Boswell's Life of Johnson

by James Boswell

Overview

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."

Product Details

BN ID:	2940000739013
Publisher:	B&R Samizdat Express
Publication date:	10/20/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Scottish biographer, lawyer, and ninth Laird of Auchinleck James Boswell was born in Edinburgh. His biography of his friend and more senior colleague, the English author Samuel Johnson, is best known and is regarded as the best biography ever written in the English language. Boswell began his studies at the University of Edinburgh's arts program when he was thirteen years old which he attended from 1753 to 1758. Though he experienced a significant depression halfway but fully recovered. He was transferred to the University of Glasgow to complete his studies after turning nineteen, where he heard lectures by Adam Smith. Boswell made the decision to become a Catholic monk while he was still in Glasgow. In February 1766, Boswell traveled back to London with Rousseau's lover, with whom he briefly had an affair while on the road. On November 25, 1769, Boswell wed his cousin Margaret Montgomerie. Boswell urged the Home Secretary to assist four Botany Bay escapees, including Mary Bryant, in obtaining royal pardons in 1792. Due to a venereal condition and years of heavy drinking, his health started to deteriorate during this period. On May 19, 1795, Boswell passed away in London. His body was laid to rest in the crypt of the Boswell family mausoleum in Ayrshire.