"NO MAN BUT A BLOCKHEAD EVER WROTE, EXCEPT FOR MONEY": BOSWELL’S LIFE OF JOHNSON, HANDSOMELY BOUND

BOSWELL, James. The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. London: G. Walker, 1820. Four volumes. Octavo, contemporary full straight-grain olive morocco gilt rebacked in brown morocco, marbled endpapers and edges. $1500.

Later edition of this classic biography of a literary icon, with two facsimile documents in Volume I, handsomely bound in full morocco-gilt.

"Everyone with an interest in Johnson is very much in debt to Boswell not only for the years of devotion he invested in the study of Johnson's life, but for the uncanny skill with which he conveyed the quality of Johnson's personality and his effect on the people about him. If there had been no Boswell, Johnson would have been one of the most famous names in English literature; but that he has become a household name, known to millions who will never read a line of his writing, is due to the chance that brought Boswell into his company" (Wain, 229). The first edition was published in 1791. Bookplate.

Scattered light foxing, contemporary boards somewhat rubbed. An attractive set.