Details
BOSWELL, James (1740-1795). The Life of Samuel Johnson. London: Henry Baldwin for Charles Dilly, 1791.
2 volumes, 4° (298 x 230mm). Vol. II with front blank, vols. I & II with seven cancels. Stipple-engraved portrait frontispiece by J. Heath after Reynolds with contemporary tipped-on tissue guard, two engraved plates. (Vol.I: tear to outer blank margin of pp.v-vi of the dedication, upper blank margin of pp.xi-xii of the 'advertisement' with small neat repair, Ccc1 & Ccc2 torn and neatly repaired, both vols. with some very slight spotting.) Original calf-backed marbled boards, uncut. (Extremities a little rubbed and scuffed, slight discolouration (?repair) to foot of both spines), the two volumes in a later cloth box. Provenance: Penelope Lutley Sclater (signatures on titles, d. 1844, by descent); The Barons Basing (Hoddington House, Hants. armorial bookplate).
A VERY FINE COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION OF BOSWELL'S MASTERPIECE AND PERHAPS THE GREATEST BIOGRAPHY IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, with 'give' reading in vol.I and the rare front blank in vol.II. The original binding is generally given as blue-grey paper boards, white paper spine, printed paper label. However, this copy has plainly never had any other binding. From conception to publication took over twenty-five years and it is interesting to note that as late as 1785 Boswell was still intending the work to appear as a single 4° volume (see the advertisement at the end of his Hebridean tour "Preparing for the Press, in one volume Quarto, The Life of Samuel Johnson"). Rothschild 463. (2)
2 volumes, 4° (298 x 230mm). Vol. II with front blank, vols. I & II with seven cancels. Stipple-engraved portrait frontispiece by J. Heath after Reynolds with contemporary tipped-on tissue guard, two engraved plates. (Vol.I: tear to outer blank margin of pp.v-vi of the dedication, upper blank margin of pp.xi-xii of the 'advertisement' with small neat repair, Ccc1 & Ccc2 torn and neatly repaired, both vols. with some very slight spotting.) Original calf-backed marbled boards, uncut. (Extremities a little rubbed and scuffed, slight discolouration (?repair) to foot of both spines), the two volumes in a later cloth box. Provenance: Penelope Lutley Sclater (signatures on titles, d. 1844, by descent); The Barons Basing (Hoddington House, Hants. armorial bookplate).
A VERY FINE COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION OF BOSWELL'S MASTERPIECE AND PERHAPS THE GREATEST BIOGRAPHY IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, with 'give' reading in vol.I and the rare front blank in vol.II. The original binding is generally given as blue-grey paper boards, white paper spine, printed paper label. However, this copy has plainly never had any other binding. From conception to publication took over twenty-five years and it is interesting to note that as late as 1785 Boswell was still intending the work to appear as a single 4° volume (see the advertisement at the end of his Hebridean tour "Preparing for the Press, in one volume Quarto, The Life of Samuel Johnson"). Rothschild 463. (2)