![JOHNSON, Samuel (17009-1784). The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets. London: C. Bathurst, J. Buckland, W. Strahan, J. Rivington and Sons, T. Davies [and 31 others], 1781.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2014/NYR/2014_NYR_03479_0016_000(johnson_samuel_the_lives_of_the_most_eminent_english_poets_london_c_ba061520).jpg?w=1)
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JOHNSON, Samuel (17009-1784). The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets. London: C. Bathurst, J. Buckland, W. Strahan, J. Rivington and Sons, T. Davies [and 31 others], 1781.
4 volumes, 8o (228 x 140 mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait by T. Trotter after J. Reynolds, without imprint, additional engraved portrait cut and mounted onto tissue guard, uncut. (Frontispiece spotted occasionally some light staining or dampstaining.) UNCUT IN ORIGINAL BLUE-GREY BOARDS, (backstrips parished); housed in two cloth chemises and slipcases. Provenance: Fitzwilliam (owner's name, dated 1781 on title and bookplate with owners name erased, Vol. 3 Q1 torn).
Second London edition, and first authorized separate edition. Two states of the portrait are known, one with, and one without the imprint. The first edition, with the longer title of Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, to the Works of the English Poets, was published in 10 volumes, 1779-1781, to accompany the 56-volume set of Works and was not at first sold separately. "The recital of facts in the Lives tends to stay close to sources, condensing and sometimes paraphrasing their information. But Johnson's use of his predecessors is hardly mechanical. Converting a problem to an advantage, he casts a skeptical eye on the sources themselves, and makes his analysis of their plausibility or doubtfulness a center of interest," writes Lawrence Lipking. "What is new in the Lives is the prominence of the reflections, which assume that the poet's life and biography are valuable as examples of conduct for anyone's life." Courtney and Smith p. 141; Chapman and Hazen p. 159; Fleeman 79.4LP/5; Lipking Samuel Johnson: The Life of an Author, Cambridge, Mass., 2000, pp. 267-68; Rothschild 1265; Tinker 1365. (2)
4 volumes, 8o (228 x 140 mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait by T. Trotter after J. Reynolds, without imprint, additional engraved portrait cut and mounted onto tissue guard, uncut. (Frontispiece spotted occasionally some light staining or dampstaining.) UNCUT IN ORIGINAL BLUE-GREY BOARDS, (backstrips parished); housed in two cloth chemises and slipcases. Provenance: Fitzwilliam (owner's name, dated 1781 on title and bookplate with owners name erased, Vol. 3 Q1 torn).
Second London edition, and first authorized separate edition. Two states of the portrait are known, one with, and one without the imprint. The first edition, with the longer title of Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, to the Works of the English Poets, was published in 10 volumes, 1779-1781, to accompany the 56-volume set of Works and was not at first sold separately. "The recital of facts in the Lives tends to stay close to sources, condensing and sometimes paraphrasing their information. But Johnson's use of his predecessors is hardly mechanical. Converting a problem to an advantage, he casts a skeptical eye on the sources themselves, and makes his analysis of their plausibility or doubtfulness a center of interest," writes Lawrence Lipking. "What is new in the Lives is the prominence of the reflections, which assume that the poet's life and biography are valuable as examples of conduct for anyone's life." Courtney and Smith p. 141; Chapman and Hazen p. 159; Fleeman 79.4LP/5; Lipking Samuel Johnson: The Life of an Author, Cambridge, Mass., 2000, pp. 267-68; Rothschild 1265; Tinker 1365. (2)
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