775 Journey and the 1786 third edition of Boswell’s Journal, organized sequentially to facilitate comparative study. Barnes and Lynch provide a comprehensive introduction exploring the "interconnected origins" of the narratives, the political aftermath of the Jacobite uprisings, and the intellectual ferment of the Scottish Enlightenment. Editorial intervention is characterized by minimal modernization, preserving original punctuation and idiosyncratic spellings while removing running quotation marks and regularizing initial capitals. The volume incorporates a rich critical apparatus, including a "Note on the Text" identifying nine primary information sources, a "Note about Money" detailing pre-decimal currency, and a detailed chronology. Extensive explanatory notes, placed at the back to ensure an "uninterrupted reading experience," synthesize historical context with annotations from Sir Walter Scott, Hester Thrale Piozzi, and John Wilson Croker. The editors also include a biographical index and a glossary featuring Johnson's own definitions. Barnes and Lynch argue that while Johnson’s mode is "geography and ethnography," Boswell’s is "biography and memoir," focusing on "Johnson himself who comes to stand for something bigger."
date: 2020
language: en
subject: DA880.H4 J6 2020
identifier: ISBN 978-0-19-879874-3
num pages: 520

The Complete Poems of Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Longman Annotated English Poets
publisher: Routledge
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: Brown
  given name: Robert D.
editors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Classics
subject: Abstract
abstract: This definitive edition, the first since 1974, presents all the poetry of Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), including his play, Irene, with detailed wide-ranging commentary. It has been expertly edited with attention to the extant manuscripts and all relevant printings. The volume includes the entirety of Johnson's verse in all its generic diversity: including satire, ode, elegy, verse drama, and verse prayer. The poems are presented in their original spelling and punctuation with extensive commentary on their literary background-biblical, classical, and modern-as well as careful explanation of unusual words, allusions to historical figures, and references to contemporary events that appear in the poems. Proceeding chronologically, this edition also situates Johnson's verse in the context of his life from his early days in Lichfield to his career as an author in London. Unlike all earlier editions, the present offering provides full translations of all the Latin and Greek poems on which Johnson based so much of his English verse. Correspondingly, it provides the English poems which some of his Latin verse translates. Neither in the presentation of the verse nor in the commentary does this edition assume a command of foreign languages: it aims to be useful for all students of Samuel Johnson's poetry.
date: 2024
language: en
subject: PR3520.G24
identifier: ISBN 978-1-003-27325-7
num pages: 1

The Cambridge Introduction to Samuel Johnson
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
authors: Person
  surname: Hitchens
  given name: Daniel
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
abstract: DeMaria and Hitchens trace Johnson’s transformation from a provincial bookseller’s son into a monumental figure of British letters. This biographical and critical narrative emphasizes Johnson’s "extraordinary intellectual gifts" and his lifelong struggle with "religious melancholy" and physical tics. The authors examine his "de facto" editorship of the Gentleman’s Magazine and his emergence as a prominent moralist through The Rambler. Central to the work is an analysis of Johnson’s scholarly "dual achievement": compiling a foundational dictionary and a landmark edition of Shakespeare. The narrative explores his late-life friendships with Boswell and Piozzi, noting how these relationships shaped his enduring legend. DeMaria and Hitchens dispute the nineteenth-century "ignorant fable" that Boswell created Johnson’s greatness, asserting instead that Johnson’s own writings remain "unignorable" for their generous understanding of human nature. The study characterizes Johnson as a versatile, skeptical thinker who advocated for "clear[ing] your mind of cant" and whose excoriating views on slavery and imperialist cruelty maintain modern relevance. Chapter 1, 'Life and Times', surveys the subject’s biographical trajectory from provincial origins to metropolitan fame, emphasizing how physical and psychological afflictions informed a complex religious and political worldview. Chapter 2, 'Journalist', examines early career drudgery at the Gentleman’s Magazine and the evolution of the periodical essay, highlighting a commitment to using ephemeral media for moral instruction. Chapter 3, 'Poet and Storyteller', explores verse and fiction as vehicles for personal expression, focusing on the pervasive theme of human vanity and the elusive nature of happiness. Chapter 4, 'Scholar', evaluates philological achievements in the Dictionary and the Shakespeare edition, framing them as monumental exercises in empirical humanism and textual discipline. Chapter 5, 'Critic', analyzes the recon…
date: 2025
language: en
subject: PR3533 .D38 2025
identifier: ISBN 978-1-009-53456-7 978-1-009-53453-6
identifier: DOI 10.1017/9781009534550

Strange Words: For Tenor and Violoncello
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Edition Peters
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Leipzig
authors: Person
  surname: Bingham
  given name: Judith
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
authors: Person
  surname: Newton
  given name: Isaac
authors: Person
  surname: Blake
  given name: William
is referenced by: Duration: approximately 11 min Includes biographical notes in English and German Words by Isaac Newton, William Blake and from Johnson's Dictionary Cello part includes tenor part as cue
is referenced by: Fantasy -- The phoenix -- Rose -- The fairy funeral -- Mystery
subject: Johnson
date: 2018
language: en
subject: M1624.8 .B
num pages: 1

Duration: approximately 11 min Includes biographical notes in English and German Words by Isaac Newton, William Blake and from Johnson's Dictionary Cello part includes tenor part as cue
type: Memo

Fantasy -- The phoenix -- Rose -- The fairy funeral -- Mystery
type: Memo

Hodge, Dr. Johnson's Cat: For B♭ Clarinet and Tenor/Speaker
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Composers Edition
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Chipping Norton
authors: Person
  surname: Bingham
  given name: Judith
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
is referenced by: item_20176
is referenced by: Includes score in C and transposed score Cover title With program notes in English Texts by Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, and the composer Words printed separately as text
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
date: 2023
language: en
short title: Hodge, Dr. Johnson's Cat
subject: M1624.7 .B
num pages: 2

item_20176
type: Memo
value: 1. Dr. Johnson defines a cat and a mouse -- 2. James Boswell describes his friend, Samuel Johnson -- 3. Vermin: any noxious animal. Used commonly for small creatures -- 4. Sneeze: to emit wind audibly, by the nose
subject: 18th

Includes score in C and transposed score Cover title With program notes in English Texts by Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, and the composer Words printed separately as text
type: Memo
subject: 18th

Saʻdī va Jānsūn: du nāʹhamzabān-i hamʹdil: taḥlīl-i taṭbīqī-i Gulistān-i Saʻdī va Rāslās-i Jānsūn
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Nashr-i Nigāh-i Muʻāṣir
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Tihrān
authors: Person
  surname: Awliyāyīʹniyā
  given name: Hilin
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
date: 2020
language: ar
short title: Saʻdī va Jānsūn
subject: PR3534+
identifier: ISBN 978-622-6189-81-1
edition: Chāp-i avval
num pages: 94

New Essays on Samuel Johnson: Revaluation
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Delaware Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Newark
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Criticism
subject: Johnson
subject: Philosophy
abstract: Lee and his contributors challenge the notion that Johnsonian studies have reached a point of exhaustion, arguing instead that Johnson's "inexhaustible" writings remain urgently relevant to contemporary cultural concerns. The volume is divided into two sections: "Re-Reading Specific Texts" and "Re-Mapping Larger Themes and Issues." Chapters in the first section examine the Dictionary through the lens of Johnson’s marginalia in Shakespeare; the "utopian intertextuality" of the poem London; the controversial inclusions and exclusions in the Lives of the Poets; the "consolation philosophy" found in Johnson’s private devotions; and his complex, anti-imperialist stance in Taxation No Tyranny. The second section explores broader conceptual categories, including Johnson's relationship to environmental sustainability; his heterodox identity as both critic and poet; his interactions with children and concepts of childhood; his epistemological ambivalence toward autobiography; and the recovery of "olfactory reality" or "osmology" in his work and circle. Contributors such as Lynda Mugglestone, Greg Clingham, and John Richetti demonstrate how Johnson's "empirical temper" and "moral earnestness" intersect with modern academic disciplines. Lee concludes that Johnson continues to serve as a vital "primer of criticism" that rewards scriptible reading and offers fresh points of departure for future inquiry into 18th-century literature.
date: 2018
language: en
short title: New Essays on Samuel Johnson
subject: PR3534
identifier: ISBN 978-1-61149-679-6
num pages: 261

Rasselas: The Enigma and the 'Agile Music'
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Studies in Philology
authors: Person
  surname: Loveridge
  given name: Mark
subject: Abstract
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
subject: Music
subject: Religion
abstract: This essay reads Samuel Johnson's Rasselas (1759) against the background of negative or apophatic theology and argues that it is unique among Johnson's works in expressing a sense of life as an enigma. The silent or hidden symbol of the story is the Giza Sphinx, one of the foundational symbols of such theology: the second-century Church Father Clement of Alexandria, whose works Johnson owned, associated the enigmas of the Hebrew Bible with the mystery of the Egyptian sphinxes. More widely, Rasselas contains absent objects and symbols, enigmatic silences and responses, hidden images and paradoxes, self-defeating dualisms and habits of style, apophatic philosophy ("philosophy can tell no more"), and an enigmatic conclusion ("nothing"). The apophatic quality is embodied in the text through what Jorge Luis Borges refers to as Rasselas's "agile music," the subtle, flexible management of narrative voices, which generates a distinctive kind of attention in the reader.
date: 2024-Spring
language: en
pages: 298–325

Studies in Philology
type: Journal
volume: 121
identifier: DOI 10.1353/sip.2024.a923968
number: 2
alternative: SP
identifier: ISSN 1543-0383

Quakers, Shoemakers, and Thomas Cumming
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews
  type: Journal
  volume: 34
  identifier: DOI 10.1080/0895769X.2019.1637708
  number: 1
  alternative: ANQ
  identifier: ISSN 0895-769X
authors: Person
  surname: Walker
  given name: Robert G.
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
abstract: Recent studies have cast much light on the formerly shadowy figure of Thomas Cumming (?1714-1774), a long-time friend of Samuel Johnson and known popularly as the Fighting Quaker. A starting point for these studies has been the scurrilous prose satire, "Memoirs of Tomocomingo, the celebrated political Quaker," that appeared in the Town and Country Magazine in January 1774, five months before his death. The attack, which combined biographical truth with exaggeration and pure fiction, was alleged by some to have contributed to his death and serves now as a useful source of information, much of which has been independently verified. Here, Walker argues that the one piece of the satirist's biography of Cumming has not been verified, although he believes it can now be explained.
date: Mar 2021
language: en
pages: 31–33

Labels in the History of Lexicography: From Bailey to Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Studii şi Cercetări Linguistice
authors: Person
  surname: Vișan
  given name: Ruxandra
subject: History
subject: Johnson
date: Jan.-June 2021
language: en
pages: 55–70

Studii şi Cercetări Linguistice
type: Journal
volume: 72
number: 1
identifier: ISSN 0039-405X

The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies
  type: Journal
  volume: 47
  identifier: DOI 10.1111/1754-0208.12952
  number: 3
  identifier: ISSN 0141-867X
authors: Person
  surname: Hardiman
  given name: Edward
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Damrosch
  given name: Leo
subject: Boswell
subject: Conversation
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
date: 2024
language: en
pages: 336–337

Johnson, T. S. Eliot, and the City
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Textual and Critical Intersections: Conversations with Laurence Sterne and Others
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-8130-6983-8
  identifier: DOI 10.2307/jj.8362597.11
publisher: University Press of Florida
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Gainesville
authors: Person
  surname: New
  given name: Melvyn
subject: 20th
subject: Abstract
subject: Conversation
subject: Johnson
abstract: A literary scholar spending years in the company of Laurence Sterne will, if only as a defense mechanism against the many assertions of Sterne's anticipation of postmodernism, find himself arguing for his far more interesting, if less obvious, relationship to modernism. Hence, in a series of essays over the years, I have brought Sterne's writings into proximity with the novels of Marcel Proust, Italo Svevo, Bruno Schulz, and Virginia Woolf; with the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche; and with the autobiographical Sentimental Journey of Viktor Shklovsky — an erratic but sufficiently representative sampling of the modernist movement.
date: 2023
language: en
date submitted: 2025-03-30
pages: 136–162

Drivers of Negroes
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: A Revolutionary Friendship: Washington, Jefferson, and the American Republic
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-674-29249-9
  identifier: DOI 10.2307/jj.10474609.6
publisher: Harvard University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge, Mass.
authors: Person
  surname: Cogliano
  given name: Francis D.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
abstract: Samuel Johnson was one of eighteenth-century Britain's most famous men of letters. In 1755 he published his Dictionary of the English Language, which became a landmark in the history of language and could be found in the libraries of gentlemen on both sides of the Atlantic, including those of Washington and Jefferson. Johnson was also a prolific literary critic, poet, essayist, and novelist. He was known for his caustic wit and trenchant criticism. He was immortalized in James Boswell's 1791 biography, The Life of Samuel Johnson. While Boswell dedicated thousands of pages to capturing Johnson's wit, Johnson himself offered a
date: 2024
language: en
date submitted: 2025-03-30
pages: 54–71

The Social Life of Thomas Cumming, or 'Clubbing' with Johnson's Friend, the Fighting Quaker
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: A Clubbable Man: Essays on Eighteenth-Century Literature and Culture in Honor of Greg Clingham
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-68448-351-8
  identifier: DOI 10.2307/j.ctv2vt04f0.10
publisher: Bucknell University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Lewisburg
authors: Person
  surname: Walker
  given name: Robert G.
editors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Johnson
abstract: Walker investigates the life of Thomas Cumming, a friend of Johnson known as the Fighting Quaker for his role in the 1758 capture of Senegal. Although Cumming was a member of the Society of Friends, he proposed a military expedition that Johnson later defended. Walker uses various eighteenth-century accounts to reconstruct Cumming's social network, which included Johnson and Boswell. Johnson reportedly felt a strong affinity for Cumming's vigorous personality, famously remarking that he liked Cumming because his mind was always at work. The article explores how Cumming navigated his Quaker identity while engaging in military planning and high-level political social circles. Walker demonstrates that Cumming’s presence in Johnson's circle illustrates the diverse and often contradictory social group formations characteristic of the era's clubbable culture.
date: 2022
language: en
date submitted: 2025-03-30
pages: 90–102

A Basran Boswell
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Impostures
publisher: NYU Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Al-Ḥarīrī
translators: Person
  surname: Cooperson
  given name: Michael
contributors: Person
  surname: Kilito
  given name: Abdelfattah
editors: Person
  surname: Stewart
  given name: Devin J.
editors: Person
  surname: Sieburth
  given name: Richard
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
abstract: In some ways the English literary pair that most resembles al-Ḥārith and Abū Zayd is James Boswell (d. 1795) and Samuel Johnson (d. 1784). In both cases we have a narrator eager to learn from, and to impress, an older contemporary famous for his command of language. The senior member of the pair does not disappoint when it comes to eloquence, though in both cases he occasionally exploits his admirer or treats him with contempt. This Imposture, which is Englished after Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, involves a game similar to one played in Johnson's literary circle....
date: 2020
language: en
date submitted: 2025-03-30
pages: 21–29

Choosing the Outsider Role: Virginia Woolf's 1903 diary; James Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D.
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Becoming Virginia Woolf: Her Early Diaries & the Diaries She Read
publisher: University Press of Florida
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Gainesville
authors: Person
  surname: Lounsberry
  given name: Barbara
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
subject: 20th
subject: Journals
subject: Scotland
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: Lounsberry examines Woolf's 1903 encounter with Boswell and his Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. Woolf finds in Boswell a "natural artist" whose focus on "minute particulars" and "inspired presentation of self" validates her own emerging writerly sensibility. The text highlights shared traits between Johnson and Woolf, specifically a "constitutional melancholy" and minds that function like a "mill" for processing subjects. Boswell’s journal serves as a "preservative act" that fires Woolf to read "all I can find of Johnson." Lounsberry details Woolf’s lifelong engagement with Boswellian "experiments," including her 1909 review titled "The Genius of Boswell" and her eventual refusal to write his biography. Woolf concludes that Boswell’s success lies in his ability to "cut out a whole chunk of the earth and air and stick it all alive under a glass case."
date: 2014
language: en
subject: PR6045 O72 Z8117 2014
date submitted: 2025-04-01 02:28:23
pages: 54–60

'I Stole His Likeness': An Unknown Drawing of Samuel Johnson and James Boswell
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Burlington Magazine
authors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
link: JSTOR Full Text PDF
subject: Johnson
subject: Art
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: Clingham identifies a previously unknown drawing of Johnson and Boswell found in the unpublished memoirs of Lady Anne Barnard. The drawing, likely executed in the 1810s based on an initial sketch from 1773, depicts the pair during their visit to Edinburgh. Lady Anne’s memoir recounts her meeting with the "Ursus Major" at the home of Alexander Dick, where she "stole his likeness" as he spoke. Clingham observes that while the finished drawing reflects the influence of canonical portraits by John Opie and Joshua Reynolds, it presents a uniquely "happy" and "chubby" rendition of Johnson. The article analyzes Lady Anne’s compositional practice and her perception of Johnson’s "goodness of heart" despite his "uncouth" exterior. This discovery provides a rare contemporary visual record of the two men together, captured by a woman who knew them socially.
date: 2019-03
language: en
date submitted: 2025-04-01 14:38:00
pages: 222–224

Burlington Magazine
type: Journal
volume: 161
number: 1392
identifier: ISSN 0007-6287

JSTOR Full Text PDF
type: Attachment
item type: attachment
date submitted: 2025-04-01 14:38:02
link mode: 1
type: application/pdf

The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Past as Present: Selected Thoughts & Essays
publisher: Oliphant Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Ruxin
  given name: Paul T.
editors: Person
  surname: Pradl
  given name: Gordon M.
editors: Person
  surname: Ellenport
  given name: Samuel B.
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Review
date: 2012
language: en
pages: 49–63

幸福谷: 拉赛拉斯王子的故事 = The history of Rasselas Prince of Abissinia
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
authors: Person
  surname: Ruxin
  given name: Paul T.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Cai
  given name: Tian Ming
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
subject: Review
subject: Bibliography
subject: Abstract
abstract: Ruxin announces the publication of the first Chinese edition of Rasselas, translated by Tian Ming Cai with bibliographic assistance from John Byrne. The review outlines the shifting reception of Johnson in China, noting his pre-1949 prominence followed by a post-revolutionary dismissal due to his "counterrevolutionary" and religious associations. Cai argues for a Johnsonian resurgence, suggesting that Johnson’s concepts of subordination and social harmony offer a rationalist framework for modern Chinese stability, while simultaneously acknowledging Johnson’s defense of popular resistance against tyranny. Despite the inherent difficulty of translating Johnson’s complex style, the text notes that the translation successfully captures the original's meaning and spirit, as verified by scholar Gunnar Malmqvist. Cai positions Johnson’s "broad mind and humanity" as a necessary antidote to the "Vanity of Human Wishes" and the prevalence of the "dangerous imagination" in the twenty-first century.
date: Sept. 2008
language: en
pages: 56–58

Johnsonian News Letter
type: Journal
volume: 59
number: 2
alternative: JNL
identifier: ISSN 0021-728X

幸福谷: 拉赛拉斯王子的故事 = The history of Rasselas prince of Abissinia
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: 国际文化出版公司
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: 北京 = Beijing
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
translators: Person
  surname: Cai
  given name: Tianming
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
date: 2006
language: zh
short title: 幸福谷
identifier: ISBN 978-7-80173-542-3
edition: Di 1 ban

拉赛拉斯王子漫游记 = The history of Rasselas prince of Abissinia
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: 海峡文艺出版社
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Fu zhou
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
translators: Person
  surname: Cai
  given name: Tianming
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
abstract: 年轻的阿比西尼亚王子拉赛拉斯,自幼被幽禁在可满足一切欲望的幸福谷,他厌倦了谷中岁月,设法逃离幸福谷,去外界寻找幸福的真谛。他同妹妹妮可娅、诗人因列沿尼罗河一路游历,穿越非洲,抵达亚洲,探访各个阶层的各色人群,他们见到智慧的演说家、拥有一切的总督、山中的隐士、疯癫的天文学家、年轻的智者,也经历着各种意外......
date: 2020
language: zh
identifier: ISBN 978-7-5550-2488-0
edition: Di 1 ban
num pages: 295

Rasselas, trans. Tian Ming Cai
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: The Past as Present: Selected Thoughts & Essays
publisher: Oliphant Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Ruxin
  given name: Paul T.
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
date: 2017
language: en
pages: 137–139

Johnson in Japan
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: 1650–1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era
  type: Journal
  volume: 28
  alternative: 1650–1850
  identifier: ISSN 1065-3112
authors: Person
  surname: Stone
  given name: John
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Ogawa
  given name: Kimiyo
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Suzuki
  given name: Mika
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Stone reviews Johnson in Japan, an essay collection edited by Ogawa and Suzuki, highlighting Johnson’s unique reception history outside the Anglosphere. The collection is a hybrid: an account of Johnson's place in Japanese print culture, beginning with Rasselas as a set educational text, and a sample of Japanese Johnson scholarship. Essays survey academic trends and offer case studies, such as the influence of Rambler 4 on Natsume Sōseki's reading of Austen. The volume emphasizes the stimulation and insights gained from studying textual emigration and non-Anglophone scholarly traditions.
date: 2023
language: en
pages: 292–295

The World in Thirty-Eight Chapters
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: 1650–1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era
  type: Journal
  volume: 25
  alternative: 1650–1850
  identifier: ISSN 1065-3112
authors: Person
  surname: Jack
  given name: Malcolm
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Hitchings
  given name: Henry
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Hitchings's book is a lively series of essays on the life and thought of Johnson, blending biographical, literary, and philosophical elements to explore themes of mortality and la condition humaine. The thirty-eight chapters consider the origins of Johnson's conclusions, going beyond his aphorisms. The work argues that early struggles, including clinical depression and financial insecurity, contributed to Johnson's compassionate side. Hitchings explores Johnson's rejection of the Romantic notion of inspired genius, seeing the genius instead as an "exact surveyor" of the world whose insights require hard work. The author also details Johnson's attitude toward charity, challenging the deserving/undeserving poor distinction, and his role as a mentor to writers like Lennox and Burney. The conclusion emphasizes Johnson's perspective that individuals are just one "atom of the mass of humanity," underscoring basic equality.
date: 2020
language: en
pages: 278–280

Quintus Curtius Rufus, Plutarch, Cicero, and Johnson's First Sermon
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 71
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: Classics
subject: Abstract
subject: Religion
abstract: Lee identifies the source of a Latin maxim in Johnson’s Sermon 1 on marriage, locating it in Quintus Curtius Rufus’s Historiae Alexandri Magni: "amicitia inter pares firmissima" ("friendship is strongest among equals"). This martial context suggests marriage as a conflict and parallels Johnson's condemnation of inequality within the domestic sphere ("There is no friendship between master and slave"). Lee argues Johnson's known interest in Q. Curtius, Cicero, and Plutarch (whose works serve as analogues and possible sources for other maxims in the sermon) suggests the sermon was likely composed in the early 1750s, contemporaneous with The Rambler.
date: Sept. 2020
language: en
pages: 33–42

John Moir and His Brief Encounters with Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 69
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Lee provides an account of the life and works of John Moir, a Scottish Presbyterian-turned-Anglican curate, focusing on his prolific but mediocre writing career and four brief encounters with Johnson's world. Moir's financial struggles as a curate led him to rely on his publications, including the work that preserved Johnson's "Fragment on the Character and Duty of an Academick." Lee reveals Moir's shifting opinion of Johnson, from defending him against charges of venality to a later vicious satirical portrait accusing him of becoming too comfortable. Moir's actions, such as living in Johnson's Bolt Court house, suggest he sought to capitalize on Johnson's fame, yet his own lack of originality is evident in his plagiarized character of Johnson.
date: Sept. 2018
language: en
pages: 12–28

Johnson, Statius, and the Classical Motto
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 68
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Classics
subject: Johnson
abstract: Lee confirms and extends previous intertextual analysis of Johnson's use of Statius's Thebaid (VI.400-01) in his periodical mottoes, linking them to Pope's Windsor Forest. Lee identifies a missing link: Dryden's Preface to Dufresnoy, where Dryden quotes the Statius verses and notes the difficulty of translation. Johnson's known familiarity with and extensive quotation from Dryden's preface likely motivated him to connect the lines with Pope in Rambler 2 and Adventurer 45. Lee argues that Johnson's classical mottoes, exemplified by Statius’s Silvae tags in a birthday prayer and Rambler 155, form an integral component of his essays, refuting scholars who dismiss their importance.
date: 2018-03
language: en
pages: 16–23

Johnson in Japan
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Intelligencer
  type: Journal
  volume: 36
  number: 2
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Ogawa
  given name: Kimiyo
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Suzuki
  given name: Mika
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Johnson in Japan collects essays by Japanese scholars exploring Samuel Johnson's profound cultural influence during and after Japan's opening to the West. The book reveals how Johnson's works, particularly Rasselas, became highly popular, often serving to reinforce Japanese values like duty and moral principles during modernization. Hideichi Eto's chapter surveys the history of Johnson studies across various Japanese eras, noting its peak between 1980 and 2010. Other chapters examine biographical traditions, the impact of eccentric scholar Tomotsu Morowoka’s view of Johnson as a tea advocate, and the reception of Johnsonian critical perspectives by author Sōseki Natsume. The volume's significance lies in establishing a scholarly bridge to enrich the understanding of a "global Samuel Johnson."
date: 2022
language: en
pages: 64–67

James Boswell's Life of Johnson: An Edition of the Original Manuscript in Four Volumes
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: 1650–1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era
  type: Journal
  volume: 27
  alternative: 1650–1850
  identifier: ISSN 1065-3112
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Boswell
  given name: James
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Waingrow
  given name: Marshall
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Redford
  given name: Bruce
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Bonnell
  given name: Thomas F.
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Boswell
subject: Johnson
subject: Manuscripts
subject: Review
abstract: Lee reviews the fourth volume of the Yale Research Edition of the manuscript of Boswell's Life. The volume covers the years 1780-1784 and completes the set, which began in 1994. Lee emphasizes that the MS edition is essential for serious students of the Life and effectively refutes Greene's claims that Boswell's biography was merely a transfer of his personal notebooks. The manuscript reveals Boswell's conscientious writing process, including his scrupulous revisions, deletions for narrative coherence, and adaptation of material from correspondents. The volume also provides identifications of previously conjectured figures (including Boswell himself) and offers a glimpse into Johnson's intellectual mind and pronunciation.
date: 2022
language: en
pages: 280–283

Samuel Johnson: Selected Works
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Intelligencer
  type: Journal
  volume: 35
  number: 1
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Fix
  given name: Stephen
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Lee reviews the selection from the Yale Works, noting it is a thematically arranged anthology drawing from the twenty-three volumes of the Yale Edition. He dedicates the review to the late Howard D. Weinbrot. The Yale Anthology is praised for being more accurate than the Oxford selection, having a larger font, and using easy-to-locate footnotes. While less comprehensive than the Oxford anthology, it includes five of the Lives of the Poets almost in their entirety. The notes incorporate updated scholarship from the Yale Edition.
date: 2021-03
language: en
pages: 27–29

Imitation and Biography: Richard Savage and the Misreading of London
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Howard Weinbrot and the Precincts of Enlightenment
publisher: Lehigh University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Bethlehem
authors: Person
  surname: Wilcox
  given name: Lance E.
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Savage
subject: Biography
date: 2024
language: en
pages: 107–120

Johnson's Irascibles and the Good Work of Bad Stories
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Howard Weinbrot and the Precincts of Enlightenment
publisher: Lehigh University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Bethlehem
authors: Person
  surname: Nunnery
  given name: David
subject: Johnson
date: 2024
language: en
pages: 121–137

Johnson, Dodd, and the Concentrated Sententia
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Howard Weinbrot and the Precincts of Enlightenment
publisher: Lehigh University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Bethlehem
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
date: 2024
language: en
pages: 139–64

Johnson and Stendhal: A French Connection
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Howard Weinbrot and the Precincts of Enlightenment
publisher: Lehigh University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Bethlehem
authors: Person
  surname: Smallwood
  given name: Philip
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
subject: 19th
date: 2024
language: en
pages: 275–290

Samuel Johnson and the Sense of Place
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Howard Weinbrot and the Precincts of Enlightenment
publisher: Lehigh University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Bethlehem
authors: Person
  surname: Clarke
  given name: Stephen
subject: Johnson
subject: Locations
date: 2024
language: en
pages: 291–308

18th Century Samuel Johnson Letter to Young Girl Sells for £38,460
type: Article
item type: newspaperArticle
is part of: News
  type: Part
  is part of: The Independent
authors: Person
  surname: Phillips
  given name: Jacob
subject: Johnson
subject: Correspondence
subject: Abstract
subject: Sales
abstract: Phillips reports on the discovery and auction of a previously unknown letter from Johnson to 12-year-old Sophia Thrale, daughter of Piozzi. Found in a Gloucestershire country house, the document depicts Johnson praising Sophia's mathematical aptitude. The sale, conducted by Chorley's auctioneers, reached £38,460, significantly exceeding initial estimates. Phillips notes that the letter will remain in British ownership. The article situates the find within Johnson's broader legacy as the compiler of the 1755 Dictionary and his association with the Thrale family.
date: 2023-09-20T20:59:21.000Z
language: en
date submitted: 2025-04-02 02:37:06

The Independent
type: Newspaper
identifier: ISSN 0951-9467

Who Was Samuel Johnson, What Did He Do, Why Is He so Important?
type: Article
item type: newspaperArticle
is part of: The Independent
  type: Newspaper
  identifier: ISSN 0951-9467
authors: Person
  surname: Sommerlad
  given name: Joe
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Sommerlad surveys Johnson’s literary career and biographical legacy, marking the 308th anniversary of his birth. The text outlines Johnson’s early poverty in London, his periodical work for The Rambler and The Idler, and the production of the 1755 Dictionary. It identifies Rasselas and the biographies of Shakespeare and Savage as key outputs.1 Sommerlad attributes Johnson's enduring cultural presence to Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson, which recorded his verbal wit and interactions with Reynolds, Burke, and Garrick. Brief mention is made of Thrale’s 1786 reminiscences and modern depictions of Johnson in popular media.
date: 2017-09-18
language: en
date submitted: 2025-04-02 02:39:26

Household Effects: Johnson's Coffee-Pot and Twain's Effigy
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 72
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Clarke
  given name: Stephen
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Watson
  given name: Nicola J.
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Clarke reviews Watson’s thematic study of the origins and evolution of writer’s house museums, emphasizing the tension between "authenticity and illusion." The text highlights how objects like Johnson’s silver coffee pot (misidentified as a teapot) and Piozzi’s tea-set at Gough Square serve as iconic attractions despite tenuous or tangential historical connections to the specific sites. Clarke notes that the Gough Square house, though stripped of original furniture, uses an "impressive library" and the "evocative space of the garret" to memorialize the composition of the Dictionary. The review explores how these museums "put the reader into the imagined presence of the author," using domestic space to replace reading with a feigned acquaintance. Watson’s analysis of the Shakespeare Jubilee of 1769 and various relics further illustrates the "power of immediate connection" sought by visitors.
date: 2021-03
language: en
pages: 55–60

Jeoffry: The Poet's Cat: A Biography
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 72
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Chisholm
  given name: Kate
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Soden
  given name: Oliver
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Chisholm reviews Oliver Soden's biography of Christopher Smart's cat, Jeoffry, created through the voice of the cat during the poet's confinement for mental illness. The book uses the famous Jubilate Agno lines to anthropomorphize Jeoffry's experience as a companion to Smart, who suffered from what might be termed manic depression. Soden creates vivid tableaux of Georgian London, including Jeoffry's origins near Mother Douglas's brothel and his encounters with Johnson and Hodge. The book highlights the consolation and blessing Smart found in his cat, whose eventual canonization in Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb was influenced by Smart's incantatory work.
date: 2021-03
language: en
pages: 48–50

Johnsoniana: The New Yorker, 16 November 2020
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 72
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Mason
  given name: Craig T.
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Mason examines Emre’s review of Sianne Ngai’s theory of the gimmick, which cites Johnson’s 1775 critique of Gulliver’s Travels as an early instance of accusing a writer of gimmickry. Johnson disputes the artistic merit of Swift’s "big men and little men," arguing that such a premise allows a writer to bypass the "Toil of Study" and "Knowledge of Nature" required for genuine literature. The text notes Johnson’s specific praise for the "inventory of articles" and the description of the watch despite his general dismissal of the work's conceptual ease. Mason further observes that Johnson’s "piquant comment" is absent from Boswell’s original journal entry, appearing only in the Life.
date: 2021-03
language: en
pages: 47

Johnsoniana: The Times Literary Supplement, 31 July 2020
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 72
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Mason
  given name: Craig T.
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Druin Burch applies a Johnsonian aphorism regarding the hidden satisfaction in discussing misfortune to characterize the human response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The observation, recorded in the Life by Boswell from the recollections of Langton, suggests that verbalizing hardship provides a "not disagreeable" quality to the speaker. Mason notes the shared responsibility between Boswell and Langton for the specific phrasing of the remark. The text highlights the enduring relevance of Johnson’s psychological insights during modern global crises.
date: 2021-03
language: en
pages: 46–47

Johnsoniana: The New Yorker, 27 January 2020
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 72
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Clingham examines Cep’s review of Vincent Brown’s Tacky’s Revolt, noting how Cep uses Johnson’s "abolitionist views" to establish the moral parameters of the Atlantic slave trade. The text highlights Johnson’s famous toast to the "next insurrection of the negroes" and suggests his anti-slavery position was "influenced by Barber's experience of enslavement." Clingham references Basker’s argument that Boswell "tainted" his biography of Johnson to downplay the latter’s abolitionism during the parliamentary debates on the slave trade. The text notes Cep’s misattribution of a 1759 discussion of Oroonoko to Johnson.
date: 2021-03
language: en
pages: 46

Tennyson and Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 72
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Baldwin
  given name: Barry
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: 19th
subject: Abstract
abstract: Baldwin discusses Tennyson's admiration for Johnson, noting that the poet praised his "good sense" and grave earnestness in satire, particularly in London and The Vanity of Human Wishes. Tennyson and his friend Arthur Coleridge often capped each other with Johnson quotes, though Tennyson ridiculed the opening lines of The Vanity of Human Wishes. Baldwin questions the sourcing of a "disagreeable story" about Johnson told by his godchild, Miss L., noting that Tennyson advised against hawking about the "oddities and angularities of great men," a response looking much like an imitation of Johnsonian utterance.
date: 2021-03
language: en
pages: 32–34

Thales as a Social Commentator
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 72
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Sharma
  given name: Mridula
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Sharma analyzes the character Thales in Johnson's London, arguing that his xenophobic tirade against corruption and foreign invaders fails as political satire because his critique is driven primarily by personal resentment at his own failure to secure wealth and social advancement. Thales criticizes others for succeeding in superficial aggrandisement while desperately yearning for the material luxury he condemns. Sharma concludes that Thales loses credibility as a social commentator by subordinating social problems to his private goals, revealing London as a narrative concerned with the universal unfulfilled desires of humankind.
date: 2021-03
language: en
pages: 28–32

Samuel Johnson and the Poetry of David Ferry
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 72
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Meyers
  given name: Jeffrey
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Abstract
abstract: Meyers explores Johnson's influence on the poetry of David Ferry. Ferry adapted Johnson's autobiographical Latin poem "The Lesson" (about swimming) to show the continuity of nature despite the "axe of time." Meyers highlights Ferry's versification of Johnson's vivid prose description of the crippled Alexander Pope in "Johnson on Pope," compressing the facts into a sympathetic portrayal that transforms Pope's physical defects into art. Finally, Meyers analyzes Ferry's de moriendi poem "That Evening at Dinner," which uses Johnson's quotes from the Review of Jenyns and Rambler 78 to illuminate the mystery of life, suffering, and death, affirming Johnson's resonance in 21st-century poetry.
date: 2021-03
language: en
pages: 23–27

Johnson Subito
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 72
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Clingham reports on finding an early 19th-century annotated edition of Benjamin Franklin's Life and Works (1815), possibly owned by the Welsh printer and inventor John Jones of Llanrwst. The handwritten annotations on the endpapers, believed to be Jones's, refer to Johnson's political pamphlets and quote Rev. William Jones praising Johnson’s style as a "great master" of "truth and virtue" in his political tracts. A second annotation quotes Bishop Jonathan Shipley's humorous anecdote about an American stationer who found a method of levying an "internal tax" in North America, showing Johnson's unexpected presence in a knot of Welsh, American, and political associations.
date: 2021-03
language: en
pages: 18–22

The Provenance of Johnson's 'Verses Wrote on a Window of an Inn at Calais'
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 72
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Brown
  given name: Robert D.
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Abstract
abstract: Brown investigates the provenance of the Latin poem "Verses Wrote on a Window of an Inn at Calais," a piece previously included in Johnson's collected poems under "Doubtful Authorship." The poem, found in a manuscript in the autograph of Johnson and attested by Langton, was printed multiple times from 1763 onwards. Brown locates six earlier publications, two predating Johnson's 1775 visit to France, confirming the Yale editors' conclusion that the poem cannot be Johnson's. Brown analyzes textual variants, suggesting the poem was a popular example of literary graffiti and was loosely transmitted, often interpolated (e.g., with a Virgilian line in some versions). The original author remains unknown, but the poem’s popularity among travelers is undeniable.
date: 2021-03
language: en
pages: 6–17

John Lahr
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 66
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Curtis
  given name: Julia
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
abstract: Curtis reports on a brief instance of Johnsoniana found in The New York Times Book Review feature "By the Book." Biographer John Lahr was asked to name one book that made him who he is today. Lahr answered with Johnson's Lives of the Poets, calling it "the first attempt to analyze poetry in the context of the life which created it." Lahr praised Johnson as an "exemplary critic," noting his prose's witty balance and judgment.
date: 2015-03
language: en
pages: 29

Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 66
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Clarke
  given name: Stephen
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Clarke reviews Weinbrot's Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century, a collection of seventeen essays from the 2011 Huntington Library tercentenary conference, broadened by additional essays. The volume provides a vast overview of current Johnsonian scholarship, organized into six sections covering his mental processes, writings, editorial work, politics, religion/philosophy, and critical afterlife. Highlights include Stuart Sherman on prolepsis, David Fairer on Johnson's mental agility, and F.P. Lock on Johnson's mature politics. The collection showcases strong, incisive essays, offering a broad view of Johnsonian scholarly activity. The review concludes by celebrating the collection's distinguished design and production by the Huntington Library Press.
date: 2015-03
language: en
pages: 58–64

Facts and Inventions: Selections from the Journalism of James Boswell
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 66
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Sider Jost
  given name: Jacob
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Tankard
  given name: Paul
subject: Journals
subject: Boswell
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Sider Jost reviews Tankard’s Facts and Inventions: Selections from the Journalism of James Boswell, a volume highlighting Boswell’s often-overlooked impulse for improvisation and spontaneity in writing. The collection focuses on Boswell's occasional and journalistic writings, such as "rampageneous" hoaxes, essays, reports, and parodies, many of which were written at speed, a contrast to the painstaking accuracy of The Life of Johnson. Tankard's judicious selection and informed annotation successfully embody the spirit of Boswell the journalist, providing readers with an entertaining and useful resource. Sider Jost recommends the book as a key resource for scholars and teachers of the 18th century.
date: 2015-03
language: en
pages: 56–57

Dr. Johnson's Doorknob: And Other Significant Parts of Great Men's Houses
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Rizzoli
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Workman
  given name: Liz
subject: Johnson
subject: Locations
subject: Abstract
abstract: Behind every great man are his objects and daily possessions, defined as much by the minutiae of domesticity as by the great works of the man himself. Dr. Johnson's Doorknob, inspired by Liz Workman's National Heritage Revisited series published in England in 2002, is a situationist's catalog of overlooked and highly amusing personal objects from the most famous households in history. From the mantelpieces in the home of Franklin D. Roosevelt to the crockery in Washington Irving's Sunnyside home and the banisters in the William Morris Gallery, Workman peeked over the velvet ropes and turned an ironic eye on some of the most important historic homes in England and America. Each of the nine chapters in this charming, slipcased package is an anthology in itself, a collection of photographs that celebrate the unsung features of "great" men's homes: there are door handles and banisters from the hallways of Charles Dickens and Jules Verne; the ashtray that held Freud's cigarette butts; and chairs sat on by Thomas Carlyle, Charles Darwin, and Thomas Jefferson. From her photos of Washington's four-poster to John Keats's desk chair and Winston Churchill's floral prints, Dr. Johnson's Doorknob breathes new life into the inhabitants of these homes.
date: 2007
language: en
short title: Dr. Johnson's Doorknob
date submitted: 2025-04-02 17:29:14
identifier: ISBN 978-0-8478-2970-5
num pages: 207

Dr. Johnson's Doorknob: And Other Significant Parts of Great Men's Houses
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 66
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Tankard
  given name: Paul
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Workman
  given name: Liz
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Locations
subject: Abstract
abstract: Tankard reviews Workman's book, Dr. Johnson's Doorknob, a handsome illustrated volume focusing on small, supposedly "significant" parts of great men's houses, including Johnson's 17 Gough Square. The book features photographs of items like doorknobs, crockery, and bannisters. Tankard notes the irony of the title and its slyly subversive intent. He questions whether the photographed items are authentic and if they reveal anything about Johnson's taste, especially considering his and Anna Williams's poor eyesight. Tankard concludes the book provides "harmless pleasure" and humor, though it raises unaddressed questions about architectural history and the connection between domestic items and Johnson's personality.
date: 2015-09
language: en
pages: 60–61

Johnsoniana: Another Concentrated Mind
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 67
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: DeMaria notes the application of Johnson’s remark on 'the triumph of hope over experience' to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policies. Jeff Gundlach, a finance professional, used the phrase to critique economic expectations. The text highlights the transition of Johnsonian wisdom from the domestic sphere of marriage to the 'incisive' realm of 21st-century finance.
date: 2016-09
language: en
pages: 20

Johnsoniana: 'Sirrah'
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 66
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Turnbull
  given name: Gordon
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Turnbull reports a misleading opening sentence from an article by Amy Wilentz in the Los Angeles Times regarding the Huntington Library's bicentenary exhibition for Johnson. The sentence incorrectly states that Johnson "addressed his friends as 'Sirrah.'" Turnbull corrects the record, noting that Boswell's friends were not called "Sirrah" by Johnson. The note serves as a brief "Johnsoniana" item correcting a misperception about Johnson's conversational style with his intimates.
date: 2015-09
language: en
pages: 37

Johnsoniana: The Spectator, 9 May 2015
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 66
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Baldwin
  given name: Barry
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Baldwin disputes a Spectator columnist's characterization of Johnson’s 'frightful' table manners and alleged social 'grossness.' The analysis challenges the 'unmitigatedly repulsive' image of the lexicographer by contrasting it with the 'fascinated affection' displayed by contemporaries such as Boswell and the Thrales. Baldwin highlights the distinction between Johnson’s physical tics and his genuine social appeal, noting that 'the company of physicians' and ladies of high rank found his presence stimulating rather than merely offensive.}
date: 2015-09
language: en
pages: 36–37

Johnsoniana: Michael Innes, Appleby Talks Again; Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 66
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Kinsley
  given name: William
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Kinsley identifies a misattribution in Harper Lee’s novel where a quote concerning 'a good man’s life' is incorrectly credited to Johnson. The text notes that while the sentiment echoes Johnsonian morality, the specific phrasing does not appear in the 'ever-expanding list of Johnsonian apocrypha.' Kinsley also references Michael Innes’s use of Johnsonian 'scrupulosity' as a character trait in detective fiction.
date: 2015-09
language: en
pages: 36

Johnsoniana: Message with a Flyer for a Play by James Runcie
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 67
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Turnbull
  given name: Gordon
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: The piece, submitted as "Johnsoniana," is a humorous message from James Runcie promoting his play A Word with Dr. Johnson, which focuses on Johnson's Dictionary. The play was scheduled to run at lunchtime performances at the Oran Mor in Glasgow (October 19-24) and the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh (October 27-31). Runcie notes the play is one hour long, contains jokes, and cheekily warns that "future friendship may be conditional upon attendance."
date: 2016-03
language: en
pages: 24

Johnsoniana: Dull as a Torpedo
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 67
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Davis
  given name: Matthew M.
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: The article explores the etymological and historical evolution of the word "torpedo" as a metaphor for dullness or sluggishness. It cites a passage from Boswell's Life (c. 1743) where Johnson says Tom Birch is "as brisk as a bee in conversation; but no sooner does he take a pen in his hand than it becomes a torpedo to him, and benumbs his faculties." The original "torpedo" is the electric ray, a flatfish whose electric charge can numb. The word's root is the Latin *torpere*, meaning "to make dull," which also gives "torpor." The modern sense of an exploding weapon coexists with the older, narcotic sense, both converging on the idea of a stupefying, "unplugging" contact. The commentary concludes that the long history of writers paralyzed by their craft's tools offers a small comfort.
date: 2016-03
language: en
pages: 23–24

The Fortunes of Francis Barber
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 67
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Hanley
  given name: Ryan
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Bundock
  given name: Michael
subject: Johnson
subject: Slavery
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Hanley examines Bundock’s detailed account of Barber’s life, emphasizing the "influential factor" Barber played in developing Johnson’s "detestation of slavery." The abstract traces Barber’s journey from Jamaica to London, his adoption into the Johnson household at Gough Square, and his service during Johnson’s final years. It notes the legal significance of Johnson’s involvement in the Knight v. Wedderburn trial as a culmination of twenty-seven years with Barber. Hanley details the "acrimonious and at times outwardly racialized controversy" with executor Hawkins following Johnson’s death, leading to the Barber family’s eventual "descent into poverty and obscurity" in Lichfield. The text recognizes the "true legacy" of their thirty-year friendship through Barber’s son, named Samuel.
date: 2016-09
language: en
pages: 54–57

Johnsoniana: Worth.com, December 2015-January 2016
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 67
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Kanter
  given name: Peter
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Kanter's submission quotes a brief profile of finance titan Jeff Gundlach from Worth.com. The profile highlights Gundlach's colorful background and his reputation for being incisive, brilliant, and often right. It concludes with a quote from Gundlach: "The Federal Reserve's apparent desire to raise rates, he recently said, 'is the triumph of hope over experience–just like in marriage.'" The quote is an uncredited allusion to a well-known line from Johnson's Idler 57, a classic Johnsonian sentiment on human persistence and fallibility, which is here used by a modern "Wise Man" of finance.
date: 2016-09
language: en
pages: 28

Johnsoniana: David Astle, Sydney Morning Herald, 10 October 2015
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 67
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Turnbull
  given name: Gordon
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Science
abstract: Turnbull critiques modern "ad-speak" and "sensational spelling," citing Johnson’s observation that "large promise is the soul of an advertisement." The text highlights the transition from "plain English" to manipulative "ad-speak" designed to "catch our eye." Turnbull invokes Johnson to explain how modern advertisers "bamboozle or mislead" through "puffery" and pseudo-scientific language. The text warns that the abandonment of grammar serves to "disguise and disfigure" meaning, providing a refuge for "cynically manipulative" public discourse. It notes that celebrities and "spin doctors" now pioneer the same deceptive practices Johnson registered in 18th-century newspapers.
date: 2016-09
language: en
pages: 26–28

Johnsoniana: Sir James Digby
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 67
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Davidson
  given name: George
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Davidson identifies a literary device in Peter Murphy's And Is There Honey Still For Tea (2015) wherein two brothers, Sir James Digby and Roger, correspond using the 'names and styles' of Johnson and Boswell. Sir James assumes the role of Boswell in this fictional exchange. The text notes that the correspondence ceases midway through the narrative following the death of one character.
date: 2016-09
language: en
pages: 26

Johnsoniana: The Economist, 30 January 2016
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 67
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Iamartino
  given name: Giovanni
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: This entry summarizes an announcement in The Economist regarding the return of its "Johnson" language column to the print edition. The column, named after Johnson, acknowledges his definitions of "lexicographer" and "oats." It discusses Johnson's nuanced stance on language: though he was an "intellectual writing for an elite audience" who did not shy away from judging "right and wrong," he ultimately declared his task was to "register" the language, not "form" it, knowing that stopping change was like trying to "lash the wind." The column will address contemporary "usage wars" by weighing prescription (authority-based) against description (usage-based), embracing the spirit of humility and descriptive lexicography seen in Johnson's work.
date: 2016-09
language: en
pages: 25–26

Johnsoniana: The Memes of a Lexicographer
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 67
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Davis
  given name: Matthew M.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
abstract: Davis explores the modern-day phenomenon of a Samuel Johnson meme used on the internet to express astonishment or annoyance at something "really stupid." The meme, which debuted around 2012, is an animated graphic (GIF) combining two Reynolds portraits. It depicts Johnson looking intently at a book, then turning his head with a "puzzled, or annoyed, or astonished" expression, often captioned with "DAFUQ DID I JUST READ?" The article notes the meme's use as a kind of digital emoticon, following previous memes like "Ronald McDonald asking 'WTF?'" It humorously questions the meme's potential to end internet stupidity and includes celebratory verses for the lexicographer-turned-meme.
date: 2016-09
language: en
pages: 22–25

Johnsoniana: '7 Tips for Spotting Samuel Johnson (On the Very Off-Chance That He's Still Alive)'
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 67
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Davis
  given name: Matthew M.
is referenced by: Submitted by Matthew M. Davis
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
abstract: Schmid and Rogalski offer a humorous, anachronistic field guide for identifying Johnson in the modern era, based on his well-documented personal characteristics and medical history. The tips include looking for "wild gestures" (involuntary body movements and tics) and a "constantly squinty, pink eye" (chronic conjunctivitis, scrofula damage). Other signs include proximity to a cup of tea (drinking up to 40 cups a day for insomnia), wearing the "Amulet" from Queen Anne (a gift following the touching ceremony for scrofula), and possibly consuming a "handful of squill" for dropsy. Finally, watch for "track marks" from frequent bloodletting and a "cowboy walk" resulting from a self-performed surgery on a recurring sarcocele.
date: 2016-09
language: en
pages: 20–22

Submitted by Matthew M. Davis
type: Memo

Boswell's Books: Four Generations of Collecting and Collectors
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 68
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Seymour
  given name: Terry
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: DeMaria reviews Seymour’s extensive catalog of the Boswell family library, spanning four generations from James's grandfather to his grandson. The review acknowledges the monumental difficulty of the task because of incomplete, imperfect, and scattered records of the collection's acquisition and dispersion. Cataloging over 4200 items, the work documents a relatively coherent universe of books, detailing their passage through the lives of Boswellians. DeMaria praises the work's immense achievement as a "stay against confusion," lamenting the missing association copies that Boswell likely used when composing the Life of Johnson.
date: 2017-03
language: en
pages: 55–58

A Political Biography of Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 68
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Hudson
  given name: Nicholas
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
subject: Jacobitism
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: DeMaria reviews Hudson's biography, which examines Johnson's highly complex and often contradictory political thought. The review praises Hudson for moving past the simplistic labels of radical liberal (Greene) and Tory Jacobite (Clarke), preferring a chronological approach that honors Johnson's fierce independence and "spirit of contradiction." Johnson's views evolved, driven by his hatred of cruelty and political cant. The review notes Johnson’s increasing late-life value for social stability and safety, particularly after the Gordon Riots, affirming the biography as the new essential reading on Johnson’s politics.
date: 2017-03
language: en
pages: 40–44

Johnsoniana: Fred Allen
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 69
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Davis
  given name: Matthew M.
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: Davis presents a quotation from comedian Fred Allen found in The Portable Curmudgeon. Allen contrasts the intellectual stature of Johnson's circle with contemporary figures. He asserts that during Johnson's time "they had big men enjoying small talk," whereas the modern era consists of "small men enjoying big talk."
date: 2018-03
language: en
pages: 64

Johnsoniana: Michael P. Lynch
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 69
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Davidson
  given name: George
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Family
subject: Abstract
abstract: Davidson disputes a misquotation of Johnson in a New York Times piece by Michael P. Lynch. While Lynch attributes the statement "Thus I refute him" to Johnson during the famous rock-kicking incident, Davidson identifies the correct wording as "I refute it thus," citing Boswell's Life of Johnson. Davidson characterizes the actual statement as "far more aggressive and confident" than the version provided by Lynch.
date: 2018-03
language: en
pages: 64

Johnsoniana: Adam Gopnik
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 69
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Nancy
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: Johnson contributes an excerpt from a Boston Globe interview with Adam Gopnik. Gopnik discusses his preference for rereading classic texts during travel. He identifies Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson as a staple of his nightstand reading, noting it alongside the works of Anthony Trollope.
date: 2018-03
language: en
pages: 64

A Discussion Panel on the Prevalence of Insanity
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 69
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Davis
  given name: Matthew M.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Science
abstract: Davis presents a juxtaposition of Johnson's philosophical thought on mental health with contemporary scientific research. Dr. Imlac's excerpt from Rasselas asserts that "no human mind is in its right state" and that disorders of intellect are common. This is matched by Dr. Jonathan Schaefer's recent research, which suggests mental illnesses are so common that over 80% of the population will develop a diagnosable mental disorder by midlife. The panel highlights the longevity of Johnson's insight into the universality of mental health concerns, suggesting that society should view such illnesses as a normal part of life.
date: 2018-03
language: en
pages: 56–58

Johnson and Boswell in the 1940's: Wartime Snap-shots from 'Britain in Pictures'
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 69
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Tankard
  given name: Paul
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: Tankard surveys the wartime illustrated essay series, Britain in Pictures, to assess the cultural presence of Johnson and Boswell in 1940s non-specialist literature. Almost a third of the titles mention them, often for anecdotal color on diverse subjects like English Inns, The English at Table, and British Clubs. This attests to the wide cultural penetration and strong "name recognition" of the Johnson circle. Tankard attributes their ubiquity to Johnson's forceful, aphoristic style and Boswell's "scene"-based biography, which yielded easily isolatable anecdotes usable on a variety of topics.
date: 2018-03
language: en
pages: 37–47

Dr. Johnson and Miss Austen
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 69
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Bree
  given name: Linda
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Bree explores Jane Austen's familiarity with and debt to Johnson's writings, drawing on her brother Henry's testimony that Johnson was Austen's favorite moral writer in prose. Austen's letters and novels, including Mansfield Park, show familiarity with The Idler, Rasselas, and Boswell's Life. Bree argues that beyond explicit references, Austen absorbed Johnson's style, including its precise binary rhythms and aphoristic moralizing, evidenced in her juvenile parody and later sophisticated prose. Austen tested Johnson's moral certainties, tempering his "moral truth" with her own "truth to experience," such as in her conclusion on Willoughby's fate in Sense and Sensibility.
date: 2018-03
language: en
pages: 5–15

Johnsoniana: The Capital Journal, Topeka, Kansas, 25 April 2018
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 69
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Menninger
  given name: Roy W.
subject: Johnson
subject: Journals
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: Menninger notes a mention of Johnson in a column by psychiatrist and humorist Dr. William Glasser. The article quotes Johnson's observation that "the size of a man's understanding might be justly measured by his mirth." Glasser uses the quotation to support the psychological benefits of laughter and a lighthearted perspective on life's difficulties.
date: Sept. 2018
language: en
pages: 56

Johnsoniana: The Montreal Gazette, Tuesday, 24 January 2017
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 69
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Kinsley
  given name: Bill
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: Kinsley reports on a column by Andrew Phillips in the Montreal Gazette. The piece cites Johnson's assertion that "without truth there must be a dissolution of society." Phillips applies this Johnsonian principle to modern political discourse and the phenomenon of "fake news," emphasizing the continuing relevance of Johnson's moral insistence on factual integrity.
date: 2018-09
language: en
pages: 56

Gleaning the Gleaner: Some Notes on A. L. Reade
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 69
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Baldwin
  given name: Barry
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Classics
subject: Abstract
abstract: Baldwin defends Aleyn Lyell Reade's Johnsonian Gleanings against dismissive critiques, arguing that while Reade was primarily a genealogist, his work is invaluable and provided a great debt to Powell's revised Life. Baldwin notes Reade's anticipation of the "undigested" nature of his work and highlights key aspects of his life and scholarship, including his amateur status, World War I service, and pioneering use of newly available documents like Boswell's notebook. Baldwin also details Reade's collaborators, particularly Percy Laithwaite, who was Reade's man-on-the-spot in Lichfield.
date: Sept. 2018
language: en
pages: 39–47

Edmund Burke and Samuel Johnson: A Volatile Friendship
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 69
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Meyers
  given name: Jeffrey
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
subject: Abstract
abstract: Meyers examines the "rare and notable friendship" between Edmund Burke, a leading Rockingham Whig, and the staunch Tory Johnson, emphasizing how their mutual reverence transcended deep political differences. Meyers highlights their temperamental similarities—both being obstinate, opinionated, and competitive—which necessitated a tacit agreement to "shun the subject" of politics. Johnson valued Burke's "knowledge, his genius, his diffusion and affluence of conversation." Burke, an Irish outsider in London, treasured Johnson's acceptance. Meyers cites Johnson's praise of Burke's conversational greatness and Burke’s own anonymous review of Rasselas as tokens of their profound, respectful bond.
date: Sept. 2018
language: en
pages: 29–32

The Johnson Circle: A Group Portrait
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 70
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Bander
  given name: Elaine
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Larsen
  given name: Lyle
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Bander reviews Lyle Larsen’s The Johnson Circle: A Group Portrait, which chronicles the history of friendships among ten central figures associated with Johnson, spanning from 1737 to Frances Burney's death in 1840. The book uses a recursive structure in fourteen short chapters to detail the rise and fall of these complex, interpenetrating relationships, including rivalries and jealousies. Bander notes the inherent incompleteness for Johnsonians but finds the later chapters, filled with the brilliant voices of the friends, fun and fascinating, though perhaps overly simplified for serious scholars.
date: 2019-03
language: en
pages: 60–64

Johnsoniana: Henry Hitchings in The Wall Street Journal, 9 November 2018
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 70
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Davidson
  given name: George
subject: Johnson
subject: Journals
subject: Abstract
abstract: Davidson examines Hitchings’ assessment of Johnson’s "architectonic quality" in the Dictionary. The text highlights the "multiform notes" and "scrupulously full commentary" that Hitchings identifies as central to Johnson’s "lexicographical labor." It notes the "novelty" of Johnson’s attempt to "register" rather than "form" the language, recognizing the "wild blunders" and "risible absurdities" inevitable in such a "multiplicity" of work. Davidson focuses on Hitchings’ observation that Johnson’s "rhetorical art" was never "opiated by rising authorial income" but remained a "battling underdog" in the "Hobbesian world" of eighteenth-century London. The text confirms the Dictionary as a "proud possession" that continues to "enlighten" the modern reader’s life.
date: 2019-03
language: en
pages: 58

Johnsoniana: Alexandra Schwartz in The New Yorker, 17 September 2018
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 70
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Clingham analyzes Schwartz's use of Johnson to critique the "degraded language of public discourse" in the twenty-first century. The text notes Schwartz’s reliance on Rambler 106 to explore the "monumental legacy" of historical truth in an era of "truthiness." It emphasizes Johnson’s role as the "depositary of the public faith" whose commitment to proof serves as a "moral and intellectual corrective" to modern misinformation. Clingham highlights the "reciprocal pleasure" found in Schwartz’s engagement with Johnson’s "pithy wisdom" on the "insidious and seductive kind" of lies that possess the soul. The text concludes that Johnson remains a "formidable friend" to those seeking to "raise life above the middle point of apathy."
date: 2019-03
language: en
pages: 58

Johnsoniana: 'Sam's Black Dog'
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 70
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Tankard
  given name: Paul
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Tankard discusses the origin of the metaphor for depression, "the black dog," tracing its association with Johnson through his correspondence with Hester Thrale. Thrale first used the term (16 May 1776) in reference to her husband's melancholy, and Johnson adopted it in subsequent letters. Thrale Piozzi later speculated that the metaphor originated from a story about Apollonius Tyaneus and a spirit in the form of a black dog. Tankard concludes that Johnson's own reading (likely Burton's Anatomy), experience, and imagination combined to popularize the term with its modern meaning of melancholy.
date: 2019-03
language: en
pages: 57–58

Kicking the Stone, Once Again
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 70
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Davis
  given name: Matthew M.
subject: Johnson
subject: Philosophy
subject: Abstract
abstract: Davis surveys contemporary uses of the Johnson-Berkeley rock-kicking anecdote. David Frum uses it as a symbol of robust common sense and adherence to reality to critique political fictions. Conversely, philosopher Phillip Kitcher views it as an embarrassing act of anti-intellectual ignorance because Berkeley's idealism was itself a form of realism. Davis also describes a life-size bronze sculpture by William Fawke, commissioned by Felix Dennis, which depicts Johnson fiercely kicking the stone, likely presenting him as a heroic champion of reality.
date: 2019-03
language: en
pages: 50–53

The Chymistry of 'On the Death of Dr. Robert Levet'
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 71
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Coulter
  given name: William
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Science
subject: Death
subject: Abstract
abstract: Coulter explores Johnson’s "On the Death of Dr. Robert Levet" as a distillation (or "chymistry") of Dryden's panegyrical poem "Eleonora." Although differing in meter and style (Johnson's ballad stanzas versus Dryden's pentameter lines), both poems establish themes of charity, talents, and allegory. Johnson's poem, resembling the rooted "new fiction" of his day, draws imaginative power from Dryden's hyperbole: specifically the parable of the talents and the personified Virtues as a Roman triumph. Johnson revises the single talent parable to honor Levet's humble service, transforming a high-flying original into a powerfully concentrated democratic moral lesson.
date: 2020-03
language: en
pages: 19–26

Johnsoniana: Fritz Liebert and Ian Fleming
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 70
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Baldwin
  given name: Barry
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Science
abstract: Baldwin documents the "extraordinary bibliophilic friendship" between Liebert, first curator of the Beinecke Library, and Fleming. The text details Liebert's role as advisor for Fleming’s "Book-Collecting" column in The Book Collector and his assistance in assembling Fleming’s collection of "books that started something." It highlights Fleming's purchase of a copy of Johnson's Dictionary through Liebert’s guidance, noting Fleming's admiration for the "stark, gritty urbanism" of Johnson's London. Baldwin reveals that Liebert provided Fleming with the "scientific and historical context" for several of the rare volumes mentioned in the Bond novels, suggesting that the "intellectual rigor" of Johnsonian scholarship left a distinct, if hidden, mark on twentieth-century popular fiction.
date: Sept. 2019
language: en
pages: 50–51

Johnson and Cricket
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 70
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Baldwin
  given name: Barry
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Classics
subject: Abstract
abstract: Baldwin challenges Birkbeck Hill's doubt that Johnson played cricket at Pembroke (1782) because of poor sight. Baldwin argues Johnson's strong frame made him a formidable hitter and notes that many modern cricketers succeed despite poor vision. The piece traces the game's history, noting the 1729 watershed year during Johnson's Oxford time and the subsequent commercialization that drew Johnson’s critical attention. He suggests Johnson would have excelled at "Sledging" (banter). Baldwin closes by asking if Johnson read William Goldwin’s Neo-Latin poem In Certamen Pilae (1706), a valuable guide to early cricket history.
date: Sept. 2019
language: en
pages: 38–42

Samuel Johnson and the Tacksmen of Skye
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 70
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Diefenbach
  given name: John
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
subject: Scotland
subject: Locations
subject: Abstract
abstract: Diefenbach examines Johnson's prescient observations on the dissolution of Highland clan society during his 1773 Tour of Skye, focusing on the role of the tacksmen (chiefs' relatives who managed farms). Johnson visited Tacksmen's homes, where the ancient clan spirit remained, but recognized the shift of chiefs from patriarchs to commercial landlords was dissolving the feudal structure. Johnson defended the tacksman as a capable, long-term manager whose replacement by a "higher bidder" would break the clan. The article concludes with the account of the author's ancestor, Norman Stewart, a Tacksman who emigrated in 1816, fulfilling Johnson's warning about the "epidemick desire of wandering."
date: Sept. 2019
language: en
pages: 28–34

New Essays on Samuel Johnson: Revaluation
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 71
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: DeMaria reviews Lee's New Essays on Samuel Johnson: Revaluation, noting the volume's high quality and blend of seasoned and fresh contributors. He praises Anthony Lee's intertextual work connecting Johnson's London to Pope's satires and John Richetti's articulation of Johnson's kinetic style. Lynda Mugglestone's essay is highlighted for showing how Johnson humanized Caliban by normalizing his vocabulary. Other essays focus on Johnson’s resolutions, childhood curiosity, anti-colonialism, and the "olfaction" of his world. The collection is commended for its intellectual rigor and demonstration of Johnson's continuing appeal.
date: 2020-03
language: en
pages: 54–57

Johnsoniana: From Anthony Lane, 'Ginmania' (the New Yorker, 9 December 2019)
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 71
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Richetti
  given name: John
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Lane contrasts reformist zeal with Johnson’s "brisk Tory tolerance" regarding the habits of the poor. Johnson disputes the refusal of alms based on the recipient's potential purchase of gin or tobacco, characterizing such denial as "savage." He argues that these substances serve as necessary "sweeteners of their existence" and "gilding" for the otherwise unbearable "pill" of life. The critique challenges the tendency to strip the lives of the impoverished of all pleasure.
date: 2020-03
language: en
pages: 53

Beerbohm & Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 71
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Baldwin
  given name: Barry
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Baldwin offers addenda to Max Beerbohm's relationship with Johnson. Beerbohm, who once satirized Johnson in a broadcast, confessed his admiration for the portrait of Johnson in Edward Newton's A Magnificent Farce, lamenting that the genuinely convincing image was in America. Baldwin also notes Beerbohm's juvenile compositions included Neo-Latin poems, a school pastime he shared with Johnson. The preferred portrait, now at Haverford College, was attributed to Frances Reynolds.
date: 2020-03
language: en
pages: 51–52

A Bit More Black Dog-ma
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 71
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Baldwin
  given name: Barry
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Classics
subject: Abstract
abstract: Baldwin contributes to the discussion of the metaphor "the black dog" for depression, which Johnson used in correspondence with Hester Thrale. He refutes the assertion that the expression originates with Horace, noting the Latin in Satires 2.7 refers to comes atra ("the black companion"), not a canine. Baldwin suggests Thrale's 1790 entry describing the phrase as a "common saying" and "Hack Joke" at Streatham indicates a pre-Johnson use of the expression.
date: 2020-03
language: en
pages: 50–51

Johnson and Impeachment?
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 71
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Scanlan
  given name: J. T.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Law
subject: Politics
abstract: Scanlan reports that during the December 2019 impeachment hearings against President Trump, law professors and lawyers on both sides invoked Johnson's Dictionary to interpret "high crimes and misdemeanors" and "bribery." Republican counsel Paul Taylor and Professor Jonathan Turley used Johnson's definitions to argue for a narrower meaning of "high misdemeanors." Professor Pamela Karlan countered, citing Johnson's definition of "bribery" ("the crime of giving or taking rewards for bad practices") to support a broader concept. Scanlan notes the legal elite used Johnson as an unimpeachable authority but in a simplistic, "Scrabble-like" manner, rather than engaging his legal ideas.
date: 2020-03
language: en
pages: 44–50

Johnson and 'the Various Textures of Silk'
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 71
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Chisholm
  given name: Kate
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Chisholm examines the paradox between Johnson's slovenly appearance and his keen observation of and precise vocabulary for women's dress (e.g., distinguishing "tabbies with damasks" in Rambler 115). This attention to detail reflects Johnson's reformist sensibility and broad social compass. Chisholm contrasts Johnson's brutal condemnation of the adulteress Lady Diana Beauclerk ("The woman's a whore") with his great sympathy for women in straitened circumstances, such as the prostitute Misella (Rambler 170, 171) and servant Betty Broom (Idler 26, 29). For Johnson, a woman's crime, like adultery, was less forgivable when unaccompanied by economic necessity.
date: 2020-03
language: en
pages: 6–18

On Being Johnsonian in Beijing: A Week at the University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, December, 2019
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 71
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Smallwood
  given name: Philip
subject: Johnson
subject: Science
subject: Abstract
abstract: Smallwood reports on lecturing at the University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (UCASS) in Beijing, where he found a developing Chinese scholarly interest in Johnson. He notes the Chinese appreciation for Johnson's curiosity about China and that Johnson’s work finds a home within an eclectic literary curriculum. Smallwood discusses the special difficulties of poetic translation and the challenge of cultural exchange. He highlights the work of Dr. Xiaomin Xia, who translated Johnson's Life of Confucius and wrote a monograph on his works. Smallwood concludes that the study of Johnson has the potential to flourish in the Chinese capital.
date: Sept. 2020
language: en
pages: 49–53

Animal Crackers and Several Tracts of Snow
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 71
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Baldwin
  given name: Barry
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Classics
subject: Abstract
abstract: Baldwin discusses two classical-Johnsonian points. First, he examines the Virgil line varium et mutabile semper/femina (Aeneid 4.569-70), noting the tradition of supplying the noun animal to explain the grammar. He links this to Dr. Harrison’s raillery in Amelia and Johnson’s own definition of grammar. Second, he analyzes Johnson’s 1784 English translation of Horace’s Ode 4.7 (Diffugere nives). Baldwin notes Horace was a pre-eminent influence on Anglo-Latin verse. He defends Johnson's translation against critics, arguing its composition was an accomplishment despite Johnson's age and afflictions, and finds stylistic connections to Housman's translation.
date: Sept. 2020
language: en
pages: 43–48

Samuel Johnson and Lord Byron
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 71
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Meyers
  given name: Jeffrey
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
abstract: Meyers explores the literary and thematic affinity between Johnson and Lord Byron, arguing that Johnson's style and moral themes persisted in Byron's poetry, bridging the Classic and Romantic eras. Despite their opposing ranks and politics, Byron admired Johnson's literary judgments, particularly his prefaces to Shakespeare and the Lives of the Poets. Byron adopted Johnson's magisterial rhythm and epigrammatic wisdom for his own satires. Meyers notes Byron's mockery of Johnson's terror of death but highlights Byron's use of Johnson's authority (e.g., defending Cain and Don Juan) and his imitation of Johnson's Drury-lane Prologue as evidence of their significant, though indirect, literary relationship.
date: Sept. 2020
language: en
pages: 16–20

Why Nine?
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 76
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Baldwin
  given name: Barry
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Classics
subject: Abstract
abstract: Baldwin explores the common suggestion by biographers that nine members constituted the ideal size for Johnson's famous club. Baldwin offers a classical source for this ideal number: Aulus Gellius's Attic Nights, which attributes to the Roman scholar Varro the dictum that the number of dinner guests should begin with the Graces (three) and end with the Muses (nine).
date: 2025-03
language: en
pages: 70–71

A Note on Johnson's Sexuality
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 76
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Baldwin
  given name: Barry
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Sexuality
subject: Abstract
abstract: Baldwin challenges David Nokes's speculation concerning Johnson's sexuality, finding Nokes's bold claims based on minimal evidence. Baldwin discusses Nokes's interpretation of Johnson's youthful translation of Horace's Epode XI, his friendship with Cornelius Ford, and the possible homosexual context of a phrase in his diaries. Baldwin finds little evidence in the Johnsonian record to confirm Nokes's suggestions.
date: 2025-03
language: en
pages: 64–70

An Afterlife of Rasselas
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 76
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Grimes
  given name: Brian K.
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
abstract: Grimes notes a discrepancy in the date the Ethiopian practice of royal imprisonment ended, citing both a historical essay and an account by Major W. Cornwallis Harris. Harris's 1844 work claims he personally persuaded King Sahela Sellase to end the practice. Grimes suggests that because Johnson's writings on Abyssinia brought the custom to Harris's attention, Johnson deserves credit for the abolition of this inhumane practice.
date: 2025-03
language: en
pages: 59–64

The Noachian Mathematics of Bishop John Wilkins
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 76
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Davis
  given name: Matthew M.
subject: Johnson
subject: Science
subject: Abstract
abstract: Davis examines Johnson's instruction to Thrale to consult Wilkins’s Real Character, which includes a curious calculation demonstrating Noah’s Ark’s capacity for all known animals and provisions. This calculation reflects Wilkins’s broader interest in precise correspondence between words and things. Johnson, who cites Wilkins in the Dictionary, encourages Thrale to consider this mathematical proof, highlighting the integration of historical science into his intellectual pursuits.
date: 2025-03
language: en
pages: 55–58

Johnsoniana: Johnson Epistle to Sophy Thrale Sells for £38,460
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 76
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Davis
  given name: Matthew M.
subject: Johnson
subject: Piozzi
subject: Abstract
subject: Sales
abstract: Davis reports that a letter Johnson wrote to twelve-year-old Sophy Thrale on July 24, 1783, was purchased by the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Trust. The letter, previously known through a published transcription, compliments Sophy on her progress in arithmetic and encourages her to read Bishop John Wilkins's Real Character for its calculation concerning Noah's Ark.
date: 2025-03
language: en
pages: 53–55

After Guillory: Professing Johnson's Criticism
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 76
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Smallwood
  given name: Philip
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Abstract
abstract: Smallwood considers the contemporary professionalization of literary studies in light of John Guillory's Professing Criticism (2022) and its implications for Johnsonian scholarship. Smallwood explores Johnson's status as a non-specialist professional critic, examining how his critical practice contrasts with modern academic credentialization, scholarly dogmatism, and the current political ambitions of literary criticism.
date: 2025-03
language: en
pages: 42–52

Using Used Books: Preserving Readerly Reactions by Preserving Books
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 76
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Walker
  given name: Robert G.
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Walker examines contemporary readerly markings in two modern editions of Johnson's works, illustrating how annotations, underlining, and copying of pertinent quotations reveal the varied engagement of literary scholars, Vedder Morris Gilbert and James M. Osborn, with the texts. Walker argues that the transition from physical to electronic texts may diminish the impulse for such readerly commentary and the loss of books as cultural artifacts.
date: 2025-03
language: en
pages: 22–29

Johnsonian Studies in Japan and China: A Comparative Approach
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 76
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Cai
  given name: Tianming
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Cai examines the evolving reputation of Samuel Johnson among Chinese intellectuals, particularly in comparison to Japan. He notes that Johnson was popular in the 1930s-40s but later suffered from being associated with conservative beliefs. However, Chinese interest is currently rising. Cai argues that early Chinese Johnsonians like Liang Shiqiu and Fan Cunzhong consciously embraced Johnson’s cosmopolitanism and commitment to idealism to resist radical political trends.
date: 2025-03
language: en
pages: 5–21

An Index to the Johnsonian News Letter
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 75
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Jones
  given name: J. Emile
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Jones provides a comprehensive index spanning the contents of the ıt Johnsonian News Letter from Volume 51.4 (December 1991) through the current volume, 75.2 (September 2024). The index is formatted to facilitate scholarly navigation, with separate listings for book and periodical titles and their corresponding authors. The structure accounts for instances where multiple volumes were combined into a single publication. This installment continues the indexing tradition of earlier volumes, ensuring accessibility to the journal's accumulated scholarship on Johnson, his circle, and eighteenth-century studies. The index highlights the long-term thematic and biographical interests documented within the JNL.
date: 2024-09
language: en
pages: 14–64

Johnsonian Acrostic Puzzle
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 75
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Davis
  given name: Matthew M.
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Davis constructs a complex acrostic puzzle featuring forty-six clues centered on Johnsonian biography, bibliography, and literary quotations. The clues reference diverse subjects, including the "King’s evil," Hodge the cat, Francis Barber, and Johnson’s critiques of Milton and Swift. Upon completion, the puzzle yields a single-paragraph quotation from The Rambler: "Friendship, like love, is destroyed by long absence, though it may be increased by short intermissions."
date: 2024-03
language: en
pages: 57–61

Johnsoniana: David Owen, The New Yorker, 12 January 2023
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 75
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Merrell
  given name: James H.
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Owen challenges the assumption that appositional phrases preceding a sentence subject originate in the ornate prose of the Augustan era. Analysis of Lives of the Poets, The Rambler, and Rasselas reveals no instances of this construction, which Owen labels "Bad Things." The text contrasts Johnson’s syntactical habits with those of nineteenth-century novelists and modern Wikipedia entries. Owen asserts that the frequency of this stylistic feature increases in correlation with the proximity of a text to the present day, finding Johnson’s prose entirely free of the practice.
date: 2024-03
language: en
pages: 53–54

The 'New Rooms' of Johnson's Plan of a Dictionary of the English Language
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 75
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Koenig
  given name: Andrew
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Reference
abstract: Koenig examines the evolution of Johnson's purpose for the Dictionary by comparing the preliminary "Short Scheme" with the final Plan of a Dictionary of the English Language. Koenig argues that the revisions in the Plan show Johnson developing an increasingly flexible methodology, adopting softer language and qualifiers, and moving away from absolute prescriptivism towards descriptivism. Key revisions, termed "new rooms," reflect Johnson's responsiveness to the demands of his patron (Lord Chesterfield) and his perception of his audience (the "common reader"). Johnson, for example, defers to Chesterfield's opinion on orthography, while justifying his methodology by postulating an ideal audience interested in both utility and poetic refinement. These strategic accommodations served to marshal authority and market the project without compromising Johnson's core vision.
date: 2024-03
language: en
pages: 25–35

Johnsoniana: Rules for Visiting
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 74
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Turnbull
  given name: Gordon
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Turnbull examines the Johnsonian intertextuality in Kane’s novel, noting how Attaway finds an "affinity" with Johnson’s views on friendship and social protocols. The narrative tracks Attaway's pilgrimage to Gough Square to view the statue of Hodge and the garret of the Dictionary. Attaway emulates the 1773 journey of Johnson and Boswell by traveling to Scotland, where she critiques Johnson’s "dreadful" botanical definition of a tree as a "large vegetable." The analysis identifies several specific quotations and misquotations from the Life and Johnson’s letters, highlighting the enduring influence of Johnson’s persona on modern literary depictions of friendship and lexicographical precision.
date: 2023-09
language: en
pages: 54–56

William Somerset Maugham on Johnsonian Prose Style
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 74
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Mukherjee
  given name: Tapan Kumar
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
subject: Style
abstract: Mukherjee summarizes W. S. Maugham's views on Johnson's prose style in The Summing Up. Maugham noted a historical pattern of stylistic alternation, setting Johnson and Gibbon's classical, grand style ("orotund" and "turgidity") against the simpler prose of Dryden and Pope. Maugham admired Johnson as a great writer of eloquent prose, but noted he "unnecessarily uses many Latin words and phrases." Despite this, Maugham held Johnson in high esteem as a master of lucid English prose, worthy of emulation for the "gentle craft of elegant writing style."
date: 2023-03
language: en
pages: 31–32

Another False Attribution
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 74
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Brown
  given name: Robert D.
authors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
subject: Abstract
subject: Authorship
subject: Johnson
abstract: Brown and DeMaria identify a false attribution of a satirical poem to Johnson, found in the Suffolk archives with the handwritten signature "Samuel Johnson." The four-line squib, Vile Stanhope... He went to Hell, without them, is an attack on Lord Chesterfield's Letters to his Son. The poem's origins are traced to an "impromptu" by one "T. F." published in the Morning Chronicle in December 1784, just after Johnson's death. The false ascription is likely owing to the fame of Johnson's palpable dislike of Chesterfield, whose Letters Johnson famously condemned as teaching "the morals of a whore, and manners of a dancing master."
date: 2023-03
language: en
pages: 25–26

Sale's Universal History, Samuel Johnson, and 'Scrap[s] of Literary Intelligence'
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 74
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Walker
  given name: Robert G.
subject: Johnson
subject: History
subject: Abstract
abstract: Walker discusses three notable appearances of George Sale's Universal History (1747-1768) in Johnson's life. Johnson once declined an offer to contribute to the Ancient History but later recommended a job seeker for the Modern History. The final, and most momentous, appearance was days before Johnson's death, when he transmitted to John Nichols a "scrap of literary intelligence" listing the anonymous authors of the Ancient Universal History (including Psalmanazar). This final act, deemed an "office" of duty, showed Johnson's lifelong desire to rescue otherwise forgotten writers and ensure "each writer should receive his due proportion of praise from posterity."
date: 2023-03
language: en
pages: 13–18

Recalling Christmas, 1783
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 74
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Clingham presents the previously unlocated poem, "Recalling Christmas, 1783: Boswell's D.T.'s," which imagines Johnson writing a letter to Boswell on Christmas Eve 1783 about the humane treatment of old horses. The poem captures the tension of their relationship during Johnson's final illness, contrasting Boswell's tormented political aspirations ("to recover the land from fools") with Johnson's brutal, self-interested logic on animal ethics ("first work a horse, and then kill him"). Clingham notes the poem's deeper resonance in equating Johnson's "best blessing" to old horses with the capacity for both compassion and slaughter in humankind.
date: 2023-03
language: en
pages: 22–25

A School or College Exercise by Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 74
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Brown
  given name: Robert D.
subject: Johnson
subject: Education
subject: Abstract
abstract: Brown presents a transcription of an unpublished Latin epigram by Johnson, Non cito perit ruinâ qui primum timet, found in the Lincolnshire Archives, dating to the late 1720s. The six-line poem is an imitation of a sententia by Publilius Syrus, arguing it's "more glorious to have avoided imminent death than to have rashly hastened the black day." Brown traces the poem's unusual Latin form to Etonian school anthologies, making it likely a school or early college exercise. Johnson's imitation draws on Virgilian sources and combines the agility of a soldier with the vigilance of a boxer, showcasing his early competence as a Latin poet.
date: 2023-03
language: en
pages: 7–12

The Stone of Destiny
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Burning Chair
authors: Person
  surname: MacLeod
  given name: Andrew Neil
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "What if the Coronation Stone at Westminster — the stolen relic on which the High Kings of Scotland had been crowned for over seven hundred years — was a fake? What if the true Stone of Destiny was still out there somewhere, hidden away by a Holy Order to protect it from English invaders? When Doctor Johnson turns up at his friend James Boswell's door after an absence of almost seven years, he makes Boswell an enticing proposition: to join him on a quest to recover the true Stone of Destiny. What follows is a breathtaking journey through the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland, from Edinburgh up to the furthest reaches of the northern isles. Plunged into a dizzying world of secret societies, occult mysteries and supernatural phenomena, the two friends leave no Neolithic stone unturned in their search to uncover the truth. Can Johnson and Boswell keep one step ahead of those who would try to stop them? And will they be willing to sacrifice all so that they can get all that they desire? Eighteenth century Scotland has never been so magical — and terrifying."
date: 2022
language: en
short title: The Stone of Destiny
identifier: ISBN 978-1-912946-27-3
num pages: 408

The Fall of the House of Thomas Weir
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Series
publisher: Burning Chair
authors: Person
  surname: MacLeod
  given name: Andrew Neil
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: Macleod presents a fictionalized account of the 1773 tour of Scotland, cast as a Gothic mystery within "The Casebook of Johnson & Boswell" series. The narrative follows Johnson and Boswell as they arrive in Edinburgh, only to be drawn into a series of macabre events linked to the historical legacy of Major Thomas Weir. Macleod uses the distinct temperaments of the protagonists—Johnson’s rigorous ratiocination and Boswell’s social maneuvering—to probe a dark conspiracy involving civic corruption and ancient superstitions. While incorporating authentic biographical details and Johnsonian wit, the text functions as a genre-blending pastiche that explores the boundaries between Enlightenment reason and the irrational "fictions" of the supernatural. The work emphasizes the atmospheric tension of the Old Town and the intellectual camaraderie of the central pair.
date: 2021
language: en
identifier: ISBN 978-1-912946-19-8
num pages: 264

The Fall of the House of Thomas Weir
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 73
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Chisholm
  given name: Kate
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: MacLeod
  given name: Andrew Neil
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Chisholm reviews the first in a promised series of supernatural investigations that places Johnson and Boswell in Edinburgh in 1773. While the real-life characters are vividly drawn and the author has read Boswell's Life of Johnson, with Chisholm finding warmth in the characterization, the reviewer criticizes the novel for its "absurdity" and excessive "fancy." The plot involves the pair being drawn into investigations of satanic rituals, cannibalistic leper colonies, and supernatural phenomena, featuring the real-life Cape Club and the notorious thief Deacon Brodie. These multiple plotlines involving "demonic purposes," demons, and ghosts veer into absurdity as the intersection of historical figures like Robert Fergusson with fantastical elements leads to Johnson assuming unlikely roles, such as cooking or attempting to assassinate the Prince of Wales. Although inspired by Johnson's infamous attempts to meet the Cock Lane Ghost, the review concludes that the work exhibits too much "wild Strains of Imagination."
date: 2022-03
language: en
pages: 52–54

Boswell and the Press: Essays on the Ephemeral Writing of James Boswell
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 73
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Newman
  given name: Donald J.
subject: Abstract
subject: Boswell
subject: Journalism
subject: Periodicals
subject: Review
abstract: Lee reviews Newman's *Boswell and the Press* (2021), a collection focusing on Boswell's lesser-known journalistic writings, thus shifting attention away from the Johnsonian biographical accounts. Newman's introduction includes a taxonomy of Boswell's ephemeral forms (letters, squibs, pamphlets) and divides his career into three phases, often linking the writing to Boswell's psychological state, such as his fear of personal extinction. Tankard's chapter explores Boswell's use of anonymity. Caudle's contribution examines a neglected text, the prospectus for the unrealized periodical *The Sutiman*, which counters the narrative of Boswell's lack of interest in the Scots language. Other essays analyze Boswell's poetry, his political pamphlet, and *The Hypochondriack*, often contextualizing them with his personal circumstances.
date: 2022-03
language: en
pages: 48–52

Maurice Alderton Pink
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 73
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Mukherjee
  given name: Tapan Kumar
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Mukherjee presents an excerpt from the introduction to Maurice Alderton Pink's Points of View (1954), a collection of essays previously prescribed in West Bengal university English studies. The editor's argumentative method is wholly based on Johnson's provocative discourse. Johnson's approach, though sometimes overdone ("you tossed and gored several persons"), is justified as forcing "the lazy-minded and the conventional" to re-examine the logical basis of their theories and dispel the "mists of ignorance." Pink's work emphasizes that for Johnson, controversial discussion was not merely a means to truth but "one of the joys of life."
date: 2022-03
language: en
pages: 43–45

A Johnsonian Self-Reference?
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 73
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Baldwin
  given name: Barry
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Baldwin notes a possible Johnsonian self-reference in his excoriation of Thomas Blackwell's Memoirs of the Court of Augustus. Johnson gibes, "I know not why anyone but a schoolboy in his declamation should whine over the commonwealth of Rome....," which Baldwin suggests may refer to Johnson's own Latin prose exercise on the same theme. This exercise is published in Johnson on Demand, highlighting a humorous instance where Johnson may have been unconsciously mocking his own juvenile scholarship.
date: 2022-03
language: en
pages: 41

A Dissertation on the Amazons
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 73
  number: 1
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Johnson’s "A Dissertation on the Amazons" (1741) is a radical condensation and free translation of Abbé de Guyon’s 300-page Histoire des Amazones Anciennes et Modernes. Published in the Gentleman's Magazine, this minor prose piece exemplifies Cave’s (and possibly Johnson’s) decision to provide readers glimpses into curious French works. Critics note that Johnson condensed and paraphrased the original freely, likely emphasizing what interested him most. The work is also cited as an important text for discussions of Johnson's Life of Savage.
date: 2022-03
language: en
pages: 7–17

Johnson in Japan
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 72
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Smallwood
  given name: Philip
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Ogawa
  given name: Kimiyo
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Suzuki
  given name: Mika
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Smallwood reviews Johnson in Japan, an essay collection that reveals an extensive Japanese scholarly tradition on Johnson. The volume affirms Johnson's qualities (moral integrity, wit, biographical skill) valued by Western readers but also illuminates the history of the Japanese academy. Chapters cover Johnson's influence on Mary Shelley, parallels with Austen and Dickens, and the figure of Johnson the Tea Poet (Tamotsu Morowoka). Smallwood praises the mastery of foreign academic prose, concluding that the juxtaposition of a Japanese consciousness with familiar texts provides a defamiliarizing light on Johnson's thought, dispelling any premature assimilation of his work.
date: Sept. 2021
language: en
pages: 57–61

Readeian Gleanings
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 72
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Seymour
  given name: Terry
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: Seymour offers insights into the life and struggles of Aleyn Lyell Reade (1877-1953), the dedicated, reclusive author of the eleven-volume Johnsonian Gleanings. Letters and anecdotes reveal Reade's unconquerable reluctance to face an audience, his low finances necessitating constant fundraising, and the crippling effect of the work's cost on his life. He was honored by the Lichfield Johnson Society and was supported by wealthy Americans like A. E. Newton and fellow Johnsonians through his life, even surviving Nazi bombing of Liverpool because of storing his precious manuscript index in the cellar.
date: 2021-09
language: en
pages: 40–50

Swimming with Johnson and Boswell
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 72
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Seymour
  given name: Terry
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: Seymour reports a previously unrecorded Johnsonian anecdote from a Sotheby’s 1969 auction catalog: John Repton, Johnson’s schoolmate, stated Johnson saved him from drowning while they were swimming with corks. This anecdote confirms Johnson’s power as a swimmer, a quality often noted by biographers. Seymour contrasts this early act of heroism with Boswell's lack of swimming ability, noting Boswell owned The Art of Swimming (1764) by Melchisedech Thévenot, which was notorious for its nude illustrations and may have been acquired for prurient reasons beyond exercise edification.
date: Sept. 2021
language: en
pages: 39–40

Lady Anne Lindsay Barnard on Johnson: Two Notes
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 72
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Clingham presents two notes from Lady Anne Lindsay Barnard's unpublished memoir. The first is a reflection on reading Rasselas in 1771 (at age 21) following her sister Margaret's bankruptcy. Lady Anne noted the book's "levelling philosophy" as an antidote to "present calamity," but rejected its conclusion that "happiness is nowhere to be found." The second note concerns the engraving Lady Anne selected for her memoir of Johnson, Opie's portrait, which she chose as the "most amiable and least uncouth" to mollify his "poor Bear" image, contrasting this with his "Colossus of literature" persona.
date: Sept. 2021
language: en
pages: 36–39

Lady Anne Barnard, Johnson the Bear, Burke the Lion, and the Cape Baboon
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 72
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Clingham
  given name: Greg
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Clingham examines Lady Anne Lindsay Barnard's use of animal metaphors for Johnson, particularly his iconic "Ursa Major" or bear persona. Clingham analyzes a passage from her memoir that rewrites history by falsely claiming Johnson spoke both the "lion" metaphor for Burke and the "shed in a shower" anecdote directly to her. This fabrication highlights Lady Anne's fantasy of intimacy with cultural icons. Clingham contrasts these noble beasts with her later wish that Johnson had seated himself beside the pretentious Colonel Hall at dinner to silence the "baboon" with "one lick of his paw," suggesting Johnson's intellectual integrity.
date: Sept. 2021
language: en
pages: 32–36

Samuel Johnson and George Orwell: Guilty Moralists
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 72
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Meyers
  given name: Jeffrey
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Meyers draws striking biographical and moral parallels between Johnson and George Orwell, characterizing them as "guilty moralists." Both endured unhappy, guilt-ridden childhoods, suffered serious illnesses (scrofula/tuberculosis), and experienced isolating poverty, becoming outsiders. Their satires and criticism were intense, principled, and compassionate. Meyers contrasts Johnson's contrite self-penance (standing in the rain at Uttoxeter) with Orwell's masochistic suffering (going "down and out" in Paris). Despite their aggression and eccentricities, both men were patriotic, scrupulously honest, and left prophetic moral legacies in volumes of satire and profound aphorisms.
date: Sept. 2021
language: en
pages: 19–26

A Latin Translation of Verses from Crashaw's 'Epitaph upon Husband and Wife'
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 72
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Brown
  given name: Robert D.
subject: Abstract
subject: Classics
subject: Death
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
abstract: Brown argues for the authenticity of Johnson's Latin translation of verses (lines 9-16) from Richard Crashaw's "An Epitaph upon Husband and Wife," found in a Thomas Percy manuscript. The translation corresponds to a quote under the word "peace" in Johnson's Dictionary. Johnson quoted the original poem seven times, alluding to lines 7-16, a passage he later abbreviated. The Latin version, composed in elegant elegiac couplets, transforms Crashaw's lines to embrace its final optimistic sentiments, which include erotic (Virgilian) and spiritual (Christian/Baxterian) echoes. Boswell's and Percy's testimony, linking the lines to a Dictionary entry, strongly supports Johnson’s authorship.
date: Sept. 2021
language: en
pages: 11–18

An Unpublished Latin Epigram by Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnsonian News Letter
  type: Journal
  volume: 72
  number: 2
  alternative: JNL
  identifier: ISSN 0021-728X
authors: Person
  surname: Brown
  given name: Robert D.
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Classics
subject: Manuscripts
subject: Abstract
abstract: Brown presents a hitherto unpublished Latin epigram by Johnson, dated January 7, 1784, found in a manuscript in the Hyde Collection. The distich is a translation of the last two lines of an epigram by Leontius Scholasticus (Greek Anthology 7.575), originally an epitaph. Johnson's translation, Fato cessit anus, mille annis digna, bonorum / Semper inexpletum pectus amore calet, clarifies the poem's funerary genre and conveys a strong, empathetic expression of human yearning ("The unsated bosom forever glows with longing for good things") by substituting pectus for the original subject. The translation is noteworthy as one of nearly a hundred Johnson composed during sleepless nights in early 1784.
date: Sept. 2021
language: en
pages: 7–10

New Essays on Samuel Johnson: Revaluation
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: 1650–1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era
  type: Journal
  volume: 26
  identifier: DOI 10.36019/9781684483242-014
  alternative: 1650–1850
  identifier: ISSN 1065-3112
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Christopher D.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Lee
  given name: Anthony W.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
abstract: Johnson reviews this collection of essays, grouped into re-readings of texts and remapping of themes. Essays examine Johnson's Shakespeare annotations, his use of intertextuality in London, A Poem, and the non-canonical additions to the Lives of the Poets. The collection offers new contexts for Taxation No Tyranny, links Johnson to themes of sustainability, and explores his relationship with children, especially Queeney Thrale. Other pieces analyze his critical heterodoxy, his reluctance to write an autobiography, and his journals' role as instruments of "pragmatic piety."
date: 2021
language: en
pages: 259–262

Critical Occasions
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
authors: Person
  surname: Kickel
  given name: Katherine
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Smallwood
  given name: Philip
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Poetry
subject: Review
date: Spring 2014
language: en
pages: 157–159

The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
type: Journal
volume: 46
number: 2
identifier: ISSN 08842043

Rasselas, Prince d'Abyssinie
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: ThéoTeX Éditions
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Paris
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
date: 2016
language: fr
short title: Rasselas
identifier: ISBN 978-1-5220-7356-7
num pages: 142

Ensayos literarios: Shakespeare, Vidas de poetas y 'The Rambler'
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Galaxia Gutenberg
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Barcelona
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: Torné
  given name: Gonzalo
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Renaissance
subject: Essays
subject: Shakespeare
date: 2015
language: es
identifier: ISBN 978-84-15863-87-8
num pages: 554

Falkland-Malvinas: panfleto contra la guerra: Sobre las recientes negociaciones en torno a las Islas de Falkland (1771)
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Singladuras
publisher: Fórcola
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Madrid
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: Attala
  given name: iel
subject: Johnson
date: 2012
language: es
short title: Falkland-Malvinas
identifier: ISBN 978-84-15174-11-0
num pages: 133

传记奇葩: 萨维奇评传和考利评传 / Zhuan ji qi pa: Sa wei qi ping chuan he kao li ping chuan [Unusual Biographies: Savage's Critical Biography and Cowley's Critical Biography]
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: 约翰生书系列.约翰生书系列: Yue han sheng shu xi lie
publisher: 北京 : 国际文化出版公司: 第1版: Guo ji wen hua chu ban gong si
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Beijing
authors: Person
  surname: (英) 约翰生
  given name: (Samuel Johnson)
authors: Person
  surname: Cai
  given name: Tianming
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
subject: Biography
abstract: 本书分为译者序;萨维奇评传;考利评传;附录;后记五部分, 内容包括:国外约翰生学概况;约翰生家乡见闻.Ben shu fen wei yi zhe xu ; sa wei qi ping chuan ; kao li ping chuan ; fu lu ; hou ji wu bu fen, nei rong bao gua : guo wai yue han sheng xue gai kuang ; yue han sheng jia xiang jian wen.
date: 2013
language: zh
short title: 传记奇葩
identifier: ISBN 978-7-5125-0515-5
num pages: 197

The Trial of Misella Cross: A Novel
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Sky Parlour Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Plainfield, Ill.
authors: Person
  surname: Witek
  given name: Catherine
subject: Abstract
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
abstract: Inspired by two of Samuel Johnson's essays from his essay series, The Rambler, the author tells the fictional story of Misella Cross, from her sale at age 12 to a wealthy estate owner, to her escape into a life of prostitution on the streets of 18th century London, to her imprisonment in London's Newgate Prison for murder.
date: 2012
language: en
identifier: ISBN 978-0-615-68797-1
num pages: 296

Viaggio alle isole occidentali della Scozia: con una appendice di lettere e poesie
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Biblioteca Aragno
publisher: Aragno
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Torino
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
translators: Person
  surname: Savino
  given name: Daniele
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Travel
abstract: Scritto da uno dei più importanti autori inglesi del Settecento, il Viaggio alle Isole Occidentali della Scozia è il resoconto del viaggio intrapreso da Samuel Johnson tra l'estate e l'autunno del 1773 nelle Highlands scozzesi e nelle Isole Ebridi in compagnia dell'amico James Boswell, biografo dell'autore. Esso si presenta come una alternativa al tradizionale Grand Tour nei luoghi e nelle città eredi del mondo classico e offre uno sguardo antropologico e naturalistico su un universo poco noto, intriso di miti e di leggende e, per certi versi, ancora immerso nelle brume di un Medioevo che la descrizione di Samuel Johnson, precisa e attenta al dato empirico, rievoca attraverso la ricchezza dei dettagli storici, sociali ed economici che vengono offerti al lettore. Le lettere e le poesie latine scritte nel corso del viaggio, presentate in Appendice, rappresentano inoltre una significativa testimonianza delle riflessioni personali e delle fantasie liriche che l'esperienza suscitò nell'autore.
date: 2019
language: Italian
identifier: ISBN 978-88-8419-959-1
num pages: 330

Il Viandante
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Biblioteca Aragno
publisher: Aragno
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Torino
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: Savino
  given name: Daniele
subject: Johnson
date: 2019
language: it
identifier: ISBN 978-88-8419-986-7
num pages: 1427

La historia de Rásselas, príncipe de Abisinia
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Viento abierto
publisher: Ediciones del Viento
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: La Coruña
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: Hernúñez
  given name: Pollux
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
subject: History
date: 2017
language: es
short title: Rasselas
identifier: ISBN 978-84-15374-16-9
num pages: 200

The End of Toleration? Language on the Margins in Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Standardising English: Norms and Margins in the History of the English Language
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-1-107-19105-1
  identifier: DOI 10.1017/9781108120470
publisher: Cambridge University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge
authors: Person
  surname: Mugglestone
  given name: Lynda
editors: Person
  surname: Pillière
  given name: Linda
editors: Person
  surname: Andrieu
  given name: Wilfrid
editors: Person
  surname: Kerfelec
  given name: Valérie
editors: Person
  surname: Lewis
  given name: Diana
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Reference
abstract: This path-breaking study of the standardisation of English goes well beyond the traditional prescriptivism versus descriptivism debate. It argues that the way norms are established and enforced is the result of a complex network of social factors and cannot be explained simply by appeals to power and hegemony. It brings together insights from leading researchers to re-centre the discussion on linguistic communities and language users. It examines the philosophy underlying the urge to standardise language, and takes a closer look at both well-known and lesser-known historical dictionaries, grammars and usage guides, demonstrating that they cannot be simply labelled as "prescriptivist." Drawing on rich empirical data and case studies, it shows how the norm continues to function in society, influencing and affecting language users even today.
date: 2018
language: en
date submitted: 2025-04-03 14:25:44
pages: 89–105

Notes Toward New Johnsonian Contexts
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century
publisher: Huntington Library
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: San Marino
authors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
editors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Johnson
date: 2014
language: en
pages: 1–12

'The Future in the Instant': Johnson, Garrick, Boswell, and the Perils of Theatrical Prolepsis
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century
publisher: Huntington Library
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: San Marino
authors: Person
  surname: Sherman
  given name: Stuart
editors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
date: 2014
language: en
pages: 15–32

''Tis Well an Old Age Is Out': Johnson, Swift, and His Generation
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century
publisher: Huntington Library
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: San Marino
authors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
editors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Johnson
date: 2014
language: en
pages: 47–68

'Hoot Him Back Again into the Common Road': The Problem of Singularity, and the Human Comedy of the Lives of the Poets
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century
publisher: Huntington Library
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: San Marino
authors: Person
  surname: Nunnery
  given name: David
editors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Biography
subject: Criticism
subject: Humor
subject: Johnson
subject: Lives
subject: Poetry
date: 2014
language: en
pages: 107–128

Writing the Dictionary of the English Language: Johnson's Journey into Words
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century
publisher: Huntington Library
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: San Marino
authors: Person
  surname: Mugglestone
  given name: Lynda
editors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Johnson
subject: Reference
subject: Travel
date: 2014
language: en
pages: 131–142

The Agile Johnson
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century
publisher: Huntington Library
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: San Marino
authors: Person
  surname: Fairer
  given name: David
editors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Johnson
date: 2014
language: en
pages: 33–46

Fragments and Disquisitions: Johnson's Shakespeare in Context
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century
publisher: Huntington Library
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: San Marino
authors: Person
  surname: Walsh
  given name: Marcus
editors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Johnson
subject: Renaissance
subject: Shakespeare
date: 2014
language: en
pages: 157–172

'To Preserve Order and Support Monarchy': Johnson's Political Writings
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century
publisher: Huntington Library
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: San Marino
authors: Person
  surname: Lock
  given name: F. P.
editors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Johnson
subject: Politics
date: 2014
language: en
pages: 175–194

Three Contexts for Reading Johnson's Parliamentary Debates
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century
publisher: Huntington Library
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: San Marino
authors: Person
  surname: Kaminski
  given name: Thomas
editors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Johnson
subject: Law
subject: Politics
date: 2014
language: en
pages: 195–218

The Active Soul and Vis Inertiae: Change and Tension in Johnson's Philosophy from The Rambler to The Idler
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century
publisher: Huntington Library
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: San Marino
authors: Person
  surname: Hudson
  given name: Nicholas
editors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Johnson
subject: Essays
subject: Philosophy
date: 2014
language: en
pages: 241–262

Blinking Sam, 'Surly Sam,' and 'Johnson's Grimly Ghost'
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century
publisher: Huntington Library
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: San Marino
authors: Person
  surname: Folkenflik
  given name: Robert
editors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Johnson
subject: Art
date: 2014
language: en
pages: 265–294

Johnson and Scott, England and Scotland, Boswell, Lockhart, and Croker
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century
publisher: Huntington Library
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: San Marino
authors: Person
  surname: Engell
  given name: James
editors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Johnson
subject: Scotland
subject: Boswell
date: 2014
language: en
pages: 313–342

A History of the Collected Works of Samuel Johnson: The First Two Hundred Years
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century
publisher: Huntington Library
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: San Marino
authors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
editors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Johnson
subject: History
date: 2014
language: en
pages: 343–366

'The Dreams of a Poet': Vocational Self=Definition in Johnson's Dictionary Preface
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century
publisher: Huntington Library
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: San Marino
authors: Person
  surname: Fix
  given name: Stephen
editors: Person
  surname: Weinbrot
  given name: Howard D.
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
subject: Reference
date: 2014
language: en
pages: 143–156

Johnson on Demand: Reviews, Prefaces, and Ghost-Writings
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: The Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson
publisher: Yale University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New Haven
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: Brack
  given name: O M, Jr.
editors: Person
  surname: DeMaria
  given name: Robert, Jr.
subject: Johnson
subject: Authorship
subject: Abstract
abstract: Writings spanning various genres, including reviews, prefaces, and ghost-writings, along with dedications, epigraphs, advertisements, proposals, public letters, political campaign statements, newspaper editorials, charitable appeals, and minor prose translations. It contains material largely drawn from Johnson’s periodical writing and pamphlets. The volume includes Johnson’s translation of du Resnel’s preface for Pope’s Essay on Man and Essay on Criticism.
date: 2018
language: en
short title: Johnson on Demand
subject: PR3522.5 .J64 2018
identifier: ISBN 978-0-300-22828-1
num pages: 632

Debates in Parliament
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: The Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson
publisher: Yale University Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New Haven
authors: Person
  surname: Johnson
  given name: Samuel
editors: Person
  surname: Kaminski
  given name: Thomas
editors: Person
  surname: Hoover
  given name: Benjamin B.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Law
subject: Politics
abstract: Johnson's largest continuous prose composition, compiling his writings spanning approximately 1740 to February 1743. The contents cover the final years of Sir Robert Walpole's administration. Johnson's 25 reports and one ceremonial account, originally printed in the Gentleman's Magazine (GM) under the pseudonymous frame "Debates in the Senate of Lilliput," are included. The text, totaling approximately 1,500 continuously numbered pages, had previously been largely snubbed by modern scholars. The GM publication scheme served to avoid prosecution for breach of Parliamentary privilege. The copy-text is established through the application of modern editorial principles. The editorial policy restored the Lilliputian terminology and naming conventions, reversing the approach of prior collected editions that had stripped these elements. The reports are presented in their real-life chronological sequence rather than the arbitrary order of original GM serialization. The standard Yale policy retains the copy-text’s original spelling, punctuation, and hyphenation, while modernizing capitalization and typography. Supplemental materials include a complete textual apparatus. Each debate is preceded by a head-note detailing political context. Explanatory notes record textual comparisons with other records like the London Magazine and Bishop Secker's notes. Appendices provide a glossary of Lilliputian names, the original publication sequence, and the official account of Arthur Onslow's installation as Speaker. The volume was long anticipated, received praise as an essential scholarly accomplishment, and makes the work available for serious study for the first time. This publication provides essential textual grounding for scholarly analysis of Johnson's practices as an author and his rhetorical invention. The volume supersedes the previously incomplete and textually unreliable 1787 and 1825 collected Works editions.
date: 2018
language: en
short title: Debates in Parliament
subject: PR3522.5 .J64 2018
identifier: ISBN 978-0-300-22828-1
num pages: 632

The Commerce of Knowledge in Samuel Johnson's Rasselas
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Global Economies, Cultural Currencies of the Eighteenth Century
  type: Book
  identifier: ISBN 978-0-404-64864-0
publisher: AMS Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Abunasser
  given name: Rima
editors: Person
  surname: Rotenberg-Schwartz
  given name: Michael
editors: Person
  surname: Czechowski
  given name: Tara
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Economics
subject: Fiction
subject: Johnson
abstract: Abunasser analyzes Samuel Johnson’s Rasselas as a critique of the "imagination" and an acceptance of the socioeconomic character of eighteenth-century identity. The essay argues that Johnson’s narrative shifts from a pursuit of intrinsic happiness to a pragmatic "commerce of knowledge," wherein learning and social experience are treated as commodities of exchange. By accepting knowledge as a tool for navigation within a modern market economy, Johnson makes a "virtue of the socioeconomic character" of his characters' identities. Abunasser suggests that this paradigm allows Johnson to reconcile the abstract truths of economic transactions with the individualized experience of the subject. The study situates Johnson’s work within the broader "new economic criticism," demonstrating how the formal properties of the eighteenth-century novel—and Johnson's prose specifically—translate commercial systems into tangible personal experiences through a "representation of the personal (subjectivity)."
date: 2012
language: en
pages: 215–229

'Human Wishes': Samuel Beckett and Johnson: The David Fleeman Memorial Lecture of 2005
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Johnson Society of Australia Papers
authors: Person
  surname: Ackerley
  given name: Chris
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: 20th
subject: Abstract
abstract: On Samuel Beckett’s fascination with Samuel Johnson, which resulted in the unfinished dramatic fragment *Human Wishes*. Beckett's initial intent was a four-act play detailing Johnson’s relationship with Hester Thrale, 1781–1784. The project evolved, shifting focus from a love interest to the melancholy of the hypochondriac Johnson in physical decline. The fragment sets Johnson's Bolt Court household on the day Henry Thrale died, but Johnson remains absent. This work is a clear predecessor to *Waiting for Godot* and *Endgame*, demonstrating Beckett's affinity for Johnson's dread of annihilation and his use of Johnsonian language and philosophy.
date: 2007-08
language: en
pages: 11–28

Johnson Society of Australia Papers
type: Journal
volume: 9
identifier: ISSN 1329-2528

A Critic Formed: Samuel Johnson's Apprenticeship with Irene 1736–1749
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Fresh Reflections on Samuel Johnson: Essays in Criticism
publisher: Whitston
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Troy
authors: Person
  surname: Adams
  given name: Katherine H.
editors: Person
  surname: Nath
  given name: Prem
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Drama
subject: Johnson
abstract: Adams argues that Johnson's protracted thirteen-year effort in writing and revising his tragedy Irene served as a critical apprenticeship, shaping his later dramatic criticism. By tracing the play's development from initial draft to final production, Adams shows Johnson grappling with dramatic conventions (heroic tragedy, she-tragedy, neoclassical rules), characterization (Mahomet, Irene), dialogue, and plot construction. His struggles with Irene's artificiality and lack of naturalism informed his subsequent critiques in the Preface to Shakespeare and Lives, where he championed realism, natural language, and moral purpose over rigid rules and declamation.
date: 1987
language: en
pages: 183–200

The Good Man Speaking Well: Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: National Review
authors: Person
  surname: Aeschliman
  given name: M. D.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Aeschliman celebrates the enduring philosophical and ethical authority of Johnson, citing him as one of the great voices of Western moral culture alongside Socrates and Jesus. Johnson's pursuit of happiness involved loving God and serving his fellows, grounded in common-sense Christianity and a rejection of self-pity. Writers like Hawthorne, Eliot, and Lewis venerate Johnson for his central, moral imagination and insistence on the inescapability of moral awareness.
date: 1985-01-11
language: en
pages: 49–52

National Review
type: Journal
volume: 37
identifier: ISSN 0028-0038

Dr. Johnson's Rasselas: The Choice of Life
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Essays on Dr. Samuel Johnson
publisher: Shalabh
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Meerut
authors: Person
  surname: Ahmed
  given name: Saleem
editors: Person
  surname: Sharma
  given name: T. R.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
date: 1986
language: en
pages: 43–50

'Empty Sounds': Johnson's Dictionary and the Limit of Language,' chapter 3 of 'The Diversions of History: A Nonphenomenal Approach to Eighteenth-Century Linguistic Thought'
type: Thesis
item type: thesis
publisher: McMaster University
authors: Person
  surname: Alexander
  given name: Robert John
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Language
subject: Reference
abstract: Alexander offers a critique of the methods and assumptions of the discipline of linguistic historiography--the study of the history of linguistic thought. Linguistic historiography has grown rapidly since the late 1960s. The formation of a loosely-defined canon of works of language study has been accompanied by the publication of many articles and books and the development of a scholarly superstructure of journals, societies, and conferences whose explicit objective it has been to develop both the practice and the theory of this new field. But linguistic historiography remains an area which has yet to theorize its activity radically. Through close readings of John Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, various works on language by Joseph Priestley, and John Horne Tooke's Diversions of Purley, Alexander argues that the representation of language in eighteenth-century meta-linguistic texts is concerned with matters other than the strictly linguistic which, it becomes clear, is not one object of knowledge among others, and that these matters are invariably bound up with questions of class, power, and privilege.
date: 1999-02
language: en
type: PhD thesis

Rasselas as a Colonial Discourse
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Central Institute of English & Foreign Languages Bulletin
  type: Journal
  volume: 8
  number: 1
authors: Person
  surname: Ali
  given name: Muhsin Jassim
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Fiction
date: 1996-06
language: en
pages: 47–60

Printing Technology, Letters, & Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Eighteenth-Century Studies
  type: Journal
  volume: 21
  number: 4
  alternative: ECS
  identifier: ISSN 0013-2586
authors: Person
  surname: Fix
  given name: Stephen
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Kernan
  given name: Alvin B.
subject: Johnson
subject: Criticism
subject: Authorship
subject: Review
subject: Bibliography
subject: Abstract
abstract: Fix reviews Alvin Kernan’s study, which identifies Johnson as the first great professional writer produced by a market-centered print system. The review praises the analysis of the Dictionary as an emblem of print logic that abstracts and idealizes language. However, Fix finds Kernan’s thesis-driven reading of Johnson’s meeting with George III too aggressive and disputes the claim that Boswell created Johnson's reality. Fix argues the book is most compelling when it explores Johnson’s dependence on writing as a psychological imperative to order his own identity and belief against alienation.
date: 1988
language: en
pages: 521–26

Samuel Johnson: Pictures and Words: Papers Presented at a Clark Library Seminar, 23 October 1982
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Études anglaises: Grande-Bretagne, États-Unis
  type: Journal
  volume: 39
  number: 2
  alternative: Études anglaises
  identifier: ISSN 0014-195X
authors: Person
  surname: Soupel
  given name: Serge
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Alkon
  given name: Paul K.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Folkenflik
  given name: Robert
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
subject: Abstract
abstract: Soupel reviews the published proceedings of the 1982 Clark Library Seminar on Samuel Johnson. Alkon's "Illustrations of Rasselas and Reader-Response Criticism" inventories thirty-two illustrations, mostly from the 19th century, revealing varying interpretive modes, including the frequent bundling of Rasselas with its sequel, Dinarbas. Folkenflik's "Samuel Johnson and Art" uses various writings and testimonies to prove Johnson held sophisticated, utilitarian views on painting, architecture, and sculpture, advocating for intellectual, moralizing, and sublime art. Folkenflik argues convincingly for the importance of Johnson's relationship to art for English art history.
date: 1986-04
language: en
pages: 218–19

How the TV Play of Johnson and Boswell Is Set to Spark an Outcry North of the Border
type: Article
item type: newspaperArticle
is part of: The Mail on Sunday
authors: Person
  surname: Allen
  given name: Denna
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
date: 1993-10-10
language: en
pages: 48–49

Moses Thomas's Proposals for the First American Edition of a Complete Johnson's 'Dictionary'
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Classic Letterpress for The Johnsonians
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Ojai
authors: Person
  surname: Allen
  given name: Robert R.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Reference
abstract: "Designed and printed by Norman Clayton at Classic Letterpress, Ojai, California, in Goudy Old Style on Mohawk Superfine text with Gmund Colors Matt, Beach Sand cover, for the Johnsonians, the Zamorano and Roxburghe Clubs, and the Samuel Johnson Society of the West. 2016"--Colophon Illustrations are a facsimile of Moses Thomas's proposal
date: 2016
language: en
num pages: 12

Fopdoodle and Salmagundi: Words and Meanings from Dr. Samuel Johnson's 'Dictionary' That Time Forgot
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Old House Books
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Moretonhampstead, Devon
editors: Person
  surname: Allhusen
  given name: Edward
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Alcohol
subject: Johnson
subject: Reference
abstract: Publisher's blurb: "This is a book of words that urgently need your help. Fopdoodle, salmagundi, kissingcrust, runnion and stingo are all endangered for lack of use. Since Samuel Johnson completed his dictionary scores of words such as fizgig, jobbernowl and sponk have slipped away from common usage. You will very likely never have heard of most of them while some will be known but not used. Scores of others have definitions so obscure that you wonder why a word was needed at all. Was it necessary to have quite so many different words to describe the less fortunate members of society? Many, such as atom (cannot be split) and urinal (where water is kept for inspection) have changed their meaning completely, often with hilarious consequences. Some, such as tea (lately drunk in Europe) and coffee (comforteth the brain and heart) are included to provide a glimpse of life 250 years ago. Others, such as Dragon (perhaps imaginary) and Swallow (a bird that hides in winter) show as yet unfilled gaps in understanding. This book, Fopdoodle and Salmagundi will delight anyone who is fascinated by the evolution, humor and eccentricity of the English language or enjoys the challenge of a word game. In compiling this selection of little used and unfrequented gems of the language the editor makes the simple request that you slip them into conversation in the hope that their use will be perpetuated. They really are too good to lose."
date: 2007
language: en
identifier: ISBN 978-1-873590-63-8
num pages: 208

Fopdoodle and Salmagundi: Words and Meanings from Dr. Samuel Johnson's 'Dictionary' That Time Forgot
type: Article
item type: newspaperArticle
is part of: Daily Telegraph
publisher: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
authors: Person
  surname: Harman
  given name: Claire
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Allhusen
  given name: Edward
subject: Johnson
subject: Reference
subject: Review
date: 2007-10-04
language: en

Some Aspects of Johnson as a Critic
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Dhaka University Studies Part A
  type: Journal
  volume: 42
  number: 1
authors: Person
  surname: Amir
  given name: Sadrul
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
date: 1985
language: en
pages: 40–58

Dreams of a Poet Doomed at Last to Wake a Lexicographer
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Privately printed by Houghton Library for The Johnsonians
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Cambridge, Mass.
authors: Person
  surname: Amory
  given name: Hugh
is referenced by: 250 copies printed for the Johnsonians.
subject: 18th
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Poetry
abstract: A keepsake of "some ephemera [bills for advertising Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English language] from a collection of Johnsoniana by William Upcott" given by A. A. Houghton Jr. to Harvard
date: 1986
language: en
num pages: 8

250 copies printed for the Johnsonians.
type: Memo

Classroom Texts: The Teacher, the Anthology
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Approaches to Teaching the Works of Samuel Johnson
publisher: Modern Language Association of America
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: New York
authors: Person
  surname: Anderson
  given name: David R.
editors: Person
  surname: Anderson
  given name: David R.
editors: Person
  surname: Kolb
  given name: Gwin J.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Education
subject: Abstract
abstract: Anderson analyzes the role of anthologies in defining the undergraduate Johnsonian canon, noting that the choice of anthology determines which Johnsonian texts students will encounter. While introductory courses typically rely on The Norton Anthology of English Literature for Rasselas and The Vanity of Human Wishes, mid-level surveys favor the broader Tillotson anthology, which offers more depth and more breadth regarding Johnson the moralist through periodical essays and personal writings. Upper-level seminars use specialized anthologies by Greene, Bronson, or Brady and Wimsatt, each reflecting different scholarly priorities such as politics, morality, or criticism. Ultimately, instructors must approach these texts critically to avoid the tyranny of an anthology.
date: 1993
language: en
pages: 3–7

Approaches to Teaching the Works of Samuel Johnson
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Notes and Queries
  type: Journal
  volume: 42 [240]
  identifier: DOI 10.1093/notesj/42.3.402
  number: 3
  alternative: N&Q
  identifier: ISSN 0029-3970
authors: Person
  surname: Lurcock
  given name: A. F. T.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Anderson
  given name: David R.
reviewed authors: Person
  surname: Kolb
  given name: Gwin J.
subject: Abstract
subject: Education
subject: Johnson
subject: Review
abstract: Lurcock reviews a collection of essays designed to provide pedagogical strategies for instructing American students on Johnson. The volume organizes contributions into general thematic approaches—including gender and psychoanalysis—and studies of specific works. Lurcock identifies the text's primary strength as its imaginative departure from the Boswellian parody of Johnson, instead presenting him as a young person's writer whose style and values remain inseparable. While noting that some idealized classroom descriptions lack practical realism, the reviewer maintains that the volume successfully dethrones the Great Cham image in favor of a writer open to modern critical exploration.
date: 1995-09
language: en
pages: 402–403

Samuel Johnson and the Question of Enlightenment in England
type: BookSection
item type: bookSection
is part of: Patrons of Enlightenment
publisher: University of Toronto Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Toronto
authors: Person
  surname: Andrew
  given name: Edward G.
subject: 18th
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: Andrew examines Johnson’s role within the "questionable Enlightenment" of England, focusing on his "intellectual independence" from traditional patronage. Unlike Gibbon, the "isolated giant," Johnson is presented as a "native English god" whose authority was diffused through the "commercial press." The text discusses Johnson’s "distrust of the imagination" and his "principled" stance against the monopoly of the Church of England over education. Andrew argues that the "flood" of biographies following Johnson’s death established the "Christian truth" of individual life’s "irreplaceability." The text highlights how Johnson’s status as a "Man of Letters" allowed him to navigate the "prohibitive cost" of Oxbridge and achieve a "monumental" presence in the English-speaking world independent of aristocratic favor.
date: 2006
language: en
pages: 154–69

item_20728
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: University of Western Ontario
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London, Ont.
subject: Education
subject: Johnson
subject: Reference
subject: Science
title: A Short-Title Catalog of Eighteenth Century Editions of Dr. Samuel Johnson's 'Dictionary' in Special Collections, the Library of the School of Library and Information Science, the University of Western Ontario
date: 1985
language: en

Boswell Find
type: Article
item type: newspaperArticle
is part of: The Times
publisher: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
subject: Johnson
subject: Boswell
subject: Abstract
abstract: A brief report notes the sale of a Samuel Johnson letter at Christie's for £4,104. The 1784 manuscript, addressed to the daughter of his friend Langton, contains Johnson’s advice to the child "to be a good girl" and "to keep her doll's house in order."
date: 1985-06-06
language: en

Dr. Johnson by Mrs. Thrale: The Anecdotes of Mrs. Piozzi in Their Original Form
type: Article
item type: magazineArticle
is part of: New Yorker
subject: Johnson
subject: Piozzi
subject: Biography
date: 1985-12-30
language: en
pages: 80

New Yorker
type: Periodical
volume: 61
identifier: ISSN 0028-792X

Samuel Johnson's Tics
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: FDA Consumer
  type: Journal
  volume: 22
  number: 7
authors: Person
  surname: Murray
  given name: T. J.
subject: Abstract
subject: Johnson
subject: Medicine
abstract: Murray presents a retrospective medical profile of Johnson, arguing that a wealth of biographical evidence supports a diagnosis of Tourette syndrome. The narrative traces Johnson's neurological and physical difficulties from a traumatic birth and childhood scrofula to the adult onset of motor and vocal tics, including repetitive jerking, grunting, and compulsive whistling. Murray details how these involuntary movements and "uncouth gesticulations" hindered Johnson's early teaching career and influenced his domestic life. The account incorporates observations from contemporaries such as Garrick, who mimicked Johnson's twitching, and William Hogarth, who initially mistook the scholar for an "idiot." Additionally, the article chronicles Johnson's obsessive-compulsive rituals, such as touching street posts and avoiding cracks in pavement, alongside self-destructive behaviors reported by Boswell. While acknowledging that an 18th-century diagnosis remains speculative, Murray concludes that Johnson's "perpetual motion" and verbal repetitions align closely with modern clinical understandings of Tourette syndrome.
date: 1988-09
language: en
pages: 29–31

Samuel Johnson, Writer, 1709–1784
type: Recording
item type: videoRecording
publisher: Landmark Films
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Falls Church, Va.
subject: Johnson
date: 1988
language: en

Author for All Seasons: An Exhibition of Manuscripts & Books from the Library of Loren & Frances Rothschild Held at the Doheny Memorial Library, University of Southern California
type: Book
item type: book
publisher: Rasselas Press & the USC Fine Arts Press
  type: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Pacific Palisades & Los Angeles
authors: Person
  surname: Rothschild
  given name: Loren
authors: Person
  surname: Rothschild
  given name: Frances
subject: Johnson
subject: Manuscripts
date: 1988
language: en
num pages: 33

Guests Outside Dr. Samuel Johnson's House at 17 Gough Square, off Fleet Street, for its Reopening
type: Article
item type: newspaperArticle
is part of: The Independent
  type: Newspaper
  identifier: ISSN 0951-9467
subject: Johnson
subject: Locations
subject: Abstract
date: 1990-05-24
language: en
pages: 6

Down into Egypt
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Philosophy
  type: Journal
  volume: 65
  number: 254
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: This text examines the didactic and philosophical nature of Johnson's Rasselas. It highlights Johnson's use of "science" and "literature" in broad, overlapping senses and notes the presence of "Johnsonian sobriety and common sense." The discussion focuses on the prince’s desire to devote himself to "literary solitude" and the text's potential influence on later poets like Shelley, specifically through the description of the poet as "the interpreter of nature, and the legislator of mankind."
date: 1990-10
language: en
pages: 395–397

Dr. Johnson Relic May Be Replaced
type: Article
item type: newspaperArticle
is part of: The Independent
  type: Newspaper
  identifier: ISSN 0951-9467
subject: Johnson
subject: Abstract
abstract: This report details the destruction of a 230-year-old thatched summer-house at Kenwood House, Hampstead, by a suspicious fire. English Heritage considers building a replica of the structure, which originally stood in Streatham before its 1968 relocation to Kenwood. Johnson reportedly occupied the building when he decided "to pass eight hours of every day in a serious employment." The report notes the presence of loitering youths near the site following the grounds' closure on 1 March.
date: 1991-03-11
language: en
pages: 2

Boxing: Dr. Johnson's Plea Rings Out over Another Lull in Boxing
type: Article
item type: newspaperArticle
is part of: Sunday Telegraph
publisher: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: London
subject: Johnson
date: 1993-10-10
language: en
pages: 5

Samuel Johnson, Man of the Theater
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: New York
  type: Journal
  volume: 28
  number: 19
subject: Johnson
date: 1995-05-08
language: en
pages: 83

Dr. Johnson's Regard for Truth
type: Article
item type: newspaperArticle
is part of: The Herald
publisher: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Glasgow
subject: Johnson
date: 1996-02-17
language: en
pages: 14

The Herald
type: Newspaper
identifier: ISSN 0965-9439

Dr. Johnson's Zeal for Gaelic
type: Article
item type: newspaperArticle
is part of: The Herald
  type: Newspaper
  identifier: ISSN 0965-9439
publisher: Organization
  adr: Address
    locality: Glasgow
subject: Johnson
date: 1996-02-26
language: en
pages: 12

Johnson, Boswell, and Their Circle: Books and Manuscripts, Including New Acquisitions from a Private Collection
type: Book
item type: book
is part of: Bernard Quaritch Catalogue
subject: Johnson
subject: Manuscripts
subject: Boswell
subject: Bibliography
date: 1999
language: en