![[JOHNSON, Samuel (1709-1784). Rasselas.] The Prince of Abissinia. London: R. and J. Dodsley, and W. Johnston, 1759.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2001/NYR/2001_NYR_09878_0069_000(033318).jpg?w=1)
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[JOHNSON, Samuel (1709-1784). Rasselas.] The Prince of Abissinia. London: R. and J. Dodsley, and W. Johnston, 1759.
2 volumes, 8o (153 x 95 mm). (Titles slightly offset at edges from binding, without final blank in vol. II.) Contemporary speckled calf, spines gilt with morocco lettering-piece in one compartment, volume number tooled below, and a repeated star tool in remaining compartments, red speckled edges (spines lightly rubbed at ends); quarter calf folding case. Provenance: sold Christie's, London, 22 April 1970, lot 190 to Pickering and Chatto for £240 -- purchased from Seven Gables Bookshop, New York, 14 May 1970.
VERY FINE, UNSOPHISTICATED COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION. William Strahan printed 1500 copies and Johnson's "masterpiece of loose ends" was duly published on 19 April 1759 at 5 shillings. Although the name "Rasselas" was not on the title of this or any edition printed in the author's lifetime, the heading on B1 of both volumes is "The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia." Composed "in the evenings of one week" and sent "to the press in portions as it was written," the work was undertaken, not so Johnson could pay for his mother's funeral, but because, on 15 January 1759, he had heard that she was seriously ill. To raise money for a visit to Lichfield, he immediately turned to Strahan who agreed to give him £100 for a philosophical story in the popular form of an "Eastern tale" (he received another £25 for the second edition). When he heard (23 January) that his mother had already died, he was either finishing or had, in fact, already finished the book, and it was only in consequence that he used the money, as Strahan told Boswell, to "defray the expenses of his mother's funeral, and pay some little debts she had left." Courtney and Smith p. 87; Chapman and Hazen p. 142; Fleeman 59.4R/1; Rothschild 1242; Tinker 1314. (2)
2 volumes, 8o (153 x 95 mm). (Titles slightly offset at edges from binding, without final blank in vol. II.) Contemporary speckled calf, spines gilt with morocco lettering-piece in one compartment, volume number tooled below, and a repeated star tool in remaining compartments, red speckled edges (spines lightly rubbed at ends); quarter calf folding case. Provenance: sold Christie's, London, 22 April 1970, lot 190 to Pickering and Chatto for £240 -- purchased from Seven Gables Bookshop, New York, 14 May 1970.
VERY FINE, UNSOPHISTICATED COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION. William Strahan printed 1500 copies and Johnson's "masterpiece of loose ends" was duly published on 19 April 1759 at 5 shillings. Although the name "Rasselas" was not on the title of this or any edition printed in the author's lifetime, the heading on B1 of both volumes is "The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia." Composed "in the evenings of one week" and sent "to the press in portions as it was written," the work was undertaken, not so Johnson could pay for his mother's funeral, but because, on 15 January 1759, he had heard that she was seriously ill. To raise money for a visit to Lichfield, he immediately turned to Strahan who agreed to give him £100 for a philosophical story in the popular form of an "Eastern tale" (he received another £25 for the second edition). When he heard (23 January) that his mother had already died, he was either finishing or had, in fact, already finished the book, and it was only in consequence that he used the money, as Strahan told Boswell, to "defray the expenses of his mother's funeral, and pay some little debts she had left." Courtney and Smith p. 87; Chapman and Hazen p. 142; Fleeman 59.4R/1; Rothschild 1242; Tinker 1314. (2)