Product Description
In 1762 James Boswell, then twenty-two years old, left Edinburgh for London. The famous Journal he kept during the next nine months is an intimate account of his encounters with the high-life and the low-life in London. Frank and confessional as a personal portrait of the young Boswell, the Journal is also revealing as a vivid portrayal of life in eighteenth-century London. This new edition includes an introduction by Peter Ackroyd, which discusses Boswell's life and achievement. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Boswell the biographer at the beginning
I read this for background on Boswell before I tackle his biography of Johnson, and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.The young Boswell's writing skills are on again/off again, but still the writer to come is evident.Boswell's London Journal outshines most any other journal you can read, and provides insight not only into the young (and maddeningly self-absorbed and trivial) Boswell, but also into a London culture that seems only remotely related to the 21st century western world.

A must read for any Boswell fan,and a good read for anyone interested in late 18th century London society.

Boswell the biographer at the beginning
I read this for background on Boswell before I tackle his biography of Johnson, and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.The young Boswell's writing skills are on again/off again, but still the writer to come is evident.Boswell's London Journal outshines most any other journal you could read, and provides insight not only into the young (and maddeningly self-absorbed and trivial) Boswell, but also into a London culture that seems only remotely related to the 21st century western world.

A must read for any Boswell fan, and a good read for anyone interested in late 18th century London society.

Boswell and his two johnsons
Scotsman of high ideals and weak moral fibre spends several months in London crashing dinner parties, schmoozing aristocrats and chowing down on free food. On his way to and from these shindigs, he nails hookers and gets the clap. (Quote of the book: "She is in all probability a most consummate dissembling whore.") Resolves to change his ways. Doesn't. Writes lots of nasty things about various fifteen-minuters of his day and also meets a few bona fide intellectual lights like Johnson. This book is a salacious page-turner, beautifully written by a young man with an indiscriminate penis but a keen eye for character. Highly recommended for teenage boys with summer reading lists; it offers enough smut to be interesting, while you get credit for reading a classic.

Fabulous!
I read this book to prepare for a trip to London a few months ago and loved it!What an honest journal that sums up the wonderful daily life of a prolific man.There are no big ideas or revelations but I got so much out of each and every detail Boswell offered.Extremely insightful and engrossing!

Pure delight
To anyone who, like myself, has found a real and deep enjoyment in reading the Life of Johnson, I can only recommend Boswell's own diaries. The first volume - his 'London Journal' starting in the year he met Johnson - is pure delight. Boswell always saw himself as a character acting in the drama of life, and he could be almost excruciatingly honest and objective about himself. His voluminous diaries record all the trivia, triumphs, and despairs of his own life, day by day and year by year.

My own opinion is that Boswell is a far better diarist than Pepys, though not nearly as well known in this respect. There is a fascination about seeing his whole life recorded from youth to shortly before his death, with all the same force and liveliness that went into his Life of Johnson. His inner life is at least as entertaining as his outer life. He seems totally determined to write about himself as he wrote about Johnson - warts and all.

It's this courage and honesty about himself that makes us respect Boswell even when he is at his most foolish or debauched. The diaries make it extremely clear that he was no idiot, and that the Life of Johnson was no fortuitous masterpiece. From his diaries he comes across as a deeply sensitive, romantic, self-conscious man. Charming, likeable, and often playing the clown to his acquaintances; but often filled with self-doubt, frustration, insecurity, and a deep depression that he concealed from all except his closest friends.

We see Boswell puffed up with vanity at some silly social success, and the same Boswell quietly devoting large amounts of time and money that he could ill spare to helping people in trouble. We see Boswell in love again and again with totally unsuitable women, and eventually marrying the cousin who had always been a good, close friend rather than an object of wild romance. We see Boswell in his vibrant youth, and his tragic final years, as an alcoholic filled with bitter shame and despair, yet unable to reform.

His diaries are certainly one of the great undiscovered treasures of literature. They deserve to be a lot better known than they are. ... Read more

Product Description
The edition of 1886, edited by George Brikbek Hill. This file also includes Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides and Johnson's Diary of a Journey into North Wales.According to Wikipedia: "James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (1740 - 1795) was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for his biography of Samuel Johnson. He was the eldest son of a judge, Alexander Boswell, 8th Laird of Auchinleck and his wife Euphemia Erskine, Lady Auchinleck; he inherited his father’s estate Auchinleck in Ayrshire. Boswell's mother was a strict Calvinist, and he felt that his father was cold to him. His name has passed into the English language as a term (Boswell, Boswellian, Boswellism) for a constant companion and observer. Boswell is also known for the detailed and frank journals that he wrote for long periods of his life, which remained undiscovered until the 1920s. These included voluminous notes on the grand tour of Europe that he took as a young nobleman and, subsequently, of his tour of Scotland with Johnson. His journals also record meetings and conversations with eminent individuals belonging to The Club, including Lord Monboddo, David Garrick, Edmund Burke, Joshua Reynolds and Oliver Goldsmith. His written works focus chiefly on others, but he was admitted as a good companion and accomplished conversationalist in his own right." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Very poor format for the Kindle
The strengths of this edition include a complete presentation of the text and very nice accompanying scholarly essays.However, the poor formatting with inconsistencies in line spacing and constant mixing of footnotes and text makes for an unpleasant read.I deleted it from my Kindle (glad it was only $0.89) and went looking for a different edition.

Excellent Kindle version of the monumental Hill edition
This publication is Boswell's "Life of Johnson" as annotated by the great nineteenth-century Johnson scholar George Birkbeck Hill.In the words of the Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., the Hill edition is "a monumental work, invaluable to the student."Professor Hill probably knew more about Johnson and his circle than anyone since Boswell.His lifetime of Johnson studies shows throughout this work, since he provides countless footnotes explaining Boswell's numerous now-obscure references and quoting materials by Johnson and others that shed light on Boswell's "Life."

In the print edition, of course, Hill's invaluable notes appear at the bottom of each appropriate page.Since such an arrangement is not possible with an e-book, the publisher has two defensible choices: provide all the footnotes at the end, with links to them in the text, or provide the relevant footnotes at the end of each paragraph.(The latter technique will be familiar to lawyers, since that is how electronic sources like Westlaw and LEXIS present the footnotes in legal opinions.)Fortunately, the publisher of this work chose to place the footnotes at the end of each paragraph.This is preferable, in my view, because Hill's notes are so substantial and helpful (if not absolutely necessary for real comprehension) that more often than not the reader will want to read them, and jumping back and forth via links would be incredibly annoying and time-consuming.

Notes authored by Boswell himself and by previous editors (especially J. W. Croker) are clearly marked, to distinguish them from Hill's.Quotations in Greek are transliterated.All of Hill's appendixes are also included, themselves constituting several volumes.Typos are minimal.

All in all, an incredible bargain.Welcome to the 21st century, Sir!

Echo Bad Edition
I agree with the first rebview.The material, of course is unimpeachable.The electronic format is a hash, and can be distracting.

Poor quality edition
This e-text is taken from a good edition of the Life of Johnson - the problem is that the text has been entered page by page, footnotes and all, so that after reading one page of text, you sometimes have to move through two or three pages of extensive footnotes before you get to the next page.I suppose it would be useful if you are searching for a particular passage, but it is not useful if you just want to read the Life of Dr. Johnson. ... Read more

Product Description
Book by Samuel Johnson, published in 1775. The Journey was the result of a three-month trip to Scotland that Johnson took with James Boswell in 1773. It contains Johnson's descriptions of the customs, religion, education, trade, and agriculture of a society that was new to him. The account in Boswell's diary, published after Johnson's death as The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1785), offers an intimate personal record of Johnson's behavior and conversation during the trip. ... Read more

Product Description
This complete and unabridged edition is the only complete critical edition in paperback. Samuel Johnson was a poet, essayist, dramatist, and pioneering lexicographer, but his continuing reputation depends less on his literary output than on the fortunate accident of finding an ideal biographer in James Boswell. As Johnson's constant and admiring companion, Boswell was able to record not only the outward events of his life, but also the humour, wit, and sturdy common sense of his conversation. His brilliant portrait of a major literary figure of the eighteenth century, enriched by historical and social detail, remains a monument to the art of biography. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Tiresome prig
This biography is one of the "classics" of English literature. Unfortunately, I found the subject, Samuel Johnson, a thoroughly unlikeable, arrogant prig. Despite Boswell's best efforts at hero worship, I could not get past Johnson's self-righteousness.

a gem
Where would we be without Dr. Johnson? Where would we be without his little and admirable friend, Boswell? In the Life, we learn as much about this giant as we might our mothers; only, we learn things that actually intrigue, whereas a mother's life at times must bore. This is an excellent way to befriend Johnson and his life. It will start a relationship that, I promise you, will not end. ... Read more

Product Description
A fascinating biographical account of Samuel Johnson's. Mainly based on his letters, it elegantly entwines the details of his personal life with that of his career. Truly Captivating!
... Read more

Product Description
This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from GeneralBooksClub.com. You can also preview excerpts from the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Volume: 2; Original Published by: J. Murray in 1831 in 594 pages; Subjects: Hebrides (Scotland); History / Europe / Great Britain; Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh; Travel / Europe / General; Travel / Europe / Great Britain;Amazon.com Review
James Boswell is for some the ideal scribe, for others asycophantic toady. Edmund Wilson, for example, memorably labeled him "a vain andpushing diarist." Boswell can even be seen as someone unconsciouslyintent on undermining his idol in sonorous, balanced sentences. Earlyon in his massive Life, he puts all manner of ideas into our headswith his boobish attempts to clear the youthful Johnson of potentialimpropriety: "His juvenile attachments to the fair sex were, however,very transient; and it is certain that he formed no criminalconnection whatsoever." And while it's often tempting to ignoreBoswell's more personal intrusions and delight solely in themelancholic master's words and deeds, there are suchdelightful admissions as, "I was at this time so occupied, shall I call it? or sodissipated, by the amusements of London that our next meeting was nottill Saturday, June 25..."

Samuel Johnson was born in 1709 and died in 1784--a long life, thoughone marred by depression and fear of death. On April 20, 1764, forexample, he declared, "I would consent to have a limb amputated torecover my spirits." Many of the quotes Boswell includes are a sort ofgreatest hits: Johnson's definitions of oats and lexicographer, hislove for his cat Hodge, as well as thousands of bon, and mal,mots. ("Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel"; "Sir, awoman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hinder legs. It isnot done well; but you are surprized to find it done at all.") Butthere are also many unfamiliar pleasures--Boswell's accounts ofJohnson's literary industry, including the Dictionary, The Rambler,and Lives of the Poets; Johnson's singular loathing for Scotland andFrance; and the surprising hints of revelry.Awakened at 3 AM byfriends, he greets them with, "What, is it you, you dogs! I'll have afrisk with you." This at age 42. Johnson's final years were marked bypain and loneliness but certainly no loss of wit. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Biographical Masterpiece
James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson is often called the greatest biography of all-time and may well be. Perhaps such a work can get no higher praise, but it is also highly notable as the first true modern biography - the first really resembling what we think of as biography today. Boswell set new standards for thoroughness, accuracy, and research, greatly expanding the very concept of what a biography could be. He was also very far ahead of his time in anticipating what was later called gonzo journalism - writers inserting themselves into real-life stories; it is of course not done in the same way as later writers, but the concept is similar. Most remarkable of all, though, is that the book is immensely readable, entertaining, and edifying over two hundred years later, which can be said of very few biographies. It is absolutely essential for anyone even remotely interested in Johnson, Boswell, or the late eighteenth century European intellectual circle.

Johnson was perhaps England's best known writer during his last several decades and one of the most famous in the world besides being widely known and renowned for lexicographical and other accomplishments. However, this book's greatness and fame are such that he has long been known primarily via it. Many read it who have read very little or none of him, showing that, unlike nearly all biographies, it has earned a life of its own. There are many reasons for this, not least the fine writing. Even more fundamental is that the book vividly brings an exciting, integral, and profoundly influential era to life. It covers the late Enlightenment when many of the most important people to ever live were prominent. In addition to Johnson, we get first-hand glimpses of such illustrious personages as Adam Smith, Oliver Goldsmith, Pasquale Paoli, David Garrick, and many, many others. Numerous other heavyweights - Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, King George III, etc. - are only slightly in the background. We also get contemporaneous accounts of major events like the American Revolution and the lead up to the French Revolution. In short, though ostensibly the biography of one person, the book is as vibrant, lifelike, and memorable an account of a supremely important era as any history book.

Yet Johnson is always the focus, shown literally from birth to death. Anyone interested in him will find a wealth of information about all aspects of his life as well as his thoughts, feelings, influences, intellectual background, and far more. There is also a great deal of information about his work. Unlike nearly all biographers, Boswell actually knew Johnson well; he was his friend for many years and spent several months annually in his company, essentially interviewing him and making voluminous notes of his conversation. This last is indeed the book's heart and by far its most famous element. Johnson was perhaps his era's most famous conversationalist, revered for wit and argument; Boswell heard many hours of his conversation and reports faithfully. His style here was again innovative. Rather than sprinkling isolated quotes anecdotally, he went to great pains to reproduce full conversations, not only describing the setting and others present but even using drama-like name headings for full verisimilitude. We thus not only see what Johnson said but where, how, and usually why he said it. Many world famous Johnson sayings that would otherwise be lost - i.e., "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel" - are immortalized here, as well as some quotes by others. This alone would make the book of great value.

Much has been made of how Boswell's presence affected this; knowing he would write the biography, or at least thinking it possible, he undoubtedly orchestrated much, drawing Johnson out when he might have otherwise been silent. Much of this would have been done in any case as he clearly admired Johnson and loved his talk, but there is no denying the question's importance. Some have condemned Boswell as a shameless celebrity whore or otherwise questioned his motives and veracity, but nearly everyone will consider this nitpicking, fascinating as the question is. For nearly everyone, it makes the book better - far more personal and engaging than biographies are usually even capable of being. Also, for what it is worth, such things mean the book in many ways tells us nearly as much about Boswell as Johnson, making it a sort of hybrid biography/autobiography.

Boswell understandably focuses on the years he knew Johnson, meaning the book is greatly lopsided in favor of the later years after Johnson became famous and nearly all his major work was done. This will annoy those who want a more balanced overview, especially as Boswell makes short shrift of some important early events. Those wanting a more conventional balance should get one of several later biographies, especially as Boswell makes a few errors and, at least according to later sources, leaves out some highly interesting - if not necessarily essential - facts. He openly admits doing so at the start in order to protect Johnson's reputation, though much of what he says elsewhere is unflattering, but some of it may have been unknown to him. For most, though, this is the only Johnson biography that will ever be needed - and its greatness, influence, and importance are such that it is required for all readers with even the slightest interest in English and European literature and history and the art of biography even if they care little or nothing for Johnson or Boswell.

As for this edition, it has a wealth of supplemental material, making it ideal for serious readers. An excellent, lengthy introduction gives substantial background on Johnson, Boswell, and the book plus some critical insight. There is also a worthwhile bibliography, a chronology, and a supremely useful index. As with other Everyman hardbacks, the book itself is also very high quality - clothbound with very strong binding and even a built-in bookmark. This is one of the best versions available.

Beware: This is ABRIDGED!!!!!!
This is the abridged version! Don't get this!

I love Boswell's Life of Johnson, it is one of my favorite books in the world. (Definitely in the top five).

It has altered my outlook on life, the universe, and everything.... in a permanently positive manner.

But I absolutely hate, loath, and despise all pitiful "abridged" versions.

And I could not find anywhere on Amazon's page that this is abridged!

Now I have to send it back! What a pain!

One of the Lions of England
'No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money,' Samuel Johnson.
Sorry, it is a hobby.

Samuel Johnson the writer of the first comprehensive dictionary of the English language, which was a very big deal in his day as the elite felt the English language was in decline due to it being influenced by so many foreign influences and the marvel of Samuel Johnson's efforts and method of writing made him, according to Lord Chesterfield Lord Chesterfield's Letters (Oxford World's Classics), as someone to be deferred to as the "Caesar" of the English language. Samuel Johnson, along with his friend and former pupil David Garrick, helped place Shakespeare as the permanent king of the English language; further, Johnson was a great and singular essayist and has an eternal place as a minor poet of the English language. His dictionary shot Johnson into the inner circle of elite in English society.

Boswell's "Life of Samuel Johnson" is a fascinating read as Boswell traces Johnson's life story. Samuel Johnson and Edmund Burke, a friend of his, and together the center of English political and cultural life with the 'Literary Club' that they had both started were big players in forming the English reaction to the major liberal events going on in their day and could be said to be the fathers of modern conservatism. They were alive to face the genesis of modern liberalism, in the form of Jean Jacque Rousseau along with the American Revolution, theirs was the conservative response. 'What hypocrites are the drivers of negroes to be demanding liberty,' Johnson in reference to the Americans. (It is funny that Samuel Johnson was against slavery while the more liberal Boswell was for it). Although, I know Edmund Burke felt England to be in the reconcilable wrong with the American Revolution Edmund Burke's Speech on conciliation with the American colonies,: Delivered in the House of commons, March 22, 1775; ed., with notes and a study plan ... I. Crane (Twentieth century text-books) the Doctor, Samuel Johnson, did not and felt the Revolutionaries hypocritical ingrates. What is good about conservatism lays with these two fellows, Burke and Johnson. It is also amusing that Johnson's conservativism included the observation that countries should be judged by the condition in which their poor lived, disapprobation given to the worse.

Samuel Johnson came from very humble roots and his early life was spent in modest means, fortunately he was surrounded by books. His first years in London were quite a struggle, near pennyless, sometimes sleeping on the streets.The money he ended up getting for writing the dictionary wasn't much in the end, it was the fame that got him some wealth.

A marvelous read. Giving advice about the legal profession, education: his advice - just do it; habits form early and habits are hard to break... lots of interesting views from how to conduct oneself socially (Boswell seemed in constant search of this) to political commentary (one of my favorite was his advice on being weary of those that wrap themselves in the flag)...too much to write about. Boswell, when he first meets Johnson is so filled with awe and reverance but it mellows out some, he even starts playing games with the Doctor; however, he always greatly respects him but the idolitry disipates.

Although Samuel Johnson's conservativeness and strong opinions might turn people off I find it refreshing compared to the stealth tactics of politics today. Politicians don't say what they mean and that is also probably why the Doctor was discouraged from entering politics in his day by some close friends with ties in that area, somethings change only by degree. James Boswell, the author, didn't agree with the Doctor all the time but appreciated the hard, realistic way of looking at things and amusingly delivered (mostly by quirky analogies) that Samuel Johnson did.

Then Boswell is a story in himself. Boswell's Rousseau-ist fever for the notions of the 'Noble Savage, Natural Man' The Noble Savage: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1754-1762 was interesting also; his generation caught it and he had strong sentiments towards it despite Johnson's arguments against its reasoning. This fever also, at the least, lent cover to the American Revolution.

Johnson could only afford one year of college. Received an honarary Doctorate for his dictionary.

One of the books one should read before they turn 20.

The best synopsis of Rousseau and in his own words is probably 'Creed of a Priest of Savoy' The Essential Rousseau (Essentials)

Reputations die hard
If you feel obliged to wade through the canon once in a while, this won't be a waste of your time, though these days Gibbon's roughly contemporaneous history is a much better read, Boswell's extreme formality being a bit wearing over 1200 pages (in the edition I read).
On the other hand, Boswell's telling of Johnson's life is sprightly and certainly not so tedious as the writings of Johnson himself. People who choose to read the Life will not be disappointed.
On yet another hand, I can easily understand why the library copy I borrowed, though purchased in 1949, had not yet been read (the uncut pages showing me so): except to specialists, I would not recommend this book in lieu of, say, 1000 or so others.
I guess this actually is a useless review: if you have already decided to read this, you shan't have gone wrong; if you're looking for a good read, you're probably not looking here.

TRULY A WONDERFUL BOOK THAT JUST TAKES YOU TO ANOTHER TIME AND PLACE
I own the Penguins Classics edition but no matter.The story is wonderfully rich.Boswell really is a master story teller because at no point did the story become dry.I literally read and savored every single word.

All I knew of Johnson is that he wrote the first English Dictionary.But I had no idea this man was full of wit.He had a temper no doubt and definitely went through periods of what sound like moderate to severe depression followed by periods of bursting with energy, joy and wit and incredibly prolific and productive in those bursts, enough so that he surprised most people with his abilities in those bursts of creative genius.I am biased as I am a psychiatric physician but it sound like bipolar disorder to me.

Whatever the case may be, I drank this book up.I'm still reading it, have about 40 pages left and haven't put it down since I picked it up.

A must read just because of the sheer wonderful story contained within! ... Read more

Product Description
In Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson, one of the towering figures of English literature is revealed with unparalleled immediacy and originality. While Johnson’s Dictionary remains a monument of scholarship, and his essays and criticism command continuing respect, we owe our knowledge of the man himself to this biography. Through a series of wonderfully detailed anecdotes, Johnson emerges as a sociable figure with a huge appetite for life, crossing swords with other great eighteenth-century luminaries, from Garrick and Goldsmith to Burney and Burke – even his long-suffering friend and disciple James Boswell. Yet Johnson had a vulnerable, even tragic, side and anxieties and obsessions haunted his private hours. Boswell’s sensitivity and insight into every facet of his subject’s character ultimately make this biography as moving as it is entertaining.\n\nBased on the 1799 edition, Christopher Hibbert’s abridgement preserves the integrity of the original, while his fascinating introduction sets Boswell’s view of Samuel Johnson against that of others of the time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

great bed-time reading
I don't know if this is a good thing to admit or not, but I made it through this entire book reading it about 5-10 minutes per night just before nodding off.

Normally I would never a proceed through such a highly-regarded classic like this, but Boswell jumps from topic to topic so frequently, it's almost like each new paragraph is about an entirely different subject.I suppose this would have irked me had I approached this in a focused, solitary way, but as it was it made it possible get through one nugget at a time.

Maybe you should try it.I know of few who have managed to negotiate this one conventionally.

Anyhow, more to the point.If you're fishing around for a good edition, I would definitely go with this Penguin Classics edition, which has copious footnotes and some other stuff.The other one you see everywhere, the Oxford World's Classics has -- unusually for that series -- zilch for footnotes!

Labor of Love
Samuel Johnson was not only a master of the English language, but also one of the dominant intellectuals in an age dominated by intellectuals:Adam Smith, Walter Scott, and Edmund Burke were all his contemporaries and acquaintances.I began reading this 1,200 page biography of Samuel Johnson because I thought it'd be an introduction to that very special intellectual period in Western history.I eagerly anticipated the long overflowing and intense debates between Samuel Johnson and Edmund Burke, who in my opinion as well as Mr. Johnson's (who when slightly ill had to cancel an appointment to see Burke because Johnson felt he needed to be at the top of his intellectual game to meet with Burke) was the most powerful rhetorician of that age.We are not witness to those salon debates (there is an interesting anecdote where the King of England surprises Samuel Johnson as he is reading in the royal library).Instead, the majority of the book is dedicated to either the conversations or the epistles between devoted pupil (James Boswell) and stern teacher (Samuel Johnson).This work is a labor of love, as the eager student tries to weave into eternity the memory and words of his great teacher.

James Boswell does not have a gift for writing as is so obvious in Samuel Johnson and Edmund Burke, and Johnson is not an interesting and sympathetic figure (unless you happen to like strict Royalist headmasters), and I found it hard to read this book.I'm sure that the book was much celebrated when it came out, as the reading public was interested in the gossip and conversations of the literary luminaries of the age.But this book simply does not survive the passing of time.

Perhaps the Greatest Biography Ever
James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson is often called the greatest biography of all-time and may well be. Perhaps such a work can get no higher praise, but it is also highly notable as the first true modern biography - the first really resembling what we think of as biography today. Boswell set new standards for thoroughness, accuracy, and research, greatly expanding the very concept of what a biography could be. He was also very far ahead of his time in anticipating what was later called gonzo journalism - writers inserting themselves into real-life stories; it is of course not done in the same way as later writers, but the concept is similar. Most remarkable of all, though, is that the book is immensely readable, entertaining, and edifying over two hundred years later, which can be said of very few biographies. It is absolutely essential for anyone even remotely interested in Johnson, Boswell, or the late eighteenth century European intellectual circle.

Johnson was perhaps England's best known writer during his last several decades and one of the most famous in the world besides being widely known and renowned for lexicographical and other accomplishments. However, this book's greatness and fame are such that he has long been known primarily via it. Many read it who have read very little or none of him, showing that, unlike nearly all biographies, it has earned a life of its own. There are many reasons for this, not least the fine writing. Even more fundamental is that the book vividly brings an exciting, integral, and profoundly influential era to life. It covers the late Enlightenment when many of the most important people to ever live were prominent. In addition to Johnson, we get first-hand glimpses of such illustrious personages as Adam Smith, Oliver Goldsmith, Pasquale Paoli, David Garrick, and many, many others. Numerous other heavyweights - Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, King George III, etc. - are only slightly in the background. We also get contemporaneous accounts of major events like the American Revolution and the lead up to the French Revolution. In short, though ostensibly the biography of one person, the book is as vibrant, lifelike, and memorable an account of a supremely important era as any history book.

Yet Johnson is always the focus, shown literally from birth to death. Anyone interested in him will find a wealth of information about all aspects of his life as well as his thoughts, feelings, influences, intellectual background, and far more. There is also a great deal of information about his work. Unlike nearly all biographers, Boswell actually knew Johnson well; he was his friend for many years and spent several months annually in his company, essentially interviewing him and making voluminous notes of his conversation. This last is indeed the book's heart and by far its most famous element. Johnson was perhaps his era's most famous conversationalist, revered for wit and argument; Boswell heard many hours of his conversation and reports faithfully. His style here was again innovative. Rather than sprinkling isolated quotes anecdotally, he went to great pains to reproduce full conversations, not only describing the setting and others present but even using drama-like name headings for full verisimilitude. We thus not only see what Johnson said but where, how, and usually why he said it. Many world famous Johnson sayings that would otherwise be lost - i.e., "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel" - are immortalized here, as well as some quotes by others. This alone would make the book of great value.

Much has been made of how Boswell's presence affected this; knowing he would write the biography, or at least thinking it possible, he undoubtedly orchestrated much, drawing Johnson out when he might have otherwise been silent. Much of this would have been done in any case as he clearly admired Johnson and loved his talk, but there is no denying the question's importance. Some have condemned Boswell as a shameless celebrity whore or otherwise questioned his motives and veracity, but nearly everyone will consider this nitpicking, fascinating as the question is. For nearly everyone, it makes the book better - far more personal and engaging than biographies are usually even capable of being. Also, for what it is worth, such things mean the book in many ways tells us nearly as much about Boswell as Johnson, making it a sort of hybrid biography/autobiography.

Boswell understandably focuses on the years he knew Johnson, meaning the book is greatly lopsided in favor of the later years after Johnson became famous and nearly all his major work was done. This will annoy those who want a more balanced overview, especially as Boswell makes short shrift of some important early events. Those wanting a more conventional balance should get one of several later biographies, especially as Boswell makes a few errors and, at least according to later sources, leaves out some highly interesting - if not necessarily essential - facts. He openly admits doing so at the start in order to protect Johnson's reputation, though much of what he says elsewhere is unflattering, but some of it may have been unknown to him. For most, though, this is the only Johnson biography that will ever be needed - and its greatness, influence, and importance are such that it is required for all readers with even the slightest interest in English and European literature and history and the art of biography even if they care little or nothing for Johnson or Boswell.

A great read
James Boswell--to use a contemporary idiom-- had a mancrush on Samuel Johnson. He wrote this lengthy portrait of his hero--and it's magnificent. This is a vastly entertaining read. Full of fascinating, insightful, provocative, fun, sometimes gossipy detail, Boswell's Life of Johnson is a real treat. After ten pages, I was hooked. In writing his Life of Johnson, Boswell showed us all how fascinating a single man can be when studied in detail by a sympathetic reporter. I suspect that Boswell's Johnson is a much more interesting character than Johnson's Johnson, but that doesn't matter: Boswell's book is a separate creation and entity than Johnson the man. Boswell's hero worship and adulation is infectious. it is difficult not to wish Boswell success in pulling off this grand project: a 1,400 page portrait of a brilliant, admirable, great but flawed man. Get this. You are going to be entertained. Despite its enormous size, this is a fun, interesting, stimulating read. This is the perfect vacation book for anyone who prefers something with more intellectual meat than a thriller or mystery. Anglophiles MUST read this. Anyone who cares about great books should read it. And anyone looking for a book that has stood the test of time should read it. Simply because you will be denying yourself a great experience if you don't. I would definitely want this with me during a long convalescence--it would be a great companion.

WONDERFUL
If you have not read "Life of Johnson" you should do so.It is a wonderful work.This is a bit odd in that Johnson was not a great writer, nor did he engage in any
great historical event.Johnson's views on Slavery and the American Revolution are rational counterweights to the generalized view of the Revolution on this side of the Atlantic.Johnson knew everybody.So the bio is more than of Johnson, but about the grand and important personalities of his age.The writing could not be more clear.Boswell actually knew Johnson pretty well.His was not the only bio of Johnson written at the time, but the best.

Johnson is in some ways akin to Maimonides, the great Jewish Rabbi of the 13th century.The thinking is clear, with a minimum of dogma. ... Read more

Product Description
A new edition of one of the most revealing portraits of eighteenth- century London

Edinburgh-born James Boswell, at twenty-two, kept a daily diary of his eventful second stay in London from 1762 through 1763. Not discovered for more than 150 years, this journal presents a deft, frank, and artful record of adventures ranging from his vividly recounted love affair with a Covent Garden actress, to his first amusingly bruising meeting with Samuel Johnson, to whom Boswell would later become both friend and biographer. The diarist recounts his scuffles at the notoriously unruly London theater, sojourns into the dangerous streets at night armed with a cudgel, and hours passed at the coffee houses discussing the politics of the day. Witty and gloriously candid, this is a testament both to Boswell's talents and London's eternal appeal. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

OK, I haven't read it, but I have an opinion anyway...
I know John Wain is a credible Boswell scholar, but I do not have this edition of the Journals. I do have a complete run of the journals, a dozen or so volumes, of which I have read every word. In my mind, Boswell is easily the most astonishing diarist of all time. The clarity of his self-analysis is almost startling, I truly feel more acquanted with him than almost any person I know in person. Additionally, if you have any interest in history, sociology, or philosophy...Boswell knew and acosted almost everybody you've heard of from the 18th Cent. Got drunk with Hume while Dave was on his deathbed, screwed Voltaire's wife...his adventures, drunk or sober, are unending. I picked up the London Journal twenty years ago in a used book store and from then on it was like eating peanuts. This collection seems like a good idea for those who want a taste of the whole.

One of the best biographies ever
John Wain condenced 17 volumes of autobiography into this taught, energetic, flowing narrative.I was captivated!

A look inside the mind of an engaging scoundrel
James Boswell has been called everything from an engaging gentleman to a vicious scoundrel. A true man of his times, Boswell combined naivete with crudity, tenderness with violence, courtesy with thoughtlessness,enthusiasm with snobbery, true religious feeling with wanton depravity.

But how can so many contradictory traits exist alongside each other inthe same man? And how does that man see himself? This selection ofBoswell's journals attempts to answer that question. Editor John Wain tellsBoswell's story in Boswell's words, through excerpts from his journals,letters, legal pleadings, and published writings. We learn about his lovelife (in some detail), his marriage, his career, his impossiblerelationship with his domineering Whig father, and his emotional strugglesin writing the _Life of Johnson_. We also get a concrete feeling forBoswell's emotional instability, his sense that he would never be goodenough for his father (and he was right, unfortunately), and his tremendousguilt over his infidelity.

This book is an excellent introduction toJames Boswell. I definitely recommend it. ... Read more

Product Description
Life of Johnson, Volume 5 - Tour to the Hebrides (1773) and Journey into North Wales (1774) is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by James Boswell is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of James Boswell then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Product Description
This moving biography reassesses James Boswell's achievements and uncovers the breadth of his world. Peter Martin dispels the notion that Boswell's masterly Life of Johnson was an accidental work of genius, and shows that Boswell was a writer of the highest order and a complex, troubled, but ultimately appealing man.Amazon.com Review
James Boswell (1740-1795), author of The Life of Samuel Johnson, remains one of the more celebrated biographers in modern literary history. In his monumental A Life of James Boswell, Peter Martin takes on the formidable task of writing the biographer's biography--of telling the story of a man whose numerous journals are renowned for their vivid evocation of his life and times. Martin's account is meticulous, dividing Boswell's Life into four discrete periods: "Journey to the Promised Land 1740-1763," "Travel and Marriage 1763-1769," "Stagnation: the Middle Years 1769-1782," and "Biographer and Laird of Auchinleck: Triumph and Despair 1782-1795." This broad-brush approach has the advantage of bringing some coherence to Boswell's complicated, often frenetic life: the dismal relationship with his family, and his early resistance to a career in law; the studies in London and Utrecht; the meetings with Rousseau and Voltaire, and his powerful friendship with Johnson; his salacious sexuality and fits of morbid depression; his passion for literary London. But, somehow, the vibrancy and intellectual fervor of Boswell's career fails to come through. The scope of this biography is remarkable, but its sheer wealth of detail--sometimes disconnected, and often recounted without comment or analysis--works to obscure the psychological, cultural, and political impact of Boswell's life and works. --Vicky Lebeau ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Good stuff
Martin writes well on Boswell and Johnson.Both biographies make for excellent reading.My only beef was the appalling editing this book enjoyed.It was awash with ridiculous literals.

Dazzling
Literary biographies tend to disappoint me and often leave me feeling as if I and the subject of the biography have been buried in details, but this one is utterly readable and brings the irrepressible and obviously very irritating Boswell alive. The book is beautifully printed as well. It was a very great pleasure to read- and Boswell does deserve attention having himself written one of the best books in English.

Still Searching
This is an ample and competent biography of the man who gave us what is termed our first "modern" biography.But, in the end, I think Boswell's biography of Johnson and his other writings (The famous Boswell papers etc) actually reveal more about the man than any biography of Boswell himself I've run across.Martin's accounts of Boswell's seemingly pathological obsession with sex and death make interesting reading, as accounts of sex and death generally do; but couldn't we have more reflection from the biographer here on these matters, a bit more involvement with the subject than the encomia noted by another reviewer?Boswell's ghost is still searching for a biographer as good as he.

Fabulous and lively history
Dr. Martin writes with unabashed affection about his subject, making for lively, energetic reading. This book pours life into a literary figure who, in less caring hands, could have been made out to be dead dull.

A Great Writer Writing About a Great Writer
James Boswell's "Life of Johnson" is commonly regarded as the finest biography in the English language.For 155 years after his death, Boswell was known primarily for this great work.But then in 1949 through 1951, in a series of three separate discoveries, Boswell's journal was found.Boswell is now also regarded as one of history's best diarists. Boswell was a libertine and at times a heavy drinker who, no matter how inebriated he became at the London Literary Club, where he listened to Garrick, Goldsmith, Burke, Reynolds and other brilliant men discuss the topics of the day, would race home to enter their conversation in his journal.So he preserved much of Samuel Johnson's wit ("Fishing: a stick and a string, a fish on one end and a fool on the other.") and philosophy.Peter Martin concludes that Boswell's journal is the best reading that exists regarding London in the late 1700s.Martin's book is an exhaustively researched and beautifully written account of an eccentric, gifted man. ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Hebrides (Scotland); ... Read more

Product Description
Life of Johnson, Volume 4 - 1780-1784 is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by James Boswell is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of James Boswell then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more