![JOHNSON, Samuel. 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/2001/NYR/2001_NYR_09878_0253_000(033324).jpg?w=1)
细节
JOHNSON, Samuel. 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 (225 x 140 mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait by T. Trotter after J. Reynolds, with imprint. (Frontispiece spotted and dampstained at upper margin, occasional spotting of text, a few leaves browned, L5 of vol. II with tear at upper margin, M2 of the same volume with long but clean tear into text, without the advertisement leaf at end of vol. IV). UNCUT IN ORIGINAL BLUE-GREY BOARDS, white paper spines with printed labels (spines faded and a little worn, dampstain on upper cover of vol. III); quarter morocco solander boxes. Provenance: Cyril Connolly (John Howell's pencilled inscription) -- acquired by John Howell, San Francisco, from Dawson's, London, and purchased from Howell, 5 November 1969.
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. VERY FINE IN ORIGINAL CONDITION. (4)
4 volumes, 8o (225 x 140 mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait by T. Trotter after J. Reynolds, with imprint. (Frontispiece spotted and dampstained at upper margin, occasional spotting of text, a few leaves browned, L5 of vol. II with tear at upper margin, M2 of the same volume with long but clean tear into text, without the advertisement leaf at end of vol. IV). UNCUT IN ORIGINAL BLUE-GREY BOARDS, white paper spines with printed labels (spines faded and a little worn, dampstain on upper cover of vol. III); quarter morocco solander boxes. Provenance: Cyril Connolly (John Howell's pencilled inscription) -- acquired by John Howell, San Francisco, from Dawson's, London, and purchased from Howell, 5 November 1969.
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. VERY FINE IN ORIGINAL CONDITION. (4)