The life of Samuel Johnson, including a Journal of his tour to the Hebrides ... to which are added anecdotes by Hawkins, Piozzi, Murphy ... and notes by various hands.
London: John Murray, 1835. 8vo, 10 volumes, engraved frontispiece and title-p. in each volume all by Stanfield after Finden, original blindstamped brown cloth, gilt lettering direct and within blindstamped labels; vol. 1, 2, and 10 neatly rebacked; the binding was a dainty one from the start, and needs care in handling, but the overall appearance is generally very good. This set with the 1835 ownership signature of Charles Kelsall who has penned 14 lines of commentary in vol. 1 and 69 lines in vol. 2 on endpapers and flyleaf, all in praise of the good Dr. Johnson. Croker's second edition, which was anonymously edited by John Wright. The original Croker edition (1831 in 5 vols. 8vo), still stands as a monument of Johnsonian scholarship; but it was badly edited, much (and famously) condemned by Macaulay. Seeing the problem, Murray hastily engaged Wright to do a make-over and republished it in 1835. These 1835 plates were later stereotyped, and many editions followed, those after 1853 under the Bohn imprint, to whom Murray had sold the plates. "No matter what the title-pages may say, all Crokers in ten volumes small octavo (often described as duodecimo) are, so far as the text is concerned, one and the same thing. The number of illustrations varies" (Pottle). Pottle 92. Item #23141
Price: $500.00
