Product Description
The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. in Nine Volumes - Volume the Eighth: The Lives of the Poets, Volume II is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Samuel Johnson is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Samuel Johnson then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Finally....
I ordered this 2 years ago, in 2008, when it was 1st listed on Amazon.
It is finally, after 2 years of publisher delays, on its way. I can't wait!
I've read excerpts before, but always look forward to Yale editions, as they are the definitive word on Johnson. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Many mistakes
This electronic edition contains numerous mistakes. I tried to look up several words from the print edition, which I have in front of me, but I could not find them. Hopefully it gets revised and I will be able to reload it somehow at a later date. Save your buck and get a better edition! ... Read more

Product Description
A dictionary with more than 40,000 entries which was a primary reference source for scholars and writers of the 18th and 19th century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Cambridge Univ Press "Should Run fine on Windows Vista"
Here is a response from Cambridge to my email inquiry;

Yes."A Dictionary of the English Language" on CD ROM should run fine on
Windows Vista.

Sincerely,
Maryann Romano
Customer Services Representative
CUP

Samuel Johnson's Monumental Dictionary in the 1979 Arno Press Edition
This huge, wonderful reprint of Samuel Johnson's great English language dictionary (1st edition of 1755) was published in 1979 by Arno Press and is long out of print.

If you are madly in love with the English language, consider adding this remarkable work to your collection.Dr. Johnson was as witty as he was brilliant, and his dictionary, unlike many others, is actually fun to read.

Other reviews here refer to a CD-Rom version.However, if you can find it, and afford it, treat yourself to the book.

May not run on Windows Vista
My copy of this product ran wonderfully on Windows XP, but will not install on Windows Vista.

A mammoth achievement, in a convenient format
No, Samuel Johnson did not write the first English Dictionary.Let's dispense with that up front.However, he did write an incredibly high quality one, the first high quality English Dictionary actually, and he did it practically singlehandedly.(For the details of the effort, please see"The Making of Johnson's Dictionary," by Reddick, also availablehere at Amazon.)

Johnson wrote his Dictionary at a time when people readDictionaries, not just referred to them.Knowing that, Johnson pursued hisgoal of putting a stake in the ground as to the meaning of words whiledeveloping and promoting a point of view;he was very careful about thequotations he used to illustrate his words, and the choices he made havebeen the subject of numerous books.

Johnson knew, in writing aDictionary, that any attempt to cement the language was due to failure, andhe said as much in his famous Preface.However, he felt obliged to make aneffort (heck, he'd already received some advance money, and had to makegood!), and over the course of years produced a volume that reigned supremeuntil the advent of the Oxford English Dictionary.

(You may already beaware of amusing definitions found within, such as oats, pensioner, etc.,but it would be a shame to let the amusement distract you from theachievement that this represents.)

McDermott has included both the 1stand 4th editions on this CD-ROM, thus providing the two major editionsJohnson produced (other editions are either skeletons, sans quotations, orvery similar to these here), and its presence on CD-ROM makes it mcuhhandier than pulling two heavy volumes off the shelf (which would cost youthousands of dollars anyway).I only have two regrets, neither of whichshould stop you from buying this.One, the CD-ROM does not includeJohnson's Preface (it is easily available in paperback Johnson anthologies,but the absence seems pointless).Two, unless I haven't figured theinterface out, it's a bit clunky:words are not searchable, one must clicksections open.

That being said, I am still very glad I have my copy, andI bought a second for my alma mater. ... Read more

Product Description
The Works of Samuel Johnson, Volume 11. - Parlimentary Debates II. is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Samuel Johnson is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Samuel Johnson then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Product Description

An excerpt:

Product Description

An excerpt:

Customer Reviews (1)

The Works of Samuel Johnson, Vol 2: "The Idler" and "The Adventurer" (The Yale Edition of the Works of Samule Johnson)
You will already know, if you like to read or study Johnson, but what you may not know, is that you can buy separate books from this collected works on special offer, as and when your budget permits. This was not my first Johnson acquisition, and its content did not always intrigue me as much as say "Rambler". So be sure that when I say, it contains some real little gems for all us Johnsonians, that I am not talking about a new variety of vegetable; nor am I commending its content, based purely on the fact that, often as a fellow may recommend something, so as not to be embarrassed by his peers for an inapposite exposition. ... Read more

Product Description
Incorporating extracts from his diaries, letters and prayers, this book narrates Samuel Johnson's life and aims to present his faith as a layman. Subjects covered include: the women he loved, his morbid melancholy, his charity, his Christian life, and his thoughts on death. ... 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
Rasselas and his companions escape the pleasures of the "happy valley" in order to make their "choice of life." By witnessing the misfortunes and miseries of others they come to understand the nature of happiness, and value it more highly. Their travels and enquiries raise important practical and philosophical questions concerning many aspects of the human condition, including the business of a poet, the stability of reason, the immortality of the soul, and how to find contentment. Johnson's adaptation of the popular oriental tale displays his usual wit and perceptiveness; skeptical and probing, his tale nevertheless suggests that wisdom and self-knowledge need not be entirely beyond reach. This sparkling new edition includes an authoritative introduction by Thomas Keymer relating the story to Johnson's life, thought, and writings; the rise of the novel genre; and the global context of the Seven Years War. Extensive annotations relate the novel to its literary, philosophical, and political contexts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A profound appreciation of the great Cham of English Literature
Walter Jackson Bate shows in this work a deep understanding and appreciation of both the life and the work of Samuel Johnson. Though on the biographical side the work is prelude to the great biography of Johnson by Bate which will appear twenty years later, in evaluating the work itself this book is supreme. I especially appreciated Bate's long last chapter on Johnson as critic in which he outlines fully Johnson's understanding of the meaning and function of Literature.
Bate in this shows how Johnson takes the neo-classical conception of rules and decorum and expands it so as to include within the realm of the highest literature, the work of Shakespeare. Bate focuses on the tremendous love of variety and multitudiousness which Johnson was moved by. He sees Johnson as one who though in some ways paradoxical in his relation to Literature nonetheless always affirmed that the worst thing a book could be is ' tedious' . Bate shows how Johnson in writing ' Lives of the Poets' could not confine himself to the biographical only and read the Literature deep into the Life.
Bate writes that for Johnson the principal function of literature is to 'instruct by pleasing'. The growth in awareness, the process of enlightentment, is not apart from the process of 'pleasing' but rather by reason of it. So the generality that we want in literature- any meaning, order, or point-is not apart from the details that appeal to both 'familiarity' and 'novelty' but rather a deepening and clarification that proceeds by both of them'.

Wonderful introduction to Johnson's major themes.
.
Walter Jackson Bate is famous for his biography of Johnson, but 20 years earlier he wrote this gem, which collects the major themes in Johnson's essays, and ties together the points Johnson made on them. It is not a quotation collection, it is Bate's analysis of the themes. There is a biographical chapter, but then about 150 pages of analysis. Those chapters are called:

1.The hunger of imagination
2.The treachery of the human heart and the strategems of defense
3.The stability of truth
4.Johnson as a critic: the form and function of literature

This is a great companion volume for readers of Johnson's essays and criticism. ... Read more

Product Description
To mark the tercentenary of Samuel Johnson's birth, specially-commissioned essays review his scholarly reputation today. An international team of experts reflects authoritatively on the various dimensions of literary, historical, critical and ethical life touched by Johnson's extraordinary achievement. The new volume distinctively casts its net widely and combines consistently innovative thinking on Johnson's historical role with a fresh sense of present criticism. Chapters cover subjects as diverse as Johnson's moral philosophy, his legal thought, his influence on Jane Austen, and the question of the Johnson canon. The contributors examine the larger theoretical and scholarly contexts in which it is now possible to situate his work, and from which it may often be necessary to differentiate it. All the contributors have a distinguished record of scholarship in eighteenth-century studies, Johnson scholarship, and cultural history and theory. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

On Johnson
Common readers may safely take a pass on this collection of academic articles on Dr. Johnson. Most are in the dense language favored by scholars speaking to other scholars.

For those who are experts in the work product of this great man, this book will be of keen interest. And its ending, a further reading section, is especially helpful not only to this small band, but to all interested in learning more about Samuel Johnson.
... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
This is a book of words that urgently need your help. Fopdoodle, salmagundi, kissingcrust, runnion and stingo are all endangered for lack of use. Since Samuel Johnson completed his dictionary scores of words such as fizgig, jobbernowl and sponk have slipped away from common usage. You will very likely never have heard of most of them while some will be known but not used. Scores of others have definitions so obscure that you wonder why a word was needed at all. Was it necessary to have quite so many different words to describe the less fortunate members of society? Many, such as atom (cannot be split) and urinal (where water is kept for inspection) have changed their meaning completely, often with hilarious consequences. Some, such as tea (lately drunk in Europe) and coffee (comforteth the brain and heart) are included to provide a glimpse of life 250 years ago. Others, such as Dragon (perhaps imaginary)and Swallow (a bird that hides in winter) show as yet unfilled gaps in understanding.This book, Fopdoodle and Salmagundi will delight anyone who is fascinated by the evolution, humor and eccentricity of the English language or enjoys the challenge of a word game.In compiling this selection of little used and unfrequented gems of the language the editor makes the simple request that you slip them into conversation in the hope that their use will be perpetuated. They really are too go to lose. ... Read more

Product Description

Bewigged, muscular and for his day unusually tall, adorned in soiled, rumpled clothes, beset by involuntary tics, opinionated, powered in his conversation by a prodigious memory and intellect, Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) was in his life a literary and social icon as no other age has produced. “Johnsonianissimus,” as Boswell called him, became in the hands of his first biographers the rationalist epitome and sage of Enlightenment. These clichés—though they contain elements of truth—distort the complexity of the public and private Johnson. Peter Martin portrays a Johnson wracked by recriminations, self-doubt, and depression—a man whose religious faith seems only to have deepened his fears. His essays, scholarship, biography, journalism, travel writing, sermons, fables, as well as other forms of prose and poetry in which he probed himself and the world around him, Martin shows, constituted rational triumphs against despair and depression. It is precisely the combination of enormous intelligence and frank personal weakness that makes Johnson’s writing so compelling.

Benefiting from recent critical scholarship that has explored new attitudes toward Johnson, Martin’s biography gives us a human and sympathetic portrait of Dr. Johnson. Johnson’s criticism of colonial expansion, his advocacy for the abolition of slavery, his encouragement of women writers, his treatment of his female friends as equals, and his concern for the underprivileged and poor make him a very “modern” figure. The Johnson that emerges from this enthralling biography, published for the tercentenary of Johnson’s birth, is still the foremost figure of his age but a more rebellious, unpredictable, flawed, and sympathetic figure than has been previously known.

Product Description
The eighteenth century produced a remarkable array of thinkers whose influence in the development of free societies and free institutions is incalculable. Among these thinkers were Mandeville, Hutcheson, Smith, Hume, and Burke. And their time is known as the Age of Johnson. Samuel Johnson: Political Writings contains twenty-four of Johnson's essays on the great social, economic, and political issues of his time. These include 'Taxation No Tyranny' -- in which Johnson defended the British Crown against the American revolutionaries -- and 'An Introduction to the Political State of Great Britain', 'Thoughts on the Coronation of King George III', and 'The Patriot', which is one of Johnson's principal writings during the American Revolution. ... Read more